TH E 




Devoted to Agriculture, Horticulture, and the Household Arts. 



Agriculture is the nursing mother of the Arts. 

[Xenopuon. 



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



J. E. WILLIAMS, Editor. 






AUGUST & WILLIAM*, Prop'rs. 



Vol. XX. RICHMOND, VA., NOVEMBER, 1860. 



No. 11 



An Address. was organized the first society for the pro 

Delivered at the 8lh Session of the American] m ^tion of American Agriculture. Here 
Pomological Society, held in Philadelphia, * } °" *™*-*~* *«- 



—. <* ~ .Yl "via* ./«, Ji/lllUi 

Pa., Sept. llth, 12th and ttth, 18G0. 

By Marshal P. Welder, President. 

Gentlemen of the Society, and Friends of 
American Pomology: 

By our Constitution, my official position 
requires me, at the opening of this session, 
to address you on the art or scienco of 
pomology, on the interests, progress, and 
present condition of our association. 

In the performance of this duty I am 
happy to meet you in this city of brotherly 
love, the birthplace of that Declaration 
which gave us an independent national exist- 
ence; of that Constitution also, which cm- 



also, originated the first association for the 
advancement of American Horticulture, 
having, for one of its leading objects, the 
introduction and cultivation 'of new and 
choice varieties of fruit. 

Most of the venerable men who were the 
authors of these institutions, the founders 
of these civil and social compacts, have ful- 
filled their earthly mission ; but the enter- 
prises which they inaugurated continue, dif- 
fusing, through the land and the world, the 
blessings of progressive art, of rural Mfe, of 
social order, of civil liberty. These fathers 
have fallen in the great battle of lite; and 
since Our last biennial session, others, more 
intimately associated with us in our favorite 



bodies the wisdom of our venerable fathers lnt,,na ^' 

and is the charter by which we hold the iii-l£ Ur8UI 7 , ( ' ****** aw JJ never fo ^"in- 
heritance we seek 'to improve, enjoy and , . founders of the societv, who 



heritance we seek 'to improve, enjoy, and 
transmit. Here, too, by a former inhabitant 
of Philadelphia,* a few years later, was first 
exhibited the application to vessels of that 
invisible agent, which now propels thousands 
of steamers through our navigable «IW 7 
which has wrought such wonders in all the 
useful arts of life, and is progressing upon 
ajstupeudous scale of development. ^~ Here 

in 1788. To his steamboat 



•John Fitch. 
Perseverance. 

41 



have occupied official positions from 'its for- 
mation, will meet with us no more. 

DECEASED OFFICERS. 

Andrew H. Ernst, of Cincinnati, Ohio, 
one of the Vice Presidents of this society, 
died at his residence in that city, February 
18th, I860, aged sixty-four years. He was 
a gentleman of foreign birth, but thorough.lv 
nationalized; being a great admirer" of 
American character, and a firm supporter of 



- 



642 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[JNOVBMBER 



American institutions. He was a pioneer 
and champion of our cause in the north- 
west section of our country; a gentleman 
favorably known and highly appreciated by 
all who knew him for his promological know- 
ledge, for his characteristic modesty, for 
suavity of manner, and for his eminent 
Christian virtues. 

We have also to mourn the death of 
Benjamin Y. French, of Dorchester, Massa- 
chusetts, a member of the Executive Com- 
mittee, who died April 10th, 1860, aged 
sixty-eight years. Mr. French was ardently 
devoted to the cause of terra-culture, in its 
most comprehensive sense, and has, ^ for 
many years, held important official positions 
in the Agricultural and Horticultural Socie- 
ties of his State and country. Few men 
have been more interested in the cultivation 
of the soil, and few have been so strongly 
attached to rural life and rural happiness. 
Even to the close of life, these were his 
most cherished objects. 

In reflecting on the usefulness and ex- 
ample of our departed friends, on their 
labors and contributions to the cause of 
pomology, their honorable life and peaceful 
death, we shall ever retain a high appreci- 
ation of their worth. We cheerfully ac- 
cord to their memory our gratitude for their 
valuable services, and enrol their names 
ramong the benefactors 



of mankind. We 

Lu..ura the loss of these worthy associates, 
Ibut our institution still lives, and other friends 
survive to cooperate with us in advancing 
.the cause so dear to our hearts. 



EIGHTH SESSION. 

This is the eighth session and twelfth 
\year of our association. Much has been 
'accomplished since its organization, but how 
wonderful the improvement in every. branch 
• of husbandry, and in all that concerns the 
progress of society since the formation, in 
ithis^city, of the first association for the pro- 
-motion of rural art, just three quarters of a 
century ago! It is profitable to look back 
occasionally, and see what has been achieved 
in the pasL 

Most sincerely do I congratulate you 
upon the general interest now awakened in 
fruit culture — on the zeal, enterprise, and 
industry oTcultivators in the acquisition and 
•production of new and choice varieties— on 
the multiplication of local associations and 
publications, all laboring with us for the 
^promotion of pomology. 



In this presence, and on this occasion, I 
have no speculations or doubtful theories to 
promulgate. We have had already enough, 
and perhaps too many of these for our own 
benefit or others. What we especially need, 
are the results of the ripe and united experi- 
ence of the best cultivators, guided by the 
deductions of science. Some of the recom- 
mendations in former addresses I desire to 
reinforce, for it is ''line upon line, and pre- 
cept upon precept," tint makes a deep and 
lasting impression. New topics, as they 
arise, are entitled to respectful consideration, 
and the discussion of them will undoubtedly 
elicit important information. 

REVISION OF CATALOGUE. 

It has been our custom on former occa- 
sions to enlarge and revise our General 
Catalogue by a discussion and vote on each 
variety. Great advantage has already re- 
sulted to the country, and to the world, from 
the catalogue of this Society, which classi- 
fies our fruits, registers those suited to 
general cultivation;. those adapted to par- 
ticular localities; those which promise well; 
and those that are pronounced unworthy of 
cultivation. 

It will be remembered that, at the last 
biennial session, the Chairman of the 
General Fruit Committee recommended the 
appointment of local committees in each 
State and Territory, charged with the duty 
of producing and submitting to a special 
committee a list of the fruits cultivated in 
their respective localities. 

From these local catalogues, embodying 
the ripest experience of the best cultivators 
in all parts of the country, it will be easy 
for the society, at its next session, to trans- 
fer fruits to the corresponding department 
of the Society's General Catalogue. 

I therefore respectfully recommend, 

First, That no revision of that portion of 
our catalogue embracing fruits for general 
cultivation be attempted at this meeting. 

Secondly, That local committees be ap- 
pointed, each of which shall be charged 
with the duty of preparing a catalogue of 
the fruits in its own locality, on the same 
general plan as the Society's Catalogue. 

Thirdly, That a special committee be^ ap- 
pointed at this time, to whom these various 
local committees shall make their report 
during the year 1861. 

Fourthly, That the Special Committee be 
charged with the duty of compiling, from 



1860.1 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



643 



these local catalogues, and from the present 
catalogue of our Society, full lists of all the 
fruits therein named, properly classified and 
arranged, with due regard to nomenclature 
and terminology, and shall submit the same 
at the next biennial session for its consider- 
ation and action. This labor, well pott 
formed, will redound to the honor of Ameri- 
ca n Pomology. 

These recommendations are not intended 
to preclude a discussion of the merits or de 
merits of any variety now on our catalogue. 
On the contrary, they call for a full and free 
expression of opinions in respect to any de- 
partment of the same, as this may aid the 
labors of the 'several committees. Neither 
are they intended to preclude the addition 
of varieties to the list which promt's?' vdl. 

If this association had rendered no other 
service except to give to the world its 
present catalogue of fruits, it would have 
fulfilled an important mission^ but it has 



need to lie often promulgated and enforce! 
It should Be equally well understood that 
success depends upon the adaptation of the 
habits of the tree to the constituents of the 
soil, the location, and aspect or exposure. A 
disregard of this principle, and the ficklc- 
tmm of seasons, arc among the most com- 
mon causes of failure, not* only anion- in- 
experienced cultivators, but among pro! 
penologists. 

More attention should be given not only 
to the location, but especially the aspect <*»f 
trees. A common error is to disregard the 
time of ripening. Wc plant our early fruits 
in the warmest and most genial locations. 
These should be assigned to our latest 
varieties* For instance, we, at the north, 
have too often placed our late fall and winter 
pears, like Easter Beurre, or "Beurre d'Arem- 
bcrg, in northern aspects and exposed po- 
sitions, where they arc liable to injury by 
the gales and frosts of autumn, whereas we 
done more; it has encouraged and originated should have given them a southern aspect 
many kindred associations, has brought to- and our most fertile soils, to brim* them to 



gether experienced cultivators, and" made 
them teachers of each other. 

By this action and reaction of mind on 
mind, many of the first principles of judici- 
ous cultivation are now fully settled and 
well understood. Among these are the fol- 
lowing, to which I will now only briefly 
allude, as they have been more fully con- 
sidered in former addresses: 

CULTURE OF TREES. 

1. The healthful development of fruit 
trees, as of other living substances, depends 
on the regular reception of a certain quantity 
of appropriate food. This food, whether 
derived from the earth, air, water, or other 
natural elements, is conveyed through the 
medium of the atmosphere and the soil. 
While we have only an indirect and imper- 
fect control of the atmosphere and other 
meteorological agents, the Great Arbiter of 
Nature has committed the mil directly to 
our care and treatment. 

'2. To this I may add the general senti- 
ment in favor of thorough and perfect drain- 
age, beneficial to all cultivators, but indis- 
pensable to the fruit-grower. 

3. Not less uniform is the experience 
of the salutary effects of a proper prepara- 
tion of the soil for fruit-trees, both in the 
nursery and in the orchard. 

These principles are settled in the minds 
of all intelligent fruit-growers j but they 



perfection. The most favorable^ locations 
are not so indispensable to our summer fruits, 
which mature early under the more direct 
rays of the sun, and in a much higher 
temperature. This rule may require modi- 
fication, and even reversion, to adapt it to 
the south or southwest portion of our county. 
And here I cannot refrain from expressing 
the earnest hope that our local catalogues 
may be framed with a wise reference to this 
principle, and that the day may not be dis- 
tant when the Society's Catalogue shall de- 
signate the particular locality, aspect, and 
soil, adapted to each variety of fruit. 

But however important these considera- 
tions may be, the subsequent cultivation of 
trees must receive a passing notice, even at 
the risk of repeating some opinions of my- 
self and others, which are already before 
the public. 

The sentiments contained in the commu- 
nication of Air. J. J. Thomas, at our last 
session, against the growth of any other 
crop in orchards, especially against relying 
upon small circles dug around trees in 
ground, as a method of culture, deserves to 
be held in perpetual remembrance. Equally 
injurious, in my own opinion, is the habit, of 
deep digging or ploughing among fruit 
trees, thereby cutting off the roots, and de- 
stroying the fibrous feeders, which frequently 
extend beyond the sweep of the branches. 
However necessary the practice may be of 






644 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[November 



cutting off roots in old orchards, in the pro- 
cess of renovation, it should be carefully 
avoided in grounds properly prepared, and 
where the trees are in a healthy or bearing- 
condition. From experiment and observa- 
tion, I am persuaded that working the soil 
among fruit trees, to the depth of more than 
three or four inches, should be carefully 
avoided. The surface should only be worked 
with a hoe, or scarifier, for the purpose of 
stirring the soil, and keeping out the weeds. 
Thus we avail ourselves of the advantages 
of what, in farming, is called flat-culture, at 
present so popular. For the same reason, 
manure should not be dug in to any con- 
siderable depth, and some of our wisest cul- 
tivators now recommend its application on 
the surface. So favorably impressed with 
this practice is the Massachusetts Board of 
Agriculture, that it has ordered a series of 
experiments with cereal grains and dther 
products in the application of manures on 
the surface as compared with specified 
depths beneath it. 

The practice of surface manuring is no 
novelty of our day. An eminent cultivator 
of fruits, nearly two hundred years ago, 
said, " Manures should be applied to fruit 
trees in the autumn upon the surface, that 
the rains, snow, and frosts may convey the 
elements of fertility to the roots;" and 
"that, by this method, one load will do 
more good than two used in the common 
way of trenching in to the depth of one foot." 
Other distinguished cultivators and scien- 
tific gentlemen recommend the same practice. 
Hence we are of opinion that our orchards 
and gardens should be manured in the 
autumn, and on the surface, so t : .at the 
manures may be thoroughly decomposed, 
made soluble charing the fall and winter, and 
suitable for the nourishment of the tree 
early in the spring. 

In the history of this art, as of most 
others, it is wonderful how human opinions 
change. What were once considered as 
fundamental, are now rejected as unphiloso- 
phical or injurious, and those once rejected 
are now adopted as wise maxims. The 
doctrine has prevailed, from the time of 
Columella and Varro, that manures should 
not be exposed to the air, but should be in- 
corporated with the soil as soon as laid out; 
whereas, we have now the opinion of culti- 
vators and chemists in favor of exposure to 
the air and other external agents of decom 
position, and that it is not a source of nu 



trition to the plant until it is thoroughly de- 
composed. This opinion is certainly cor- 
roborated by the practice of skiltul gardeners 
in all past time, who will never use green 
manure in the potting or cultivation of 
plants, and only that which has become old 
and fine. 

NEW NATIVE FRUITS. 

Changes of opinion have also taken place 
in regard to the acquisition of new sorts of 
fruits. Formerly we looked to other coun- 
tries; now we rely more especially on our 
own seedlings for the best results. "When 
we reflect .upon the great number of new 
varieties which have, in our time, been rais- 
ed from seed, and the progress which has 
thereby been made, no apology need be of- 
fered for repeating what has been said in 
former addresses in commendation of this 
branch of pomology. It was my first, so it 
shall be my continual and last advice: 
" Plant the most mature and perfect seed of 
the most hardy, vigorous, and valuable vari- 
eties, and, as a shorter process, ensuring more 
certain and happy results, cross or hybridize 
your best fruits." 

What wonders this art has already accom- 
plished in the production of new and im- 
proved varieties in the vegetable kingdom ! 
How much it has done for the potato, the 
turnip, and other vegetables, — producing, 
from a parent stock of inferior grade, num- 
berless varieties of great excellence ! How 
it has brought forth, from the hard, acrid, 
and foxy grape of the woods, the delicious 
varieties that are now obtaining notoriety 
and extension ; from the bitter almond, the 
luscious peach and nectarine; from the aus- 
tere button-pear of the forest, the splendid 
varieties that command our admiration ; 
from the sour crab, the magnificent apples 
which now constitute the dessert of our 
tables ; from the wild raspberry and black- 
berry of the hedge, from the native straw- 
berries of the pasture, those superb varie- 
ties which crown the tables at our exhibi- 
tions. We believe it is now admitted that 
our native varieties are more hardy, vigo- 
rous, productive, and free from disease than 
most foreign sorts. Thus we have seedling 
gooseberries free from mildew, and pears 
that never crack. Why can we not breed 
out the black wart from the plum ? It has 
been suggested, by a gentleman of great 
knowledge, that, by taking the common 
wild plum, the Prunus Americana, of which 



I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



645 



there are several varieties, varying in color, 
size, and flavor, we may produce kinds not 
subject to disease, if judiciously crossed with 
our best garden sorts; or, if bred between 
themselves, we might perhaps add new vari- 
eties to our species of cultivated plums, 
which would be healthy, productive, and de- 
licious. This suggestion is certainly worthy 
of consideration and experiment. 

Let not this recommendation, however, in 
regard to cross-fertilization, discourage the 
sowing of other seeds, because they* have 
not been artificially impregnated by the 
hand of man, for they may have been fer- 
tilized by the wind, or insects conveying the 
pollen of one variety to the style of another. 
In this way have been produced most of the 
superior sorts of American fruits. How 
extensive and inviting is the field here open- 
ed even to the most common fruit grower, 
who, practising upon this principle through 
a series of years, can hardly fail to produce ' 
some good fruits, although he may not be 
acquainted with the higher and more deli- 
cate process of artificial impregnation. But 
infinitely superior and more promising is the 
sphere of enterprise which opens before the 
scientific pomologist. It is broad as the 
earth, free as the air, rich as the land of 
promise. In his hands are placed the means 
of continual progress without the numerous 
uncertainties which must ever attend acci- 
dental fertilization. He has the sure guide 
of science, which never misleads her vota- 
ries, but elevates them from one degree of 
excellence to another towards absolute per- 
fection. By these processes, new varieties 
arc multiplying with unparalleled rapidity 
throughout our country. We rejoice in the 
intense zeal which has been awakened in 
this pursuit. It augurs well for the future, 
whether prompted by the desire either of 
fortune or of fame. But the spirit of adven- 
ture, thus awakened, needs occasionally a 
little wholesome discipline, let it foster an 
undue reliance on immmature experience, 
and tend to quackery, imposition, and fraud. 

While we refrain from all personal reflec- 
tions, we cannot forbear exhorting all, and 
especially the officers and members of this 
association, to increased vigilance and cau- 
tion in the recommendation of novelties, un- 
til they have been thoroughly tested by com- 
petent judges. As it is human to err, so it 
is natural to be partial to one's own offspring 
and friends, and this partiality often sways 
the judgment of honest and good men. 



But a more common and serious difficulty 
under which wo labor, is the promulgation 
of seedlings by individuals and association--; 
that have not. the information requisite to 
form an intelligent, and therefore reliable 
judgment. Another evil which increases 
with the mania for what is new and rare, is 
the exposure for sale, by flaming advertise- 
ments and speculating agents, of old varie- 
ties under new and specious names, varieties 
which, like Jonah's gourd, were known in 
their day and place, but have long been con- 
signed to oblivion. 

As in the past, so in the present and in 
the future, let it be our purpose and prac- 
tice to reject those that are worthless, to 
withhold our approbation from those that 
are doubtful, and to encourage the multipli- 
cation of those only which arc of decided 
and acknowledged worth. Thus shall we 
elevate the standard of judgment, and fulfil 
the mission providentially assigned us. Wc 
might enlarge on this and other topics, but 
the brief period which it is proper for me 
to occupy in this opening address, restricts 
me to one or two other considerations. 

AFFINITIES. 

I would here again recommend a more 
careful study of affinities between the stock 
and the graft. Whatever be the opinions 
in regard to the manner and degree of in- 
fluence which the scion has upon the stock, 
or the reverse, the fact of that influence is 
undeniable. For example, w r e have seen 
certain varieties of the pear, as the Cross, 
Collins, and others, which would not readily 
assimilate with the stock, however vigorous. 
We have, in many instances, seen healthful 
trees sicken and eventually die, by the in- 
sertion of these uncongenial grafts. So 
great was the want of congeniality, that we 
have seen the stocks throw out successive 
crops of suckers, and although these were 
frequently removed, yet the scion would re- 
fuse to receive and elaborate the sap in suf- 
ficient quantity to nourish it, and the trees 
would finally die. In such instances, the 
only way to restore the health of the stock, 
is to remove the graft for a scion of its own 
or some other appropriate sort. 

As I have formerly directed your atten- 
tion to this topic, I have only space to em- 
body a few general rules to guide practice. 

In deciding upon affinity between the tree 
and graft, consider — 

First, The character of the woods to be 



646 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[November 



united, as whether of fine or coarse texture, 
of slender or gross growth. 

Second, The wood-buds, whether abun- 
dant or sparse, plump or lean, round or 
pointed. 

Third, The seasons of maturity, whether 
early, medium, or late. 

These suggestions will suffice to indicate 
the direction of thought and the kind of in- 
vestigation to be pursued. A better know- 
ledge of the subject will, no doubt, hereaf- 
ter be attained, and will reveal some of the 
inexplicable mysteries which now attend 
this branch of fruit culture. 

GRAt>E CULTURE. 

Let me for a moment call your attention 
to the cultivation of the grape. This is now 
assuming so much importance in our coun- 
try that it seems entitled to special attention 
at this time. Its progress is indeed marvel- 
lous. Until within a few years, it was sup- 
posed that Providence had assigned grape- 
culture and the manufacture of wine to 
countries in the south of Europe, and that 
the soil and climate of America were not at 
all adapted to their production, Still later, 
the theory was promulgated, which has not 
as yet yielded in full to a more enlightened 
judgment, that no good grape could nourish 
on our eastern slope. Now it is known to 
succeed in almcst every aspect where soil 
and cultivation are suitable, and it is belie- 
ved that no country on earth is better adap- 
ted to the extensive cultivation of the grape 
than the United States of America. This 
branch of fruit-culture is yet in its incipient 
state, but it has progressed so far as to au- 
thorize the belief that the grape can be 
grown with success in almost every State 
and Territory of the Union. 

With the progress already made in rais- 
ing new sorts, it is only a question of time 
when we shall have varieties adapted to al- 
most every locality. Thousands of cultiva- 
tors, scattered over our extended country, 
are each of them raising new varieties from 
seed in the expectation of success. While 
some of them may be valuable, many must, 
of necessity, be failures, having been origi- 
nated from natural and accidental impreg- 
nation, without any settled or philosophical 
plan. The laws of production in this de- 
partment are the same as in other branches 
of the vegetable kingdom. For instance, 
i:i northern latitudes, the great object should 
be to produce good kinds which ripeu early i 



and are perfectly hardy. To procure these 
from the limited number of our native 
grapes, we must resort to the art of hybridi- 
zation, taking for the parents those sorts 
which contain the characteristics we desire 
to combine. This work has already been 
commenced in good earnest, and is progress- 
ing rapidly in the hands of many practi- 
tioners. Illustrations have occurred under 
our own observation, proving the immediate 
and happy results from the crossing of na- 
tive with foreign grapes. A gentleman in 
my own vicinity has taken, as the mother 
parent, the Vitis Labrusca, a common na- 
tive grape, and crossed these vines with the 
pollen of the Black Hamburg, and the 
White Chasselas grapes. Of forty-five seed- 
lings, thirty-seven have borne fruit. All 
progeny of these has proved perfectly har- 
dy, and have stood without protection for 
several winters, where the Isabella and Di- 
ana have been much injured. Of the 
seedlings produced from impregnation of the 
Black Hamburg, most of them inherit, in a 
good degree, the color and characteristic of 
the male; while those fertilized with the 
White Chasselas, all were of a reddish col- 
or, intermediate between the natural colors 
of the parents. Thus we see the positive 
and powerful effect of the art of hybridiza- 
tion , in the hands of scientific cultivators, 
who can, in a measure, control the process 
of reproduction, and render it subservient 
to their purpose. 

But, to prevent discouragement and sus- 
tain perseverance, it should be remembered 
that, in conformity with the experience of 
Van Mons, Knight, and other pioneers, a 
seedling does not attain to perfection at once. 
To arrive at its culminating point of excel- 



lence, it must often be fruited for several 
I years. Others- maintain that a number of 
| manipulations are as requisite to bring a new 
j variety to perfection. Some varieties attain 
this much earlier than others, and the same 
j variety reaches it earlier or later in differ- 
ent localities. Hence an originator should 
inot reject a seedling of some apparent good 
'qualities simply because it may have some 
defect; for this may result from local or ex- 
ternal influences. He should, therefore, 
cause it to be transferred for trial to a dif- 
ferent soil and climate. Even grapes of ac- 
knowledged excellence are improved by this 
change. The Concord and Diana of Mas- 
sachusetts, valuable as they are at home, ac- 
quire a superiority in the south and south- 



I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



847 



west unknown in their original locality, even 
rivalling the Catawbas and Isabellas of those 
sections. 

It seems to be a general law of nature, 
illustrated in our forests and fields, that 
some trees and grains will flourish in nearly 
all localities and latitudes 
particularly restricted to certain districts. 
By this arrangement an all-wise Providence 
diffuses blessings over our country and clime. 
Each has its appropriate share in the gene- 
ral munificence of the Creator, together 



while others are! as the number 



suit is certain. The time fast approaches 
when the ultimate good will be realized, ami 
when America will becunie the great grape- 
growing and wine-producing country of the 
world. 

I admit, in respect to all our fruits, that, 
or varieties increases, more 
judicious and severe discrimination in the 
selection of very valuable, and in the rejec- 
tion of comparatively inferior varieties, will 
be demanded. This is the lesson which 
past progress. teaches us. What would the 



with luxuries peculiarly its own. The grape gardener of fifty years ago have said, if he 
is common, and almost universal; but the I had been told that his favorite Bon Chre- 
varieties of this fruit arc mutable and local, tiens, Muscats and Blanqucts, were soon to 
capable of endless adaptation by human | be thrown into the shade forever ? He 



skill. Hence this field for the culture of 
the grape, upon the borders of which we 
have scarcely entered, is, to the intelligent 
cultivator, full of promise and reward. 

While it was formerly supposed that the 
peculiar, and, to many, the disagreeable aro- 
ma of our common grapes disqualified them 
for the production of choice fruits and 
wines, it has been proved, we think, beyond 
a reasonable doubt, that the characteristic 
designated, by way of contempt, as the fox 
or pole-cat flavor, will hereafter constitute 
one of the chief excellencies of our new 
varieties, when, by the art of hybridization 
and civilization, this flavor shall have been 
modified and changed, by alliance with other 
grapes of excellence that are destitute of 
this quality. This flavor, thus improved, 
seems destined to form a distinctive charac 
teristic of an important class of American 
grapes, even to give them a marked superi- 
ority over such varieties as the Black Ham- 
burg, Sweet-water, and such other foreign 
sorts as are destitute of any especial aroma, 
and consist mainly of sugar and water. It 
may yet make our seedlings rivals of the 
Muscats, the Frontignacs, and other highly 
flavored foreign grapes of the Old World. 
Multitudes of seedlings, deriving their origin 
from our native vines in various stages of 
civilization, and with a special view to this 
result, are now on probation in various parts 
of our country. From these must necessa- 
rily arise, in coming time, many sorts of 
superior quality. 

What if the desire for new varieties has 
become a mania ? What if it produce, here 
and there, personal sacrifices and disappoint- 
ments ? What if, from want of skill, or 
from adverse causes, many inferior or even 
worthless varieties are produced ? The re- 



would have shown as much incredulity as 
some of our modern amateurs do when we 
talk of future progress. The Duchess d'An- 
gouleme, the Beurre d'Anjou, Doyenne 
Boussock, Beurre Superfin, Bartlett and 
Seckel, had not revealed to him the vast 
extent of improvement in fruits which was 
to be made. What was true, in this re- 
spect, fifty years ago, is equally applicable 
to present varieties. The impossible has no 
place in the history of progressive science, 
whether relating to natural arts, or to me- 
chanical industry. 

CONCLUSION. 

But, gentlemen, I have occupied my 
share of your time and attention, yet I must 
beg your indulgence in a few concluding 
remarks. 

We have spoken here, and on former oc- 
casions, of the advancement which has been 
made in promology in our age and country. 
This is to be ascribed in part to the great 
scheme of Providence which has developed 
such stupendous results in the march of 
civilization and all the arts of life. Human 
pursuits are, allied by affinities so intimate, 
that a remarkable discovery or improvement 
in one advances them all. Never before has 
the public mind been so profoundly moved, 
nor the energies of mankind so concentra- 
ted upon efforts to relieve toil, to perfect 
skill, to reward labor, and to multiply the 
comforts and blessings of life. 

Truly we live in an age of transition and 
wonder ! The invention of to-day super- 
sedes that of yesterday, and in its turn is 
to be supplanted by that of to-morrow. No 
enterprise, however bold, adventurous, or 
vast, whether the construction of a railroad 
from the Atlantic to the Pacific; the lay- 



G48 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



[November 



ing of the mystic wire in old ocean's bed, 
or threading it through Behring's Straits 
and winding it around the globe, is too great 
for the capital, energy, or intelligence of 
the present generation. _ 

How wonderful the scale of development 
in modern society ! The old wheel and 
hand-loom of our mothers have passed away, 
and given place to the busy hum and clatter 
of our princely manufactories; the needle 
of the weary housewife, plied by day and 
night for clothing her family, has been ex- 
changed for the ingenious sewing-machine, 
turning off its ready-made garments, and 
performing the labor of months in a day ; 
the old printing-press of our Franklin, work- 
ing off by the sweat of the brow only a few 
hundred newspapers per day, has yielded to 
the steam-press of our time, throwing off its 
twenty thousand impressions per hour; the 
brush of the artist patiently filling up his 
outline, touch by touch, through toilsome 
days, to the pencils of light in the hand of 
the king of day, picturing at a flash the 
image of yourself, and of all around you; 
the coaster, creeping cautiously along the 
shore, dependent on wind and tide, to thou- 
sands of steamboats which now dash ever 
our lakes, rivers and oceans, despite of cur- 
rent or tempest ; the old stage-coach, mak- 
ing only fifty miles per day, to our despatch 
and lightning trains, running fifty miles per 
hour ; the horse express and carrier-pigeon, 
hailed as wonders in their time, to the elec- 
tric telegraph, which, quick as thought, 
speaks with a tongue of fire, the languages 
of earth. 

Discoveries, inventions, and improvements 
equally remarkable, characterize all the arts 
of husbandry. Witness, in place of the 
forked stick of the ancients, or the wooden 
plow of our boyhood, the improved iron 
plow of every model, and adapted to all 
kinds of soil and situation ; and, still more 
marvellous, the Steam Plow, moving as a 
thing of life across the broad prairie, turn- 
ing up its numerous furrows at once, and 
leaving behind it a wake like that of a ma- 
jestic ship. Witness also, instead of the 
rude hook, the sickle, or the scythe of the 
farmer, slowly and tediously gathering his 
crops, our mighty mowing and reaping ma- 
chine, cutting down its ten to twenty acres 
per day. 

The great industrial pursuit which this 
Society seeks to promote furnishes testimony 



of progress not a whit behind the most fa- 
vored of the arts. 

Behold the improved methods of cultiva- 
tion ; the vast number of nurseries and or- 
chards, springing up everywhere, as by en- 
chantment; the novel processes of repro- 
duction, multiplying plants in endless profu- 
sion, and as by the stroke of a magician's 
wand. Witness the interminable . lists of 
varieties now in cultivation, increasing with 
each revolving year ; the restless and anx- 
ious desire to obtain everything new and 
promising from whatever country or sea-girt 
isle it comes ; the refined taste for choice 
fruits rapidly extending through every gra- 
dation of society ; the standard of pomolo- 
gy, like the star of empire rising in the east, 
moving still onward to the west, and excit- 
ing the attention and astonishment of man- 
kind. 

But this progress results from no super- 
natural power. It is rather an illustration 
of human capability, acting in conformity 
with natural laws, and in harmony with the 
benevolent designs of the Great Husband- 
man for the amelioration of society, and the 
display of his infinite wisdom and love, 
" sought out of those who take pleasure 
therein." It exhibits the conquests of mind 
over matter, the dominion of man over na- 
ture, improving, adorning, and elevating her 
to the highest and noblest purposes of her 
creation. 

Inspired with . these sentiments, let us 
take encouragement, and press on in the 
career of improvement, ever remembering 
that study and experience make the man ; 
and that, for the highest attainment and 
the greatest success, we must depend upon 
the culture of the mind as well as of the 
soil. 

"Survey the globe through every zone, 

From Lima to Japan, 
In lineaments of light 'tis shown 

That Culture makes the man. 
All that man has, had, hopes, can have, 

Past, promised, or possessed, 
Are fruits which Culture gives or gave, 

At industry's behest." 



To cure burns or scalds, cover them at 
once liberally with wheat flour, sweet and 
nice, let them remain. They will heal rap- 
idly, and all heat be drawn out. 

The knowledge and fear of the Lord are 
the beginning of wisdom. 



- - - - 



I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



649 



Chemical Composition of Soils— Applica- 
tion of Manures, &c. 

Soils have been divided in the following 
Pay, according to the proportion of clay, 
and, and lime, which they possess : 

1. Argillaceous soils, possessing little or 
10 calcareous matter, and above 50 per cent, 
jf clay. 

2. Loamy soils, containing from 20 to 
)0 per cent, of clay. 

3. Sandy soils, not more than 10 per cent. 
)f clay. 

4. Marly soils, 5 to 20 per ceut of calca- 
■eous matter. 

5. Calcareous soils, more than 20 per cent. 
)f carbonate of lime. 

6. Humus soils, in which vegetable mould 
tbounds. Below the superficial soil there 
sxists what is called sulxoi/, which varies in 
ts composition, and often differs much from 
hat on the surface. Into it the rain carries 
lown various soluble inorganic matters, 
vhich, when brought to the surface by agri- 
cultural operations, as trenching and subsoil 
)loughing, may materially promote the 
;rowth of crops. 

Humus, or decaying woody fibre, exists 
n soils to a certain amount. This has been 
railed also, uhnine, or coal of humus. In a 
oluble state it forms humic or ulmic acid. 
Junius absorbs ammonia, and it is slowly 
tcted upon by the atmosphere, so as to form 
:arbonic acid by combination with oxygen. 
Peaty soils contain much of this substance. 
IfVhen peroxide of iron is present in such 
oil, it loses part of its oxygen, and is con- 
certed into the protoxide. 

Silica in greater or less quantity, is 
bund in all soils; but it abounds in sandy 
oils. In its ordinary state it is insoluble, 
md it is only when acted upon by alkaline 
natter in the soil that it forms compounds 
vhich can be absorbed by plants. Silica, 
n a soluble state, exists in minute quanti- 
ses in soils ; the proportion, according to 
Fohnston, varying from 0.16 to 0.84 in 100 
>arts, while the insoluble siliceous matter 
varies 60.47 to 83.31 in 100 parts. Wieg- 
nan and Polstorf found that plants took 
ilica from a soil composed entirely of quartz 
and, from which everything organic and 
oluble had been removed. The following 
able shows the plants which germinated, 
he height to which they grew previously to 
)eing analysed, the quantity of silica they 
sontaincd when planted and the increase: 



Silica ii) the Ash. 

