TH E 




Devoted to Agriculture, Horticulture, and the Household Arts, 

* 

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

[Xenopuon. I the State. — Sully. 



J. E. WILLIAMS, Editor. 



AUGUST & WILLIAMS, Prop'rs. 



Vol. XX. 



RICHMOND, V£., DECEMBER, 1860. 



No. 12. 



How Much Low-Grounds have we in Vir- 
ginia? We ought to know. 

There is a particular branch of statistics, 
concerning which it is thought desirable 
that we should have more accurate informa- 
tion than we now possess. Who would not 
like to know how much alluvial land — Mow- 
grounds,' as we term it — there may be with- 
in the limits of Virginia? Such special in- 
quiry, it seems, did not come within the 
scope of the Census Bureau at Washington. 
Its agents were required to distinguish be- 
tween "improved" and "unimproved" land. 
But under the former designation was includ- 
ed all cleared land of whatever grade of fertili- 
ty, and much of this in Virginia, we know, 
has been reduced from its original produc* 
tivc capacity. And had the Department at- 
tempted the additional distinction" here 
gested, the effort would have been attended 
with difficulty, when we regard the Stat! 
whole. The valleys t)f many of the minor 
streams in the trans-Allcghany district, it is 
presumed, are yet clothed with* their native 
forests, and may have been subjected 
neither to separate instrumental survey, nor 
to any other than a conjectural estimate of 
quantity. 

This, however, can hardly be the case 
45 



with the three more eastern divisions of the 
State. It is believed that there are many 
counties in each, concerning which this in- 
formation might be readily obtained. Nor 
can we conceive why all might not be in- 
cluded in this category, as ordinary obsta- 
cles would yield to a proper division of labor. 
"The knowledge to be sought is, we may sup- 
pose, already in the possession of individuals, 
and were it imparted to some one or more in 
each county, it could with little trouble be 
digested into proper form and order for pub- 
lic use. 

We desire to learn not only how much of 
such land there may be on our portion of 
the great Dismal Swamp and the ocean and 
bay shores, but the separate- aggregates oh 
the banks of all unr larger streams, whether 
tlu 'v be rivers of the first or second grade, 
of the more considerable creeks. Such 
portions as lie on the lesser creeks and 
branches might be summed up under a dis- 
tinct head. The islands which skirt our 
eastern shore and dot our bay and larger 
rivers would form a fifth class. 

In the first class we would include the 
borders of the Potomac, (with the Shenan- 
doah and South Branch,) the Rappahannock, 
the York, with the Pamunkey and Matta- 
pony, the James, the Roanoke, with the Dan 



TOG 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



[December 



and Staunton, the Ohio, with the Mononga- 
hela, both Kanawhas, and the New and 
Greenbrier rivers. 

In the second would be embraced the 
larger affluents of those in the first class — 
as the Rapidan, Chichahorniny, Appomattox, 
Rivanna, Nottoway, Meherrin, Chowan — all, 
in fine, that are styled rivers. The third, 
fourth and fifth are sufficiently defined. 

A document embracing all this informa- 
tion would be interesting to the State at 
large. But in another aspect, the citizens 
of each separate county would willingly 
know how much it offers of such land in the 
several kinds here designated. Certain 
counties — as Gloucester, Elizabeth City, 
Nansemond, Southampton, Mecklenburg, 
Halifax, Goochland, Albemarle, Berkeley, 
Hampshire, Rockingham, Augusta, and 
some others — would exhibit superior natural 
advantages in this respect; bub in others, 
again, the balance may have been redressed 
by favorable circumstances of a different 
kind. 

But, it may be asked, cui bono? In what 
benefit would such an inquiry result ? Should 
the querist think such knowledge more curi- 
ous than useful, we might briefly respond, 
that if it be deemed wise in an individual 
to take special account of his most produc- 
tive, durable and reliable property, it surely 
cannot be unbecoming in a State to do the 
same. But let us look more narrowly into 
this matter. 

That the territory of Virginia is "well 
watered," a glance at the map will suffice to 
show. With the ocean and bay on her 
eastern front, .and large rivers on her north- 
ern and western boundaries, others but little 
inferior, with their very considerable afflu- 
ents, intersect the several districts into 
which it has been .divided by nature. But 
while the transmontane streams seek a 
western outlet, those of the East descend to 
the Chesapeake or the ocean in lines nearly 
parallel to each other; and this has been 
thought to forbid that unity of interest 
which tends to build up marts for concen- 
trating produce and commerce. In this view 
it has been said, with a degree of truth, that 
"we are cursed with a multitude of bless- 
ings." Unlike New York, which has but 
one principal stream, to which most of the 
others are tributary, or the States of New 
Hampshire, Connecticut, Missouri, Arkansas, 
Louisiana, Alabama, which are somewhat 
similarly situated, Virginia has from the 



first had to contend with an inconvenience 
that has often thwarted the wisest plans of 
her purest patriots, or led to questionable 
compromises for their accomplishment. But 
however unfavorable this may have been to 
harmony in legislative or social action, it 
has certainly furnished a wider basis for 
agricultural wealth and prosperity. 