, >« » Silica bad 

Height. Seed. Plant. increased 

Barley 15 inches 0.03J (>.3. r >G 10 times 

Oqu. lb " 0&64 0,554 5} " 

Buckwheat IN " 0.0< M &.0H M " 

Vetch 10 " 0.013 0.135 10 " 

Clover... . 3£ " O.oi iy 0.091 10 " 

Tobacco.. 5 " 0.001 0.549 50U " 

Alumina exists abundantly in clayey 
soils, but it does not enter largely into the 
composition of plants. It has the power of 
absorbing ammonia, and may prove benefi- 
cial in this way. 

Lime is an essential ingredient in all fer- 
tile soils. In 1000 lbs. of such soil, there 
are, according to Johnston, 56 lbs. of lime; 
while barren soil contains only 4 lbs. The 
presence of phosphoric acid in soils, in the 
form of phosphates of potass, soda, and 
lime, is essential for the production of cer- 
tain azotised compounds in plants; and sul- 
phuric acid, similarly combined, is required 
for the formation of others. 

A rough way of estimating the general 
nature of a soil, is thus given by Prof. 
Johnston : 

1. Weigh a given portion of soil, heat it 
and dry it. The loss is w r ater. 

2. Burn what remains. The loss is chief- 
ly vegetable matter. 

3. Add muriatic acid to residue, and thus 
the quantity of lime may be determined. 

4. Wash a fresh portion of soil to deter- 
mine the quantity of insoluble siliceous 
sand. 

Such an analysis, however, is by no 
means sufficient for the purposes of the 
farmer. 

The chemieal composition of a plant being 
known, conclusions can be drawn as to the 
soil most suitable for its growth. This is a 
-matter of great importance both to the farmer 
and to the planter. In order that the plant 
may thrive, even in a suitable soil, exposure 
and altitude must also be taken into account. 
It is only by attention to these particulars 
that agricultural and foresting operations 
can be successful. As regards trees, the 
following practical observations are given as 
an illustration of what has been stated. 
The Scotch Fir thrives best in a healthy 
soil, incumbent on a pervious subsoil, and at 
a high altitude; Larch in loam, with a dry 
subsoil, and a high situation ; Spruce and 
Silver Firs, will grow in a dry or peaty 
soil; Oak in any soil and situation un- 
der 800 feet above the level of the sea, but 



G50 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[November 



it thrives best in clayey loam, on a rather 
retentive subsoil, and on gently sloping 
ground ; Ash and Elm, on a gravelly loam, 
on gravel or sand, at an altitude under 500 
feet above the level of the sea ; Sycamore, 
at 100 feet higher than the Ash or Elm, 
and in a more retentive soil and subsoil; 
]>each, on a dry gravelly soil, and in a rather 
high situation, but it is often luxuriant on 
strong retentive clay, and in a low damp 
situation. 

APPLICATION OF MANURE. 

If the soil does not contain the ingre- 
dients required for a crop, they must be ad- 
ded in the form of manure. The principle 
of manuring is to supply what the plant 
cannot obtain from the soil, and to render 
certain matters already in the soil available 
for nutrition. In order that this may be 
properly practised, there must be an analy- 
sis of the soil, of the plant, and of the 
manure. Hence the importance of agricul- 
tural chemistry to the farmer. 

VARIOUS KINDS OF MANURE. 

Natural Manures, as farm-yard dung' 
arc more valuable than simple manures; in- 
asmuch as the former furnish all the sub- 
stances required for the growth of plants 
while the latter only supply a particular in- 
gredient. The plant itself, in a soluble 
state, would be the best manure. In ordina- 
ry farm-yard manure, the straw is again 
made available for the purpose of the plant. 
The whole crop of wheat and oats, how- 
ever, cannot be returned to the soil, as 
part must be retained for food. A substi- 
tute, therefore, must be found for the por- 
tion thus taken away. This contains both 
azotised and unazotised matters, the former 
consisting of proteine compounds which 
supply nitrogen for the muscular tissue of 
man and animals; the latter of starchy, 
mucilaginous and saccharine matters, which 
furnish carbon as a material for respiration 
and fat. The object of manuring is chiefly 
to increase the former, and hence those ma- 
nures are most valuable which contain solu- 
ble nitrogenous compounds. 

The value of manures is often estimated by 
the quantity of gluten which is produced by 
their application. Hermbstaedt sowed equal 
quantities of the same wheat on equal parts 
of the same ground, and manured them 
with equal weights of different manures, 
and from 100 parts of each sample of grain 



produced, he obtained gluten and starch in 
the following proportions : 

Gluten. Starch' 

Without manure 9.2 66.7 

Cow dung ISO 02. 3 

Pigeons' do 12.2 03.2 

Horse do 13.7 6 lj.fi 

Goats' do 32.9 42,1 

Sheep " do 32.9 42.8 

Dried night soil 33.1 41.4 

Dried Ox blood 34.2 41.3 

Manures containing ammonia, owe theii 
excellent qualities to the nitrogen which en- 
ters into their composition ; hence the value 
of sulphate of ammonia, ammonial liquor oi 
gas-works and urine. The value of guano 
or the dung of sea-fowl, depends chiefly or 
the ammoniacal salts, and the phosphates 
which it contains; thus supplying the nitro- 
gen and phosphorous requisite for the pro 
teine compounds which contain the element* 
of flesh and blood. The guano, which h 
imported, is the excrement of numerous sea- 
fowl which frequent the shores of Soutr 
America and Africa. It often, contains 
beautiful specimens of infusoria, as Campy 
lodiscus, Coscinodiscus, &c. The guanc 
found in caves on the coasts of Malacca and 
Cochin-China, is the produce of frugivorom 
and insectivorous bats, and of a species o: 
swallow — the last being the best. 

The following analyses by Dr. Colquhour 
of Glasgow, which are the result of an ex 
animation of a large number of samples 
give a general idea of the composition o: 
guano. The term ammoniacal matter, in 
eludes urate of ammonia and other am 
moniacal salts, as oxalate, phosphate, ant 
muriate, as well as decayed organic matte] 
of animal origin. The term bone earth, in 
eludes phosphate of lime, (always the princfya 
ingredient,) phosphate of magnesia, (always 
in small amount,) oxalate of lime; and ir 
African guano, a minute quantity of carbo 
nate of lime, and from £ to 2 per, cent, o 
fragments of sea shells. The Jixed alkalim 
salts, are various salts of soda, as muriate 
phosphate, and sulphate ; a little of a potasl 
salt has been detected. 

SOUTH AMERICAN GUANO. 

Fine Mid- In- Low 

Cliincha. tiling, ferior. qualities 

Ammoniacal matter. 62 42 28 12 15 

Bone earth 20 24 30 50 37 

Fixed alkaline salts, 10 14 21 10 5 

Rock, sand, earth. .. 0.5 5 3 15 34 

Water 7.5 15 18 13 9 

100.0 100 100 100 100 



I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



G51 



In- 


horn 


ferior 


quality 


28 


21) 


21 


17 


18 


11 


a 


S ■"> 


31 


•Jl 



AFRICAN (HAND. 
M\ 

lab t 

A.minoniacal matter. .46 

Bpne earth 

fixed alkaline Salts. . P2 
Rock, siiml, earth. ... 1 
Water M 

LQU 100 100 

The guano from the islands on the British 
oasts, contains the same ingredients, but 
lie soluble salts are generally washed out 
>y the action of rain. The following is the 
malvsis, by Dr. R. D. Thomson, of guano 
gathered on Ailsa Craig: — 

A T liter 

)rganic matter and ammoujaca) salts, 

containing •'"i.lT per cent, ammonia... 
Miosp bates of lima and magnesia.... 

Oxalate of lime 

iulphate and phosphate of, potash, and 

chloride of* potassium . 



50.30 

1-2.50 

12.10 

1.50 

LOO 



iaitliy matter and sand 15.00 

Simple Manures supply only one or two 



tains. Whithout the presence of phosphates, 
gluten, ami the proteine compounds of plants, 
cannot be formed. Phosphate of lime ex- 
ists abundantly in animal tissues; and h 
it must be furnished by plants The 01 
bone-dust as a manure, depends in a great 
measure on the phosphate of lime which it 
contains. Besides phosphate of lime, bones 
contain about 3 per cent, of phosphate of 
magnesia, carbonate of lime, and salts of 
soda. The gelatine of bones also seems to 
act beneficially, by forming carbonic acid 
and ammonia. Rones are best applied mixed 
with sulphuric acid,* so as to give rise to 
the formation of soluable phosphates by 
decomposition. They are broken into pieces, 
and mixed with half their weight of boiling- 
water, and then with half their weight of 
sulphuric acid. The mixture is applied to 
the soil, either in a dry state by the drill, 
with saw-dust and charcoal added, or in a 
liquid state, diluted with 100 to '200 waters. 
Phosphates and other inorganic matters, 



f the materials required for the growth and j sometimes exist potentially in the soil, but 
lourishment of plants. The ammoniaral \ in a dormant state, requiring the addition of 
'qiior of yas-v:ork$ } 'm a very diluted state, something to render them soluble. Allow- 
ias been advantageously applied to the soiling the ground to lie fallow, and stirring and 
n account of the nitrogen which it supplies. 'pulverizing it, are methods by which air 
'loot has also been used, from furnishing | and moisture are admitted, and time is 
alts of ammonia. Nitrate* of potash and allowed for the decomposition of the ma- 
'jda have been recommended not only on terials, which are thus rendered available 
ccount of the alkalies, but also on account' for plants. Stilphur exists in considerable 
f the nitrogen which they contain in quantity in some plants, as Cruciferaj, and 
he form of nitric acids. The quantity . it forms an element in albumen; hence the 
f gluten is said to be increased by the use! use of sulphuric acid and of sulphates in 
f nitrates. Carbonate of potash ami soda jUNimitCB. Sulphate of lime or gypsum, is 
nd chloride of sodium, are frequently used well fitted as a manure for clover. It acts 
s manures. The latter is especially useful in supplying sulphur and lime, and in ab- 
i the case of plants cultivated inland, as sorbing ammonia. Charcoal in a solid state, 
labbages, Asparagus, and Sea-kale. As has been applied with advantage as a ma- 
'me is found in all plants, the salts contain- ! mire. It acts partly by taking up ammonia 
ire of great importance. It may be I in large quantities, and partly in combining 



sed in the caustic state, with the view pf 
ecomposing vegetable matter, and aiding 
i the formation of carbonic acid. It also 
eutralizes any acid previously in the soil, 
nd is said to occur occasionally in boggy 
nd marshy land, abounding in species of 
uncus, Carcx, and Eriophorum, with some 
alluna vulgaris. Lime also combines with 
srtain elements of the soil, and sets potash 
■ee, which reacts on the silica, and renders 

soluble. Lime is sometimes washed down 
lto the subsoil ; and, in such cases, trench- 
)g improves the land. Phosphate of lime 

a valuable manure, both on account of the 
me, and of the phosphorus which it con- 



slowly with oxygen, so as to form carbonic 
acid. The effects of carbonic acid on vege- 
tation are said to be remarkably conspicuous 
in some volcanic countries, in which this 
gas is evolved from the bottom of lakes. 
When it accumulates in large quantities, 
however, it destrojs plants as well as ani- 
mals. 

Manuring with Green Crops is some- 
times practised. The mode adopted is I i 
sow certain green crops, the roots of which 



* Putrefaction is preferable. See Tyson's re- 
port, page 366, June number Southern Planter. — 
[Editor. 'lur 



^__ 



652 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



[NOVEMBEI 



extend deeply into the soil; and when the 
plants have advanced considerably in growth, 
to plough them in, and sow a crop of some 
kind of grain. In this way the nutritive 
matter from the deeper part of the soil is 
brought within reach of the roots of the 
grain crop. Manuring with sea-weeds is 
al^o resorted to in cases where they are ac- 
cessible. They supply abundance of car- 
bonate, phosphate, and sulphate of lime, be- 
sides chloride of sodium. There are con- 
siderable differences in their chemical com- 
position; thus, while in Laminaria saccha* 
rina, alkaline carbonates, potash, and iodine, 
predominate; in Fucus vesiculosus and ser- 
ratus, sulphates and soda are in excess, and 
iodine is less abundant. In the cultivation 
of the Coco-nut Palm, Mr. M'Nab finds 



Liquid Manures have of late year 
been much employed, and the formatioi 
of tanks for their reception has beei 
strongly recommended, in which the am 
monia is fixed by the addition of sulphurii 
acid or charcoal. They can be applied afte 
vegetation has advanced, and they are in s 
state to be made at once available to th< 
crop. More recently some have advocatec 
a system of steeping seeds and grains ii 
certain solutions before sowing them. Pro 
fessor Johnston suggests a mixture of phos 
phate of soda, sulphate of magnesia, nitrafo 
of potash, common salt, and sulphate o 
ammonia (1 lb. of each), in ten gallons o 
water, to steep 300 lbs. of seeds, which ar< 
to be afterwards dried with gypsum o; 
quicklime. 



that sea-weeds act very beneficially. 

The following experiment, conducted by Mr. Wilson, at Knock, near Larges, show, 
the mode of estimating the effects of manures. The land was a piece of three-year oh 
pasture, of uniform quality. It was divided into ten lots, and these were treated witl 
different kinds of manure. The quantity of well-made hay is given in pounds: — 



Produce 
per Lot. 

Lot 1. — Left untouched, 420.. 

" 2. — 2$ barrels Irish quicklime, r 602... 

" 3. — 20 cwt. Lime of gas-works, 651... 

" 4. — 4J cwt. Wood charcoal powder, 665 . . 

u 5.— 2" bushels Bone-dust, 603... 

<; 6. — 18 fts. Nitrate of potash, , 742 . . . 

" 7. — 20 fts. Nitrate of soda, 784.. 

8.— 2^ bolls Soot, 819... 

" 9.-28 B5s. Sulphate of ammonia, :... 874... 

" 10. — 100 gallons Ammoniacal liquor of gas-works. ) q , , 

5° Tweddell r s hydrometer,. ... $ M» • . • 



Rate 
per Acre 
...3360 
...4816 
...5208 
...5320 
...5544 
...5936 
...6272 
...6552 
...6776 



,7560 



The value of each application was the same, 
all were applied at the same time, and the 
grass also was cut at the same time. 

Plants are thus employed to form from 
the atmosphere and soil those organic pro- 
ducts which are requisite for the nourish- 
ment of man and animals. While an ani- 
mal consumes carbon so as to form carbonic 
acid, gives off ammonia in various excre- 
tions, transforms organized into mineral 
matters and restores its elements to air and 
earth; a plant, on the other hand, fixes car- 
bon in its substance and gives off oxygen, 
forms from ammonia solid compounds, trans- 
forms mineral into organized matters, and 
derives its elements from the air and earth. 
Thus, says Dumas, what the atmosphere and 
soil yield to plants, plants yield to animals, 
and animals return to the air and earth, a 
constant round in which matter merely 



changes its 
Botany. 



place and form.* — Bal/our\ 



* For fuller particulars as to the food of plants 
analyses of plants, soils, manures, and rotation 
of crops, see Johnston's Lectures on Agricultura 
Chemisty; Liebig's Works'; Dumas oil Organic 
Nature; Davy's Agricultural Chemistry, by Shier 
Mulder's Chemistry of Organic Bodies, trans 
lated by Fromberg; and various Papers in the 
Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, 1844-46; Sans- 
sure's Works; Daubeny on Rotation of Crops 



Phil. Trans. 
Rurale. 



1845; Boussingault, Economie 



Silver and Silver-Plated Articles. — The 
readiest mode of cleaning these articles, is 
to wipe them over with a weak solution of 
liquid ammonia. This readily removes the 
sulphide, and no rubbing, or scarcely any is 
required. The same agent will be found use- 
ful in cleaning gold chains and jewelry. 



I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



From the Transactions of the Highland and Agri- 
cultural Sucietij. 

On Breeding and Rearing Cattle. 

By Henry Tannku, l*rofm*r of Agrinil- 

ture, Queen's College, Birmingham. 

[premium cold mkdal.] 

NO. II. 

{Continued from October Xumber.) 

The Management of the Yearling Heifers 
may now be noticed. These will be brought 
from the fields in which they Imve been sum- 
mered, and placed in sheltered situations near 
the homestead. An open yard, with sufficient 
shedding, is by far the best place for winter- 
ing young growing stock, and especially in 
preparing them for avoiding the quarter-evil, 
to which heifers of this age nre peculiarly lia- 
ble. Exercise is of the greatest importance 
to young and growing stock, as it enables them 
to bring the various parts of the body into ac- 
tion, and thus induces a healthy development 
of the organism. In addition to which, if 
young cattle have good shelter, and can nt all 
times rest in a dry and comfortable position, 
they become more hardy in their constitution, 
and better able to withstand the attacks of dis- 
ease, than that enervated and enfeebled class 
of stock which are confined in warm and ill- 
ventilated buildings during the winter months. 
I have experienced the difference in a marked 
degree, and I am fully persuaded that the 
want of exercise, and the too careful housing 
which young stock sometimes receive, are fre- 
quently productive of much injury to the con- 
stitution. On'the other hand, when stock are 
neglected, and have little or no shelter from 
the storms of winter, they must necessarily 
suffer therefrom. The medium course is the 
best. Give the young cattle warm and com- 
fortable shedding, with plenty of exercise, 
fresh air, and a liberal supply of bedding, and 
no fear need be entertained but that they will 
thrive, and remain more healthy throughout 
the winter and following summer, than when 
kept in any other manner, especially under a 
system which shields them from every change 
of temperature, like conservatory plants. It 
is needless for me to draw the attention of my 
readers to the difference in their coats in the 
spring. If they are thus treated they retain 
their rough coats, as nature intended they 
should, until the weather renders it desirable 
for them to be cast away; but when young 
stock come from the houses in the spring, they 
generally have the sleek coat of summer to 
withstand weather for which it is not sufficient, 
and the result is a check, which is in most 
cases accompanied with an inflammatory ten- 
dency. 

It may be argued that an economy of food 
requires a different system of management. 
I readily yield the point that stock which are 



thu9 exposed require more food than others 
will consume in more sheltered situations, and 

there is a sacrifice made in thi> r« *\ 
But 1 believe it to be a sacrifice which is well 
worth making, because you obtain then 
degree of hnrdniness for the animal which is 
extremely valuable, and in comparison with 
which the extra food consumed is not worthy 
of consideration. 

The usual food for yearlings during th< 
winter is hay and turnips. This is n 
suitable food, but the addition of 1 of 2 lb. of 
oil-cake daily, according to the site of the 
breed, will favour their growth and condition, 
and much more than repay the expense (say 
Id. to 2d. per day) in the animal, whilst the 
manure in the yards will he of superior qual- 
ity. Hitherto the use of oil-cake has heen too 
much confined to the fattening stock of the 
farm, but I believe its use upon the store stock 
is frequently attended with more profit than 
upon the fat stock. It is, however, worthy of 
passing remark, that store stock thus accus- 
tomed to small quantities of oilcake subse- 
quently fatten more easily than others not thus 
prepared for fattening. It will generally be 
found desirable to fasten up store stock whilst 
having their cake ; a more regular consump- 
tion will then take place, and the stronger ani- 
. mala will be restrained from taking the share 
of a weaker neighbor. 

Another point in the management of grow- 
ing stock, and which is of great importance, 
is quiet and gentle treatment — everything like 
harshness being studiously avoided. They 
should rather be accustomed to receive atten- 
tion, and allow persons to approach them with- 
out fear. In some yards it is almost impossi- 
ble to approach thorn without the danger of 
their injuring themselves in their attempts to 
escape; whilst in other cases, when accustom- 
ed to quiet treatment, strangers even may ap- 
proach and examine them. 

By continuing such a careful and liberal 
course of treatment throughout the winter, we 
shall find the yearlings in good condition, and 
ready for being turned out to grass as soon as 
the season and the herbage are sufficiently ad- 
vanced. During the second summer shelter 
and good keep will be equally beneficial, al- 
though not equally imperative, still nothing 
like a check should ever be allowed. The use 
of oil-cake may be advantageously continued 
to a small extent— say 1 lb. daily ; but when 
the pasture is deficient, it may be increased. 
This will improve the land, whilst the stock 
will grow better and be much more healthy. 
In fact, it has been found that the use of 
small quantities of oil-cake has prevented the 
quarter-evil — a disease much dreaded by most 
stock-breeders.* 



• Mr. Wilson, Edington Mains, considers 
use of linseed-cake as a specific in quarter-evil. 
His invaluable Prize Report on the Rearing of 



G54 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[November 



This quarter-ceil is a subtle complaint, which 
is almost peculiar to our yearlings. It carries 
off large numbers of stock, and when its at- 
tack is commenced there is little hope of re- 
covery. One general cause may be observed 
in the majority of cases, and it is the result of 
bad management. From some cause or other 
the yearlings have had a check in their growth. 
It may be from being wintered badly, or pos- 
sibly from being put upon inferior pasture in 
the early summer, or it may be from sudden 
change from warm buildings during the cold 
nights of May, followed by a sudden removal 
to better keep or more shelter. The first re- 
sult of this change is a gradual improvement 
in the animal, which continues in a marked 
degree until the system is preparing more 
blood from this rich food than it has energy 
to use, and the result is an inflammatory ac- 
tion in one quarter of the body. Had the sys- 
tem been. kept in a state of progressive im- 
provement, it would have been prepared for 
the healthy employment of the nourishment 
brought into the system, but as this nourish- 
ment follows a period of scarcity, the system 
receives this rapid increase of rich blood more 
quickly than it regains its energy to use it, 
and hence an inflammatory action commences. 

There are various modes adopted to prevent 
this attack. A seton in the dewlap is frequent- 
ly employed with success. Occasional doses 
of purgative medicine have been found useful. 
The cause, however, appears to suggest the 
preventive by avoiding periods of insufficient 
food being followed by strong keep. It will 
sometimes happen that the keep is not suffi- 
ciently abundant for the stock, but this should 
be met by the use of artificial, (such as oil- 
cake, for instance), and great caution should 
be shown in putting stock upon better keep 
after they have had a short supply. 

If, however, the quarter-evil makes its ap- 
pearance, I have been frequently successful 
in curing the animal by giving one of the fol- 
lowing powders three times daily — digitalis, 1 
scruple; nitre, 1 drachm; tartar, antimony, 
1 scruple. Its utility depends upon its imme- 
diate use, for the loss of half an hour may de- 
Cattle, published in the Transactions, may be 
consulted on this point. I have never met with 
a case of this disease in all my experience. 
Good keeping, however, may be considered not 
as a preventive in every instance. — a famous 
breeder of unproved short-horns having lost in 
summer four calves, which had been treat- 
ed in the most liberal manner. The same bree- 
der had lost fiom time to time so many fine ani- 
mal- by the disease, that he had to give up, 
from prudential motives, the breeding of valua- 
ble stock. This instance is rather agairrst the 
idea that oil-cake is an unfailing remedy against 
the malady. Other agents, such as atmospheric 
influences or nature of the soil, have in all. pro- 
bability not a little to do with it. 

/. Z>., Aththtaneford. 



termine against its being of any service. The 
appearance of this disease should lead to extra 
diligence in preventing any others from suf- 
fering in the same manner, as generally there 
are others similarly predisposed for its attack. 

Rheumatism is often productive of much in- 
convenience, and especially amongst cattle of 
this age. It generally arises, from a want of 
sufficient shelter, or from stock being kept in 
low, damp land late in the season. Remedies 
arc here of little service, for the attack soon 
passes off after they are removed from the 
cause.* 

Management of Two-year-old Heifers. — Lit- 
tle need be added to the foregoing to describe 
the course of management which should be 
adopted the following season, for it is simply 
a repetion of the former year's practice. I 
shall therefore proceed at once to consider the 
time at which heifers should be allowed to 
breed. The practice of breeders differs widely 
as it is possible, and many adopt a course they 
do not entirely approve of, to overcome greater 
difficulties which present themselves in making 
many of our best animals breed. These diffi- 
culties are oftentimes almost insurmountable, 
and many of our best animals are consequently 
placed in the hands of the butcher, with a very 
reluctant will on the part of the breeder. It 
is very desirable we should understand the 
causes which come into operation, as they are 
productive of much inconvenience and delay, 
and frequently lead to the loss of our best ani- 
mals. 

The fact is, what we consider a perfect ani- 
mal is altogether an unnatural development. 
The consequence is, that as we diverge from 
the otiginal type, so increased difficulties are 
thrown in our way for reproducing animals 
possessing such unnatural characters. If we 
take an ordinary cow or heifer, reared on com- 
mon land or moors — it may be, under many 
hardships and privations — we find no difficulty 
inbreeding from such an animal; but when 
we have — as we call them — better bred ani- 
mals to deal with, we find a progressive series 
of difficulties. Are we then to consider the 
design of Nature incomplete in this respect? 
Certainly not. . This is no solitary instance of 
the opportunities of improving natural produce 
which stimulate the energy and industry of 
man, and of the reward which follows his per- 
severance. Look at the general produce of a 
farm, and observe the extent to which many of 
our most valuable productions differ from and 



* The effect of rheumatism is understated; it 
frequently assumes an aggravated form, when 
once the ligatures and membranes of the joints 
get inflamed. A chronic tenderness or inflam- 
mation sets in; for such cases there is no cure. 
Young bulls are most subject to it. It is sup- 
posed by many to be the effects of cold, chills, 
or want of suificient exercise while the animals 
are allowed nutritious food.—/. D. 



18G0.] 



Til K SOUTH ERN PLANTER. 



<;.->.-> 



surpass tlio originial specimens from which 
they m:\y have been obtained. All, however, 
if neglected, poMWfl R tmideney, as it is term- 
ed, to degenerate, or, in other words, to resume 
their original churacter; and this is doubtless 
R vnlimbTo property. Our improved cuttle do 
not possess those conditions which are best 
;id::ptcd for perpetuating the species; and it 
ies evident, upon examination, that na- 
ture, whilst she has with jealous care made 
abundant provision for perpetuating every de- 
scription of animal and plant, ami given them 
habits and developments best adapted to this 
end, has at the same time given them expan-i 
give capabilities. Thus, under the care of; 
man, they are capable of improvement ; but 
as soon as he neglects them, they gradually 
reassume their original form, in which they 
are independent of his care. So far, then, 
from being an imperfection in the design of 
Nature, we see here how she encourages those 
who strive for improvement, whilst at the same 
time she has not overlooked the safety of the 
species when neglected and uucared for by 
man. 

The difficulties which impede our breeding 
from highly developed animals are two-fold — 
barrenness, an incapacity to retain the em- 
bryo. These are too often looked upon as sim- 
ilar, but there is a great difference between 
these two causes. Barrenness results from an 
imperfect development or action of the organs 
of generation ; but in order that this may be 
fully understood, it will be important to have 
a clear view of the process of productive gen- 
eration. The seed is formed in the ovaries 
of the female; as soon as an ovum is fully 
ripened, it causes a very great degree of ex- 
citement, and the animal manifests its desire 
for the male. This period is determined by 
the ovum becoming fully matured. Around 
the mouth of the ovarium we find the fimbria?, 
which hold in their convoluted folds the ovum 
thrown oft' by the female, until the same is im- 
pregnated by the seminal fluid of the male. 
The impregnated ovum then descends through 
one of the Fallopian tubes into the uterus, 
and the development of the embryo into a 
foetus immediately commences. 

It is evident that many circumstances may 
render the animal incapable of breeding; for 
instance, malformation of any of the parts, 
and also want of energy in the system to ena- 
ble the ova to be formed. Natural barrenness 
of this kind is beyond our control, and the 
animal will have "to be fed; but generally 
speaking, the nnimal comes into heat periodi- 
cally, and hence some other cause is indicated, 
for it seldom if ever happens that an animal 
which is incapable of breeding from the two 
former causes manifests this desire for the 
male. When, however, this is never observed, 
it is an old-fashioned plan to give her a quart 
of milk from a cow which is bulling, and it is 



said to produce an t-v iteimtit of the energy 
which Inn! previously remained dormant. 

The majority of dwell of difficult breeding 
may be traced to the excitement of the uterus 
throwing off the impregnated ovum instead of 
allowing it to remain and become fully devel- 
oped into a foetus. The consequence is, that 
many animals continue to take the hull month 
after month without being productive, and va- 
rious methods have been adopted to overcome 
this difficulty. Some bleed the animal imme- 
diately upon her taking the bull, so us to draw- 
away blood from the part, and decrease the 
excitement ; others throw water over the hin- 
der part of the animal, with a view of driving 
the blood to the anterior portion of the body ; 
another method is to throw some water into 
one of the years of the animal ; this gives a 
shock to the system, and the fright draws off* 
the attention, and consequently lessens the 
excitement in the uterus. I have found the 
most successful plan is to allow the bull to 
serve again when the period of heat is passing 
off. It is, however, generally necessary to use 
a young bull for this purpose. 

Many breeders of high-bred stock, to over- 
come this evil, have their heifers put, to the 
bull very much earlier than they otherwise 
would do — in 8 >me cases when little more than 
yearlings. It is very evident that a great sa- 
crifice is made by adopting this plan. Before 
an animal has made its growth and its parts 
have become fully developed, the energy of 
the system is diverted towards another object; 
if, therefore, the nourishment the heifer re- 
ceives is divided between promoting its own 
growth and that of the calf, it is evident that 
both will suffer therefrom. The parent is thus 
thrown out of proper form by the weight it 
has to support, and the entire system suffers 
from an excessive demand on its strength. The 
offspring is equally prejudiced, for it receives 
the constitution of an enfeebled parent, and 
for a considerable time shows the ill-effects 
upon its system* 

It has been considered that this difficulty of 
breeding is a necessary consequence, but I have 
to a great extent overcome it by adopting the 
following plan. Presume that we are dealing 
with a choice lot of heifers, which have had 
every means and opportunity for becoming 
fully developed, and that from the period of 
birth until they are, say, from twenty-one 
months to two years old, they have been reared 
with the view of producing as perfect animals 
as the breed will allow. Supposing them to 



* Heifers may, at sixteen months, if properly 
developed, be put to breed without any injurious 
sequences, provided always that they are 
I literally fed during the period of gestation, and 
not allowed to suckle their offspring. By beiim 
pnt on good pasture they will grow freely, and 
this practice almost insures them going on breed- 
ng. and their shape is not injured. — J. D. 



650 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[November 



have been calved early in the year, they would, 
when brought into the yards, be twenty-one 
months or thereabouts: instead of putting them 
upon good food, they should be put upon a 
straw diet for a month or six weeks, not sim- 
ply that they may pick over the choicest por- 
tions, but eat the greater part supplied to them. 
The result is, that thi3 diet leads to a loss of 
condition, and a greater aptitude for breeding 
immediately results; for it is a law of nature, 
that any check upon the animal which threat- 
ens to endanger its permanency (disease ex- 
cepted) diverts the energy of the body to a re- 
production of its species. 

I have seen the end gained by sending stock 
to another district, giving them change of 
climate and herbage, but it must be to inferior 
rather than superior keep. Heifers which have 
been removed from rich land in consequence of 
the unsuccessful endeavour to make them pro- 
duce stock, and put upon the moors, have been 
found to breed directly. Of course, judgment 
must be used in the degree to which such a 
check should be carried, for a remedy which in 
itself is valuable may be rendered destructive 
by injudicious use. 

My own experience and observation lead me 
to the conclusion that, through the early stages 
of life, a liberal system of feeding is most de- 
sirable, and that it should be continued until 
the animal has become well developed and 
ready for breeding. Then give a sudden change 
from good keep to a straw diet, and after four 
or six weeks commence using the bull. I 
would strongly urge that the bull should not 
be used until the heifers are thus prepared; for 
wtien once an animal has returned to the bull, 
it has a greater tendency to do afterwards. I 
therefore strongly recommend breeders not to 
use the bull first, and having found it fail, then 
to adopt the above system. They should be 
carefully separated from other stock for some 
hours after they take the bull each time, and 
subsequently kept apart until all signs of heat 
have passed away. Should any cases arise in 
which the heifers fail to prove in calf by this 
method, and the breed is of such value as to 
render the additional expense but of little im- 
portance, send them away to the nearest com- 
mon or moor for the following season, and let 
them be regularly brought to a good bull. I 
need scarcely say thsit any which prove to be 
in calf should gradually receive better food. 

The difficulties which breeders have to con- 
tend are not confined to the female side ;it is 
therefore important to glance at the other part 
of the question. In rearing a bull the princi- 

fles I have named apply with equal force, but 
am bound to say are not equally disregarded. 
In fact, the generally-received impression is, 
that the young bull should have every 'oppor- 
tunity for arriving at a perfect growth. I shall 
not therefore occupy valuable space by a re- 
capitulation, but rather state that the same 
liberal system of feeding is of even greater im- 



portance in the case of the blul than I have 
represented to be for the heifers. Many allow 
young bulls to commence serving cows when 
twelve months old, but it is not to be recom- 
mended. I should rather advise delay until 
twenty or twenty-four months old. Up to this 
time every inducement should be given to the 
system to attain a perfect development by a 
careful course of management. Afterwards, 
however, whilst used as a breeding animal, it 
it desirable to keep the bull in good condition, 
but not as fat as is usually done. It is true 
that "fat hides faults, " but the breeder need 
not thus blind himself, and add to any ex- 
isting deficiency in the animal a want of 
vigour and energy which it is so important 
the bull should possess. 

We may safely take it as a rule that, after a 
bull has attained a full development, our ob- 
ject should be to keep him in active working 
condition, rather than as a fa t bullock. It is 
altogether a false idea that a tendency to .this 
excessive fatness is given to the stock. My 
own conviction is, that the same bull, in good 
working condition, would throw a more healthy 
calf than he would when excessively fat, and 
with at least an equal disposition for fatting. 
In addition to this we must overlook the large 
number of failures and disappointments which 
arise from fat bulls. There is less activity 
and less power without any compensating ad- 
vantage; and therefore I suggest that the bull 
should be allowed to become well developed 
before being used, and subsequently, whilst 
being fed liberally, the food ought rather to 
have a tendency to form muscle than fat. 

We may now refer to some other causes 
J which render bulls unproductive of stock. 
There may be a natural incapacity to produce 
stock from malformation ; but this, although 
existing in some instances, is not frequent- 
Sometimes, however, an animal having pro- 
duced calves loses the power of reproduction 
either for a time or permanently; this is gene- 
rally the result of disease. It may arise f^fom 
overexertion, or premature use, but more fre- 
quently from inflammatory action, induced by 
contact with cows which have been driven far, 
or which have been running about violently. 
Many choice bulls are thus injured from cows 
being sent considerable distances. Cows which 
have been driven from a distance should al- 
ways remain in some loose-box as long as may 
be prudent, so as to cool down before being 
put to the bull. If, however, the bull has 
caught this disease, he should be kept from 
breeding for a time, and the parts regularly 
fomented, and cooling medicine given. Mis- 
chief generally happens from the early symp- 
toms being neglected, and thus the bull often 
becomes worthless. 

Close relationship of blood is another cause 
of unproductive bulls; and they are often con- 
demned, as incapable for producing calves, 
when an entire change of blood disproves their 



I860.] 



Til E SOUTH ERN PLANT E It. 



657 



incapacity. This is even more evident with 
heifers. 

In conjunction with this part of my subject, it 
may he desirable to in a Una tow passing com incuts 
upon the chief points o[' character which should 

be possessed by breeding animals. I do so ir- 
respective of breed ; for Although each distinct 
breed may have its own peculiarities, yet there 

arc certain <i utilities which should be possessed 

by all breeds in common with each other. The 
first point to be clearly settled is the class of 

animal to be produced. It is not enough to 
decide upon breeding from a cow or heifer ; we 
must rather decide what we want to produce, 
and select our animals accordingly. It may 
be either breeding, dairy, or beef-producing 
stock, which is required, but each renders a 
modified course desirable, and I may say ne- 
cessary. 

Breeding Stock. — As a general rule, it may 
be taken that, to produce superior stock, no 
middle course is sale or successful. The best 
stock obtainable should be bred from, and it is 
bad policy to spare any moderate outlay in se- 
curing first-class animals. Many obtain second- 
class animals, and endeavour to raise from them 
superior breeding stock. I am convinced it is 
a wrong policy to adopt. Breeders will not 
generally spare their best animals, and it fre- 
quently happens that the best cannot be ob- 
tained. In such cases there is no choice but to 
select the best that may be obtainable. . 

In such cases pedigree is fully entitled to our 
consideration, and it is desirable that it should 
be watched with care. In all cases where the 
breed has been carefully preserved pure, great 
benefit will, result from doing so. The cha- 
racter of a breed becomes more and more con- 
centrated and confirmed in a pedigree animal, 
and this character is rendered more fully 
hereditary in proportion to the number of 
generations through which it has been trans- 
mitted. By the aid of pedigree, purity of blood 
may be insured, and a systematic plan adopted 
by which we can perpetuate distinct families, 
and thereby obtain a change of blood without 
its being a cross. It is evident that any one 
adopting a systematic arrangement will be 
able to do this more effectually than another 
without this aid. This is the more important 
when the number of families is small, as is the 
case with Devonsand Hereford*, especially the 
former. The individual animals from which 
the Devons are descended are very limited in 
number and in a few hands, but, with some 
honourable exceptions, little attention is given 
to this point. The importance is rendered evi- 
dent by the decreasing size of the breed, the 
number of barren heifers, and the increased 
delicacy of constitution shown in the stock of 
many breeders of that district who are not par- 
ticular in this respect. The contrast hetween 
such herds, and those in which more care and 
judgment are exercised, renders the advan- 
tages of attention to pedigree very evident; for 
42 



here the strength of constitution is retained, 
together with many id' the advantages of this 
vuluahlo breed. 

Having then, with due consideration, selected 
the breed and the families of that breed pos- 
sessing the points which arc to he perpetuated, 
it is necessary to take individuals therefrom. 
The cows should be characterised by an apti- 
tude for producing fine calves and bringing 
them to a full degree of development. They 
should therefore be good milkers, for the value 
of the produ-ce will he very much regulated by 
this character. We shall have occasion to see 
subsequent] y that this property is in no degree 
prejudicial to any other desirable point of cha- 
racter. This tendency to produce milk not 
only influences the supply of food to the young 
animal after its birth, when any deficiency 
may be remedied, but it regulates the growth 
of the calf before birth when a substitute 
cannot be used. 'Jhus many of our best- 
bred short-horn cows produce calves which are 
very imperfectly developed and exceedingly 
weak — so much so, that many persons accus- 
tomed to inferior stock would consider them 
scarcely worth rearing. This is mainly refer- 
able to the supply of nourishment given to the 
calf being so small, for the subsequent supply 
of milk clearly indicates how limited had been 
the support given to the foetus. 

This neglect of the milking disposition is a 
great evil at the present day, and our best 
breeds are suffering, and will continue to suf- 
fer, from it until more attention is given to 
this point in the awards at the National Exhi- 
bitions. Here it should be made a leading, 
point of merit, and this would stimulate breed- 
ers to give more attention feo it. It has been< 
sadly overlooked, but it is in the power of the- 
Highland Agricultural Society, and other 
kindred societies, to do much to bring our 
breeding cows into a more satisfactory state in 
this respect. Already, great complaints have 
been made of sto^k sent abroad, and particu- 
larly from America, which acts prejudicially on 
ourselves; and when it is seen that the posses- 
sion of milking properties may be advantage- 
ously encouraged even in our best breeds, it is 
evident that it is only necessary to draw atten- 
tion repeatedly to this fact, ana sooner or later 
it must be corrected. 

Breeding cows should also possess strong- 
and healthy constitutions, and there are certain 
[developments of figure which indicate their ex- 
istence. No one would consider a flat-ribbed 
', animal with a narrow carcass and contracted 
I chest to give promise of health; neither would 
! the rising of the rump-hone be a good feature. 
These are sure signs of predisposition to con- 
sumption and diarrhoea. The full round barrel 
! ami the deep wide client, together with a level 
\ back and broad pins, are essential points of 
healthy constitutions. 

We are well aware that many diseases are 
ransmittel from the parent to the offspring, 



658 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[November 



which must be jealously guarded against. 
Dysentery, consumption, scrofula, and rheu- 
matic affections have been clearly proved to be 
perpetuated in this manner. It is therefore of 
the deepest importance to avoid anything of 
the kind in the parents selected for a herd of 
breeding cattle. The three former frequently 
result from relationship being too close, in 
other cases arising from different causes, but 
the effect is the same, so far as regards the ex- 
tension of the evil. That boldness of figure 
which we prize as indicating a well-developed 
animal is also valuable as a sign of health and 
vigour. Thus, those points which are so pleasing 
to the grazier are equally valuable to the breeder. 

The breeder of first-class stock cannot be too 
particular iu his selection of bulls. He must 
always be prepared to detect the weak points 
of his stock, and remedy them by using a bull 
well developed in these respects. JNotwith- 
standing the great importance of having good 
cows to breed from, the influence exerted by 
the bull renders his quality and character of 
even greater importance. Not only are his 
good or bad qualities spread through the large 
number of cows he serves, but there are cer- 
tain hereditary qualities more fully transmitted 
from the bull than the cow. The bull, there- 
fore, should be as perfect as can be obtained, 
and possess the greatest purity of descent. 

The following points may be said to indicate 
a well-developed bull : 

The iifearf 'should be rather small in propor- 
tion to the animal, and well set on the neck, 
with a fine tapering muzzle, a broad forehead, 
bright full yet placid eyes, furnished with a 
graceful horn of fine quality, and ears small 
.and fine. 

The Keck should be thick but not too short, 
ibut having a graceful appearance by tapering 
steadily towards the head, and yet not getting 
.thin behind the cars. 

The Shoulder should be snugly in the car 
cass; it should be covered «vith a well-devel 
oped muscle down to the knee, below which it 
should possess a fine and flat bony structure. 

1 he Chest should be bold and prominent, 
wide and deep, furnished with a deep but not 
; a coarse dewlap. 

The Carcass should be barrel-shaped, hav 
ing a top level and broad, especially across the 
.hips, the ribs should be well rounded, the space 
between the last rib and the pin should not be 
too short, yet at the same time we must guard 
against too much length ; there will, however, 
be little cause for objection if the rib is well 
.rounded and the bono flat, for it will add 
weight to the animal in a good part. The 
flank should be full and pendant. 

The Hind Legs should be lull and fleshy 
down to the hock, with a well-developed but- 
tock, showing great substance, but below the 
hoclc we require a fine and cleanly-formed bone. 

The Tail should be finely formed, without 
i.much hair. 



The Hide mellow to tjie touch, covered with 
a fine yet plentiful coat of hair. 

Animals thus developed in all these points 
will be alike gratifying to the eye of the con- 
noisseur and profitable to the grazier. 

Bulls have a natural tendency to show 
points of failure which are not observable in 
bullocks ; and, taking all breeds into consider- 
ation, this is most frequently noticed by a de- 
ficiency in the hind quarters of the animal. 
Whilst, however, we should endeavour to ob- 
tain a bull as perfectly formed as possible, it 
is especially desirable to secure a full, I might 
almost say an excessive, development of any 
part which may be deficient in the cows or 
heifers he has to be used with. If they are 
weak, either in the fore. or hind quarter, or if 
deficient in size, this may be remedied by 
selecting a bull distinguished for possessing 
these properties in an unusual degree. 

It is in this respect that the extensive breed- 
ers have such advantage over those keeping 
smaller herds. It is necessary for them to 
keep three or four bulls, and very often they 
have more. The consequence is, that a selec- 
tion can be made in such cases according to 
the deficiency of the heifer or cow; whereas, 
where only one bull is kept, this cannot be 
without involving the expense and trouble of 
sending to a distance, and often this is not 
available. It is a matter of doubt with some 
how.far an increase of size obtained by using 
a large bull can be done with safety to the fe- 
males producing the calves. No fear need be 
entertained on this ground. The female alone 
determines the size of the calf at birth, but 
subsequently a larger growth shows the in- 
crease of size derived from the sire. * 

The possession of a good form and desirable 
qualties is not all that is necessary to be no- 
ticed in selecting a bull for producing breed- 
ing stock. We have also to observe how far 
this character has been held by his parents. 
Cases are frequent in which inferior cows have 
been put to jirst-class bulls, and the produce 
has rivalled the sire for beauty and perfection; 
but such an animal, although possesssing in an 
eminent degree the formation of body, which is 
desired, is totally unfit for being used as a 
bull. Here we have the explanation of the 
fact that many bulls which are most pleasing 
to the eye are noted for throwing inferior 
stock. 

The explanation is clearly this, that the 
maxim of "like producing like" is modified by 
another law — viz, that animals have varying 



* A large male has a great deal of influence 
on the size of the cult, as well as of the young 
in other animals. Well-known instances occur 
in the dog and the sheep. The mothers are of- 
ten lost if the disproportion between the male 
and female is too great. When small heifers 
are served with too large a bull, it is always at- 
tended with difficulty and danger. — J. D. 



I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



659 



powers of hereditary transmission, dependent 
upon the degree to which certain peculiarities 
ot character may have been concentrated with- 
in them. As I have before said, every succes- 
sive generation "in the line" will possess, in 
a greater degree, the power of transmitting 
certain peculiarities ; and immediately such 
an animal is crossed with a cow which has no 
such power, in oonsequeuee of an irregular 
line ox descent, the bull exerts the greatest in- 
fluence, and the progeny fully partakes of his 
character. 

The quality of the produce is improved even 
more where this difference exists, than if a 
superior caw had been used. Lord Spencer 
noticed this many years ago. He says.* " It 
is admitted by every one that the qualities of 
the offspring are usually similar to those of the 
parents, either combining, in various propor- 
tions, the qualities of both parents, or taking 
entirely after one. I should say, as regards 
cattle and sheep, that in most cases the quali- 
ties of the male parent predominate in the off- 
spring. I have also observed that the worse 
bred the female is, the more will this be the 
case when she is put to a well-bred male." 
This principle had been previously advocated 
by Rev. II. Berry in his celebrated Prize Es- 
say on Breeding. It is therefore as important 
to see the parents of the bull as the animal it- 
self; and no one pretending to any degree of 
careful breeding should neglect this- point. 
Here we again observe the value of pedigree, 
which is so justly appreciated by short-horn 
breeders, who well know that any taint in the 
descent often reappears after several genera- 
tions, to the prejudice of the stock. 

An error is frequently committed by breed- 
ers of stock of medium merit, from not being 
particular as to the bull first used for their 
heifers, considering that as an heifer's calf is 
not generally desirable for stock, so it is not 
important to select a good bull. There is, how- 
ever, little doubt but that the character of the 
bull Jurat used gives an impress to tt.e entire 
produce of that animal, even although later 
claves are got by other bulls. The temper of 
the bull should not be overlooked, for it is es- 
tablished beyond all doubt that this is heredi- 
tary in the stock, and it influences considera- 
ble difference on the traetability, as well as the 
disposition for fattening, of all the descend- 
ants. 

[To be Continued.] 



* Journal of the R. Jl. &, vol. i., p. 24. 

Hints on Seed Sowing. — A correspondent 
of the Gardener's Chronicle says: — "All flat 
seeds should be sown sideways, for, if laid flat 
on the ground they are apt to rot; and if this 
misfortune does not befall then), they never 
germinate so readily as those placed sideways. 
This accounts for so man}* failures amongst 
gourds, melons, cucumbers, &e. 



From Highland and JtgficuVl Joitnud of Scotland. 

The Absorbing Powers of Soils, and of 
Roots of Plants for Manures. 

BY II. HU88BLL, l\ K. s. ]•:. 

Two remarkable papers on the above sub- 
jects have recently appeared, which are well 
worthy of attention — one in the American 
Journal of Science for July, by W. S. 
Johnson, Yale College-* the other by M. 
F. Brustlein, in the Annates dc Chimie ct 
de Physique for June. Both authors go 
over nearly the same ground, but the con- 
clusions at which they arrive arc very dif- 
ferent in some respects. The paper by the 
last-mentioned author being the most ori- 
ginal of the two, and throwing an entirely 
new light on the nature of the absorbing 
power of soils, we shall first direct the at- 
tention of our readers to the important 
truths which it reveals. 

The experiments of Way, recorded in the 
11th and 13th vols, of the Journal of the 
Royal Agricultural Society, made us ac- 
quainted with many curious and interesting 
facts regarding the powers that certain soils 
possess for retaining ammonia, as well as 
other substances forming the food of plants. 
These have been repeated by many other 
eminent chemists, which not only confirmed 
their accuracy, but seemed to homologate 
the more important theoretical conclusions 
at which he had arrived. It appears to us, 
however, that M. Brustlein has been suc- 
cessful in showing that the nature of the 
absorbing quality of soils is not due to the 
formation of compounds having little solu- 
bility, but is entirely due to the mere physi- 
cal conditions of the soil. 

Professor Way, as is well known, found 
that soluble salts of ammonia, or potash, in 
filtering through argillaceous soils, are de- 
composed. The bases of these salts are re- 
tained by the soil in an almost insoluble 
.state, while the most of the acid is found 
in the filtered water, combined with lime or 
soda. The rapidity of the absorption of 
the alkaline substances by the soil is such 
as to resemble the ordinary union between 
an acid and an alkali. Different soils are ope- 
rated upon, and it was found that all soils 
capable of profitable cultivation possessed 
the property in question, in a greater or less 
degree. Sand, however, did not absorb alka- 
line substances, neither did organic matters 
have the power of decomposing salts of am- 

* November No. South. Planter, 1S58. p. 674. 



660 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[November 



monia and of retaining the base. It was' 
this last fact which led Professor Way to 
the erroneous conclusion that organic mat- 
ters had nothing to do with the absorbing 
powers of soils. Pure clays, free from the 
ordinary salts of lime and soda, possess this 
power in a high degree, and hence it was 
inferred that the activity of the clay could 
only be due to some compounds of silica. 
The double silicates of alumina and potash 
or soda having the power of forming insolu- 
ble compounds with ammonia, were sup- 
posed to be the substances to which the ab- 
sorbing properties of soils must be ascribed. 

Henneberg and Stohmann, in repeating 
the experiments of Way, with the view of de- 
termining the most favorable conditions un- 
der which it is necessary to operate in ascer- 
taining the absorbing power of a soil, found 
identical results. They have, besides, con- 
firmed his observation, that absorption di- 
minishes with the strength of the ammonia- 
cal solution made use of; and that it is mod- 
ified according to the relative proportions of 
the solution and the soil. These two chem- 
ists, indeed, have found the 'figures present- 
ing so great a regularity, as to permit Boe- 
decker to establish an algebraic formula for 
determining the amount of absorption, on 
the strength of the solution and the quanti- 
ties of soil and liquid employed being given. 

Liebig repeated the experiments of Way, 
and, confining himself exclusively to the 
properties of arable land, recognized that 
almost all soils, whether rich or poor in car- 
bonate of lime or in alumina, possessed the 
same absorbing power. He ascertained, like 
Way, that this property does not manifest 
itself with the same intensity on all the 
bases — that potash was retained with greater 
energy than soda, while the whole of the 
ammonia was retained. The behaviour of 
alkaline silicate of potash with the soil was 
the same as the other salts or potash. The 
base was absorbed at the same time that the 
greater part of the silica was retained ; and 
while the absorption of the different earths 
did not vary much, that of the silica appear- 
ed to be in the inverse ratio to the organic 
substances existing in the soil, which, hav- 
ing generally an acid reaction in saturating 
the earthy bases, such as chalk and magne- 
sia, present obstacles to the fixation of silica. 
Soil taken from a forest, and rich in organic 
debris, mixed with lime-water until it was 
alkaline, and afterwards dried, absorbed a 
large amount of potash and silica. Liebig's 



experiments led him to the conclusion that 
the absorbing power of soils is due in part 
to the chemical action of the silicates, and 
of the hydrates of alumina on the silicates 
of potash, but that it partly depends on the 
physical condition of the soil. 

In consideration of all these facts, Liebig 
also came to the same conclusion as Way, 
that the food of land-plants is always pre- 
sented to them in a special form ; that na- 
ture had given to the soil the power of ab- 
sorption, for the special purpose of prepar- 
ing the food of plants ; — in short, that the 
soil so far subserved the ends of a stomach 
for the roots of plants. Both also came to 
the conclusion that this food existed in the 
soil in an almost insoluble state. Way, 
however, believed that it still possessed a 
degree of solubility sufficient to supply the 
wants of plants. Liebig, on the other hand, 
gives his assent to the doctrine (which we 
believe we were the first broadly to put for- 
ward) that plants must exercise a dissolving 
action, by^ means of their roots, on those 
substances which are so sparingly soluble in 
water. We have always thought that, al- 
though ammonia might be retained in the 
soil by forming combinations with the dou- 
ble silicates of alumina and potash, that this 
was not an essential form of the food of land- 
plants ; that soluble food, under favorable 
circumstances, enables vegetables to develop 
themselves with greater rapidity, notwith- 
standing that they had also the power of 
taking up that which was scarcely soluble 
.in water. The experiments, however, of 
Brustlein afford matter for considering this 
subject from new and various points of 
view. 

Brustlein made his experiments at the 
suggestion of Boussingault, in the laborato- 
ry of the Conservatory of Arts and Manu- 
factures. Three kinds of soJ were first 
made use of, each possessing very different 
physical characters — 1. A tenacious and 
compact clay, from Bechelbronn, rich in 
carbonate of lime, capable of retainiing 
much water, and becoming very hard when 
dry; 2. Fertile loam, from the neighbor- 
hood of Strasburg, rich in carbonate of lime, 
and very friable ; 3. A quartzosc sand, rich 
in organic remains. In filtering an ammo- 
niated solution through these different soils, 
it was found that the amount retained by 
any soil varied exceedingly with the strength 
of the solution. Such results were not fa- 
vorable to the idea of chemical combination 



I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



G61 



in definite proportions. Experiments re- 
peated with muriate of ammonia were still 
MM so, for the absorptive power of the same 
earth, under the same conditions, presented 
a great regularity; but so soon as the 
strength of the solution varied it was 'no 
longer the same. 

• The quartzosc sandy oil, rich in organic 
matters, but almost devoid of alumina, was 
found to possess a considerable power in 
fixing ammonia from its solution in water. 
This fact seemed to indicate that in this in- 
stance the organic matter or humus was the 
active agent. Some vegetable mould, taken 
from the hollow in an oak tree, was there- 
fore subjected to experiment, when it was 
found to fix free ammonia from its solution 
in water. The mould, as well as peat, acted 
towards ammonia in exactly the same man- 
ner as arable land. These substances, in 
short, seem to ha.ve an action on ammonia 
identical to that of animal charcoal. They 
all possess, for the ammonia in solution in 
the water, an absorbent power in general 
superior to that of arable land ; and Brust- 
lein has the merit of making the discovery 
that these substances are perfectly inert to- 
wards ammonia, when it exists in solution as 
a salt. This distinction, it appears to us, 
clears up the whole matter, in showing the 
grounds of the fallacious inferences of Lie- 
big and Way. The inaction of such sub- 
stances as peat and vegetable mould for 
salts of ammonia, is therefore no doubt at- 
tributable to the want of alkaline or earthy 
carbonates to decompose them, and set the 
ammonia free and permit absorption. 

But Brustlein further subjected his hy- 
pothesis to a still more decisive test. A 
quantity of the calcareous earth from Be- 
chelbronn was repeatedly washed with di- 
luted muriatic acid, and freed from the car- 
bonate of lime which it contained. The 
soil thus prepared preserved intact the pro- 
perty of absorbing ammonia in a free state 
from solution ; but entirely lost its property 
for absorbing salts of ammonia,. This inac- 
tion, he inferred, could not proceed from the 
destruction of any aluminous compound 
analogous to those of the silicates to which 
Professor Way assigned the special function 
of decomposing alkaline salts. This was 
rendered quite evident; for, on again mix- 
ing a portion of lime, in a minute state of 
division, with the soil wiiich had been wash- 
ed with hydrochloric acid, its absorbent 
powers for the salts of ammonia were re- 



stored. It is thus beyond doubt that the 
decomposition of an ammotiiaeal salt is in- 
duced by the presence of carbonate of lime 
or magnesia in a minute state of division, 
and that the absorption of ammonia by the 
soil belongs essentially to the physical con- 
stitution of arable land. 

Brustlein further infers from his experi- 
ments that the ammonia absorbed by the 
soil is chiefly retained as such, being neither 
modified nor transformed into any nitroge- 
nous compound. In the case of humus and 
peat, however, a portion of the ammonia is 
destroyed by an absorption of oxygen taking 
place, otherwise it appears to be retained by 
the soil somewhat in the same manner as 
the soil retains water, with this difference, 
that water is essential to this attraction tak- 
ing place, or within certain limits it increases 
the power. A soil absorbs smaller quanti- 
ties ^hen it is dry than when it is moist. 
Air Tan be almost entirely deprived of its 
ammonia when made to traverse a long tube 
containing moist earth : but if in this case 
the air yields up its ammonia readily, it also 
carries the ammonia awa} r with great facility 
when dried and passed over the moist soil. 
It is found, besides, that the ammonia which 
is fixed on filtering its solutions through a 
soil, does not possess a greater stability than 
when absorbed in the gaseous form. Moist 
earth exposed to evaporation loses, along 
with its water, a considerable quantity of 
the ammonia absorbed. A portion of the 
calcareous soil from Bechclbronn lost, upon 
drying in a room where the temperature was 
not higher at the end of the experiment 
than 12 degrees centigrade, more than half 
the ammonia which it had absorbed. After 
being watered and dried four times, it only 
retained about one-fourth of the quantity of 
ammonia. Nothing, therefore, it appears to 
us, can be more completely demonstrated 
than that the absorbing powers of soils are 
due to their physical properties. Brustlein 
assumes, though he has not tested the hy- 
pothesis by experiments, that potash and 
other bases are also retained by the same in- 
fluences as fix ammonia. 

The fact of the absorbing powers of the 
soil for ammonia being weaker in dilute solu- 
tions, has naturally le4 Brustlein to believe 
that a certain amount of ammonia can exist 
in solution and circulate within the soil. 
With Way, he imagines that the degree of 
solubility, though small, may yet be sufficient 
for the wants of plants, on the supposition 



C62 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[November 



that they only take up Ijheir food in a solu- 
ble form. He has even shown that the re- 
tentive properties of soils are not so abso- 
lute in their nature but that the soil may 
be freed of its ammonia by repeated wash- 
ings. He admits, at the same time, that the 
degree of solubility of ammonia in a reten- 
tive soil is very difficult to fix. One of his 
experiments shows that the ammonia is not 
absolutely fixed, but tends to diffuse itself 
equally over continguous portions of the 
same soil. A quantity of earth which had 
absorbed a portion of ammonia was put at 
the bottom of a flower-pot placed in a saucer, 
and another portion of the same earth, but 
free from ammonia, was put above it. The 
two were only separated by a thin canvass. 
On watering the whole from below it was 
found, at the end of eleven days, that about 
one-third of the ammonia had passed 
through the canvass, and diffused its^f in 
the soil in the upper part of the fiwer- 
pot. 

After all the experiments, then, which 
have been made of late years by Liebig, 
Way, and others, and misinterpreted by 
them, we are forced to go back to the doc- 
trine put forth by Liebig in 1850, that the 
absorbent power of soils is the result of sur 
face attraction. S. W. Johnson, in the 
paper already referred to, while still cling- 
ing to the idea of the action being chiefly 
chemical, supplies some curious facts to 
show that it is so far mechanical. His de- 
ductions, however, in a great measure lose 
their interest since Brustlein has given to 
the world the results of his decisive experi- 
ments. One point, however, he touches, 
which deserves from us some attention, re- 
garding the manner in which plants take up 
their food. 

We had formerly stated that the old doc- 
trine of vegetable physiologists, that plants 
had no power of selecting their food, but 
merely took up what was in solution in the 
same manner as the wick of a candle, must 
be abandoned since Way's experiments 
showed that their food existed almost in an 
insoluble form in the soil. Since that time 
Liebig and many others have admitted that 
such must be the case, although they have 
not attempted to indicate how a function of 
this nature can reside in the roots of plants. 
Before the appearance of Liebig's recent 
Letters on Modern Agriculture we gave an 
explanation which was conceived to be most 



consistent with analogous phenomena.* In 
these Letters it appears to us that Liebig 
has served to complicate the whole question 
by supposing that the laws regulating the 
absorption of the food of land and water 
plants must be totally different. There is 
not the least necessity for such an hypothesis, 
as the same law that might regulate the oi»e 
might also regulate the other. This weak 
point in the views of Liebig has already been 
commented upon by Brustlein, Johnson, and 
others, and arguments have been founded 
upon it to show that plants only take up 
what is soluble. The former remarks in his 
paper in the Annates de Physique et Chi- 
mie : — 

In taking into account the small quantity 
of ammonia which exists in arable land, and 
its diffusion in the soil, though its solubility 
is extremely small — knowing, besides, that 
the reaction of the active, alkalies, except 
the volatility, are identical to those of am- 
monia, it appears probable enough that 
plants choose the greater part of their food 
from dilute solutions, in which is found the 
nitrogenous element. It is not doubtful that 
it is so. Aquatic plants afford the proof of 
it, and the beautiful experiments of M. 
Boussingault have established that a plant 
acquires a complete development in a soil 
formed of pure sand and quartz previously 
calcined, having for manure nitrate of 
potash, phosphates, and alkaline ashes. Un- 
der these conditions the plant is then neces- 
sarily obliged to take up its food in solution. 

The fact of plants thriving vigorously in 
sandy soils when abundantly supplied with 
moisture, has always been sufficient to con- 
vince us that the double silicates of alumina 
and potash were not, as Way assumed, abso- 
lutely necessary in preparing the food of 
plants. Nor are we to suppose with Liebig 
that what agriculturists term the " burning 
of jyoung plants" f in sandy soils by concen- 
trated manures, can at all be ascribed to 
their food being presented to them in solu- 
tion. There are no evils arising from solu- 
tions, if sufficiently diluted. In rainy sea- 
sons, sandy soils are greatly benefited by ap- 
plications of nitrates and ammoniacaJ salts, 
but the plants "burn" more readily with 
these applications in dry weather. The ab- 
sorption of food being greatly facilitated 
when it is presented to the roots in a soluble 



* Journal of Agriculture, for January 1859. 
f Letters on Agriculture, p. 38. 



I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



663 



form, the increased supply demands a 
greater amount of water to carry on the 
functions of the plant in a healthy state. 
Plants do not "burn" so readily on clay 
soils, which have the property of fixing the 
ammonia in the soil, and only giving it up 
more slowly to the plant, and thus prevent- 
ing all excess of nutriment. It seems, be- 
sides, that Sacho and Stoeckhardt have 
shown that the cereals and leguminous 
grains, as well as clover and beets, not only 
germinate, but attain a vigorous develop- 
ment, and even blossom, although their 
roots never come in contact with solid soil, 
but merely float in water holding salts in 
solution. 

If Brustlein would just consider what is 
the chemical action involved in what he 
terms "the choosing of food" by the roots 
of plants, it might lead him to perceive that 
the same force which enables the Duckweed 
(Lemna trisulcd) to select the particular 
kinds of food from solutions, might also 
enable land-plants to take up readily sub- 
stances that are little soluble in water. His 
own experiments, indeed render the whole 
subject much more easily apprehended. W. 
S. Johnson, in attempting to explain the 
selecting power exercised by the roots of 
plants when growing in saline solutions, says: 

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 ajid well 
waters — viz. from 2 to 10 parts in 1,000,000 
— it must be remembered that the plant is 
by no means compelled to limit itself for its 
supplies of mineral matter to the water 
which it transpires. The root-cells of a 
plant placed in a saline solution at once es- 
tablish osmotic currents, in virtue of the 
mutual but unbalanced attraction #th at exist 
between the cell- walls, the liquid of the cell, 
the surrounding liquid, and the saline and 
organic matteis in solution in these liquids. 
The assimilating processes going on in the 
cells are constantly transporting matters for- 
ward into the newer growths, or else remov- 
ing them from solution in the sap, and caus- 
ing their disposition in a solid form. . . 

. . As a result of this principle, the 
land-plant collects the potash, phosphoric 
acid, silica, &c., needed for its organization 
from the recently 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. 



This explanation of the absorbing and 
selecting functions of the roots of plants is 
very much the same as that which he gave 
in this Journal a few years ago.* We think, 
however, that Johnson's is deficient in sim- 
plicity, inasmuch as it introduces the 
equivocal action of osmotic diffusion, and 
which there is no occasion for taking into 
account at all. Neither the iodine of the 
ocean, nor the soluble food of plants in 
waters of irrigation, is brought to them by 
means of this power. Like the carbonic acid 
in the atmosphere to the leaves of plants, 
they are brought by currents; and as they 
pass over living absorbing surfaces, arc fixed 
in the processes of assimilation. As we 
have already said in the paper just referred 
to— 

Leaves cannot be said to select the car- 
bonic acid and ammonia of the atmosphere, 
but thev absorb these inorganic compounds 
by virme of certain affinites which exist be- 
tween them under the influence of light. 
The membrane which separates the cell-con- 
tents in the spongioles of the roots of plants 
from the inorganic world, is of a very deli- 
cate character, and we can have no greater 
difficulty in comprehending how it can ab- 
sorb these inorganic substances, which may 
have special affinites towards organic mat- 
ters in the cell-membrane or cell-contents, 
than that certain organic matters in the leaf 
attract and absorb carbonic acid under the 
influence of light. 

In the case of water-plants, there are al- 
ways agents in operation which produce a 
circulation of the solution among the roots. 
In land-plants the roots are constantly ex- 
tending and coming in contact with fresh 
surfaces. Mr. Johnson considers that the 
absorption of poisons is abnormal, whereas 
we have always insisted that it is merely an 
illustration of the power as it is active in 
healthy absorption — chemical affinity. 

On the former supposition — that ammo- 
nia, &c, existed in the soil as insoluble com- 
pounds — to which we were led by the more 
recent experiment of Way, Liebig, and 
others, considerable difficulties were pre- 
sented in accounting for the absorption of 
nutritive substances. To these neither John- 
son nor any other writer has alluded. If 
these compounds really only entered into the 
roots of plants by means of solutions, an ac- 
tion must necessarily take place which 



* 1st October 1S55. 



664 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[November 



osmotic diffusion could not possibly explain. 
The alumina and the silica which were not 
required by the plant, would be excreted by 
the roots on the assimilation of tike ammo- 
nia. We thought that it was far more con- 
sistent with similar phenomena that the de- 
composition of the armnoniacal compounds 
should be effected by the affinity existing be- 
tween them and the substances of the cell- 
walls or cell-contents. Like carbonic acid 
by the leaves, the ammonia would be sepa- 
rated from the other non-nutritive substances 
forming compounds with it, and drawn into 
the cells by chemical affinity. Silica, phos- 
phoric acid, and some other substances, we 
still consider, are in this manner dissolved 
by the roots of plants and find their way 
into their structure. 

In the new views which we are now 
forced to take of the absorbing powers of 
soils, the question of the action of the roots 
on ammonia and potash is greatly sin^)lified. 
These, being merely adhering to the surface 
of the substances constituting the body of 
the soil, are by no means out of reach of the 
direct action of the roots of plants. The 
roots come in contact with them in forcing 
their way through the soil, and take them 
up by special absorption, in the same way as 
the leaves of plants do carbonic acid from 
the atmosphere. The principle of the dif- 
fusion of the gases in the atmosphere is not 
the most active means of bringing carbonic 
aeid in contact with the leaves, although 
w r e might suppose it capable of doing so to 
a slight extent. The circulation of the at- 
mosphere, in being constantly disturbed by 
winds, accomplishes this — the rapid bring- 
ing of the nutritive substances in contact 
with the leaves. So, in the soil, the roots 
are constantly extending in search of food ; 
and the rains, as they descend, greatly as- 
sist in diffusing it equally over the absorb- 
ing surfaces. 

That, however, the food of plants exists 
in the soil in forms so slightly soluble in 
water as to be totally incapable of being 
dissolved by it and supplying the wants of 
plants, has been forcibly put by Liebig : — 

Let us assume that on a 2£-acre field 
12,000,000 lb. of rain-water fall in a year, 
and that a third of this quantity dissolves 
from the soil the same ingredients, in the 
same proportions, as in the drainage-water 
analysed by Way. Let us further suppose 
that these 4,000,000 lb. of water are, dur- 
ing the months of June, July, August and 



September, completely absorbed by the roots 
of a crop of potatoes, and again evaporated 
from the leaves; then it follows that, on four 
fields of 21 acres each, the whole crop of 
potatoes would not receive a single pound of 
potash; on two others of the same size they 
would obtain rather more than a pound; 
and on a seventh 2^-acre field, 2 lb. Now, 
from an average crop of potatoes on a 2£- 
acre field, there are obtained 408 lb. of 
ashes, in which are contained 200 lb. of 
potash. 

Brustlein still refers to the experiments of 
Hales, as well as of Lawes, in support of the 
idea that plants may take up all the food 
they require in a soluble state. It ought 
to be borne in mind, that plants do not take 
up earthy substances in proportion to the 
amount of water that they respire. Indeed 
it is often quite the reverse — a circumstance 
which is the strongest argument in favour 
of special absorption, as well as the dissolv- 
ing action of the roots. Plants perspire less 
when the dew-point of the air is high, and 
when evaporation is consequently weak. It 
is then, however, that growth is most active, 
and that the earthy substances must be taken 
up in the greatest quantity. For the same 
reason, mangold-wurzel, which resists drought 
better than turnips, can take up a much 
larger quantity of food in proportion to the 
water that it evaporates. So also in water- 
plants, in which the circulation of the fluids 
is so much slower than in land-plants ; the 
food, being in solution, is especially absorb- 
ed by leaves as well as roots. There is no 
greater difficulty in accounting for the spe- 
cial absorption of the nutrient matters by 
the roots than that of the carbonic acid by 
the leaves from the atmosphere. Indeed, 
the chief nutrient matters are only retained 
by the soj) by mechanical attraction or ad- 
hesion, while the "roots have a chemical af- 
finity for them. The weaker force merely 
yields to the stronger on absorption by the 
roots taking place. The vital force is a di- 
recting power, no doubt ; but all changes, 
in both living and dead organisms, are ef- 
fected by chemical affinity. 

It is in the discussions of problems which 
lie just beyond those connected with the ab- 
sorbent powers of soils, that the practical 
agriculturist is more particularly concerned. 
In order that plants should exercise those 
functions which we attribute to them, it is 
essential that the soil should contain no mat- 
ters interfering with the healthy action of 



I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



666 



their roots. Finger-and-toe,* clover nek- 
ness, and some other disease*, arc evidently 
owing to certain conditions interfering with 
this dissolving and absorbing power of the 
roots of plants for their earthy food. This 
hypothesis is the means of affording an ex- 
planation ©f many obscure facts well known 
to agriculturists. Wf shall, however, mere- 
ly mention one connected with t lie absorb- 
ing powers of soils to which both Rrustlein 
and Liebig refer. The latter, in his LtM&n 
on Modern Agrlcultore, says : — " Tn many 
places the mud from pools, still waters, and 
miry bogs, is highly esteemed as a fertiliz- 
ing agent. It is evident that such mud acts 
like arable soil, which has absorbed as much 
as it is capable of doing of the soluble ele- 
ments of food or manure brought in contact 
with it." Now, although mud from pools 
may be valuable manure in some places 
where the soil abounds in calcareous matter, 
or where the climate is hotter than our own, 
yet it is well known in Scotland that mud, 
which has long been at the bottom of ponds, 
is sometime before it produces any fertiliz- 
ing influence, even when laid on inferior 
soils in large quantities. All parties know 
that it is rich in the elements of fertility, 
but which, somehow, are found not to be 
ivailable. It is said to be " sour," and the 
smell which it emits certainly shows that 
the organic matter it contains is undergoing 
i peculiar species of decomposition. The 
peculiar products seem to be inimical to the 
healthy functions of the roots of our culti- 
vated plants. The elements of nutrition 
which the mud has absorbed from water are 
in all probability lying on the outer surface 
of the earthy particles; but the acid matter 
diffused through it does not permit the ac- 
tion of the roots of land-plants to take them 
up. The rootlets of the aquatic plants, not 



* It may here be observed that Liebig, in bis 
Letters on Agriculture, while lie has so far given 
his assent to our theory of finger-and-toe, mis- 
lakes, like many others, the peculiar disease 
itself. It is the forked or branched state of the 
roots which he describes as being cured by an 
application of lime. But this is mere degene- 
racy, and not a disease at all, in the strict sense 
of the term. Finger-and-toe, or anbury, we be- 
lieve, is caused by the attacks of insects, which 
only touch those plants whose juices are in a 
corrupt state, owing to a want of earthy mailer 
within the plant. Lime cure3 the disease by 
inducing such a decomposition ol the vegetable 
matter as maintains the healthy functions of the 
roots. 



being injured by those products of decom- 
position, take up a full supply of nutriment, 

and produce a luxuriant, vegetation of their 
own. The hind and water plants both feed 
upon the same subclaims; but the particu- 
lar form which the decomposition of the or- 
ganie matter takes Within the soil, has an 
influence sufficiently powerful on the func- 
tions of the roots Of the land-plants to in- 
terfere with their healthy action. 

So, too, in arable land ; the organic mat- 
ter which it contains is liable as it decom- 
poses to produce different products. What 
is a healthy condition for the roots of one 
class of plants, is unhealthy for another. 
The different kinds of plants that thrive in 
running and in stagnant water are sufficient 
to demonstrate the influence of the two 
kinds of decomposition. In general, the 
use of lime on arable land is more for the 
purpose of regulating and controlling the 
particular form of decay of the vegetable 
matter, than for directly furnishing consti- 
tuents for building up the framework of 
plants. It is a curious fact that has been 
little noticed, that a larger number of plants 
perish when sown on calcareous soils. A 
certain acid reaction in the decaying organic 
matter seems as necessary to the roots exer- 
cising their absorbing action, as is at least 
congenial to the plants that flourish in the 
sour mud at the bottom of pools. The com- 
mon field-spurry is found on all light lands 
destitute of lime, and liable to the disease 
of anbury or finger-and-toe. Lime added 
in quantity, and allowed a certain time to 
act. on the vegetable matter, is a preventive 
of this disease in turnips, and destructive to 
the growth of spurry. Facts at least ^how 
that the chemical conditions of the decaying 
organic matters in the soil exercise a pow- 
erful influence on the growth of plants, ex- 
plain them how we will. 



Loss of the Cud. 

Literally, there can be no such thing as 
"loss of the cud." Humiliating animals 
are never furnished with an appendage so 
ridiculous as a cud, to be used as "gum," in 
the mouth of a school-boy, which if lost, 
must be supplied, with an artificial "cud;" 
as if the operations of nature must be sus- 
pended until this prepared artificial panacea 
is supplied, to take the place of the natural 
" cud lost." 

By a slight investigation of anatomy and 



666 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[NOVEMBEB 



habits of ruminating animals, this very 
common delusion would be dispelled, and 
the slight understanding of the " cud," the 
causes of its "loss," and the means necessa- 
ry to be used to restore it, would be more 
clearly understood. 

By ruminants, or ruminating animals, we 
mean those having a complex stomach with 
four cavities so disposed as to allow of 
ruminating, or the act of at once laying in 
a large stock of food, slightly chewed, and 
afterwards to return it to the mouth, and 
there more thoroughly masticate it, and fit 
it for digestion. Digestion is always pro- 
ceeded by this action in this order of ani- 
mals, and they are exclusively confined to a 
vegetable diet. Now if debility, loss of 
appetite, disease of the stomach and diges- 
tive organs, or sickness from any other 
cause ensue, this order of nature may for 
the time be suspended, and the animal have 
no need to perform the act of rumination. 
The ordinary operations of a healthty ani- 
mal are not called into requisition. Hence, 
we hear of " loss of cud." The only 
"remedy" for the "loss" lies in restoring 
the animal to health, and if we know what 
is the disease, we can the more certainly 
apply the " remedy." But all the " made 
cuds" that ever entered into the materia 
medica of quackdom can never compensate 
for the folly and ignorance of applying one. 

The stomach of ruminating animals is 
especially organized for the performance of 
its peculiar functions. It consists of four 
distinct cavities, all communicating with a 
muscular canal at the termination of the 
oesophagus. Coarsely masticated food passes 
from the beginning of the muscular canal 
into the first cavity, called the rumen, or 
paunch. Water is received into the second 
cavity, called the riticulum, and almost ex- 
clusively occupies the honey comb cells of 
that cavity, and is gradually mixed with 
the coarsely divided food which is undergo- 
ing mastication in the rumen. When this 
is sufficiently advanced, a portion of the 
mass is raised into a muscular canal, is 1 
there moulded into a ball, and by a spas- 
modic action of the muscles of the- gullet 
is forced into the mouth, where it is perfect- 
ly masticated at leisure, mixed with saliva, 
and again swallowed. It now passes direct- 
ly into the third recess called the psalte- 
rium. Here the superfluous fluid is absorbed, 
and the thoroughly subdivided mass passes! 
gradually into the fourth recess, called the] 



abomasus, where it is completely digested 
and from which it passes off into the lessei 
intestines 

Ruminating is a most interesting process 
of nature, and it is a most pleasing study tc 
observe and note in its manifold operations 
and to witness the supreme satisfaction of a 
well-fed animal " ruminating," or elabora- 
ting by this wonderful provision of Provi- 
dence, — the mastication of food by degluti- 
tion, ejection and final swallowing — other- 
wise, " chewing the cud." When we become 
more thoroughly familiar with the beautifu 
economy of animated nature, and its mosf 
wonderful organization, we shall no more 
hear of the " loss of the cud," but will at 
tribute the effects to their proper causes 
and call things by their right names. 

J. V. H. C, in Gen. Farmer. 



Hot Tallow a Cure for Ingrowing Nails 

We take the following remedy for a ver} 
common and very painful affliction from th( 
Boston Medical and Surgical Journal : 

The patient on- whom I first tried this plar 
was a young lady, who had been unable tc 
put on a shoe for several months, and deci 
dedly the worst case that I have ever seen 
The disease had been of long standing 
The edge of the nail was deeply under 
mined, the granulations formed a higr 
ridge, partly covered with skin, and pm 
constantly oozed from the root of the nail 
The whole toe was swollen, and extremely 
tender and painful. My mode of proceed 
ing was this : 

I put a very small piece of tallow in i 
spoon, and heated it over a lamp till ii 
became very hot and poured it on the gran- 
ulations. The effect was almost magical 
Pain and tenderness were at once relieved 
and in a few days the granulations were all 
gone, the diseased parts dry and destitute 
of feeling, and the edge of the nail exposed 
so as to admit of being pared away withoul 
any inconvenience. The cure was com- 
plete, and the trouble never returned. 

I have tried this plan repeatedly since 
with the same satisfactory results. The 
operation causes but little pain if the tallovs 
is properly heated. A repetition might in 
some cases be necessary, although I have 
never met with a case that did not yield tc 
one application. Admitting the theory ol 
Dr. Lorinser to be correct, the modus ope- 
randi is very plainly to be seen. The 



860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



GG7 



quid cautery insinuates itself into every 
itcrlice under the nail, along the fistula 
ito the ulcer at the matrix of the nail, 
jeomplishing in a minute, without pain, all 
uit can be effected by the painful applica- 
ou of nitrate of silver for several weeks. 



From the Valley Fanner. 

Flowers. 

Beautiful things are the sweet, bright 
>wers with which God has strewn our 
irthly home. Everywhere are they spring* 
g up along our pathway, gladdening our 
Hurts with their beauty and fragrance, 
aching us lessons of purity and innocence, 
id showing us the goodness, wisdom and 
ve of our Father. 

They seize upon the affections of all. 
he old and the young, the learned and the 
ilearned, the good and the bad, all love 
e beautiful flowers. Their very nature is 

awaken and call forth the better and 
irer feelings of the soul. Great and good 
en and women, the high and the low, 
hool boys and school girls, have all studied 
em and written and sung their praises, 
hey have been called "the stars of the 
rth," "the alphabet of the angels/' and 
Lrious other appellations equally significant 
id beautiful. The people of almost every 
ition and clime have worshipped them, 
be Grecian isles abound in rare flowers, 
id these the ancient Greeks scattered in 
e porticoes of their temples; with them 
ey adorned their altars and decorated the 
itues of their gods; they strewed them in 
e victors path and wore wreathes of roses 

their holy ceremonies, and at their ban- 
lets and festivals they crowned themselves 
ith them. Says a poet: 

,t was the custom there, to bring away 

ne bride from home, at blushing shut of day, 

?iled in a chariot, heralded along, 

! strewn flowers, torches and a marriage song." 

Sunny Italy is a land of flowers, and its 
jople have in all ages loved and reverenced 
em. Madame De Stael, in her work en- 
tied Corinne, or L'ltalie, represents her 
jroine in speaking of this country as say- 
g, "knew you that land where oranges 
mrish, which the rays of heaven make 
uitful with love ? Have you heard the 
elodious sounds which celebrate the sweet- 
sss of its night? Reply, Oh ! stranger, is 
iture with you beautiful and beneficent?" 
i Syrian lands it is said soft perfumes dif- 



fuse from every flower. In Hindustan the 
god of love is represented with bis bow of 

sugar cane twined with flowers, his string, 
of bees; his five arrows each pointed with 
an Indian flower and he is called " God of 
the flowery shafts and flowery how." The 
blooming vales of Japan are filled with gor- 
geous lillics and Japonicas, with flowers so 
beautiful that the females are named from 
them. In Turkey and some other countries 
the tulip and other flowers were formerly 
held very sacred and could be procured only 
at an enormous price. In our own happy 
land we may say they are worshipped, for 
have they not devoted to them the choicest 
spots about our houses? Do we not beautify 
our person with them, and ornament and 
render cheerful our apartments with their 
presence ? Is not the bridal altar adorned 
with them, and do we not strew them in 
the coffins and plant them upon the graves 
of our departed ones, as tokens of our af- 
fection, as emblems of a renewal beyond the 
tomb ? 

Flowers, too, in all ages, have had their 
language, chaste and pure, the language of 
friendship and love : 

"In Eastern lands they talk in flower?, 

And they tell in a garland their loves and cares; 

Each blossom that blooms in their garden bowers, 
On its leaves a mystic language beams." 

The hieroglyphics of the ancient Egyp- 
tians abound in floral symbols, and from 
hence we may surmise that the Greeks be- 
came accustomed to this figurative language. 
The Chinese have an alphabet composed 
entirely of plants and roots. Gothic books 
are full of emblems composed of flowers. 
We, also, of the present day, have books 
devoted to the use of the language of flowers; 
we exchange our thoughts and make known 
the sweet and tender sentiments of our 
hearts through them. It is a charming 
language, a delicate and pleasing way of 
expressing our affections, our sorrows and 
loves. 

The study cf plants and flowers is a de- 
lightful and useful one, it unfolds so many 
wonders and beauties, and affords so much 
instruction ; the cultivation of them is also 
delightful and useful, developing mind, soul 
and body. Lirneus, the great Swedish 
botanist; Humboldt, the great geologist; 
Tournefort, and hundreds of others have 
devoted their lives and interests to this 
study, have delighted in it, and through it 



C68 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[NOVEMBEI 



made themselves unspeakably useful to the 
world. 

Spring at last has come among us in her 
gay attire and her warm sunny days are 
hastening on; soon the prairies, meadows 
and hillsides will be blossoming with the 
sweet, wild flowers; soon May day will come 
when at early dawn young men and maidens, 
boys and girls in innocent glee will be wan- 
dering over the meadows and climbing the 
hillsides to see who shall find the first spring 
blossoms. The Anemone and trailing Asbu- 
tus will be among the first and loveliest to 
greet them. In colder climes than ours 
they often show their sweet, modest faces 
ere the snow departs. 

The opening Spring is the fit time to 
commence the study of plants and flowers, 
and their cultivation, and who have so good 
an opportunity as the farmer and his family, 
who have lands enough, and whose pursuits 
naturally lead to it? They should, one and 
all, father, mother, brothers and sisters, 
interest themselves in this pleasing employ- 
ment. The time devoted to it would not be 
missed, and it would add much to the beauty, 
refinement and comfort of every farm-house. 
Particular portions of ground should be 
given to flowers and shrubbery of various 
kinds, and they should be laid out in good 
taste and well cared for. As this is the 
proper season, let me urge it upon the far- 
mer's wives and daughters especially to give 
their bits of leisure to this employment. 
They can never regret time thus spent, nor 
happiness and instruction thus obtained. 

Sarah. 



Boom Plants. 

The present is an appropriate time to say 
a few words about growing plants in rooms. 
There are many persons without the con- 
venience of a greenhouse, but in whom the 
love of plants is so strong that they will not 
be without them during the winter, even 
though they have to grow them in a garret 
window; and it is a happy circumstance 
that they can do so. We never pass a win- 1 
dow in winter, with its few Scarlet Gera-i 
niums, and perhaps a pot of Mign#nnette, \ 
etc., without thinking that there dwells with- j 
in that house a soul full of the aspirations of , 
a better life; and we can well imagine howl 
many lonely moments have been lighted by 
the presence of these silent yet cheerful 
companions: the light and sunshine so essen-, 
tial to their own well-being they impart to, 



those who care for them. There is a strik 
ing resemblance, in many respects, betweer 
women and flowers, more especially in the 
modesty, loveliness and sweetness whicl 
we are willing to concede, to both; anc 
we should naturally expect to find, and d( 
find, as a general thing, that women hav( 
a nicer and more refined appreciation o: 
flowers than men. Her organization, mor< 
delicate than that of man, intellectually ant 
physically, fits her better to discriminate 
the finer shades of beauty. It should, there 
fore, excite no surprise to find among wo 
men the most constant lovers of flowers 
Probably two-thirds of the flowers founc 
in rooms are grown by women, and th< 
number might be greatly increased with i 
corresponding diminution of that unnatura 
craving fbr excitement now quite too com 
mon. We know of nothing better calcu 
lated to beget home attachments than tin 
love and culture of flowers. 

We should be glad to do or say something 
to increase the number of those who grov 
room plants. It is true that plants canno 
be as well grown in rooms as in a well-con 
structed greenhouse; but, notwithstanding 
there are some kinds that may be grown anc 
flowered in a manner quite satisfactory, anc 
with results highly gratifying. Certain con 
ditions ar,e necessary for the best success 
and these it is our object to point out. Th< 
greatest obstacle to success is dryness of tin 
air: this may, in a measure, be overcome ty 
a table suitably constructed, and the selectioi 
of plants best adapted to a dry atmosphere 
The table should be the length of the win 
dow, and two or three feet wide, the boards 
being tongued and grooved. Around th< 
edge nail a strip three inches wide, making 
the corners fit tight. The table is then U. 
be filled with two inches of clean white sand 
With a table of this kind, the foliage of tin 
plants can be frequently syringed or sprink 
led with water, which keeps them clean anc 
promotes their health; the drippings anc 
surplus water are caught and absorbed b} 
the sand, and the floor of the room is thus 
kept clean; the sand, indeed, ought to be 
kept constantly wet, and even watered foi 
this purpose, if necessary. The evaporatior 
from the sand will diffuse itself among the 
plants and through the room, and thus over 
come, in a small degree, one of the chie: 
obstacles to the successful culture of plants 
in rooms. The table should be fitted witr 
rollers, to facilitate the operation of watering 



500.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



009 



id oleaning the plants, and also for the 
irpase of moving it back from the window 

i r i 1 1 u' very cold nights. The flower-stands 

common use arc altogether unfit for a 

om; the surplus water, dead leaves, etc., 
11 to the floor, injuring the carpet, and 
ring the room an untidy appearance. The 
ble above described is free from these ob- 
ctions, besides having positive advantages 
r the successful growth of plants which 

ordinary flower-stand can pons 
All rooms do not possess equal advantages 
r growing plants. A room with large, 
gh windows, looking to the south, is the 
st; the next best is one with a southeast 

southwest exposure; next, east; next, 
:st; and least desirable of all, one looking 

any point north. A large bay window 
th a southern exposure possesses many ad- 
ntages for growing plants, quite equal in 
iny cases, and superior in some, to those 
■ucturcs absurdly called " plant cabinets," 
less the latter be intended for the prcser- 
tion of dried specimens, the only purpose 
• which most of them are fit. A basement 
ndow, with a southern expose, will some- 
nes answer tolerably well, but a room in 
e upper part of the house is ajways to be 
eferrcd. Having secured a table and 
ected a room, the next thing in order will 

a collection of plants; and here we would 
op a caution against accumulating too 
•ge a number. Plants cannot be well 
own anywhere, or under any circum- 
inces, when crowded together; it is al 
lys more satisfactory to grow a few well 
an to grow many indifferently. In making 
list, we name only those which we know 

succeed well in rooms, and which arc 
ist impatient of neglect and changes in 
nperature. From our list of annuals given 
5t month may be selected Schizanthvs, 
ibelfa, Ahftmtn, MignonfieMt, AfalAt'o&z, 
d Ageratum. Of perennials a good seiec- 
>n maybe made from the following, taking 
qm somewhat in the order in which they 
3 named : Geranium, (scarlet and sweet- 
?ntcd,) Primula sinensis, Azalea, Epiphyl- 
ms, (indeed, the whole Cacti family,) 
)ir:ca Rfcvesiana and prunifolio, Roses, 
jch as Hermosn, Agrippina, rragoaJetta, 
5.,) Heliotrope, Laurustinus, Bulbs, (such 
Hyacinths, Narcissus, Crocus, Ixias, 
ibiinas, &c.,) Calla, Oranges, Lemons, 
juzia gracilis, Weigela rosea, Coronilla, 
jtunias, Cypripedium insignis, Hoya, (or 
ax-plant.) Verbenas, Stevia, Eaphne, Car- 



nations Cape Jasmine, PittOSporum, Salvias, 
Passiflora, Bouvurdia, Fuchsia. We do not 
recommend the young amateur to make M 
large a selection, unless several windows 
are fitted lor tin; purpote of plant-growing, 
or unless the selection is confined mostly to 
one plant of a kind. A good selection for 
a beginning would be a few pots of Alys- 
sum, Mignonnette, Lobelia, Geranium, Pri- 
mula, Azalea, Calla, Cacti, Coronilla, Helio- 
trope Spiraea, Orange, Lemon, Petunia, and 
some bulbs. It is better to begin in a small 
way with a few kinds easily grown, and to 
increase the number and variety as experi- 
ence and skill are acquired. 

We cannot, of course, within the limits of 
a single*article, give directions for the culti- 
vation of the plants we have named; we can 
only add a few brief remarks on their 
general treatment. One of the most im- 
portant things to be attended to is watering; 
the plants should not be allowed to wilt for 
want of water, but they should not be watered 
till the surface of the pot becomes dry, and 
then enough should be given to go entirely 
through the ball of earth. The plants 
should be frequently syringed and sprinkled 
overhead, and kept clean, and free from 
dead leaves. Extreme changes of tempera- 
ture should be avoided as much as possible; 
a moderate ly low temperature is to be pre- 
ferred in a room to a high one; since, in the 
absence of a strong and diffused light, too 
much warmth will cause the plants to grow 
weak. If the windows have curtains, they 
should be kept up or drawn aside, and all 
the- sun and light possible admitted to the 
plants at all times during the day. AVhcn 
the weather is mild, the windows may be 
thrown up for a while, or a top sash lowered 
a little. During very cold nights the table 
may be moved to the middle of the room; 
and if the plants should unfortunately get 
frozen, darken the room and throw cold water 
over them repeatedly till the frost is drawn 
out and then expose them gradually to the 
light. In this way we have saved plants 
when the ball of earth has been frozen as 
hard as a brick. Room plants should not 
be brought into the house till the nights get 
frosty, and while out of doors they should 
have a sunny exposure. Insects should be 
looked after, and destroyed on their first ap- 
pearance; a little attention in this way will 
keep them free from such pests. 

It has been objected to by some that it is 
unhealthy to keep plants in rooms; but their 



G70 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[NOVEMBE 



Arguments luck coherence and force, and we 
are compelled to record our experience 
against the position. We believe them, on 
the contrary, to be conducive to health, not 
only by their soothing and cheerful in- 
fluence on the mind, but as purifiers of the 
air, so that all may indulge their tastes 
without the least apprehension of injury to 
their health. We have no room for an 
argument here, but we believe that every 
vegetable physiologist will sustain our 
position; if he will not, then, in our 
opinion, he has something to learn. We 
commend room plants to all who have a 
room in which to grow them, and especially 
to the ladies, who are necessarily much con- 
fined to the house: they will cheer* many a 
lonely hour, and afford balm to many a 
wounded heart. The world cannot seem 
utterly a blank while the love of flowers is 
left to console us. — Horticulturist. 



From the New England Farmer. 

70 Years' Experience in Farming. 

Mr. Editor: — Farming from youth to 
seventy years of age has not convinced me 
that it is a losing business. I shall not 
undertake to solve Mr. Pinkham's questions, 
since the old rule of practice is superseded 
by a rule which takes less figures, and herds- 
grass hay has taken the place of pod and 
bog-grass. 

Such cows as I have kept for the last 
twenty years, nearly all of which I have 
raised myself, have consumed, by the steel- 
yards, an average of 20 pounds good .hay 
per day, when in milk, and 15 pounds per 
day when dry. Twenty years ago, and 
many times since, "I weighed for my cows, 
commencing two months before calving, and 
continuing four months after, as nearly as 
my cows came in together; of course, vary- 
ing some one week to four weeks. Now I 
think I shall be allowing a full price for hay 
to call it 80 cents per cwt. in the barn. 

20 lbs. per flay for months, or 183 days, 

is 3,660 lbs., at SO cents $29.28 

Summer, 36 weeks, at 50 cents per week, 

is 13,00 



$12,28 

If you please, add to this 5 pounds grain, 
at 1^ cents per pound, and deduct 5 pounds 
from the hay, the keeping for the year 
stands 848 09. Now, if I can get $48 69 
from my cows per year, I shall lose nothing 



but taxes and interest, and I think I ca 
get even that, so that I can stand it on 
year more. I will say nothing about calve; 
They are sold for about 50 cents to $1, s 
three days old. 

Milk, for G months after calving, 8 qts. per 
day, at a yearly average of 3$ cents pet- 
quart, is $-15,7 

6 months before calving, 4 qts. per clay, is 22,7 



K 



eepin< 



$68,4 
48,6 



Profit $19 ; 8 

If I have a cow that will not do as well a 
the above, I put her to one peck con 
meal per day, and milk her till the butche 
wants her. 

And now I want to tell you how much 
lose in raising my own cows. Within twent 
years I have raised seventy-one cows; a 
but four have been milked and provec 
But four of them have failed of makin 
good cows. I have about come to the lat 
Mr. Jaquith's opinion, "that a cow can b 
raised to order." I choose to have a calf t 
raise born in November to January. I It 
them take from the cow 4 quarts milk p€ 
day, 8 weeks — 56 days. 

4 qts per day is 224 qts., at 3 cents per 

qt., is ..- $6,7 

2 lbs. shorts per day, 127 days, at 1^ cts. 

per lb., is 3,8 

1 cwt. hay, at 80 cts 8 

20 weeks' pasturing, at 10 cts. per week. . . .2,1 
This brings up the first year, and for the 
second year I give 20 cts. per week, 52- 
weeks, is 10,4 



$24,3 



Now there is no more expense, for the cal 
is now a cow and will pay her own way. am 
at 3 or 4 years old will sell for from $40 t 
$G0. I have raised calves without any milk 
but T find it best to begin with a good cal! 
keep it well until it becomes a cow, am 
then keep well; and I can get what I cal 
goocl pay for all given calves and cow$ 
and $20, or more than that, on each calf 
and about that yearly on each cow. If i 
young man can do as well as an old onej 
cannot see why he may not live by farming 
Otis Brigham. 
Westborow/h, Feb. 9, 1860. 

— 4 m m m ♦ 

The Bee Protector. 

Within the year past, we noticed the in 
genious contrivance of Mr. Steele for ex 
eluding the bee moth, while the honey be< 






860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



671 



iay have free access to her home ami stores. 
>ur excellent and progrettim ooiempowry, 

ie Prairie Fanner, thought us something 
f a "drone" to believe that the "workers" 
Duld pass out niul in where the "moth" 
as excluded — or rather that the bee could 
ass this M protector" at all. 

At the New Jersey State Exhibition last 
eek, Mr. Steele placed one of his porticos 
) a hive which he found on the Fair 
rounds, and the little fellows immediately 
Hind their way in with their pellets of 
ollen on their limbs. 

In noticing this invention, the Newark 
>aily Advertiser says: — 

"An object of paramount interest to the 
tpiarian is a little instrument for protecting 
ie honey bee from the ravages of the bee 
10th, by means of very simply arranged 
alve doors, through which the bees pass in 
nd out of hives without any perceptible 
ifficulty, while the "moth (a very feeble 
isect) is effectually excluded. When we 
onsider the value of the honey crop of the 
ountry, which amounts to upwards of thirty 
lillions of pounds yearly, and how few of 
ur farmers keep bees on account of the 
isk from loss by the moth, we can imagine 
tie value of a simple and cheap remedy, 
'his is undoubtedly to be found in ' Steel's 
Jce Protector/ and we are glad to learn 
hat it is becoming appreciated as it be- 
omes known, the proprietor having just 
hipped a large order for the South — the 
esult of a visit to the Fairs of Virginia 
nd North Carolina last fall. The inventor 
nd proprietor is Mr. Henry Steele, of Jersey 
Hfy, who certainly deserves a handsome re- 
gard for the service he has rendered to this 
iepartment of science." — New York Ob 
erver. 



with reference to a fish manure which they 
manufacture, and obtained their consent to 

publish the result of the analyses that w re 
made. Nothing is more obvious than that 
the true interests of the manufacturer and 
of the farmer are identical, and equally pro- 
moted as well by an exposure of what is 
worthless, as by commendation of what is 
useful. The Quinnipiao Company employed 
me to analyze their fish manure in order to 
ascertain definitely for themselves, how it 
compares with standard fertilizers, and arc 
willing that I should pronounce public judg- 
ment on it according to its merits. 

The quality and price of the fish manure 
is such that it deserves to be commended to 
our farmers; especially since, as I am credi- 
bly informed, the Company bears a high 
reputation, which is a guaranty that they 
will continue to manufacture an article as 
good as they have submitted for analysis. 



Analysis. 



9.67 9.03 

67.78 65.88 

2.05 1.96 
5.78 

3.38 3.41 

.81 .33 



8.36 8.23 
$32.00 per ton. 
.$31.40 per ton. 



Commercial Fertilizers. 

5y S. TV. Johnson, Chemist of the State 

Agricultural Society of Connecticut. 

SCALE OF PRICES. 

The valuation of the chief ingredients of 

•ommcrcial fertilizers remains as in my First 

leport, anil is as follows: 

Potash 4 cts. per fl>. 

Insoluble phosphoric acid . . 4$ • 

Soluble •• " . . 12J " 

Ammonia 14 " 

HIE QUIXXiriAC company's fish manure. 

In March, 1858, I was consulted by the 

Quinnipiac Company of Wallingford, Conn., 



Water, .... 
Organic (animal) matter, 
Sand, .... 
Lime, .... 
Soluble phosphoric acid, - 
Insoluble " " 

Ammonia yielded by animal 
matter, 

Calculated value, 

Manufacturer's price, 

This manure is not so rich cither in phos- 
phoric acid or in ammonia as the best quali- 
ties of fish manure; but it is nevertheless 
entitled to a high rank among concentrated 
fertilizers. It yields fully one-half as much 
ammonia as the best Peruvian guano, and 
nearly all the phosphoric acid it contains is 
in a form soluble in water. 

The calculated value is estimated from 
the prices adopted in my First Annual lie- 
port. 

The manure is sold by measure. The 
Company inform me that it weighs 35 
pounds, and is sold at 55 cents, per struck 
bushel. From these figures the price per 
ton, as given above, is reckoned. 

The mechanical condition is very good. 
In employing this manure it must be borne 
in mind that, like Peruvian guano, it is 
capable of supplying only a part of the 
wants of vegetation, so that the use of SOUS 
phosphatic manure and of leached ashes, 
muck or stable manure, with it, will be bet- 
ter economy in most cases than depending 
on it alone. 



G72 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[November 



The manufacturers recommend to apply 
it to Indian corn, for example, either broad- 
cast at the rate of 20 to 40 bushels per acre 
or 3 bushels in the hill. It is doubtless 
generally the best plan to manure the plant 
rather than the soil, i <?., if a crop grows in 
hills or drills, to manure in the hill or drill; 
if the crop is sown broadcast, manure in the 
same manner. If I understand rightly, a 
much larger application in the hill than 
three bushels per acre, is likely to prove 
detrimental. 

It is to be hoped that this successful at- 
tempt to manufacture a substitute for Peru- 
vian guano in our own State, will meet with 
such encouragement as to make fish manure 
a staple fertilizer. With the stimulus of 
abundant patronage, this kind of manure 
can be prepared of better quality and fur- 
nished at a less price; while if judiciously 
used, it cannot fail to improve our lands 
permanently, at the same time that it yields 
better yearly crops. 

THE GREEN SAND MARL OF NEW JERSEY 

In the Spring of 1858 I was informed 
that the "New Jersey Fertilizer Company" 
intended shipping to this State some cargoes 
of this material, and although I am not 
aware that their intention has been carried 
out as yet, there is apparently no reason 
why the Green Sand Marl may not become 
an article of commerc between Connecticut 
and New Jersey, and I therefore communi- 
cate to the public such account of its nature 
and use as I have been able to collect. 

The Green Sand Marl is a peculiar geolo- 
gical deposit, met with in various parts of 
this and other countrifc, but most largely 
developed in the State of New Jersey, 
where it occupies or underlies an area of 900 
square miles. This tract extends from Sandy 
Hook south westwardly to Salem, on the 
Delaware River, a distance of ninety miles, 
and is six to fourteen miles in breadth. It is 
only in a few localities, however, that it is 
found on the surface of the earth ; it being- 
overlaid with soil throughout the greater share 
of this vast district. It has long been known 
that this marl, as it is called, is exceedingly 
useful as a fertilizer when applied upon the 
contiguous lands. The discovery is said to 
have been made by accident, and the effects 
were so striking, that in those parts of New 
Jersey, where it is easily accessible, it is now 
one of the chief reliances of the farmer. 

The deposit of green sand marl has a 



variable thickness, and is by no means uni- 
form in appearance. It often has a fine 
green color. The color is due to the green 
sand which is its characteristic ingredient. 
Often, and indeed generally, the color of the 
marl is greenish-gray or brown, from an ad- 
mixture of clay and other substances. The- 
green sand itself occurs in the form of 
grains like gunpowder. These grains are 
brown externally, if they have been exposed 
to the air, owing to the higher oxydation (or 
rusting,) of the protoxyd of iron contained 
in them; but if washed or broken, their 
proper green color is always manifested 
This color enables us to distinguish the 
green sand from all other sands by the eye 
alone. 

The green sand has a nearly uniform com- 
position, and hence is considered a distinct 
mineral, and for the sake of distinction is 
called Glauconite (which means "sea-green 
stone,") by the mineralogists. 

In virtue of its composition and easy de-j 
composability, green sand is an excellent ■ 
fertilizer. 

Its average composition in 100 parts is: 

Silica, 49.5 

Alumina, 7.2 

Protoxyd of Iron, .... 22.8 
Potash, - - - - 11.5 

Water, 7.9 

Lime, ------ ,5 

Magnesia, trace. 

On account of its finely divided state, 
when ireely exposed to the air and water of 
the soil it gradually decomposes, and its 
potash, silica and protoxyd of iron become 
soluble, or at any rate available to vegeta- 
tion. The protoxyd of iron which is useful 
in small quantity, but detrimental it largely 
present in the soil, is prevented from ac- 
cumulating to excess by the fact that iti 
rapidly absorbs oxygen from the -air, and, 
passes into peroxyd (iron rust.) The peroxyd 
of iron and alumina together with the silica, 
are important means of increasing the power 
of the soil to absorb and retain manures. 

Many sandy and light soils are deficient 
in potash, and hence the green sand is use- 
ful when applied to them. It has indeed 
been supposed that this fertilizer owes its 
efficiency chiefly to its large content of 
potash. The other ingredients- that we have J 
mentioned are, however, useful to a greater 
or less degree. 

Not only the green sand itself, but like- ! 
wise the other matters which, with it, make 
up the marl, must be taken account of in 



I860,] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



G73 



considering its fertilizing value. The ad- 
mixtures of clay, quartz sand, etc., are quite 
variable, ranging in quantity from 10 to 60 
per cent, of the whole; thus more or less 
reducing the amount of manurial mutters, 
and at the same time cither improving or 
injuring the general composition by their 
own accidental ingredients. 

The clay mixed with or overlying the 
green sand, in many localities contains quan- 
tities of a shining yellow mineral called iron 
pyrites or " foil's gold," which consists of 
iron and sulphur, and by exposure to the at- 
mosphere is converted into sulphate of iron, 
(common copperas or green vitriol.) From 
this source the marl is sometimes so impreg- 
nated with sulphate of iron as to be destruc- 
tive to vegetation # when applied fresh from 
the pits. This ^difficulty is not, however, 
general, so far as I can learn, and in all cases 
is obviated by exposing the marl for a year 
or so to the weather, and by composting it 
with lime or with stable manure. By these 
means the iron is changed from the protoxyd 
to the peroxyd, which latter is harmless 
under all circumstances. 

In some localities the marl is mixed with 
a large proportion of fragments of shells, 
and thus contains considerable carbonate 
and a small amount of phosphate of lime. 
Sulphate of lime or plaster, is also an occa- 
sional ingredient. 

The following analyses copied from Pro- 
fessor Cook's Report on the Geology of New 
Jersey, clearly show the nature and extent 
of the variations in composition, to which 
the marl as employed for agricultural pur- 
poses is subject. 

Analyses* 

f 12 3 4 5 6 

Protoxvcl of iron, 8.3 1G.8 12.3 14.9 

Alumina, - - 6.1 6.6 8.0 

Lime, - - 2.4 12.5 1.0 

Magnesia, - - .4 2.6 2.0 

Potash, - - 2.5 4.0 7.1 7.1 4.3 3.7 

Soluble silica, - 20.2 31.2 45.9 
Insoluble silica 

and sand, - - 49.9 fc.(J 4.0 

Sulphuric acid, - .9 .6 .4 

Phosphoric acid, - 1.4 1.1 1-3 .2 2.6 6.9 

Carbonic acid, - .2 9.3 

Water, - - 7.1 S.9 8.1 

Soluble ia water, - 1.9 1.4 1.1 1.1 1.9 4.7 

Potash it is seen ranges from 2] to 7 per 
cent. The average is about 4£ per cent. 



*In copying the analyses, the decimal- of 
the percentages have been abridged from two 
figures to one. 

43 



One of the specimens is half sand and inso- 
luble matters. No. 2 contains 12* per cent. 
of lime, and per cent, of carbonic acid, 
or 21 per cent, of carbonate of lime. Phos- 
phoric acid is almost wanting in No. 4; but 
in No. exists to the amount of 7 per cent. 
The usual quantity of phosphoric acid how- 
ever, does not exceed 1 to 2 per cent. 

From the composition of the green sand 
marl we might know that it is a good manure 
without any actual trials; but the experience 
of the New Jersey farmers during many years 
has so fully demonstrated its value, that the 
question arises — may it not be procured and 
transported so cheaply as to admit of profit- 
able use in this State ? The following quo- 
tation from Professor Cook's Report may 
serve to assist us in answering this question. 

" The absolute worth of the marl to far- 
mers it is difficult to estimate. The region 
of country in which it is found has been 
almost made by it. Before its use the soil 
was exhausted, an (J much of the land had 
so lessened in value that its price was but 
little, if any more than that of government, 
lands at the West ; while now, by the use 
of the marl, these worn out soils have been 
brought to more than native fertility, and 
the value of the land increased from fifty to 
a hundred fold. In these districts, as a 
general fact, the marl has been obtained at 
little more than the cost of digging and 
hauling but a short distance. There are in- 
stances, however, in which large districts of 
worn-out land have been entirely renovated 
by the use of these substances, though situ- 
ated from five to fifteen miles from the marl 
beds, and when, if a fair allowance is made 
for labor, the cost per bushel could not have 
been less than from twelve to sixteen cents. 
Instances are known %vhen it has been 
thought remunerative at twenty-five cents 
per bushel." 

The New Jersey Fertilizer Company de- 
liver the marl on board vessels at their 
wharf at Portland Heights, N. J., 'for seven 
cents per bushel. The bushel when first 
raised waighs 100 lbs.; when dry, 80 lbs. 
I doubt not that the average qualities of 
this marl are much better, bushel for bushel, 
than leached ashes. The best kinds are 
much superior, and in the inferior sorts 
there is much more weight of valuable fer- 
tilizing matters than in an equal bulk of 
leached ashes; but this advantage has its 
offset in the superior fineness, and conse- 
quent greater activity of the leached ashes. 



674 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



t [November 



If. then the expenses of transportation are 
small, as they are when large quantities are 
shipped, there is no reason why our farmers, 
who are located near tide-water, may not 
use this fertilizer to great advantage, espe- 
cially if they can have a good article gua- 
ranteed them. 

The marl is especially useful for potatoes 
and root crops, but on poor soils is good for 
any crop. It is applied at the rate of one 
to two hundred bushels per acre. 

"ANIMALIZED PHOSPHATE OP LIME." 

A specimen of the so-called "Annualized 
Phosphate of Lime,' , made by Hartley & 
Co., of Plymouth, Conn., received from Mr. 
Dyer, was analyzed with the following re- 
sults, per cent : 

Water, 6.18 

Sand and silica, 8.12 

Organic and volatile matter, 8.61 

Hydrated sulphate of lime, (unburned 

plaster,) f 55.50 

Carbonate of lime 13.03 

Magnesia, 1.77 

Oxyd of iron, alumina and phosphoric 

acid, 1.76 

Carbonic acid (combined with alkalies,) 1.03 

Alkalies, chlorine and loss 4.00 



100.00 
Ammonia yielded by organic matter, 0.33 0.35 

The analysis is not fully carried out, sep- 
arate determinations of the quantity of phos- 
phoric acid and of potash not having been 
made. The phosphoric acid cannot amount 
to more than 1£ per cent., the potash not 
more than 3 per cent. These quantities are 
of small account in a high-priced fertilizer. 
To finish the analysis in these particulars 
would serve no important use. 

I find by a simrje calculation that a ma- 
nure equal, and indeed superior to the above, 
in composition and value, weight for weight, 
may be made after the following recipe : 

60 pounds of ground plaster. 

37 " hard wood ashes (unleached.) 
3 " Peruvian guano. 

Such a mixture can be manufactured at a 
profit for $10 per ton, and if I do not great- 
ly mistake, most farmers can get the ingre- 
dients for $5 to $7 per ton. 

This article claims to be " made from the 
bones, blood and flesh of animals, digested 
in acid liquors, and dessicated with various 
saline fertilizers, in such a manner that all 
the valuable gases and salts are retained in 
a dry powder." It is seen that the quanti- 



ty of " various saline fertilizers," is so large 
compared with the "bones, blood and flesh 
of animals," that the result is comparatively 
worthless, commercially speaking. When 
we consider that 75 to 80 per cent, of a 
dead animal is water, it is easy to under- 
stand that it requires careful manufacturing 
to make a concentrated manure from the 
carcasses of horses, &c. 

It is usual to employ oil-of-vitriol to de- 
compose and deodorize animal matters in 
preparing manures. This is very well, but 
if a large quantity of cheap materials are 
afterward mixed up with the product, the 
value of the whole becomes so reduced, that 
the expense of manufacturing is a dead loss 
to the farmer who in the end pays for it, in 
case the manure finds a market. 

If the sample furnished me represents 
the average quality of this manure, it may 
be confidently asserted that those who pay 
for it $50 per ton, (the manufacturer's 
price,) will lose the better share of their 
money. 

PERUVIAN GUANO. 

From the Store of Wm. Kellogg, Hartford. 

Water, 17.22 17.41 

Organic matter, 49 44 49.60 

Total ammonia, 16.32 16.38 

Phosphoric acid, soluble in water, 2.32 2.32 

" " insoluble " 11.03 10.81 

Sand, 1.90 2.07 

Calculated value, $61.20 

The above figures show that this fertil- 
izer maintains its uniformity and excellence 
of composition to a remarkable degree. 

The soluble phosphoric acid, it should be 
remembered, is equal in quantity to the 
average amount of this ingredient in our 
commercial superphosphates, and is acctm- 
panied with two to three per cent, of potash, 
which, though of trifling commercial value 
by the side of ammonia, is nevertheless of 
great manurial worth on the light soils where 
guano is most often applied. 

ELIDE GUANO. 

This is an article that purports to come 
from the coast of California. It is a genu- 
ine guano, similar, though inferior to Peru- 
vian. It is afforded at two-thirds the price 
of Peruvian, and an analysis is of much in- 
terest as showing its real commercial value. 
It appears from the analyses of other chem- 
ists that this guano is quite variable in com- 
position, at least, so far as the quantity of 
moisture is concerned. I give some of the 



I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



675 



Fine portion passing a sieve of 20 holes 

per inch. 

Lumps easily reduced after drying,. .. . 
Pebbles, 



results of Dr. Stewart, chemist to the Mary- 
land Agricultural Society, and of I)r. Deck, 
of New York, by way of comparison. I 
should say, with regard to its texture, that 
at first sight it is rather unpromising, 
containing some genuine stones and a good 
many hard lumps that are difficult to crush 
unless they are dried. 

A mechanical analysis gave per cent. 

The analysis of the whole, rejecting the pebbles only, is given under I. 
are figures from Dr. Stewart's, and under III. from Dr. Deck's analysis : 



74 

22 
4 



100.00 



When dried, however, the whole is as 
easily crushed as Peruvian guano, the peb- 
bles of course excepted. 

Under II, 



Water, .... 
Organic and volatile matter, 

(Yielding ammonia.) . 
Phosphoric acid soluble in water, 

u " insoluble in water, 

Sulphuric acid, 

Lime, .... 

Potash and a little soda, . 
Sand and insoluble matters, 

Calculated value $46.60. or including the potash $50. 



I. 


ii. 


in. 


27.31 27.60 


18.90 


22.64 


39.20 38.75 


43.30 


43.53 


(10.00) (lO.(Hi) 


(9.39) 


(11.46) 


5.07 5.3 1 ) 
6.46 6.25 $ 


11.00 




4.94 






9.67 9.36 






5.52 


9.60 




2.50 2.52 


4.70 


3.24 



The high per centage of soluble phospho- 
ric acid depends upon the presence of pot- 
ash and soda. 

It must be borne in mind that this ma- 
nure is considerably variable in composition, 
and is so moist that it may easily deterior- 
ate by keeping. 



The specimen I have analyzed is consid- 
erably cheaper than Peruvian guano. It 
remains to be seen, however, whether other 
cargoes or other lots are equal to this, before 
the reputation of the Elide guano can be 
established. 



SUPERPHOSPHATES OF LIME. 



But four specimens of this manure have been analyzed this year. Two of these, I. 
and IL, were from the store of Messrs. Backus and Barstow, Norwich ; the others, 
III. and IV., from Win. Kellog, Hartford : 





i 




ii. 


in. 


IV. 




Pike &Co. 
av. 10 bags. 


Coe & Co. 
av. 25 bags. 


Greene & 
Preston. 


Coe's. 


Water, organic and volatile matters, 

Sand, 

Soluble phosphoric acid, . 
Insoluble ' : '* . . . 
Ammonia, ..... 
Calculated value, .... 


38.50 38.50 

28.85 28,80 

1.98 2.22 

2.29 2.0S 

2.44 2.1') 

$14.00 


36.55 36.15 32.96— 32.2S 
2.70 2.80 2.45— 2.80 
2.S5 2.92J 2.28— 2.43 

18.13 17.78:19.12— 17.64 

3.14 3.111 1.39— 1.39 

$32.00 $26.31 


40.85- 41.25 
6.05— 5.95 

2.62— 1.70 
15.76— 16.30 

2.97— 2.74 
$37.81 & ton. 


I. Is seen to be a very inferior article ; 
more than one-quarter of it (28 per cent.) 
is sand! This fact indicates that it is most 
probably some manufacturing refuse. The 
calculated value will give the farmer an idea 
how much he can afford to pay for it; but 
manures so largely mixed with sand, cannot 
be carefully prepared ; and as other samples 
may contain much more sand, it is best not 
to buy this manure at all unless on an 
analysis. 

II. III. and IV. are all fair samples of 
* superphosphates," as that word is now 
used, though none of them contain appre- 


ciably more soluble phosphoric acid than 
Peruvian guano It seems, as yet, impossi- 
ble to find a real superphosphate (yielding 
10-15 per cent, of soluble phosphoric acid) 
in the Connecticut market. 

The above analyses do not accord very 
closely in some particulars. This is due to 
the fact that the samples were too moist 
to allow of intimate mixture. The slight 
differences are, however, of no importance 
in estimating the value of these articles. 

All these specimens were in good mechan- 
ical condition. The first sample of Coe's 
superphosphate is oi the same quality which 



676 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[November 



it has hitherto possessed. The analyses of 
it read almost precisely like those made last 
year; but there is some falling off in the 
other sample IV., in which the percentages 
of sand and water are both somewhat larger, 
and all the active ingredients are according- 
ly reduced in proportion. 

The difference in value between II. and 
IV. amounts to $4.20 per ton. 

Green & Preston's is still inferior to IV. 
chiefly from containing less ammonia. 

CASTOR PUMMACE. 

Messrs. Baker, Latourette & Co., 142 
Water St., New York City, manufacturers 
of linseed and castor oils, have recently un- 
dertaken the new enterprise of importing 
the castor bean from India, and expressing 
the oil from it in New York. The cake or 
pummace remaining from this operation, has 
been found to possess valuable fertilizing 
properties, and is already employed as a ma- 
nure in England. I have been employed to 
analyze the castor pummace, and it hag 
turned out so satisfactorily, that in my 
opinion it will be doing the members of the 
State Society a service, to communicate the 
results, and do so herewith, having obtained 
permission of the manufacturers. 

Analysis. 

Water, - - - - - 
Old, - - " - 
Woody fibre and mucilage, 
Nitrogenous bodies (albumen, etc..) 
Ash, • 



9.24 
1S.02 
38.20 
28.31 

6.14 



100.00 
In the ash were found — 

Sand, 0.75 

Lime, *- ... 0.36 

Phosphoric acid, - - * ^2.04 
Alkalies with a little magnesia, sulphuric 

and carb. acids, ... 2.09 

5=24 
The amount of nitrogen in the nitro- 
genous bodies was found to be 4.32 per cent., 
corresponding to 5.48 per cent, of potential 
ammonia. 

On account of the purgative effect of the 
castor oil, the pummace cannot be employed 
as food for cattle, and its whole agricultural 
value must consist in its fertilizing applica- 
tions. 

Its worth commercially considered, lies 
exclusively * in its content of phosphoric 



* The opinion has been entertained that oil is 
a fertilizer; but numerous careful trials made in 
England and elsewhere have proved that pure 



acid and ammonia. Its calculated value, 
using the prices adopted in my first annual 
report, viz., four and a half cents jer pound 
for insoluble phosphoric acid, and fourteen 
cents per pound for ammonia, is $17.20 per 
ton (2000 lbs.) 

The manufacturers inform me that hith- 
erto they have sent the castor pummace to 
England, where it commands a price of £4 
10s. sterling per ton (the English ton of 
2240 pounds I suppose.) They now intend 
bringing it into the home market, and there 
seems no reason why we cannot use it to as 
good advantage as English farmers can, if it 
is afforded at a fair price.* 

The pummace is not hard like linseed- 
cake, but easily crumbles to pieces, and is 
sufficiently fine to be convenient in applica- 
tion. 

It belongs to what are usually termed the 
stimulating manures, and is rapid in action, 
usually spending itself in one season. 

It may be applied directly to the soil and 
harrowed in, or used in the preparation of 
composts. I should judge it would be found 
exceedingly servi.cable in composting muck, 
etc. 

Some caution must be exercised in the 
use of this class of manures, because their 
action is so powerful that in very heavy 
doses they may overforce the crop, or even 
destroy the seed when put in contact with it 
at the time of planting. It has been as- 
serted that the content of oil of the oil- 
cakes hinders the germination of seeds, by 
preventing access of water to them. I am 
inclined to believe however, that their detri- 
mental action is due to their readiness of 
decomposition, whereby the seed is caused 
to rot. In fact there are only a few in- 
stances on record of their occasioning this 
sort of injury, and in these they appear to 
have been applied in very large quantity. 
We can estimate the proper allowance per 
acre of castor pummace, by comparing its 
per cent, of ammonia with that of guano. 
It contains just about one-third as much of 
this ingredient, and accordingly we may 
safely use three times as much of it. We 
know that 600 pounds of guano per acre is 



oil is quite inert, and only such impure oils as 
contain nitrogenous animal matters produce any 
perceptible effects. 

* I see by the advertisements of Messrs. Baker 
& Co., that they sell castor pummace at from $12 
to $16 per ton, according to the quality. It is a 
cheap manure. 






I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



G77 



a very large manuring, and 200 or 300 
pounds is usually the most profitable in the 
long run. These quantities correspond to 
1800, 000 and 900 respectively of castor 
pummacc. I find that the largest doses of 
rape cake, (a manure of almost identical 
composition, rather inferior in amount of 
ammonia perhaps) given in English and 
Saxon husbandry, are 1500 to 2000 pounds 
per acre, while 600 to 800 pounds are the 
customary applications. More is needed on 
heavy than on light soils. 

It is frequently urged as an objection to 
manures of this sort that they exhaust the 
soil. It is however always the crops that are 
removed, and never the manure applied, 
which exhausts the soil. The exclusive and 
continued use of this or any similar fertilizer 
will be followed by exhaustion ; but by 
judiciously alternating or combining it with 
mineral manures, as wood ashes leached or 
unleached, New Jersey green-sand, super- 
phosphate of lime, or phosphatic guano, it 
may be used with safety and advantage. 

BONE DUST AND BONE MEAL. 

These articles from the store of Wm, 
Kellogg, Hartford, have been analyzed with 
results as follows : 

Bone Dnst. Bone Meal. 
Water, - - 8.75 8.40 10.25 9.10 

Organic matter, 27.25 27.27 26.02 27.55 

Sand, - - 5.37 5.30 .10 .30 

Earthy phos- 
phates, - 45.32 45.32 57.39 57.13 
Carbonate of 

lime as loss, 13.31 13.71 6.24 5.92 



100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 
Potential ammonia, 2.98 3.50 4.25 4.28 

Of the bone dust a more extended analy- 
sis was made, in which the amount of phos- 
phoric acid was determined with more ac- 
curacy than in the above analyses. It 
was undertaken on account of the high per- 
centage of carbonate of lime, indicated, but 
not satisfactorily proved to be present by 
the first examinations. It confirms them as 
the following results show : 

Bone Dust. 
8.75 
- • - - . - 27.25 
5.37 
- 29.37 



Water, - 

Organic matter, - 
Sand, - 
Lime, - 
Oxyd of iron, 
Magnesia, - 
Phosphoric acid, - 
Carbonic acid (as loss, - 



1.16 

21.56 

6.02 



100.00 



The bone meal is of the kind used for 
feeding, and is a very finely-divided white and 
pure article, consisting apparently of turn- 
ings of bone, and is well adapted for its 
purpose. 

The bone dust is obviously ground from 
bones that have been boiled or steamed to 
extract their fat, and have also parted with 
a portion of cartilage (animal tissue,) as is 
evident from the small percentage of poten- 
tial ammonia. 

In the collection of the bones, no great 
care has been taken to remove adhering 
dirt and sand, for we find more than five per 
cent, of this impurity. There is also thir- 
teen and a half per cent, of carbonate of 
lime, which is more by five or six per cent, 
than is usually found in steamed or boiled 
bones. When we compare the composition 
of the dust with that of the meal, the latter 
representing pure bone, we find that there is 
a difference of twelve per cent, of phos- 
phates (nearly six per cent, of phosphoric 
acid,) and one and a quarter per cent, of 
potential ammonia. Doubtless there has 
been no intentional adulteration practised on 
this bone dust; but it is not quite so pure as 
it ought to be. The sample is hardly so fine 
as to deserve the name of dust, as it contains 
a good share of unground fragments. Few 
of these, however, would not pass a sieve 
with eight holes to the linear inch, and it is 
therefore in a good form for use. 

A few words with regard to the use of 
bone meal for feeding. When employed for 
this purpose, bone meal is intended to sup- 
ply, especially to milch cows, the lack of 
phosphates in the food. It appears pretty 
well established that the soil of many pas- 
ture lands may become ^o exhausted of 
phosphoric acid, that the herbage does not 
yield to cows, enough of this ingredient for 
the proper nutriment of their bony system, 
and at the same time supply the large de- 
mand for phosphates made by the milk 
secreting organs. Cows thus poorly fed, 
turn instinctively to the proper remedy, and 
neglect no opportunity to gnaw upon any old 
bones they may be able to find. The results 
of continued feeding on such pocr pastures, 
arc a loss of health on the part of the cows, 
especially manifested in a weakening or 
softening of the bones — the bone disease, 
that is not now uncommon in our older dairy 
districts. It is found, if we may rely on the 
experience of our best farmers, that this evil 
" can be partially remedied by directly feed- 



678 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[November 



ing finely ground bone meal to the cows." 
Other phosphates have been found to an- 
swer the same purpose, and doubtless the 
cheapest materials for this purpose are some 
of the " rock guanos" now common in our 
markets. The true remedy for bone disease, 
however, consists not in dosing the animal, 
but in so improving the soil that it shall 
produce a perfect food. A liberal applica- 
tion of some phosphatic manure is the ob- 
vious resort in extreme cases where the soil 
is absolutely deficient in phosphoric acid; 
but in my opinion there are few soils in 
New England (always excepting mere sand 
barrens) that do not originally contain 
enough of all the mineral food of plants, to 
yield perfectly nutritious fodder for an in- 
definitely long period, without the necessity 
for outlay in commercial or concentrated 
fertilizers, if they are brought into the pro- 
per physical conditions and manured with 
all the dung and urine that can be produced 
on them. 



For the Southern Planter. 

Experiments with Plaster on Pea Fallow. 

I last year had 2 bbls. plaster, (all I had,) 
sown on a part of my pea fallow ; the plas- 
ter was applied to the poorest and lightest 
part of the field at the rate of half bushel 
per acre, the peas had about 6 or 8 leaves at 
the time the application was made. In a 
few weeks the vines were a much deeper 
green and were much more flourishing than 
those adjacent without plaster. The whole 
field was fallowed and put into wheat at the 
usual time. About the 1st of January, the 
wheat on the plastered portion, began to 
take the start and maintained it up to 
harvest; and wften cut, I think was fully 
four times as good as the balance of the 
field, notwithstanding the pea vines were 
twice as good on some richer parts of the 
field, where there had been no plaster. The 
joint-worm fly seemed to attack the unplas- 
tered wheat to the very row where the plas- 
ter stopped. I did not thresh or measure 
the product separately, but all my neighbors 
who saw the crop when growing, I am sure, 
will concur with me in the above estimates 
of the product. The growth of weeds, &c, 
on the land since harvest, distinctly mark 
the boundaries of the plastered portion. 

I have applied plaster to the whole of my 
pea fallow (130 acres) this year, and have 
the best growth of vines I have ever had. 



On portions of the fallow, not plastered, to 
see the difference, I think the growth is 
scarcely one-fourth of what it is on the same 
land alongside of it with the plaster. 

On a part of the fallow I applied 1 bushel 
per acre, on the last sowing, about the 1st of 
July, I applied half bushel plaster and half " 
bushel leached ashes, wel lmixed together I 
can see no difference in the pea vines. If 
plaster will act as well on all lands, I think 
we may save the expense of buying guano 
in future. I have frequently used guano, 
but have never seen the best Peruvian pro- 
duce so fine an effect as this small applica- 
tion of plaster on pea vines has produced 
this year. The land on which the experi- 
ment was made, is light Mattaponi land, 
well adapted to corn, but rather too sandy 
for a heavy crop of wheat. 

Ed. Hill. 

King William County, Sept. 18th, 1860. 



Slabbering Horses. — A correspondent 
of the Boston Cultivator says : " All grazing 
animals, and the human species are at times, 
troubled with it, and the cause is probably 
very simple, and the remedy should be so. 
In a healthy state, the stomach of all ani- 
mals abounds with a due proportion of acids 
and alkalies, which aid in forming the gas- 
tric juice, which dissolves and digests the 
food. When acid too much prevails, it de- 
ranges digestion and causes, too much moist- 
ure on the stomach. All that is wanting 
for a cure is alkali and carbon to neutralize 
or absorb the excess of acids. Give the 
horse, in his feed, about half a pint of pul- 
verized charcoal one day, and soot the next, 
and he will soon be well. The charcoal ab- 
sorbs acid, and carries it off. Soot neutral- 
izes acid. The operations of the two will 
restore the gastric juice, and then all will be 
well. We have several alkalies besides what 
may be in soot, but none so safe as in soot, 
for any quantity given will not hurt the 
stomach. Slabbering in horses is undoubt- 
edly caused by some improper thing eaten. 



God Never Perplexed. — It is a glo- 
rious truth that God rules, and that he 
knows what is to come out of all conflicts. 
He sees the end from the beginning. His 
purposes will be accomplished, whoever else 
may be disappointed. His purposes are all 
right, and ought to prevail. The Lord 
ruleth, let the earth rejoice. — Dr. Cox. 



I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



G79 




Richmond Female Institute. 



From the Southern LiVy Messenger, i 

Among the many unmistakable evidences 
of prosperity and progress which Richmond 
now^ affords, none is more decided, or more 
gratifying, than that evinced by the number 
and character of its institutions for the educa- 
tion of young ladies. A glance at the crowded 
advertising columns of our city papers, at this 
period of the year, will soon reveal the fact 
that the interest felt in this subject, and the 
activity manifested, are of no ordinary kind. 

The Richmond Female Institute, a cut of 
whose building we present above, is one of the 
largest and best known of these institutions, 
and the only one, we believe, that is not strictly 
a private enterprise. It occupies a beautiful 
lot fronting on 10th street, and extending 
across from Marshall to Clay— a quiet and 
retired yet central spot, fitly chosen for such a 
purpose. The building is in the form of a T, 
with a depth along the stem (not shown in 
the cut,) of 100 feet, and a front of 125 feet, 
to which two wings of 30 feet each are to be 
added to complete the plan. 

This institution originated in the felt want, 
on the part of some of our citizens of facilities 
for the education of their daughters, conside- 
rably above any which were then within reach. 

However excellent and numerous the pri- 
vate schools might be, they were seen to be 
liable to fluctuations and uncertainties— rising 
or falling with the personal popularity of the 
proprietor^ varying in the advantages furnish- 
ed with his varying pecuniary success, and 
thus scarcely able to offer any large and settled 



course of study, or any invariable standard of 
graduation. 



It was determined, therefore, to establish a 
Female College, to be equal in grade to the 
best of our Colleges for young men, and to 
be located at Richmond, which seemed to offer 
almost unequalled advantages as the place for 
such an institution. 

In order to enlist in its behalf the sympathy 
and support of as large a number as possibly 
and with a view too, to the pecuniary profits 
which it promised, it was decided to raise the 
necessary funds upon the joint-stock principle, 
and to collect them from different portions of 
theState. 

Accordingly, a charter was obtained in 
March, 1853, incorporating a Board of Trus- 
tees, and authorizing them to raise on this 
plan, not less than $15,000, nor more than 
§100,000. Its provisions are unusually liberal, 
vesting all authority directly in the Trustees, 
and giving to the Institute the powers and 
privileges of a College. 

Under this^charter about $50,000 were raised 
in shares of $50 each, a most eligible lot was 
purchased, the buildings erected almost as if 
by magic, an extensive and costly apparatus 
secured, and all the appertenances supplied 
in liberal abundance. All the arrangements 
were on a most magnificent scale; and yet, 
with so much dispatch was the whole con- 
ducted, under the direction of the President, 
Rev. B. Manly, Jr., that the institution was 
opened in October of the same year, and be. 



6S0 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[November 



fore the close of the session, nearly two hun- 
dred pupils had been entered. 

The Faculty was large and of unquestioned 
ability; the Course of Study was extensive 
and complete ; and the number of matriculates 
unexpectedly great. The enterprise sprang 
forth in full-grown strength. By its system 
of independent schools, it was able to send out 
the very first year, a number of young ladies, 
previously well trained by others, as its grad- 
uates, and by the success and brilliancy of its 
Commencement, to attract wider notice and 
win increased favor. The next year a still 
larger number of pupils were in attendunce, 
and up to the present time, the average for the 
six years of its existence has been somewhat 
over two hundred matriculates. 

In its literary aspect, the Institute has been 
eminently successful. While but few young 
ladies (only four) have been able to complete 
fully its extensive course, yet many, very 
many, have left its walls with a degree of 
mental and moral training, that, whether in 
the social circle or in the school room, must 
do honor to their Alma Mater and widen her 
beneficent influence. Nor can it be questioned 
that indirectly also, in its effect upon other 
schools, whether previously existing or estab- 
lished more recently, it has done much to ele- 
vate the standard of female education, both in 
Virginia and elsewhere. 

As a pecuniary investment, like many other 
joint-stock enterprises, it has not met the ex- 
pectations of some of its founders. The sum 
expended (about $70,000) being much larger 
than was anticipated, a balance of debt was 
left to stand in the way of present dividends. 
We have little apprehension of pecuniary em- 
barrassment. Noble men, with liberal minds 
and ample fortunes,- have done much for its 
origination and support, and we feel assured 
that they are ready to do yet more when more 
shall need to be done. And yet we could wish 
to see the money making idea wholly dissoci- 
ated from the enterprise. The yearly income 
might then be devoted by the stockholders to 
the promotion of its enlarged usefulness, an 
endowment fund added if necessary and the 
Institute placed fully upon the broad basis of 
our male Colleges. 

A brief reference to the Course of Study, 
is all our limits will allow further. The plan 
is unusually comprehensive.' It proposes to 
begin at the beginning, with the elements, 
and to include and exhaust, as far as practi- 
cable, every branch which should enter into a 
young lady's education. There are three de- 
partments, designated respectively as Prepa- 
ratory, Collegiate, and Ornamental; each hav- 
ing its distinct officers, while all unite and 
harmonize under the direction and supervision 
of the President. 

The first of these, whose name sufficiently 
describes it, occupies three or four rooms apart 
from the rest in the lower story of the build- 



ing, and is in charge of several ladies who 
give it their exclusive attention. 

The second — the Collegiate — occupies the 
first floor, with its large Study Hall and six 
or seven recitation rooms. The studies of this 
department are divided into seven distinct 
"schools" after the plan, somewhat modified, 
of the University of Virginia. These are: 1. 
English Language and Literature; 2. An- 
cient Languages ; 3. Modern Languages ; 4. 
Mathematics ; 5. Natural Sciences ; 6. Moral 
Philosophy ; 7. History and Political Economy. 

Concurrently with this division, however, 
a partial arrangement into classes is likewise 
maintained, in the belief that a union of the 
two plans is better than either alone. 

Instruction in this department is given by 
male Professors mainly, with two or three 
ladies in the lower classes. 

The Musical and Ornamental department 
has also a full corps of teachers, and embra- 
ces all the branches usually included under 
that head. 

The Institute is now under the Presidency 
of Mr. Charles H. Winston, who was appoint- 
ed to that post at the beginning of the last 
session. It is gratifying to observe the indi- 
cations of progressive usefulness and enlarged 
success which it affords. With the prestige of 
the past, and the encouraging propects of the 
present, we can confidently predict for it a 
brilliant future, which shall claim a yet bright- 
er page in the annals of female education. 



What may be Learned from a Tree. 

[The following article is extracted from 
a very interesting book from the press of D. 
Appleton & Co., by Harhnd Coultas, author 
of " Organic Life the Same in Animals as 
in Plants, &c, &c." It is entitled -' What 
may be Learned from a Tree," and will 
prove a rich treat to the reader who has a 
taste for deducing moral lessons from natural 
science — who 

" Finds tongues in trees, books in running brooks, 
Sermons in stones, and good in every thing."] 

And now, reader, imagine yourself seated 
with me beneath the shade of some grand 
and glorious old tree. I am going to let 
you into the secret of a few bright, guiding 
thoughts, which cheer me along through 
life. Spring has covered this tree with 
another generation of bright, green leaves, 
all of which are at work on its fabric, and 
usefully employed. They will soon pass 
away, and others will take their place, for 
Nature knows no backward movements. 
How many such generations of leaves have 
already expended life in building up this 
tree! 



L8G0.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



C81 



Reader, your position and mine on this 
ptrth resembles that of the leaves on this 
;ree. We are only licre for a little space 
)f time. Many generations have preceded 
is, and coming generations will soon take 
)ur place. The wise and good of all ages 
lave been trying to improve this world and 
ts inhabitants, and, as the result of their 
abors, we have now a social organization 
jailed civilized society. There certainly can 
)e no question as to the necessity of further 
mprovements. These must be founded on 
Sature. "Whilst we live, then, let us employ 
mrselves usefully, and help to diffuse science, 
)eace, prosperity, and contentment. Let us 
.ry to build up a noble social tree. 

If we study the economy of labor amongst 
hese leaves, we shall find that they "help 
;ach other along." The lower leaves on the 
hoot, for instance, prepare the tap or nutri- 
mt material for the leaves above them, the 
ittle twigs assist to develop the branchlets, 
md the branchlets aid in the growth of the 
tranches. In point of fact, the whole tree 
nay be regarded as a " Mutual Aid So- 
:iety;" and thus should it be in this world. 

The tree is all the time changing its form, 
ind in like manner society is ever changing 
ts aspect through all its ramifications, 
rhrough want of life-energy and industry, 
ome are losing gradually that social position 
o which they were elevated by. their ances- 
ors. They are rapidly losing the sap* for 
diich all are contending. This is now be- 
ng diverted away from them to other chan- 
icls, to individual shoots and branches, 
fhcre there is more vital activity, for sap 
s always attracted to these parts; these 
tranger shoots are becoming more and more 
:onspicuous in the social tree, and will soon 
•vertop and conceal them. It is thus that 
he rich sometimes become poor, and the 
>oor rich. 

But there are other causes which effect 
;reat social changes in a community. Somc- 
imes the form of a. tree changes in conse- 
(uence of storms; its branches are broken 
>ff by powerful winds. And what man is 
ure for one moment against calamity ! This 
s so w r ell known, that the words " in pros- 
perity prepare for adversity" have passed 
nto a proverb. How frequently have the 
ruits of years of toil and privation been 
ost in a single hour! 



* Sap or dollar? — that circulating median so 
lecessary to the development of individuals and 
ocieties in civilized life. 



It has, however, been shown that the 
injury done to the tree is soon effaced, that 
when branches arc thus removed, those leSS 
developed get the sap which they monopo- 
lized. And does not precisely the same 
law obtain in society? If any body suffers 
in person or pocket, somebody is sure to 
benefit. Hence the force of the old Scotch 
proverb, " Its an ill wind that blaws naebody 
ony luck." 

But the most remarkable and interesting 
feature about a tree is the fact that it is a 
body so easily impressible. All its periodi- 
cal changes from a state of rest to that of 
motion, those waves of growth of which we 
have spoken, have left an indelible impres- 
sion in the solid parts of its fabric. All the 
bright and stormy days of its life, every 
wind that has shaken its foliage, and every 
rain-drop that has wetted its roots, have 
helped to mould its physical organization 
and make it just what it is. We see, how- 
ever, that in the figure of its leaves, the 
form of its branches, and the colour of its 
flowers, it is governed by peculiar laws of 
life impressed on the seed, and that it pos- 
sesses an internal organizing power by which 
it can, to a certain extent, form itself, not- 
withstanding the indelible impressions left 
on its organization by the events of its life. 

And is it not thus with the successive 
generations of man ? Like the flowers of 
the field and the trees of the forest, do not 
we all develop according to the same general 
laws, running through the same cycle of 
life-changes — of infamy, maturity, decay, 
and dissolution? Yet each individual is 
governed by a peculiar specific law. Is 
there not an individuality about each of us? 
Hence, like the plants around us, do we not 
possess, to a certain extent, an organizing 
power within ourselves? Like the trees, 
we are inseparably connected with the ma- 
terial world from whence our organization 
derives impressions. We are a part of the 
Universe. The matter of which our bodies 
are composed, like that of trees and flowers, 
is held together by attraction, and after a 
while, like them, the prese.it living gener- 
ation will disappear from the landscape — 
o!i»olved into earth and air. But not 
an atom perishes. The same matter again 
reappears in other forms of life and beauty. 
It is not the first time that the matter which 
composes the present living organized cre- 
ation has been vitalized. How, then, can 
this grand machine of Nature be without 



682 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[November 



guidance ? Who will say that there is no 
plan or system in this thing ? Is it not also 
plain, that we are connected with the past 
and future in adamantine chains, and that 
the species of independency and separation 
from external nature, which we attribute to 
ourselves, is a mere figment ? 

And if matter is thus imperishable,* then 
gravity, heat, light, electricity, (those forces 
which control matter,) are also eternal. 
And why should not mind be immortal — 
mind, the highest force in the Universe, 
which now guides the lightnings, and to 
form and advance which is the design of 
this vast system of sea and land, air and 
skies ? It is natural for a noble mind to 
desire immortality. But if man is not im- 
mortal, then a nation weeps in vain for its 
mighty dead, and erects its noblest ceno- 
taphs. Where will they be when the per- 
petual beat of ocean shall have shattered to 
ashes these continents and the Alps and the 
Andes, those majestic monuments of Nature 
lie entombed under its rolling waters? 
Matter and the forces which govern it are 
eternal, and human life (I mean that life 
which we have in common with plants), is a 
mere integralf portion of eternity; yet, 
why doubt the immortality of that higher 
manifestation of life called mind, when it 
can sweep over the vastness of Nature and 
unfold the principles of things? If the 
value of man is to be estimated by the 
duration of his frail and perishable body, 
then is he of less importance than the tree 
which he fells for timber, for that frequently 



* There is not now, and, in the author's 
opinion, never was, a chaos, or state of things 
in which the atoms of material bodies were 
heterogeneously disposed. All the researches of 
science tend to show that matter has always 
been subject to law. It is not impossible for 
the matter of our earth to have existed in some 
other form anterior to its attraction together 
about the earth's centre, and when the earth 
shall have answered the purposes of its Creator, 
when she shall grow weary in her diurnal 
march, and the ocean roll its last billow, the 
winds breathe their last gasp, may not the 
matter of the earth, like that of the beauti- 
ful trees and flowers which have disappeared 
from its surface, still be in existence, and re- 
appear again in some other form to beautify the 
heavens and go through another grand cycle of 
change ? 

t Integral, the sum of a series of differentials 
or infinitely small quantities. The moments of 
human life are in differentials, and human life 
itself is that sum or integral. 



outlives him and his successive generations. 
Oh, let us not think thus meanly of ourselves ! 
The mind is the man ; and " one living mind 
is worth more than a dead Universe." Never 
can I sympathize with those who seek to in- 
spire man with low, reptile feelings, and try 
to shame him out of his trust in his Creator ! 
What moral good can ever result to the" 
human race from the advocacy of such senti- 
ments? 

I see the sun now sinking in the west. 
He is casting his parting rays on our land- 
scapes. How beautiful the light reflected 
from the clouds in his neighborhood. An- 
other beat of the great pendulum of the 
Universe! Whence that thought? It rises 
from my appreciation of the advance of 
Nature. The landscapes are now enveloped 
in the earth's shadow. It is night. Why 
did that sunset give me so much pleasure ? 
Because the sun was made to minister to 
my gratification. I am then of more im- 
portance than that sun.. Yet it shone 
myriads of ages before I came to regard its 
splendors, and it will shine on my lowly 
grave. That will contain my hocly, BUT 
not me. Others shall look on thy setting 
beauties, thou glorious sun, and read these 
lines when I am gone, and oh ! may they 
inspire in them my own unfaultering faith 
in Providence and immortality ! 

As the tree is connected with the mate- 
rial world, and receives impressions from 
without, which mould its character, so with 
the organism of man. He is bound by in- 
separable ties to the material creation. 
Locke, in his " Essay on the Human Un- 
derstanding," has shown us the nature of 
this connection: that sensation links us with, 
matter, is the germ of intellect, and the 
avenue of human knowledge. 

Notwithstanding the unbounded liberty 
which the mind of man seems to possess, it 
is in reality confined within very narrow 
limits; for when we carefully analyze our 
ideas, simple and complex; we can trace 
them without an exception to past impres- 
sions made on our organization. We can 
form no conception of anything without re- 
ference to ideas previously acquired by the 
senses. I may conceive of a golden moun- 
tain, but it is obvious that if I had not pre- 
viously acquired, by impressions from exter- 
nal Nature, the ideas of mountain and gold, 
it would have been impossible to have form- 
ed the combination. 

We are very frequently compelled to re- 



1860.1 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



683 



ceive ideas independently of our will. I 
may, for instance, be looking out of my win- 
dow, and see a man shot down, and a year 
afterwards recollect the circumstance. I 
have thus involuntarily acquired an idea. 
Impressions thus received, when powerful 
and painful, will recur again and again, and 
influence our conduct through life. 

Now, if our knowledge of an external 
object was limited to the moment of percep- 
tion, and was extinguished forever with the 
fading sensation which gave it birth, if we 
had no memory of past impressions, then we 
should be creatures utterly incapable of rea- 
soning or reflection. But we are so consti- 
tuted that the knowledge derived from with- 
out lives within us. All our past impres- 
sions are secured to us. They are associated 
together according to certain laws, which 
have evidently been contrived with the 
most admirable adaptation to our wants, so 
as to bring again the knowledge previously 
acquired by the senses at the very time 
when its return is the most profitable. "A 
burnt child fears the fire, ,, for example. 
Hence we are ever expanding ourselves over 
the long series of our past sensations, for 
memory is the mind relapsing into a former 
state, and the use of reason becomes more 
and more apparent, as these sensations from 
the external world are increased in number 
and variety. 

How beautifully are the upper and lower 
extremities of a tree organized with refer- 
ence to the earth and atmosphere ! The 
fibres on the roots and the leaves on the 
branches — how different in form and color ! 
Yet both are absorbents beautifully adapted 
to the media in which they develop. In 
like manner is the organization of man 
adapted to the material creation spread 
around. His eye is beautifully adapted to 
receive the light, his ear is formed for the 
reception of sound ; his body, in fact, is an 
apparatus most exquisitely contrived to ren- 
der him sensible to the nature of external 
things. Hence, Nature is the great teacher. 
In childhood we are the most passive and 
impressible. We spend life in a state of 
constant and curious excitement. We are 
perpetually stimulated by the presence of 
new objects, and every hour brings with it 
stores of facts and natural appearances, the 
rich materials of our future knowledge. 
Nature is pouring in instruction at every 
avenue of sense. As we advance in years, 
we become familiar with common objects, 



and our attention is naturally drawn away 
from the discovery of what is new to the 
study and examination of that which is old. 
The vast variety of phenomena which liave 
made an impression. on us are brought under 
review, and the feverish astonishment of 
ehildhood gives place to the color of manly 
contemplation. Then commence those first 
attempts at generalization, which mark the 
dawn of science in the mind, and from the 
lessens of the past we now draw the mate- 
rials of our future wisdom. 

Every wind and rain-drop has helped to 
mould the character of this tree. And it is 
a great truth, which well deserves to be re- 
garded, that not only the^, peculiarities of 
their organization, but the circumstances by 
which they are surrounded, form those end- 
lessly diversified varieties of human charac- 
ter which we meet with in our passage 
through life. Like the different trees of 
a forest, the individuality of men is the re- 
sult of the controlling influence of peculiar 
laws of organization and the circumstances 
in which they are placed. 

The tree unfolds from the seed and runs 
through all the various phases of its life, ac- 
cording to peculiar laws which are inefface- 
able, and can never be set aside by circum- 
stances, adverse or otherwise. And, like 
the trees and flowers, human nature exists 
under a vast variety of form. We differ 
from each other, not only in our features, 
but in our tastes and modes of thought. 
These differences of character are constitu- 
tional, the result of the operation of those 
peculiar laws of life which have governed 
us from the commencement of existence. 
The variety of talent and disposition is a 
wise and benevolent provision of Nature. 
It brings men together. It enables them to 
be of service to each other, and thus strength- 
ens the bonds of mutual dependence, re- 
spect, and good-will. Since, then, human 
nature is so constituted, it shows not only 
ignorance and narrowness of mind, but a 
Want of courtesy and even common sense, 
to cherish unkind feelings towards any man 
for a mere difference of opinion, or a want 
of sympathy with us in our favorite pur- 
suits. On the contrary, charity and forbear- 
ance are indicative of a mind enlightened, 
expanded and noble. It is an endorsement 
of the fact that its possessor appreciates 
freedom. We cannot all think alike. There 
are natural antipathies and mutual attrac- 
tions. If the former were not a reality, the 



684 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[November 



latter could have no existence, and life would 
be without some of its choicest blessings — 
the sweet sympaties of mutual love, and the 
warm and appreciating <grasp of the hand 
of friendship. 

A tree cannot flourish in an unfavorable 
soil, however healthy the germ which the 
seed encloses. So a man may be richly en- 
dowed with natural talent, and yet that tal- 
ent will continue rudimentary, and ultimate- 
ly become abortive through the long con- 
tinuance of unfavorable circumstances. 
These facts ought ever to be borne in mind, 
if we would form a just appreciation of 
others. The first duty which a man owes 
to himself is to- develop himself. Circum- 
stances form character. "He that walketh 
with wise men shall be wise, but a compan- 
ion of fools shall be destroyed." There 
must be an affinity for what is true and no- 
ble, and then there will be progress. We 
may extricate ourselves from an unfavorable 
position. By honorable, right-angled or up- 
right behaviour, we may awaken sympathy 
in the bosom of the wise, the just and the 
benevolent. We may impress them favora- 
bly, and they will necessarily become our 
JPriends. It is a law of Nature, that virtue 
and integrity shall have their reward. Is 
not this a plain indication of that pathway 
through life over which men ought to tra- 
vel? 

And let us never forget that we mutually 
impress each other by every action of our 
lives. If we violate a contract made with 
another, we produce a bad impression, and 
we injure not only the man but the commu- 
nity. That unfavorable impression is re- 
tained, and it may be a generous and confi- 
ding man has been rendered, for life, penu- 
rious and distrustful. But, if we keep our 
contract, we produce a good impression, 
which is quite as permanent, — the man has 
confidence in us, and we impel him to in- 
creased confidence in his species. He meets 
us with a bright smile because we have done 
well. If men only reflected thoroughly on 
the power of external circumstances and in- 
dividual laws of organization, they would 
act with greater wisdom and justice toward 
each other. 

Far be it from me to insinuate in these 
pages that man is ever carried to any line 
of conduct by physical impulse or necessity. 
If we suppose this, then man becomes a 
mere machine; and no longer responsible 
for his conduct, he is unworthy of either 



praise or blame. Virtue becomes a figment. 
Every action of his life is the result of 
choice, and that choice connects itself with 
a degree of moral responsibility proportioned 
to the extent of which he has a clear and 
adequate perception of his obligations. The 
very idea of virtue implies resistance to^ 
temptation, and an enlightened and willing 
fulfilment of duty. 



A Difficult Question Answered. 

11 Can any reader of this paper," says an 
exchange, " tell why, when Eve was manufac- 
tured from one of Adam's ribs, a hired girl 
wasn't made at the same time to wait on her V 

Fanny Fern says in reply : 

"We can answer the question easily! Be- 
cause Adam never came whining to Eve with 
a ragged stocking to be darned, a collar string 
to be sewed on, or a glove to be mended, 
' rig]it away, quick now !" Because he never 
read the newspapers until the sun got down 
behind the palm trees, and then stretched him- 
self, yawning out, 'Ain't supper most ready, 
my dear ? Not he. He made the fire and 
hung over the teakettle himself, we'll venture, 
and pulled the radishes, and peeled the pota- 
toes, and every thieg else that he'd ought to ! 
He milked the cows, and fed the chickens, 
and looked after the pigs himself. He never 
brought home half a dozen friends to dinner, 
when Eve had'nt any thing for dinner, and 
the mango season was over ! He never staid 
out until eleven o'clock to a " ward meeting,' 
hurrahing for the out and-out-candidate, and 
then scolding because poor Eve was sitting 
up and crying inside the gate. To be sure he 
acted rather cowardly about the apple gather- 
ing, but then that don't depreciate his general 
usefulness about the garden ! He never played 
billiards, nor drove fast horses, nor choked 
Eve with cigar smoke ! He never loafed around 
corner groceries while solitary Eve was rock- 
ing little Cain's cradle at home. In short, he 
did'nt think she was especially created for the 
purpose of waiting on him, and wasn't under 
the impression that it disgraced a man to 
lighten his wife's care's a little. 

"That's the reason that Eve did not need a 
hired girl, and we wish it was the reason that 
none of her fair descendants did ! 



Lemon Pies. — Beat, with the yolk of 
four eggs, two tablespoonsful of melted but- 
ter, four of white sugar, the juice and 
grated rind of two lemaps. Put into a rich 
paste and bake. Then beat the whites to a 
froth, adding two tablespoonsful of grated 
sugar. Spread on the pies when done, put 
them in the oven and bake again for three 
minutes. The above is for two pies. 



I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



685 



How to Clean Teeth. 

There is, in my opinion, no dentrifice used 
so baneful in its effects as charcoal. I doubt 
if there is a dentist, with a fair practice of 
ten years, but has seen worse effects from its 
use than from the use of acids. 1 have had, 
in my own practice, to insert three sets of 
teeth where the gums were destroyed, and 
the teeth dropped out from the use of char- 
coal. In two of these cases, the gums were 
permanently discoloured, so that there can 
be no mistake of its agency. 

The effect of charcoal is purely mechani- 
cal; it is as sharp as diamond^tiust, and the 
finer the worse its effects. JTeing perfectly 
insoluble in the fluids of the mouth, it in- 
sinuates itself between the neck of the 
tooth and the gum, producing ulceration, 
recission, and final loss of the tooth itself. 
Next to charcoal, in their bad effects upon 
the teeth, are the various kinds of boles 
and earths, under different and high-sound- 
ing names, and popular as tooth powders. 

I would have my patients use no kind of 
powders upon their teeth oftener than two 
or three times a month; then I would not 
have them use the brush, but take some 
finely prepared chalk, and a stick of red 
cedar, orange, or hickory, (we should say, 
soft white pine,) about three inches long, 
wedge shape, and from one-eighth to one- 
quarter inch wide; with this polish the 
enamel, being careful not to irritate the 
gums. 

The great dentrifice that should be used 
at all times, and under any circumstances, 
is soap. Its alkaline properties serve to 
neutralize the acid contained in the fluids 
of the mouth, and its cleansing properties 
will correct the breath, and remove offen- 
sive odor sooner than any article I have ever 
seen tried. I have seen the best effects from 
its use in tenderness and inflammation of 
the gums denoting acrid secretion, and have 
never known it to tail in its results. 



Mason and Dijon's Line. 

Repeated inquiries are made as to the 
origin aud application of the term " Mason 
and Dixon's Line." The following is given 
as its history : 

"On the 4th of August, 1763,' Thomas 
and Richard Penn, and Lord Baltimore, be- 
ing together in London, agreed with Charles 
Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, two mathema 
ticians, to mark, run out, settle and fix the 



boundary line between Maryland on one 
hand, and Delaware and Pennsylvania on 
the other. Mason and Dixon landed in 
Philadelphia on the 15th of November fol- 
lowing, and began their work at once. They 
adopted the peninsula lines, and the radius 
and tangent point of the circular of their 
predecessors. They next ascertained the 
northeast coast of Maryland, and proceeded 
to run the dividing parallel of latitude. 
They pursued this parallel a distance of 
twenty-three miles, eighteen chains, and 
twenty-one links, from the place of begin- 
ning at the northeast corner of Maryland 
to the bottom of a valley on the Dunkirk 
creek, where an Indian war-path crossed 
their rout, and here, on the 19th of Novem- 
ber, 1767 — ninety-three years ago — their 
Indian escort told them that it was the will 
of the Sioux nation that the surveys should 
cease, and they terminated accordingly, 
leaving thirty-six miles, six chains and fifty 
links as the exact distance remaining to be 
run west to the southwest angle of Penn- 
sylvania, not far from the Board Tree Tun- 
nel on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad. 
Dixon died at Durham, England, 1777 ; 
Mason died in Pennsylvania, 1787/' 



Grammar in Rhyme. 

(1.) Three little words you often see, 
Are Articles — a, an, and the. 

(2.) A Noun 's the name of any thing, 
As school, or garden, hoop, or swing. 

(3.) Adjectives tell the kind of noun, 

As great, small, pretty, white, or brown. 

(4.) Instead of nouns the Pronouns stand — 
Her head, his face, your arm, my hand. 

(5.) Verbs tell of something to be done, 
To read, count, sing, l<t ugh, jump, or run. 

(6.) How things are done the Adverbs tell, 
As slowly, quickly, ill, or well. 

(7.) Conjunctions join the words together, 
As men and women, wind or weather. 

(8.) The Preposition stands before 
A noun, as in or through a door. 

(9.) The Interjection shows surprise, 

As, oh! how pretty; ah! how wise. 

The whole are called nine parts of speech, 
"Which reading, writing, speaking teach. 



686 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[November 



From the New England Farmer. 

Ashes against Plaster. 

Many farmers will expend money freely 
for plaster, and consider it a profitable in- 
vestment, but at the same time throw or give 
away their wood ashes ! At least, such has 
been the case. This is poor economy. While 
we regard plaster as a valuable article, we, 
at the same time, rank wood ashes much 
higher in the scale of fertilizers. It is true 
that no very accurate experiments have as 
yet been made to ascertain precisely the spe- 
cific value of plaster and ashes ; yet every 
one who has applied them to his soil and 
growing crops must have seen enough to 
convince him that both are serviceable, and 
especially that ashes should always be col- 
lected and preserved with care. In the 
" Buckeye Plowboy" some years since, a 
writer apparently desirous of placing this 
subject in its proper light, but with some- 
what less minuteness of detail tban is per- 
haps requisite to the consummation of such 
an undertaking, details a single experiment 
instituted by himself as follows : 

"I took three rows in a small piece of 
corn by the side of my garden, and put a 
handful of ashes on each hill of one row, 
a teaspoonful of plaster on each hill of an- 
other, and the third, left without putting on 
any of either. I cultivated them #11 alike, 
hoeing them twice. During the season some 
pigs got in and rooted up one end of the 
rows, leaving but about five rods of each 
that came to maturity. In the fall I husked 
the rows, as far as they had not been in- 
jured, and weighed the ears of each: 

Weight of the ashed row, . 49 1 lbs. 
Weight of the plastered row, 48 £ " 

Weight of the row which was nei- 
ther ashed nor plastered, . 41 \ u 

" The ground was green-sward, turned 
over in the spring, the soil clay, inclined to 
loam." 

We present the following analysis of the 
ashes of the sapwood of white-oak, ( Quer- 
cus alba :) 

13.41 
0.52 
2.78 
4.24 
0.12 



Carbonic acid, 
Lime, 
Silica, 

Magnesia, . 
Soluble Silica, 
Organic matter, 



8.95 
30.85 
0.21 
0.36 
0.80 
5.70^ 



100.19 
Many analyses have been made of the 
corn crop, and the following, embracing the 
ashes of the kernel, leaves and cob, we give, 
in order better to enable the reader to un- 
derstand icliy ashes applied to this vegetable, 
as a manure,j|aust necessarily be productive 
of beneficial effects. 

Analysis of the ash of the kernel of white 
fint corn, "grown on a sandy soil, and ma- 
nured with coal ashes." 



Potash, .... 
Soda, .... 

Sodium, .... 
Chlorine, .... 
Sulphuric acid, 
Phosphate of Peroxide of Iron, 
Phosphate of Lime, 
Phosphate of Magnesia, 



12.25 



Silica, .... 

Alkaline and earthy Phosphates, 

Lime, 

Magnesia, 

Potash, 

Soda, 

Chlorine, 

Sulphuric acid, 

Organic matter, 



9.500 

35.500 

0.160 

2.410 

23.920 

22.590 

0.405 

4.385 

0.367 









99.237 


Analysis of the ashes of the leaves : 


Silica, .' i . . 53.550 


Earthy Phosphates, 






19.250 


Lime, 






6.092 


Magnesia, 






1.250 


Potash, 






12.762 


Soda, 






. 8.512 


Chlorine, . 






9.762 


Sulphuric acid, 






4.185 




115.363 


Analysis of the ashes of the cob : 


Silica, . . . . . 13.600 


Earthy Phosphates, 






23.924 


Lime, 






0.300 


Magnesia, 
Potash, , 






0.900 






35.802 


Soda, . # . 






5.914 


Chlorine, . 






0.132 


Sulphuric acid, 






0.345 


Organic matter, 






2.314 


Carbonic acid, 






6.134 



89.365 

The reader will not fail to observe how 

largely those elements prevail which are the 



I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



687 



iiiost important to nearly all plants, such as 
the earthy phosphates, the potash, soda, and 
silica, or sand. He will observe, too, that 
they arc far from being insignificant even 
in the coal ashes. If this analysis is cor- 
rect — and we have no reason to doubt it — 
coal ashes ought to be more generally pre- 
served and used as a fertilizer. 

The ashes of all wood are composed very 
nearly of the same materials, and so far as 
effects upon vegetation are concerned, it is 
of very little consequence whether they are 
from oak, elm, maple, or any other variety. 
Ashes from soft wood are said to be less 
valuable ; but we have high authority that 
the ashes of the hardest oak and the softest 
pine vary but a trifle in the -materials which 
compose them. 



From the New England Farmer. 

Agriculture. 

Mr. Editor:— In order to obviate some 
of the prejudices which, unfortunately, exist 
among farmers against boolc knowledge, I 
wish to say a few words upon scientific, ex- 
perimental, and practical agriculture. 

Scientific agriculture, as I understand it, 
explains the various methods of cultivating, 
improving and beautifying the earth, so as 
to render it more productive and delightful. 
The term agriculture, is derived from " ager." 
a field, and " cultura," culture, so that, ac- 
cording to its etymology, it means field- 
culture. In a restricted sense, it is confined 
to, and explains, the different operations re- 
quired in the cultivation and improvement 
of arable and grass lands, and whatever ap- 
pertains to the same; the cultivating and 
preserving different kinds of crops, fruits, 
&c. In a more extensive sense, it includes 
the breeding, rearing, feeding and manage- 
ment of all kinds of stock, and the disposal 
of the same. And it is the particular pro- 
vince of scientific agriculture to explain the 
reasons why things should be done thus and 
so, and not in a different manner. Science 
means knowledge ; and he who possesses it, 
is master of his subject, and is competent to 
explain it. But, as it is human to err, and 
there is no such thing as human perfection, 
it frequently happens, that our most scien- 
tific men are mistaken in some points, and 
therefore are not perfectly reliable in all 
their statements; and the reason is obvious, 
either because they have been deficient in 
scientific knowledge, or because they have 



carelessly overlooked some of the causes 
which have contributed to produce a certain 
result, or have attributed the result to wrong 
causes. In cither case, it does not prove the 
uselessness or the worthlessness of science, 
or book-knowledge, but directly the reverse ; 
for, if the most knowing and scientific some- 
times make mistakes, the least scientific, 
that is, the most ignorant, will be the most 
likely to make the most frequent mistakes. 
Errors of this kind are the result of ignorance, 
and not of science or knowledge ; and their 
frequency is generally in proportion to the 
degrees of ignorance which prevail. Igno- 
rant people, on this subject, are like narrow- 
necked bottles, the less they have in them 
the more noise they make 1 in pouring it out. 
They seem to think that "a little knowledge 
is a dangerous thing," especially if it be de- 
rived from books. At least, they think it 
quite unnecessary for farmers to trouble 
themselves much about book-knowledge, or 
to try to educate themselves beyond their 
immediate labor in the field. They seem 
almost to entertain a prejudice against one 
who devotes much attention to subjeets of 
art, or science, or general literature, as 
though such studies were inconsistent with 
the ordinary business of a thrifty farmer. 
Very few farmers are so burdened with 
work that they cannot find one or two hours 
each day for other studies besides those 
which relate to agriculture. The objects of 
all our private studies should be the better 
to qualify ourselves for our work, to make 
us more intelligent, more skilful, more scien- 
tific, and thus to raise ourselves above mere 
serfs and labourers, to a position of influence 
and growing usefulness. 

Experimental agriculture differs in some 
respects from the scientific, inasmuch as it 
consists in endeavouring to find out, by a 
series of experiments, what science already 
knows and is prepared to teach systemati- 
cally. All experiments are more or less ex- 
pensive. It may cost hundreds and thou- 
sands of dollars to test and to make sure 
what we desire to know. To accomplish 
our purpose, time and money and labor are 
required. But, when we have once obtained 
our knowledge by well tried experiments, 
and printed the results in a book, it then 
ceases to be experimental, and is so much 
added to our present stock of scientific know- 
ledge. Every one who tries experiments 
should be a man of thought and reflection, 
who knows how to combine elements, so as 



688 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[November 



^o make wheat, corn, roots, and other vege- 
tables grow, upon which man and beast sub- 
sist. He should be a reader of agricultural 
books and periodicals, a careful observer of 
nature, a close thinker, a correct reasoner, 
so as to be able to draw correct conclusions. 
In making experiments, he should do it at 
first on a small scale, and according to his 
means, and repeat them a sufficient number 
of times to establish their certainty. But, 
then, there would be less need of his mak- 
ing experiments, if he read more and under- 
stood better the experiments of others. 
Books should be "the man of his counsel 
and the lamp to his feet to guide him in the 
path of duty," because books contain the 
experiments and «the experience of others. 
Still he should not believe in the truth of 
every statement which he finds in agricul- 
tural books and papers, especially in. the 
latter, because many of the writers in the 
agricultural papers are uneducated men, 
honest and truthful, but they do not know 
the whole truth, and are liable to make 
wrong statements. For instance, in the use 
of salt, quicklime, potash, &c, for agricul- 
tural purposes, great caution is necessary, 
however strongly they may be recommended; 
because, when improperly used, or in wrong 
quantities, they are very destructive to vege- 
tation. It is chiefly owing to the mistakes 
which have been made in the use of these 
and such like articles, that so many preju- 
dices exist against book knowledge. 

Practical agriculture is founded on science, 
experiment and experience; in other words, 
it is practical knowledge applied to farming, 
whether that knowledge be derived from 



year. They go on from one degree of im- 
provement to another, so that you may 
know them by their good fruits, as well as 
by their good works. 

John Goldsbtjry. 



From the Country Gentleman and Cultivator. 

Cooked and Uncooked Food for Swine^ 

and how much Pork a Bushel of Corn 

will Make. 

Several articles have appeared in the 
Country Gentleman, during the past year, 
on the above questions. These same ques- 
tions were propounded years ago, and men 
then, as they do now, gave their opinions 
and the results of their experiments, and 
they differed widely then, and so they do 
now, and these questions are still open for 
discussion, and probably.will so remain for a 
long time to come. 

Ask any number of farmers which would 
fatten swine the fastest, cooked ruta bagas 
and a given amount of barley meal, or raw 
grated bagas and the same amount of meal, 
probably nine-tenths of them would say 
those fed on the cooked bagas would fatten 
the fastest. 

A few years since the result of such an 
experiment was reported' in the Irish Farm- 
er's Gazette: 

"Eight hogs were selected and divided* 
into two lots as evenly as could be, and put 
up to fatten on the 27th of November: Each 
lot was fed regularly three times a day, hav- 
ing each 12 pounds of bran and barley 
meal, the only difference being that one lot 
had steamed ruta bagas, and the other 



pulped (grated) raw ruta bagas. The ex- 
books containing the result of other men's periment was continued thirty-nine days; 
experience, or from our own thoughts, study the lot having cooked food eat 468 pounds 
and experience. At any rate, it is not of bran, &c, and 10,920 pounds of ruta 
visionary or theoretical, but practical. It bagas, and increased 103 pounds^ while the 



consists in applying the well-known and 
well-established principles in the science of 
agriculture to the cultivation and improve- 
ment of the soil, in rendering it more pro- 
ductive and better fitted for the support and 
man 



lot having uncooked food eat 468 pounds 
of bran, &c, and only 5,460 pounds of ruta 
bagas, and gained 110 pounds. It will be 
seen that the lot with cooked food eat twice 
as much ruta bagas as the lot having un- 
accommodation of man and beast. Wei cooked, and at the same time did not gain 
have many practical farmers who do not as much in weight by seven pounds." 
pretend to be very scientific, or much given The foregoing is certainly a very unlooked 
to experiment, but whose practice works to for result — an entire loss of 5,460 pounds of 
a charm. They read and think and judge bagas, and the expense of cooking, and the 
for themselves, and apply in practice what- less gain in weight of hogs by seven 
ever appears to be right and reasonable, pounds. 

They are not only practical, but progressive Some may ask if there is a loss in cooking 
farmers. They are continually learning bagas and other roots, is it not better to cook 
more and more, and doing better every the meal fed to swine. The late Mr. Col- 



1800.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



68 



man, in his Fourth Report of the Agricul-( three weeks they lost four pounds 
tin 



I fed 



of Massachusetts, gives the results of five and a half bushels of raw meal to those 

some of his experiments and conclusions first fed on cooked food, and in throe weeks 

drawn therefrom, and says : thej gained sixty-one pounds. I think this 

"A peck of Indian- meal, taking up as 'proves conclusively that we cannot fatten 

much water as it would contain, gave a ket- swine with profit on cooked food. Had my 



tie nearly full of pudding, when half a 
bushel of meal imperfectly prepared gave a 
little more. This seems to demonstrate the 
great advantage of cooked food, both as it 
respects its increase of bulk and the im- 
provement of its nutritive properties." 

Long continued cooking, and increase of 
bulk, he thought, added much to the nutri- 
tive qualities of the meal, and I presume 
most farmers are of the same opinion. 

But Joseph How, Esq., of Methuen, 
Mam.) arrives at a different conclusion from, 
the above. In the Essex Co. Transactions, 
1848, he gives the details of feeding five 
pigs from the 15th of August to the 28th 
of November, feeding alternately on cooked 
and uncooked food, changing the food 
several times during the trial, and weighing 
the pigs at each change of feed, and he 
says : 

"That there should be no mistake in re- 
gard to the above experiments, I have fed 
them nearly all the time myself, and weighed 
them myself, and the result was in favor of 
vneooked marl" 

In Flint's Agriculture of Massachusetts, 
1855, Albert Montague of Sunderland, 
gives the result of an experiment in feeding 
swine with cooked and uncooked food: 

" The meal cooked and uncooked was 
alike, one-half corn, one-fourth oats, and 
one-fourth broom seed. I cooked the meal 
by stirring it into boiling water, and letting 
it boil from thirty to forty minutes, by which 
time it would swell to three times its capaci- 
ty before boiling. The pigs selected were 
all doing well upon uncooked food. I put 
four in two pens, sidp by side, weighed 
them four different times; kept a correct ac- 
count of their weight at each weighing, and 
weighed the same hour of the day each time. 
I fed two of them with cooked meal four 
weeks, and they were not so heavy by eleven 
pounds as at the time I commenced. They 
were weighed twice during the time. They 
eat four bushels of meal. I fed eight and 
one-fourth bushels of meal, uncooked, to the 
others, and they gained eighty-two pounds. 
I then fed the last named pigs three and 
one-half bushels of cooked meal, and in 
44 



pigs never had any meal but what had been 
cooked, I presume they might have improved 
a little upon it; but taking them from un- 
cooked and putting them upon cooked food, 
they did not eat quite so freely at first as 
they otherwise might — hence a loss. 

"But when we remember that even a hog 
cannot be so hoggish as to more than fill 
himself, and one quart of cooked meal 
would fill as much as three quarts of un- 
cooked meal, we can easily see that a 
pig fed on uncooked meal would eat 
nearly, three, or quite three, times the value 
of meal compared with the one fed on 
cooked food — providing cooking did not in- 
crease the value one-third, then a pig would 
not be able to cat enough to fatten readily, 
and it must take a certain amount of food to 
support life, whether cooked or uncooked. 
Taking swine from uncooked food, in both 
cases, they lost in weight, but, on the other 
hand, taking them from cooked food and 
giving them uncooked food, there was a fair 
gain." 

A certain amount of food is required to- 
keep up the warmth of the animal, and re- 
pair the daily waste going on in the system. 
A healthy ox, horse or hog, can be so fed as 
neither to gain or lose ten pounds in weight 
for weeks together. Or if the same animals- 
are judiciously and full fed with nutritious 
food, they will largely gain, both in fat and 
muscle, because a portion of the food not 
needed for keeping up the temperature of 
the body, and repairing the daily waste of 
the system, will be assimilated and converted 
into " fat, bone and muscle." Now, if one- 
quart of meal, by being cooked, assumes the 
bulk of three quarts of raw meal, it is possi- 
ble that Mr. Montague's pigs could not eat 
a sufficient quantity of cooked to any more 
than keep up their weight, or not quite that, 
while being fed on the cooked food. But 
when fed upon the raw meal, in the same 
bulk, they obtained about three times the 
nutriment. How much of the unco; iked 
meal was assimilated, of course no one can 
tell, but according to Mr. M's statement, 
enough to produce a ''fair gain." 

Some over two years ago there was pub- 
lished account of Mr. S. fit. Clay's experi- 



690 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[November 



ments in feeding boiled corn, cooked ineal, 
and dry shelled corn to swine. 

The results of Mr. C.'s experiments, con- 
firmed as they are by those of others, show 
that the grinding of corn into meal, and 
cooking the latter, will make one bushel of 
corn produce more pork, (live weight,) than 
two would do, and nearly as much as three 
would if fed whole and uncooked. 

The results of Mr. Clay's experiments 
show that the number of pounds of pork 
for each bushel of corn was as follows: 

When fed in the form of boiled corn, 14| lbs. 

.do. do. cooked meal, 16^ lbs. 

do. do. dry corn, 5f lbs. 

In the last vol. of Georgia Gentleman, 
A. S. Proctor, 111., tells us " how much 
corn will make a pound of pork." His pig 
ate in sixty-one days, 5 5-9ths bushels of 
corn at 35 cents per bushel — $200, and it 
made 43 lbs. of dressed pork, worth 8>| cts. 
per pound, $2.36 — or 36 cents more than the 
corn fed to him was worth in the crib. 

If the statements of Mr. Clay are correct, 
Mr. Proctor actually lost about two-thirds of 
the corn fed to the pig, which might have 
been saved if the corn had been ground into 
meal and cooked before having been fed. 
As Mr. P. is good in figures, we hope 
another year he will experiment on two or 
more pigs, feeding one lot ©n raw corn, the 
other on cooked meal, and cypher out the 
results and have them published in the 
Georgia Gentleman. 

Mr. Proctor realized 41 cents per bushel 
for his. corn — by way of set off I will show 
how much a New Hampshire farmer ob- 



Late in the fall I used more than half cold 
water to mix their meal in. Together with 
the sour milk, they ate five or six bushels of 
small potatoes, and twenty-eight bushels of 
corn meal. They were slaughtered when 
seven and a half months old, and weighed 
660 pounds. Thus you see, that for every 
bushel of corn I received twenty-three and 
four-sevenths pounds of pork. The smaller 
pig was sold for ten cents per pound, which 
would make both amount to $66. " Deduct 
six dollars which was paid for the pigs, and 
four dollars for small potatoes and sour milk, 
and you have $56 left, or $2 for every 
bushel of corn, not counting my labor any- 
thing.'* 

The above statements of Mr. Harriman 
are perfectly reliable, and there are many 
others here whose " luck" in raising pigs is 
very similar. 

Again in the Georgia Gentleman of 19th 
inst., you give the statement of Joseph 
Greene of Macedon, N. Y. He was very 
successful "in feeding pigs on undiluted 
skim-milk — or in its most concentrated 
state — without any water thrown in." If a 
pig can eat 'three gallons of milk each day, 
would it add anything extra to the growth 
of the pig if the milk was diluted one-half 
with water— in that case he would only eat 
six quarts of milk per diem. Hogs can't be 
fattened on water ; yet some farmers act as 
though they thought there were great fat- 
tening virtues in water. They mash up 
their boiled potatoes, add a little meal, and 
water enough to make. the whole mess about 
the consistency of egg-nogg; but this kind 



tained per bushel for his corn, fed to a pair of swill is better calculated to make pot 



of pigs. In the Georgia Gentleman of 23d 
April, 1857, W, A. Harriman of Warner, 
N. H., gives the result of his experience in 



" fattenin' 



pigs. 



He says : 
I bought two 



pigs 



four 



u Last sprin 
weeks old the 19th of May, for $6. They 
were taken home and fed on sour milk for 
two or three weeks, giving them no more 
than they could eat from one feeding to the 
next, always sweeping out the trough at 
every feeding. In this way they will eat a 
little at a time, and as often as it is desired. 
At the end of two or three weeks I com- 
menced stirring a little meal without heat- 
ing, increasing the quantity as long as the 
trough was found clean at the next feeding. 
All the sour milk they had was what re- 
mained of the milk of two cows after a 
family of six persons had had their supply. 



bellied pigs, than it is fat porkers. One of 
my neighbors, who usually keeps fotir old 
hogs, says his swine are better judges of 
how much liquid or drink they need, than 
he is; so he has two troughs in the pen, One 
for milk, whey or water, and the other for 
dry meal. Instinct, or the cravings of 
nature, direct how much and how often to 
eat and drink. This man raises heavy, solid 
and well fattened hogs. 

to the Georgia Gentle- 
of last November, I find 



In turning back 
man of 10th of last i\ovcmDcr, i nnci an 
amusing article, in the Sain Slick style of 
telling a story, about fattening hogs on 
"parched corn and honey." This farmer 
who fattened his hogs on parched corn and 
honey, sometimes made them, when dressed 



for market, 
says : 



weigh 



over 700 pounds. He 






I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



091 



" The best and cheapest kind of food I 
have found, when it comes time to put on 
the fat, is parched torn. I generally manage 
to buy a barrel or two of southern honey, if 
it is cheap enough, as it is sometimes. 
"When it is not over four cents a pound, and 
pork is six, it pays first rate, and sometimes 
you can get it for two; it costs me about 
three cents on an average, or it"*won't do to 
risk it. About a half a pound of honey a 
day is enough ; it must not cloy their stom- 
achs, but little of it with their corn meal, 
will make the critter gain more extra than 
the weight of the feed. 

"When parching is done in a proper way 
and upon a large scale, it is a cheap way of 
cooking corn, and is the most economical 
way of preparing it, as many experiments 
testify. The more slowly the com is parched, 
the better. It is not necessary to have it 
" pop." Perhaps the w r ord roasted would 
be better; but in this case it is to be under- 
stood that the corn is not to be blackened, 
burnt, or even browned but slightly. The 
application of moderate heat for some time 
has the effect to change a part of the starch 
into a sweetish substance called dextrine, 
which is more easily digested into fat than 
starch ; that is, part of the making of fat is 
accomplished by the agency of heat." 

The above may 'all be correct; at any 
rate I think_J will try it, for large quantities 
of parched or browned corn can be had here 
much cheaper, " pound for pound," than 
unparched. There is an enterprising young 
man here engaged in making popped corn 
into corn balls — manufacturing about 4U0 
barrels each winter. Much of the c*orn 
does not pop; this is sifted out, which he 
sells for one and a half cents per pound, 
while good yellow corn here now is- worth 
two cents a pound. In popping 100 pounds 
of corn there is probably ten or more pounds 
of water driven off. The unpopped is easily 
ground, and mohsscs is cheaper than honey, 
and probably just as good for fattening the 
critters. For some weeks past I have been 
feeding my hens on popped corn meal; they 
arc plump, glossy, and lay well. The corn 
used for popping is mostly ,a small, oily, 
flinty variety, and probably contains a* larger 
percentage of oil than our common field 
varieties. If so, then it contains greater 
fattening qualities. 

Levi Bartlett. 
Warner, $?. IT. 



Fur (lie Southern Plun'cr. 

On Snoring. 
Mr. Editor: 

Sir — It may be asked, "why publish an 
article on snoripgj in an agricultural paper?" 
I answer, " because everything rural be- 
longs, in a 'certain sense, to your depart- 
ment." We certainly have snorcrs in the 
country, aye, and some very sturdy ones, 
who, even while asleep, make no little noise 
in the world, greatly to the annoyance of 
many, who would gladly be asleep them- 
selves. Now these people, whether they 
like it or not, will be apt to learn from some 
of your numerous readers — I most cordially 
wish, for their own sakes, as well as yours, 
that they were, by thousands, more numer- 
ous— -that they are attracting attention, or 
they may read the same with their own eyes. 

(; Hear, land o'cakes, and brither Scots, 
Frae Maidenkirk to Johnny Groat's; 
If there's a holje in a' your coats, 

I rede you tent it : 
A chiehVs ainang you, taking notes, 

And, faith, he'll prent it."' 

Some may think that such remarks might 
suit the secular page of a religious news- 
paper. Very possibly, as well as some pieces 
which I find on such pages. But I have 
fears that a large portion of the few who 
take such papers, beside the clergy, never 
read them. Verily, I feel much reluctance 
to believe that the clergymen are guilty of 
snoring. I had almost said of the vice of 
snoring! But I cannot, with certainty, pro- 
nounce it a vice. I have never heard it 
so pronounced from the.pulpit. Yet I have 
never heard a clergyman snore, as much as 
I have associated with, and venerated them. 
A friend of mine, sumewhat given to wag- 
gery, has told the following anecdote, which, 
although I have Been it in print, — I believe, 
in " The Virginia Literary Magazin -," a 
work like -your own, having, by thousands, 
fewer readers than it deserves, — ] will here 
repeat it, believing it possible that not a 
single real snorcr has yet read it. Let me 
premise, though, that gentlemen inclined to 
waggery are so keenly in pursuit of the fun 
and the moral, that they think little enough 
of the verity of facts. At least, lor the 
latter, I stand not sponsor. But to our tale. 
A party of six or eight preuchere, wending 
their way to a chifrch judicatory, were be- 
nighted at a country tavern, already so 
crowded with guests that they all had to be 



G92 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[November 



inclosed in the same room, with one bed, 
and such pallets as, in the emergency, could 
be provided. The bed was courteously 
yielded to an elderly and somewhat corpu- 
lent D.D. Beside the bed of this venerable 
gentleman, the best couch was appropriated 
to a man of high 6rder of talent, who had 
been rendered a little irritable by sickness. 
He, overcome by ill-health and fatigue, im- 
plored his compeers to enter into a solemn 
compact that not a word should be uttered 
after the light should be extinguished. 
While the rest .were trying to palliate the 
harshness of their pallets, by adjusting pro- 
jecting bones to the scarcity of their pro- 
tection from the floor, the noble old Dr., 
on his feather bed, softly fell into the arms 
of Morpheus. Soon the lower maxillary re- 
laxed a little, with a consequent sudden 
snort. The sickly gentleman* heaved a woe- 
begone sigh at the reflection, that though he 
had stopped the mouths of "the wide- 
awakes," he had no means of closing that of 
his unconscious neighbor; meanwhile, the 
tittering listeners coulil scarcely restrain 
out-bursting laughter. And now 

"The mirth and fun grew fast and furious." 

The lower jaw fell to a death-like yawning, 
the veil of the palate fluttered as a leather- 
winged bat in the mouth and throat, the 
pendulum palati — as, I think, the doctors 
call it, flapped about, in the mouth, down the 
throat, up in the nostrils— for, in the case 
of snorers, I believe, it is generally elon- 
gated— =-' till finally it lodged fast in the rima 
glottidis, or top of the wind-pipe ; after all 
awful yell — ?the whole house shaking all the 
time as if by an earthquake — in an instant 
all Was still and breathless; for a period, 
painfully long, this death-like stillness lasted. 
Finally, the sickly gentleman, irritated to 
the last extreme, is said to have broken his 
own compact by an exclamatory whisper, 
" thank God, he is dead at last." A Yan- 
kee would guess, there was little sleeping 
there that night. 

Whether we place snoring in the cate- 
gory of crime, of bad habit or natural de- 
fect — and, alas! in my intercourse with man- 
kind, I have found that the majority would 
about as soon acknowledge the first as either j 
of the other two — I have never seen the 
man who would confess himself to be a fully 
finished, unmitigated snorer. Many will 
admit that they would be such were they 
not wakened by the very first snort. I have 



often been kept awake, nearly all night, by 
those who would most provokingly asseverate 
the next morning, that their snoring, to the 
full extent, amounted only to this, u Why, 
Sir, to this extent, I know myself to be a 
snorer, for I have .often snorted myself 
awake." And, to tell the whole truth, I. 
must confess, and that upon the evidence of 
my wife, — and, Mr. Editor, I would rather 
cry *l guilty" to either of the foregoing cate- 
gories, which she might charge upon me, in 
my sleep, than contradict her, — I say, I must 
confess that I should soon have become " a 
pretty considerable" snorer, had I not been 
alarmed and resolved that this should not be. 

The Vnention of the word wife, presents 
snoring in a new aspect — indeed, to my 
mind, it ranks, it under the head of crime, 
where, by reasoning, I could not before 
place it. How ' many lovely, delicate, self- 
sacrificing wives have had the flesh snored 
off their bones by fat, jolly, self-indulgent 
husbands, who, if they acknowledge the 
charge at all, Would laugh and say, they 
had been taken. " for better and for worse," 
snoring and all. This, Sir, would as well 
excuse the brutal drunkard, who breaks the 
heart of. his wife, and ruins his children, 
for whiskey. 

Casuists have puzzled themselves, and 
their readers, by trying, to settle the question, 
whether there be more sin committed in 
forming a bad habit, or continuing it — in 
yielding, painfully, to a transgression, or 
submitting tamely to be the slave of any 
vice. The profane man, who, probably, 
shuddered at his early curses, soon- learns to 
belch them out with serene complacency. 
It, however, can profit him but little, to fix 
the period of his greatest iniquity, who still 
remains its slave. Repentance, without 
reformation, but adds stings to a life already 
miserable enough. Where cessation from 
wrong-doing— -immediate and irrevocable — 
or the risk of ruin to the votary of vice, 
and great distress - to all whose destinies are 
intertwined with his, are the only alterna- 
tives, there is but one wise, one safe course 
for him. Who can convince him of the 
awfully critical dilemma in which he stands ? 
I would, by no means, place the snorer ex- 
actly there. But he must reform, or be the 
dread and annoyance of all who lodge with 
him abroad, and, I had almost said, a curse 
to his family at home. This is his dilemma. 
Verily, I fear that Pantheology is not yet 
banished from Christendom, and that there 



I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



693 



arc more idolaters, beside the covetous. 
Sleep, not balmy sleep given to be " tired 
nature's sweet restorer," but lazy sleep, mor- 
bid sleep, is the snorcr's god. lie can sleep 
all the better and snore the louder, after 
arriving at the perfection of his art, while 
you are shaking him. We might all be 
worshippers of this same morbid sleep were 
\je, nervously, so constituted as to be subject 
to his chloroform influences. Like a still 
more wiley demon, he defeats his own 
powers by attempting to bring them over us 
so rapidly as to startle us. 

But why inflict so long a descrtation upon 
snoring, that few will begin and fewer will 
finish it'/ My dear objector! If to write 
on snoring had been my only aim, I should 
have made a short matter of it. There were 
correlative things which I wished to strike 
at; besides, if you had suffered half what I 
have from snorers, I think you w r ould have 
found it hard to suppress all spite, and all 
desire to save others frcni similar durance. 
But let me tell my story in my own way, 
and it will come to a close at some time. 

Having made a great fuss about snoring, 
which I find to be the only way of gaining 
attention from the go-aheads of these times, 
I should now attempt to tell what it is, and 
promise directions for its cure. To do this 
more correctly, I confess I have consulted 
medical books a little. By the jaw-cracking 
terms used, I fear J have only increased 
confusion in describing the parts concerned 
in the operation. I hope, however, I have 
quoted them correctly. As to snoring itself, 
1 can find nothing, except that it is u a sound 
supposed to be made between the nostrils 
and the palate, by persons in sleep." Of 
the cure, the learned doctors say nothing, 
I suppose wisely, because they know noth- 
ing. Snoring, then, is a sound, and a hor- 
ridly ugly one, produced by a relaxation and 
mal-position of some of the organs of respi- 
ration. The muscles of the lower jaw re- 
lax when the patient falls asleep, and if its 
position be dependent, and no extraneous 
support afforded, it falls by its own gravity, 
the mouth, of dourse, opens, the root of the 
tongue yields, giving passage to the breath 
through the mouth, and making room for 
all the flapping of the velum, and flirting 
about, like a piece of whip-cord, of the pen- 
dulum palati, described already, whilst the 
nose is occasionally opened, like the valves 
in the chimneys of a steam engine, to add 
horror to the frightful belching. We may 



fret, Of laugh at it, ifl the humor leads us, 
hut the poor patient suffers enough, I should 
think, to make him try the very simple 
remedy which I am about to recommend. 

It is this — Keep 4 your mouth shut, when 
you sleep, if you have to tie it up, and this 
will save you from a painful, crust-like dry- 
ness of all its parts, and that awful approach 
to suffocation which you so often experience. 
I might stop giving directions for the cure 
just here, leaving to individual ingenuity, in 
each case, to adapt the mouth-closer to the 
shape of the head under operation. It 
should be remembered, however, that the 
chin and lips have many glands, which it is 
not safe to irritate by bandages too tight or 
too rough. I would further suggest, that a 
cap to fit the chin, made of netting or soft 
cloth, and 'attached to the night-cap by 
elastic strings, ^or common tape might do,) 
just back of the eyes, so as to pull upward 
and not backward, with attachments, which 
might also be necessary, behind the ears, 
might form an apparatus which would 
answer the purpose. In my own case, at 
home, I use a very soft and long little pillow. 
After shaking the feathers to one end of the 
pillow, and adjusting the level of the chin 
to that of the crown, to neutralize the weight 
of the jaw, L place the pillow, with its 
empty end uppermost, upon the common 
pillow and at right angles to it, causing the 
stuffed end to rest on the arm next the bed, 
in the upper part of this latter I ensconce 
the chin and go to sleep, fearless of opening 
the mouth, and, of course, fearless of snor- 
ing to hurt anybody. AVhen abroad, I tuck 
some part of the covering — the sheet, gene- 
rally,— 'under the shoulder next the bed, 
draw it over the shoulder uppermost, then 
secure it on the pillow under the temple, 
rest the chin upon it, and feel equally safe. 
This treatment has cured my case. Some- 
thing more stringent might be required for 
the inveterate and long-continued. Pis- 
and vices strengthen much by habit. 
Had this article been published in a 
medical journal, none but the doctors would 
have seen it, and I had no idea of indoc- 
Itrinatiftg them in the sublime mysteries of 
snoring, when nobody afflicted with it would 
send for them to cure it. No one hates 
'quackery more than I do, but where dis- 
eases can be safely trusted to domestic treat- 
ment, I have no objection. The doctors 
are, many of them, fine fellows — but Mill 
they are necessary evils. AY hen necessary, 



694 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



[November 



by all means, send for them. We can cure 
snoring, when asleep, as we cure folly when 
awake — by keeping the mouth shut. 

It may be thought that I owe an apology 
to the clergy, for the freedom with which I 
have treated them in the foregoing anecdote. 
I know there could not have been accuracy 
of detail, but, like most anecdotes, it was 
built of materials mainly furnished gratis 
by the architect. No man can revere the 
body of our Virginian clergy more than I 
do. No man can dread their snoring more. 
They travel about so much, and there is a 
general prejudice against snorers, that I 
thought the anecdote might do good. As 
for the few who ought to have their mouths 
stopped in the day-time, they may snore as 
much as they please at night, if they will 
keep out of my hearing. I^>ught to have 
said, never lie on your back, snorer. Tyros 
may soon learn the art by assuming this 
position. Yours, C. 



For the Southern Planter. 

Grasses. 

Remarks on the Peculiar Difficulty of Rear- 
ing Grass on the Atlantic slope of Vir- 
ginia and other Southern States-*— Utility 
of the Effort Discussed — Its general Re- 
linquishment Premature. 
Mr. Editor : 

Sir — The subject chosen for the following 
article has been so lung neglected in this 
region, that I fear not one of your numer- 
ous readers will feel disposed to offer the 
slightest thanks to the writer for its publi- 
cation. The idea of hay-making, 'to any 
extent, is, I fear, considered among the old- 
est of fogie notions. Descended chiefly from 
the dwellers in the British isles, where, from 
the moisture of the climate, grass grows so 
luxuriantly, and stock-raising so favorite an 
employment, our fore-fathers very naturally 
wished to make the same business an object 
of their attention. I can well remember 
that almost every land-holder had his mea- 
dow, little or big, nearly threescore and ten 
years ago. The grass chiefly employed was 
timothy. The late Hon. A. B. Venable, 
Sr., introduced on his own farm, in Prince 
Edward, the red top or herds' grass, and 
this soon superseded the timothy, being bet- 
ter adapted to all moist grey lands, and 
more disposed to scuffle for itself, as a vol- 
unteer, where not destroyed by the plough. 



This propensity has caused its spontaneous 
propagation, in moist lands, for many miles 
around its original locality in this region. 

The peculiar position of the region in 
question, with mountains on the north and 
west, and an ocean on the east, renders our 
climate liable to sudden attacks of intensely 
cold weather in winter, which destroy young 
grass sown in autumn, and our liability to 
long-continued and scorching droughts in 
summer expose that sown in spring to equal 
danger. So that from these two causes have 
sprung much difficulty and discouragement 
in the cultivation of grasses, in the country 
designated. 

There is another difficulty arising from 
the negation of lime and its compounds, in 
sufficient abundance to promote a free growth 
of grass on our soils. In much of our 
mountain country, further' south than we 
are, e. g\, in Roanoke, Pulaski, Wythe, etc., 
where the grass grows with amazing luxu- 
riance, and the cattle grow to equal any in 
the world, we find as bitter cold in winter, 
and as' burning drought in summer, as we 
have here. We are left to infer, that there 
must be there some grass-fertilizing elements 
in the soil denied to ours. 

With these difficulties constantly before 
our people, there is no cause of wonder that 
so many of them should have come to the 
conclusion that this is no grass country, and 
have given up the effgrt to raise it in des- 
pair. Some gentlemen, who owned good 
lands, succeeded most handsomely in rais- 
ing clover, and this tempted the owners of 
poor land, which could never have brought 
clover, had it never been too hot or too cold, 
too wet or too dry, to throw away an incal- 
culable amount on clover seed. This pre- 
mature and unsuccessful application of clo- 
ver seed to exhausted land has greatly con- 
firmed the influence of the adage, that 
" this is no grass country," and deprived us 
generally of the benefit of clover, the king 
of grasses, for many years to come. 

We might have learned something of the 
art of grass-raising from the very few for- 
eign farmers who have settled amongst us. 
Mutual prejudice, after the revolutionary 
war, probably kept away English farmers. 
I have never known one in the whole land. 
There was, formerly, a very small sprinkling 
of German, Scotch and Irish farmers in our 
interior counties, who were distinguished 
for their fine meadows. These worthy citi- 
zens are hardly to be found now. The 



I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



&)-> 



cheapness of rich hinds in other portions of 
our Union, or mayhap misrepresentations of 
our slave labor keep them away. The im- 
migration of many of such as I have known 
is desirable. 

It is certainly wise to be governed by 
maxims which are really true. We are al- 
ways liable to error when we give credence 
to such as are not well founded. That this, 
in its present condition, is not a good grass 
country, may safely be admitted. But we 
might fall into error, and suffer much inju- 
ry, if we determine never to aim at the cul- 
ture of grass at all. Tt requires but little 
inquiry into the workings of nature to learn 
that she is continually providing for the nu- 
triment of new vegetation from the decay 
of the old. And we must either trust to 
her slow process of renovating exhausted 
soils, by means of poyerty grass, running 
briers, broom straw, and old field pines, for 
the restoration of fertility to our lands, or 
we must, by ploughing in what are called 
green crops, bring about the same result 
much sooner. And we must do this, not 
because we expect to make this a fine grass 
country, but because it is the cheapest and 
most speedy way of making it a fine agri- 
cultural country, and, perhaps the only way. 
"We are not compelled to pursue plans re- 
commended by others in the prosecution of 
this object. The culture of grass has been 
but little attempted in this country, and is 
comparatively new. It is highly probable 
that new plans of operation, and different 
from those adopted in Europe, might suit 
our peculiar condition better. The writer 
having failed so often, when sowing grass- 
seed in spring and autumn, has, for many 
years, chosen to sow in summer. He has 
preferred the last week in August, or a little 
sooner, if the weeds in his stubble-fields 
were advancing rapidly. He has never yet 
failed, when sowing at this time on wheat or 
oat stubble, after running seven-toothed 
harrows once or twice over the ground, or 
dragging it with a twenty-toothed rake. 
This year he has simply sown the seed wHh- 
out using any implement of culture, the 
rag-weeds having grown too thick and high 
since the rainy season commenced in Au- 
gust, (the 13th,) for the use of the rake or 
harrow. He expects to succeed, as he nev- 
er believed that the slight cultivation of rake 
or harrow could do much good on hard stub- 
ble land. The clover and grass thus sown 
have uniformly come to maturity in due 



time the next year. The seed arc sprouted 
and the young plants rapidly advanced by 
tl.o fall rains; and having no plants of small 
grain to contend with, and being protected 
by the dead weeds, arc almost certain to 
withstand the wintrr. 

Another idea is thought worthy of con- 
sideration. Heretofore but a small variety 
of grasses has been brought into cultivation 
amongst us. Perhaps, by increasing the 
number, we might find some kind which 
would suit our soil and climate better than 
any before tried. The writer, however, has 
failed egregiously in an attempt of this sort. 
He has recently been experimenting some 
which promise better things. lie thinks 
the Orchard grass, the Randal grass, the 
mountain evergreen, will all do well if pro- 
perly nursed. He purchased, at a high 
figure, a bushel of what was sent to him for 
Italian rye grass, which, when pure, is an 
annual ; but, as it proved, to be perennial, 
he supposes it to be English rye grass — 
which failed, in his hands, many years ago. 
Be it what it may, it will not do here. From 
very small experience, he is greatly pleased 
with the English fox-tail grass. On moist 
sandy land it will certainly do well. He 
has now, under experiment, several varieties 
of Virginia wild rye grass, which he thinks 
may become valuable. It springs early, 
and grows late in the fall, and flourishes 
on soil of moderate fertility. Its seed-stalks 
arise from two to more than six feet in 
height. As an indigenous grass, it is worthy 
of attention. It seems to be relished by 
stock, and grows as well, seemingly, in dry 
seasons as in wet. I greatly prefer it to the 
far-fanned Rescue grass. It might prove 
beneficial, if any gentleman would thus ex- 
periment on small patches of grass, and if 
the seedsmen would, at moderate prices, 
supply small parcels of seed. 

But it may be asked, why seek for less 
valuable grasses when we have clover, the 
king of grasses, which we may cultivate 
successfully, if we take pains enough ? 
The plain answer is, because we may thus 
more certainly rear clover, and derive great- 
er benefits from it. With a good field of 
any forward grass, on which to sustain our 
stock, in early spring, until our clover at- 
tains its full growth, we may not only derive 
an hundred fold benefit from the clover, hut 
may save it from total destruction. Mr. W, 
Gilmer, of Albemarle, at a meeting of the 
Agricultural Society, some years ago, in 



696 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



[November 



Richmond, gave us instructions on this sub- (that he considers that this could be made a 

fine grass and stock country by any corn- 
course of treatment. He only 



jcct which ought never to be forgotten. He 
fully demonstrated that by suffering the 
buds of the clover, in its infant state, to be 
nibbled out by stock, we suffered injury as 
incalculable as are the benefits derived to 
the clover, the land and the stock, by pre- 
serving it from depredation until it arrives 
at full maturity. But to spare the goose 
laying golden eggs is a lesson hard to learn. 
It may be an auspicious time to press the 
claims of grass-culture on the attention of 
farmers, when their favor is so strongly 
turned towards chemical manures. We can- 
not alter the difficulties connected with our 
climate; we cannot cause rain when we 
please, nor temper the bitterness of the cold 
to the young plants, but we may, in a great 
degree, change the constitution of our soils 
by adding to them such chemical agents as so 
wonderfully qualify them for the production 
of grass. In doing* this, while we by no means 
expect to rival the mountain grass lands, we 
should make some approach toward their 
excellence, and then we should make great 
improvement in the production of the pecu- 
liar objects of our agriculture — tobacco, 
corn, and small grain. We have already 
declared that we have no more cold in win- 
ter nor drought in summer than that suffer- 
ed in some of our south-western counties. 
Indeed, our frosts cease earlier in spring and 
come later in fall. We must then ascribe 
our great inferiority to that region in the 
growth of grass to defects in our soil, rather 
than in our climate. We should endeavor 
to approximate the excellence to which we 
cannot attain, and if there be truth in hu- 
man effort, we must, to some extent, succeed. 
In difficult enterprises; those who never try, 
always fail. There can be no doubt but 
that the bulk of our people have labored under 
great deception with regard to grass-culture. 
The majority, perhaps erring from want of 
reflection, practically neglecting what they 
did not choose to take the trouble of inves- 
tigating. But there were some who, on 
principle, opposed it, denying both its prac- 
ticability and usefulness. I have, within 
the last ten years, heard an educated agri- 
culturist declare that he had too much trou- 
ble killing grass to be sowing its seed, and 
that his doctrine was to get every dollar he 
could out of his land, and never to return 
one to it. On this plan golden eggs would 
soon cease to be laid. 



pensating 

means, that by judicious efforts to clothe 

every field at the proper time, in the rota- 



tion, with 



a- coat of good grasses, 



we might 



soon fertilize the whole area of cultivation, 
bring all to good clover heart, and realize 
far higher profits than we do on the present 
prevailing system. He firmly believes that 
it was intended that different realms should 
be adapted to different objects of culture, 
but that we may intermingle matters not 
naturally and specially calling for our at- 
tention, with those peculiarly our own, 
where it can be done beneficially. It is 
very true that much may be done by turn- 
ing under rank weeds, oats and rye, (the 
two latter both grasses,) but not so much, 
the writer thinks, as* by sowing grasses reg- 
ularly for this purpose and for the suste- 
nance of animals. Peas — which below tide- 
water work so well as fertilizers — interfere 
too much with the tobacco crop in this re- 

*s at 



gion. 



Clover — which though no 



king of grasses- 



all, the writer has styled 
may be thus used, but to much greater ad- 
vantage with the aid of other grasses. 

Most truly and respectfully jours, 

C. 

Cumberland, September. 1860. 



Agriculture in France. 

" Regarding agriculture, it must be made 
to participate in the benefits of banking in- 
stitutions, to clear away forests situated in 
plains, to replant the mountains with trees, 
to lay out every year a considerable sum on 
great works of draining, irrigation and til- 
lage. These works, by transforming waste 
lands into cultivated grounds, will enrich the 
communes without impoverishing the State, 
which will get back its advances by the 
sale of a part of those lands restored to agri- 
culture." 

Such is the programme of agricultural 
enterprise by which Napoleon proposes to 
elevate the half-starved peasantry of France. 
Surely, there is need enough that the Em- 
peror should bestow a thought upon that 
hitherto ill-cared for portion of his subjects. 
The degraded condition of the French peas- 
antry is a standing reproach to the govern- 
ment of that country. There are millions 
of people, of a stalwart and vigorous race, 
The writer would not have it understood] and living upon a tract of the finest soil in 



I860.]. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



G97 



Europe, who yet have been so neglected by 
their glory-seeking rulers, that they have 
become a mass of non-productive and non- 
consumptive paupers. France is not to be 
estimated by the wealth and luxury of Paris, 
nor by the numbers and the boasted bravery 
of her soldiery. These imposing aspects of 
French society naturally strike us most forci- 
bly; but the truth is that they but cover, 
with a splendid disguise, an amount of pov- 
erty and of abject degradation of which the 
general world has no conception. France 
has her millionaires luxuriating in their pal- 
aces; but she has, also, according to the tes- 
timony of her own economists, a million of 
wretched cottages containing but one window, 
and fifteen millions of people living within 
a hair's breadth of pauperism. This im- 
mense proportion of the population of the 
country, instead of being the foundation of 
great national industries, is a dead, inert 
mass, 'retarding in every sense the progress 
of the country. The Emperor has had the 
sagacity to discover this plague spot in 
French society, and he has the policy to at- 
tempt its remedy. The cure he purposes 
applying is specified in the extract from his 
late speech before his Legislators quoted 
above. These splendid utterances may do 
very well as a specimen of fine speechify- 
ing; but, tested by their practical merit, 

they will be found wanting in the quality of : monstrous Utopia. If there were a scarcity 
economic prudence. They savor much more of land capable of cultivation, and the coun- 
of the elation of one who is planning a try were absolutely driven to it by a neees- 
piece of gardening for the adornment of his; sity so urgent as to make it imperative to 
estate, — than of the weighty sentiments of try even such an unpromising experiment — 
a statesman who feels himself charged with then there might be some apology for the 
the difficult task of elevating many millions [scheme. But the reverse is the met. There 
of people from a compacted and spiritless 'are now five millions of acres of communal 
degradation into which they have been set- lands in France waiting for cultivation 



of those who receive it. The fact is, that 
the government has so completely enner- 
vated this class of the population by the sup- 
pression of the freedom of the press, and, 
much more, by its system of conscription, 
which withdraws from active pursuits the 
flower of the country's strength and enter- 
prise — that it has thrown upon its hands a 
mass of people utterly useless as to the pur- 
poses of national wealth, and incapable of 
any immediate' improvement. The millions 
of the poorer peasantry serve no public pur- 
pose beyond that of an army reserve. If 
the Emperor desires to elevate his fifteen 
millions of paupers, let him not think of 
turning them into prosperous farmers by 
loaning them capital ; bu\ rather let him 
send the schoolmaster and the newspaper 
into their midst, allowing both agents to be 
the representatives of a vigorous freedom ; 
and let him cease to take from their families 
those stalwart sons who are their chief hope. 
As to the scheme of transplanting the for- 
ests from the plains where Nature has placed 
them, to the tops of the mountains, it is a 
piece of splendid moonshine. It may be 
well enough as a dream of visionary theor- 
ists, who imagine that it would be the means 
of enticing the clouds to be more propi- 
tious; but as an actual project contemplated 
by the government of the country, it is a 



tling through a long series of years. 

"VVe apprehend that this splendid scheme 
will be found to be too much in advance of 
the condition of the people for whose bene- 
fit it is more especially designed. The advan- 
tages offered through banking institutions 
and great public works of agriculture, to be 
useful must be put into the hands of those 
who know how to appreciate them and to 
turn them to practical account. The aids 
proffered can be of no permanent service to 
a class of people destitute alike of intelli- 
gence and enterprise. The French govern- 
ment will certainly find that the capital it 
loans out to its indolent and abject peasan- 
try, instead of developing the untilled lands, 
will be wasted through the incompetence 



why not operate upon this instead of exper- 
imenting upon the transplantation of for- 
ests P 

There are those who arc taking fright lest 
this attempt at the development of French 
agriculture should seriously interfere with 
the demand for American breadstuff's, by 
supplying the markets of Europe at rates 
cheaper than those at which we can afford 
to produce. There must, however, be more 
common sense and practicability about the 
efforts of the Emperor's government before 
any results can be forthcoming, likely at all 
to affect any existing sources of supply. 
•We predict for this splendid scheme, a splen- 
did failure. — V. S. Economist. 



_ 



G98 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[November 




RICHMOND, VIRGINIA. 



Can Cows hold back their Milk? 

In the May number of the Fawner, page 146, 
I see an extract from Dr. Dadd's communication 
in the Slock Journal, stating that cows cannot 
hold back their milk. This is contrary to the 
traditions of our fathers. I do not wish to dis- 
pute the authority, for it seems to me good; yet 
I do not feel quite disposed to discard my early 
teachings without a little more light on the sub- 
ject. Will Dr. Dadd, or some one, inform me 
how we shall account for the fact that a cow, 
used to being slopped while milking, will, many 
times, refuse to yield her milk until she gets her 
mess? Why a cow with a young calf often re- 
fuses her milk until the calf gets hold of one of 
the teats? — in short, why does a calf "bunt?" 
These things are actual occurrences known to 
every farmer,; and most of us have accounted 
for them, believing that some cows acquire the 
control over the milk, to hold it back at pleasure. 

E. F. Barrows. 

Sheboygan Falls, Wis. 

Every Dairy-man knows that a cow can hold 
back her milk at pleasure. Certainly she has the 
power for a limited time, until the udder becomes 
so distended as to be painful to her. A neigh- 
bor of ours has a cow, that, while in full flow of 
milk, will scarcely "give down'' any, for two 
days after her calf is separated from her. We 
have ourselves, a cow that we have often seen 
prove the truth of the assertion. In that best of 
all works on dairy management, Flint's Milch 
Cows and Dairy Farming," the idea is by no 
means contradicted, and if it be untrue, why is 
it that a cow will fall off in her milk when she 



at all changed; or when she is milked by a per- 
son to whom she is unaccustomed? — Editor. 

For an anatomical description of the Cow's 
Udder, see Flint's Book, pages .145-6. 



Gravel in Horses— Retention of Urine. 

A friend has handed us a receipt which he 
says he has often tried for the relief of Gravel 
in horses, with so much success, that he believes 
it to be almost infallible. Here it is, "dissolve 



a lump of alum, about the size of a hulled wal- 
nut, in a quart of warm water. Turn the horse's 
head up as high as will enable you to pour the 
drench into his nostril without difficulty. Repeat 
the dose every half hour until he is relieved." 

By the way, it is much the best way to drench 
a horse that we are acquainted with, (when the 
drench does not contain anything of a very 
highly stimulating or corrosive character,) to 
pour.the dose through the nostril. When this is 
done, the liquid passes without any difficulty 
down to the stomach ; whereas, if you drench in 
the usual manner, you run the risk of having the 
bottle broken in the horse's mouth, an accident 
which may prove of a serious nature — or, the 
horse may have a portion of the drench to "pass 
the wrong way" and get into his windpipe, pro- 
ducing strangulation, spasm of the throat, or 
suffocation. 

The symptoms of Gravel are frequent inef- 
fectual efforts to urinate, accompanied with pain 
of a more or less violent character. The horse 
will roll frequently, and look around towards 
the flanks, just as he attempts to lie down 
There will be no swelling about the belly, as is 
generally the case in an attack of Cholic, and 
the pains are remittant or periodic. 

We have no doubt that many horses suffer 
greatly with these symptoms who do not have 
Gravel in the bladder; but only an irritation 
near the neck of the bladder, produced by a 
want of due care and attention to proper clean- 
ing and greasing the "sheath." 

The loose spongy black matter which gathers 
in the sheath when it is not kept scrupulously 
clean, absorbs urine, and becomes only partially 
dissolved — retaining its tenacity, it is not passed 
off, but forms' a circle around the base of the 
penis, resembling in appearance and consisten 
cy, common tar. The skin below this matter 
becomes raw and very sensitive, so that the 
horse will suffer a good deal of pain whenever 
he attempts to "pass his water." The existence 
of this state of things can only be ascertained 
by a careful examination with the hand, whicl 
should be well greased before it is inserted into 
the sheath. The soft, irritating matter, should 
be removed as far as is practicable, with the 
fingers, and the sheath thoroughly swabbed ont|j 
with warm water until it is clean. Some cool- 
ing lotion of an astringent character, should 
then be used several times a day until the horse 
is cured. 

Decoction of Red Oak Bark, or a solution of 
Sugar of Lead, are both excellent applications. 



I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



699 



Sales of Fine Stock. 

We are informed that Gen. J. S. Gcx\ oi 
Brownsburg, Pennsylvania, has sold to Col. 
Richard Peters, of Atlanta, Georgia, ^one fine 
brood mare by Bush Messenger, with foal by 
Climax, another witli foal by Messenger, -also 
six other mares served by Bush Messenger, and 
eighty Spanish Merino Ewes. 

We but recently published the opinion of a 
highly respectable committee of the vicinage, in 
attestation of the superiority of Gen. G.'s cattle, 
sheep and horses, which superiority is strongly 
corroborated by the fact that Col. Peters has 
been induced to purchase so freely of him. Mr. 
Ellis J. Faison, of Duplen county, N. C, has 
also bought of the General a fine Messenger and 
Morgan entire colt. Success attend these enter- 
prising purchasers and all stock raisers of 
character and integrity. 



Mr. Guest's Nursery. 

We have received from Mr. James Guest 
(who has a large nursery of choice fruit trees of 
every variety, near the Second Toll Gate on the 
" Westham road" above this city,) his Catalogue 
of Trees, now ready for delivery to his custom- 
ers. 

Along with the list of names of his trees, he 
sent us some delightful Pears, the product of his 
dwarf trees. The Pears were of fine size and 
appearance, and of most delicious flavor. 



Fleming & Nelson's Nursery of choice Fruit 
Trees and Ornamental Shurbbery, near Augusta, 
Ga. Catalogue received. 



Carew Sanders & Co., of ''The St. Louis Nur- 
sery,*' St. Louis, Mo., have sent us their Cata- 
logue of Trees, Fruits and Shurbs, — which we 
find admirably gotten up — containing directions 
for planting, pruning, &c. Mr. Sanders is well 
known to the agricultural reading public, as a 
frequent contributor to various journals on hor- 
ticultural topics. 



Avarice and ambition are the two elements 
that enter into the composition of all crimes. 
Ambition is boundless, and avarice is insati- 
able. 

When men's thoughts are taken up with 
avarice and ambition, they cannot look upon 
any thing as great or valuable, which does not 
bring with it an extraordinary power or in- 
terest to the person who is concerned in it. — 
Anon. 



From Plain Talk to Farmers. 

Portrait of an Anti-Book-Farmer. 

"Whenever our anti-bnok-farmcrs can shew 
us better crops at ft lc>s expense, better 
flocks, and better farms, and better owners 
on them, than book-fanners can, we shall 
become converts to their doctrines. But, 
as yet, we cannot see how iiXteUigencq in a 
fanner should injure his crops. Nor what 
difference it makes whether a farmer gets 
his ideas from a sheet of paper, or from ft 
neighbour's mouth, or from his own ex- 
perience, so that he only gets good, practi- 
cal sound ideas. A farmer never objects to 
receive political information from newspa- 
pers; he is quite willing to learn the state 
of markets from newspapers, and as wil- 
ling to gain religious notions from reading, 
and historical knowledge, and all sorts of 
information except that which relates to his 
business. He will go over and hear a 
neighbour tell how he prepares his wheat- 
lands, how he selects and puts in his seed, 
how he deals with his grounds in spring, in 
harvest and after harvest-time ; but if that 
neighbour should write it all down carefully 
and put it into paper, it's all poison ! it's 
book-farming ! 

"Strange such a difference there should be 
'Twixt tweedledum and tweedledee." 

If we raise a head of lettuce surpassing 
all that has been seen hereabouts, every 
good farmer that loves a salad would send 
for a little seed, and ask, as he took it, 
" How do you contrive to raise such mon- 
strous heads ? you must have some secret 
about it." But if my way were written 
down and printed, he would not touch it. 
" Poh, it's bookish I" 

Now let us inquire in what States land is 
the best managed, yields the most with the 
least cost, where are the best sheep, the best 
cattle, the best hogs, the best wheat ? ,Jt 
will be found to be in those States having 
the most agricultural papers. 

What is there in agriculture that requires 
ft man to be ignorant if he will be skillful ? 
Or why may every other class of meo loarn 
by reading except the farmer? Mechanics 
have their journals ; commercial men have 
their papers; religious men, theirs; politi- 
cians, theirs; there are magazines and jour- 
nals for the arts, for science, for education, 
and why not for thai gtundpmrmtt on which 
all these stand? We really could never 
understand why fanners should not wish 



700 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[N OVEMBER 



to have their vocation on a level with 
others ; why they should feel proud to have 
no paper, while every pursuit is fond of 
ha ring one. 

Those who are prejudiced against book- 
fanning are either good fanners, misinform- 
ed of the design of agricultural papers, or 
poor farmers, who only treat this subject as 
they do all others, with blundering igno- 
rance. First, the good farmers ; there are 
in every county many industrious, hard- 
working men, who know that they cannot 
afford to risk anything upon wild experi- 
ments. They have a growing family to 
support, taxes to pay, lands perhaps on 
which purchase money is due, or they are 
straining every nerve to make their crops 
build a barn, that the barn may hold their 
crops. They suppose an agricultural paper 
to be stuffed full of wild fancies, expensive 
experiments, big stories made up by men 
who know of no farming except parlor- 
farming. They would, doubtless, be sur- 
prised to learn that ninety-nine parts in a 
hundred of the contents of agricultural pa- 
pers are written by hard-working practical 
farmers ! that the editor's business is not 
to foist absurd stories upon credulous read- 
ers, but to sift stories, to scrutinize accounts, 
to obtain whatever has been abundantly 
proved to be fact, and to reject all that is 
suspected to be mere fanciful theory. Such 
papers are designed to prevent imposition ; 
to kill off pretenders by exposing them ; 
to search out from practical men whatever 
they have found out, and to publish it for 
the benefit of their brethren all over the 
Union ; to spread before the labouring 
classes such sound, well-approved scientific 
knowledge as shall throw light upon every 
operation of the farm, the orchard and the 
garden. * 

The other class who rail at book -farming 
ought to be excused, for they do not treat 
book-farming any worse than they do their 
own farming ; indeed, not half so bad. 
They rate the paper with their tongue ; but 
cruelly abuse their ground, for twelve 
months in the year, with both hands. I 
will draw the portrait of a genuine anti- 
book-farmer of this last sort. 

He plows three inches deep, lest he 
should turn up the poison that, in his esti- 
mation, lies below; his wheat-land is plow- 
ed so as to keep as much water on it as 
possible ; he sows two bushels to the acre 
and reaps ten, so that it takes a fifth of his 



crop to seed his ground ; his corn-land has 
never any help from him, but bears just 
what it pleases, which is from thirty to 
thirty-fiv^e bushels by measurement, though 
he brags that it is fiity or sixty. His hogs, 
if not remarkable for fattening qualities, 
would beat old Eclipse at a quarter race; 
and were the man not prejudiced against 
deep plowing, his hogs would work his 
grounds better with their prodigious snouts 
than he does with his jack-knife plow. His 
meadow-lands yield him from three quar- 
ters of a ton to a whole ton of hay, which 
is regularly spoiled in curing, regularly left 
out for a month, and very irregularly stack- 
ed up, and left for the cattle to pull out at 
their pleasure, and half-eat and half-tram- 
pled underfoot. His horses would excite 
the avarice of an anatomist in search of 
osteological specimens, and returning from 
their range of pasture, they are walking 
herbariums, bearing specimens in their 
mane and tail of every weed that bears a 
bur .or a cockle. But, 0, the cows ! If 
held up in a bright day to the sun, don't 
you think they would be semi-transparent ? 
But he tells us that good milkers are al- 
ways poor ! His cows get what Providence 
sends them, and very little beside, except 
in winter, then they have a half-peck of 
corn on ears a foot long thrown to them, 
and they afford lively spectacles of anima- 
ted corn and cob -crushers — never mind, 
they yield, on an - average, three quarts of 
milk a-day ! and that milk yields varieties 
of butter quite as astonishing. 

His farm never grows any better, in 
many respects it gets annually worse. Af- 
ter ten years' work on a good soil, while 
his neighbours have grown rich, he is just 
where he started, only his house is dirtier, 
his fences more tottering, his soil poorer, 
his pride and his ignorance greater. And 
when, at last, he sells out to a Pennsylva- 
nian that reads the Farmer's Cabinet, or 
to some New Yorker with his Cultivator 
packed up carefully, as if it were gold, or 
to a Yankee with his New England Far- 
mer, he goes off to Missouri, thanking 
Hearen that he's not a book-farmer ! 

Unquestionably, there are two sides to 
this question, and both of them extreme, 
and therefore both of them deficient in 
science and in common sense. If men 
were made according to our notions, there 
should not be a silly one alive ; but it is 
otherwise ordered, and there is no depart- 



I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



'01 



mcnt of human life in which we do not 
find the weak and foolish men. This is 
true of farming as much as of any other 
calling. But no one dreams of setting down 
the vocation of agriculture, because, like 
every other, it has had its proportion of stu- 
pid men. 

Why then should agricultural writers, as 
a class, be summarily rejected because some 
of them are visionary ? Are we not to be 
allowed our share of fools as well as every 
other department of life ? "We insist on 
our rights. 

A book or a paper never proposes to take 
the place of a farmer's judgment. Not to 
read at all is bad enough ; but to read, and 
swallow everything without reflection, or 
discrimination, this is even worse. Such 
a one is not a book-headed but a block- 
headed farmer. Papers are designed to 
assist. Those who read them must select, 
modify, and act according to their own na- 
tive judgment. So used, papers answer a 
double purpose ; they convey a great 
amount of valuable practical information, 
and then they stir up the reader to habits 
of thought ; they make him more inquisi- 
tive, more observing, more reasoning, and, 
therefore, more reasonable. 

Now, as to the contenss of agricultural 
papers, whose fault is it if they are not 
practical ? Who are the practical men ? 
who are daily conversant with just the 
things a cultivator most needs to know ? 
who is stumbling upon difficulties, or dis- 
covering some escape from them ? who is 
it that knows so much about gardens, or- 
chards, farms, cattle, grains and grasses? 
Why, the very men who icon't write a 
word for the paper that they read, and 
then complain that there is nothing jwac- 
Heal in it. Yes, there is. There is prac- 
tical evidence that men are more willing to 
be helped, than to help others; and also 
that men sometimes blame others for things 
of which they themselves are chiefly blame- 
worthy. 



Interesting to Wives. 

As a general rule it is most economical 
to buy the best articles. The price is, of 
course, always a little higher, but good ar- 
ticles are best. It is a sacrifice of money 
to buy poor flour, meal, sugar, molasses, 
cheese, butter, lard, &c, to say nothing of 
the injurious effect upon the health. 



Of West India sugar and molasses, the 
Santa Cruz and Porto Rico are considered 
the best. The Havanna is seldom clean. 
White sugar from Brazil is very good. 
Refined sugars usually contain the most 
saccharine substance, therefore, there is 
probably more economy in using crashed 
loaf, and granulated sugars than we should 
at first suppose. 

Butter that is made in September and 
October is the best for winter use. 

Lard should be hard and w r hite; and that 
which is taken from a hog over a year old 
is the best. 

Rich cheese feels soft under the pressure 
of the finger. That which is strong is 
neither good nor healthy. To keep one 
that is cut, tie «it up in a bag that will not 
admit flies, and hang it in a cool dry place. 
If mould appears on it wipe it oft' with a 
dry cloth. 

The best rice is large, and has a clear, 
fresh look. Old rice sometimes has little 
black insects inside the kernel. 

The small white sago, is the best. The 
large brown kind has an earthy taste. 
These articles, and ground rice, tapioca, 
&c, should be kept covered. 

The cracked cocoa-nut is the best, but 
that which is put up in pound papers is 
often very good. 

Shells are apt to be musty. Try a quar- 
ter of a pound before buying a quantity. 

To select nutmegs, pick them with a 
pin. If they are good the oil will instantly 
spread around the puncture. 

Oranges and lemons keep best wrapped 
close in soft paper and laid in a drawer of 
linen. 

When a cask of molasses is bought, draw 
oft a few quarts, else the fermentation pro- 
duced by moving it will burst the cask. 

Bread and cake should be kept in a tin 
box or a stone jar. 

Salt codfish should be kept in a dry place, 
where the odour of it will not affect the 
air of the house. The best kind is that 
which is called Pun, from the peculiar 
colour. Fish skin for clearing coffee, should 
be washed, dried, cut small, and kept in a 
paper bag. 

Soft soap should be kept in a dry place in 
the cellar, and should not be used until six 
months old. 

Bar soap should be cut in pieces of a 
convenient size, and left where it will be- 
come dry. It is well to keep it for several 



_^_^_ ^^-^_ 



702 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[November 



VMeka before using it, as it spends fast when 
it is new. 

Cranberries will keep all winter in a 
firkin of water in the cellar. 

Potatoes should be put in the cellar as 
soon as they are dug. Lying exposed to 
the sun turns them green and makes them 
watery. Some good house-keepers have 
sods laid over barrels of potatoes not in im- 
mediate use. To prevent them from sprout- 
ing in the spring, turn them out upon the 
cellar bottom. 

To thaw frozen potatoes, put them in hot 
water. To thaw frozen apples, put them 
in cold water. Neither will keep well after 
being frozen. — Eastern Farmer. 



Maxims for Married Women. 

The unmarried women, says an exchange, 
w T ho can read this without indignation, ought 
to be married : 

Let every wife be persuaded that there 
are two ways of governing a family. The 
first is by the expression of that will which 
belongs to force; the second to the power of 
mildness, to which every strength will yield. 
One is the- power of the husband; a wife 
should never employ any other arms than 
those of gentleness. When a woman accus- 
toms herself to say " I will," she deserves 
to lose her empire. 

Avoid contradicting your husband. When 
we smell a rose it is to imbue the sweets of 
odor; we look for everything amiable in 
woman. Whoever is often contradicted feels 
insensibly an aversion for the person who 
contradicts, which gains strength by time, 
and whatever be her good qualities, is not 
easily destroyed. 

Occupy yourself only with household af- 
fairs, wait till your husband confides to you 
those of higher importance, and do not read 
lectures to him. Let your preaching be a 
good example, and practice virtue yourself 
to make him love it. 

Command his attention by being always 
kind to him; never exact anything, and 
you will attain much ; appear always flat- 
tered by the little he does for you, which 
will excite him to do more. 

All men are vain; never wound his van- 
ity, not even in the most trifling instances. 
.A wife may have more sense than her hus- 
band but she should never seem to know it. 

When a man gives wrong counsel, never 
feel that he has done so, but lead him by de- 
grees to what is rational, with mildness and 



gentleness; when he is convinced, leave him 
to the merit of having found out what is 
just and reasonable. 

When a husband is out of temper, behave 
obligingly to him ; if he is abusive, never 
retort, and never prevail over him to hum- 
ble him. 

Choose well your friends, have but few, 
and be careful of following their advice in 
all matters. 

Cherish neatness without luxury, and 
pleasure without excess ; dress with taste, 
particularly Ivith modesty ; vary in the fash- 
ion of your dress, especially as regards col- 
ors. It gives a change to the ideas, and re- 
calls pleasing recollections. Such things 
may appear trifling, but they have more im- 
portance than is imagined. 

Never be curious to pry into you hus- 
band's concerns, but obtain his confidence. 
Always preserve economy, avoid being out 
of temper, and be careful not to scold ; by 
this means he will find his house pleasanter 
than any other. 

Seem always to obtain information from 
him, especially before company, though you 
may pass yourself for a simpleton. 

Never forget that a wife owes all her im- 
portance to that of her husband. Leave him 
entirely master of his own actions, to go or 
come whenever he thinks fit, A wife ought 
to make her company amiable to her hus- 
band, that he will not be able to exist with- 
out it, then he will not seek for pleasure 
abroad, if she does not partake of it with 
h i m . — A lexan arid Gazette. 



Don't Scold. 

Don't scold, — for ijt destroys affection. No 
one ever did, ever can, ever will, love an 
habitual fretter, fault-finder or scolder. 
Husbands, wives, children, relations or do- 
mestics, have no affection for peevish, fret- 
ful fault-finders. Few tears are shed over 
the graves of such. Persons of high moral 
principle may tolerate them, may bear with 
them, but they cannot love them any more 
than they can love the sting of nettles or 
the noise of inusquitos. Many a man has 
been driven to the tavern and to dissipation, 
by a peevish, fretful wife; many a wife has 
been made miserable by a peevish, fretful 
husband. 

Don't scold, — for it is the banc of domes- 
tic happiness. A fretful, peevish, complain- 
ing fault-finder in a family is like the con- 
tinual chafing of an inflamed sore. Wo to 



18G0.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTKI! 



703 



the man, woman or child, who is exposed to 
the influence of such a temper in another, 
Nine-tenths of all domestic trials and un- 
happinesa spring from this source. Mrs. A. 
is of this temperament ; she wonders that 
her husband is not more fond of her com- 
pany ; that her children give her so much 
trouble; that domestics do not like to work 
for her; that she cannot secure the good 
will of young people. The truth is, that 
she is peevish and fretful. Children fear, 
but do not love her. She never gained the 
affections of a young person, nor ever will — 
till she leaves off fretting and scolding. 

Don't scold, — for it defeats the end of 
family government. Good family govern- 
ment requires the blending of authority 
with affection, so as to secure respect and 
love. Indeed, it is the great secret of man- 
aging young people. Your fretters and 
scolders may inspire fear, but they generally 
make two faults where they correct one. 
Scolding at a child, sneering at a child, 
taunting a child, as though it had no feel- 
ings, inspires dread and dislike, and fosters 
those very dispositions from which many of 
the faults of childhood proceed. Mr. B. 
and Mrs. C. are both of this class. Their 
children mind them— 0, yes! they are made 
to mind. But how ? By fretting and scold- 
ing. By severe treatment of their faults. 
The -parents seem to watch for faults; they 
rarely give commands without a threat, and 
a long running fault-finding commentary. 
When they chide, it is not done in a digni- 
fied manner. They raise" their voice; put on 
a cross look, threaten, strike, pinch ears, 
slap heads, cut short their allowance at 
meals, etc. Then the children cry, pout, 
sulk, and poor Mr. B. and C. have their 
work to do over again. And then Mrs. C. 
finds fault with her husband, or Mr. B. with 
his -wife, because one will not fall in with 
the other's way, or chime with the chorus. 
Don't scold, — for 'tis displeasing to God. 
It is evil, only evil, and that continually. 
David understood both human nature and 
the law of God; and he says, u Fret not 
thyself in anywise to do evil ;" that is, never 
fret or scold, for it is always a sin. \£ you 
cannot speak without fretting or scolding, 
hold your tongue. 



The Japanese and Chinese. 

The following is an extract of a letter 
from Richard II. Dana, jr., who has recently 
\ isited Japan : 

A ward inore si to the contrast between 
the Chinese and the Japanese. Jt should 
not be given entirely in favor of the Japan- 
ese, as DHpharit gives it. These Chinese 
are more scholarly, more literary, more in- 
dustrious, more peaceable and more decent. 
No where on earth is external decency more 
rigidly observed than in China. Not the 
sisters of the religious orders arc more mo- 
destly attired than the women of China. 
Nothing could induce even the girls of the 
flower boats — perhaps as abandoned as any 
women in the world — to expose the neck or 
the arm in their dress, and the evening 
dress of a European lady is revolting to 
their ideas of propriety. Nowhere are in- 
dustry and learning more honored than in 
China. The literati are the ruling crder, 
the military are an inferior class; and every 
election and office is open to the successful 
scholar, under their competitive system, 
without the obstructions of rank or heredi- 
tary castes. The industry of China is in- 
finitesimal, unceasing and universal. The 
Chinese are a nation of corn-traders, scho- 
lars and diplomatists. The Japanese, though 
by no means indolent, are less universally 
industrious, and there are more non-produc- 
ing consumers among them. They are more 
violent, more intemperate in drink, and are 
shameless where the Chinese are scrupulous 
in the extreme; and, though they arc gen- 
erally taught to read and write, and excel 
the Chinese in some branches of the arts 
and sciences, scholarship has not the posi- 
tion and honors it has in China. On the 
other hand, while the Chinese are effeminate, 
luxurious and self-complacent, the Japanese 
are proud, manly and simple in their food 
and costume, and their government, though 
more exclusive and more bloody, is more 
vigorous and just, with less of corruption 
and peculation. 



"Make yourself clearly acquainted with 
the rules of politeness and propriety, so that 
you may improve your manners." 



Cheap Fruit Cakk. — One cup sugar; 
1 cup butter; \ cup buttermilk; 1 'teaspoon 
soda; 3 eggs; Lcup raisins; 1 cup common 
currants. Chop the raisins and currants 
very fine. 

Pound Cake. — One pound butter; one 
of flour; one of sugar; and eight eggs; 
season with cloves, nutmeg or cinnamon. 



704 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[NOVEMBEI 




The Bird that Sung in May. 

A bird Inst spring came to my window shutter, 

One lovely morning at the break of day; 
And from his little throat did sweetly utter 
A most melodious lay. 

He had no language for his joyous passion, 

No solemn measure, no artistic rhyme; 
Yet no devoted minstrel e'er did fashion 

Such perfect tune and time. 

It seemed of thousand joys a thousand stories, 

All gushing forth in one tumultuous tide; 
A hallelujah for the morning glories 
• That bloomed on every side. 

And with each canticle's voluptuous ending, 

He sipped a dew-drop from the dripping pane; 
Then heavenward his little bill extending, 
Broke forth in song again. 

I thought to emulate his wild emotion, 

And learn thanksgiving from his tuneful 
tongue ; 
But human heart ne'er uttered such devotion, 
Nor human lips such song. 

At length he flew and left me in sorrow, 

Lest I should hear those tender notes no more; 
And though I early waked for him each morrow, 
He came not nigh my door. 

But once again, one silent summer even, 

I met him hopping in the new-mown hay; 
But he was mute, and looked not up to heaven — 
The bird that sung in May. 

Though now I hear from dawn to twilight hour 

The hoarse woodpecker and the noisy jay, 
In vain I seek through lea floss grove and bower 
The bird that sung in May. 

And such, methinks, are childhood's dawning 

pleasures. 
They charm a moment and then flyaway; 
Through life we sigh and seek those missing 
treasures, 

The birds that sung in May. 

This little lesson, then, my friend, remember, 
To seize each bright-winged blessing in its 
day; 
And never hope to catch in cold December, 

The bird that sung in May. 



From the Ohio Farmer. 

The Rose that Bloomed TJp-Stairs. 

A MOTHER'S STORY. 

BY MRS H. L. BOSTWICK. 

Beside my door a rose-tree grew, 

And wide and high its branches threw, 

Yet blossom never yielded; 
I searched it oft with anxious eye, 
But failed to look where, far on high, 

The vines a window shielded. 

One day, intent on household cares, 
I op'ed .a little room up-stairs, 

Whose casement loosely closes; 
My wee twin pets crept up beside — 
Then AHie, starting, as she cried, 

"MaVnma! mamma! your roses! 

In at the 'loosened sash they grew; 
More beautiful they seemed to view 

Than any out-door bloomers; 
And day by day, in merry pairs, 
My babes and I would steal up-stairs, 

To greet the sweet nevy-comers. 

When Autumn came— oh! time of gloom !- 
My twins, my precious buds of bloom, 

Slept in the grave's dark keeping; 
But Allie sweetly wiped my eyes, 
And gave caresses for my sighs, 

And chid my bitter weeping. 

Oh! for a child's blest faith, to feel 
No doubting of the future's weal — 

No haunting "it's" and "may-bees." 
"Don't cry, mamma," she lisped at prayers, 
"Remember how your rose-tree bears — 
I guess God 's got some nice 'up-stairs, ; 

Where we shall find the babies." • 



Flowers. 

There is a legend, old as earth, 

But beautiful and true, 
Which tells us how the flowers had birth, 

And wherefore came the dew. 

When Eve — thro' Satan's sore deceit — 

Touched the forbidden tree, 
And tempted her "good man" to eat, 

The Lord came angrily 

And straightway turned from Eden's bowgrs 

These first-born sinners forth, 
Away from all its smiling flowers, 

Upon the barren earth. 

But pitying, ere to Heaven he passed, 

His angles — brothers then — 
O'er all the earth their footprints cast, 

And hill, and vale, and glen 

Sparked with flowers — earth's starry sphercs- 

And on they fled from view, 
They strewed the flowers with pitying tears, 

Which since have passed for dew. 

And thus, though Paradise was lost 

But first of human kind, 
Thy children know, though sorely crossed, 

God's love is left behind.