It would be natural to infer that streams 
so large and numerous must be bordered by 
much alluvial land; and this we know to be 
true from other data, as well as general re- 
port. But although Virginia has been occu- 
pied and explored by the white man for 
more than two centuries, who 'among us has 
any definite idea of the total quantity in each 
kind, however just may be his estimate of 
their position and relative values ?« Tradition 
or common report may have carried the 
knowledge of certain favored localities be- 
yond their immediate neighborhoods or dis- 
tricts, and public advertisement may have 
informed us of the portions of such soil on 
particular estates when offered' for sale, but 
we want something fall and authentic in 
the same kind concerning our whole State. 

For. neither the length of rivers, nor their 
volumes of water, nor the general profile of 
the country they traverse, furnish any sure 
index of the breadth of their alluvium. 
Those within our borders show an indefinite 
variety in this respect. Were streams con- 
fined within a sufficient channel, equal 
throughout in breadth and depth, descend- 
ing as they do on an inclined plane, they 
would seek the shortest line to the mouths, 
and their valleys would remain as originally 
formed. But inequalities in these respects 
give their current a direction to either shore, 
from which it rebounds at an angle, gradual- 
ly approaching that of its incidence. If the 
point of resistance is not made of stubborn 
materials, it is in time worn away both above 
and blow, until the current is met by a bluff 
or something equivalent, the soil being car- 
ried in solution together with much from 
above to the opposite bank, or else contribu- 
ting to the formation of islands ^n the chan- 
nel. It is thus that in the course of geo- 
logic periods low-grounds are formed, and 
this alternate motion will account for their 
total absence at certain points, and for their 
varying breadth and extent at others and on 
either shore. To this law our Virginia 
streams offer no exception; but there is 
scarcely one of the more important which 
does not present considerable reaches of al- 



1800.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



707 



luvial soil, of extent and compactness suffi- 
cient, with the aid of the higher grounds ad- 
joining, to constitute one or more valuable 
estates. 

These were eagerly sought by the more 
sagacious and enterprising of our early set- 
tlers, and men of like stamp, in the west- 
ward inarch of our population, have not 
failed to follow their example. These were 
the men who gave character to our colony 
and State, and in this view, the enquiry, as 
illustrating the extent and progressive de- 
velopment of our resources, is of historical 
as well as economical interest. Theirs were 
the lands which contributed to the support 
of pioneer adventurers, of our armies in 
war, and our citizens in peace, and which 
furnished- a principal share of the exports 
that swelled our trade. There was a time 
indeed, when of them it might be said that 
they were our country, — certainly its most 
desirable part, and when this was no longer 
the case, their peculiar value has still been 
recognized. The most striking example of 
this known to the writer, is the fact that the 
low-grounds of James River have for half a 
century been rated at $100 or more per 
acre, while the adjoining forests or fields 
other than the curtilage, have averaged from 
five to twenty ; and similar if not propor- 
tional differences may be found elsewhere 
within our limits. Many of these lands, 
both above and below the head of Tide, 
were originally in the occupancy and culti- 
vation of the natives ; when these were dis- 
possessed, their fields, with others of a semi- 
prairie character received the earliest labors 
of our ancestors. Being already prepared 
for tillage, it was thus that they afforded 
subsistence to our people, while attacking 
the forest with which other plains, both high 
and low, as yet were burdened. The early 
settlers, indeed, finding the whole country 
in this condition, so different from the gene- 
ral aspect of Europe, from this circumstance 
alone, formed exaggerated estimates of its 
general and intrinsic fertility, whereas, many 
a highland plain has been exhausted of its 
accumulated stores of vegetable mould by. 
constant cropping and left to recover itself 
as it might until a more scientific husbandry 
came to its aid. The lower and more 
durable lands have ever been the chief at- 
traction that lured the pioneers to the fron- 
tier, and when ence prepared for the plough 
have rarely or never been permitted to re- 
turn to their former state. While the area 



of upland subject to tillage, has annually 
varied, and from many causes, that of the 
alluvion has been so far constant that it has 
never receded ; but with the returning sea- 
son, each year has either contributed some- 
thing to our wants, or been gathering force 
for a new effort. 

And reason good there has ever been for 
regarding them as the ornament and strength 
of Territory and the richest boon of Provi- 
dence to the farmer. 

In general, it may be said that our allu- 
vial lands are our best lands: originally most 
fertile, less, exhausted by ignorant and im- 
provident cultivation, and more easily re- 
stored under judicious treatment. Our. up- 
lands, for the most part, may be greatly im- 
proved by good or bad management, but of 
the others it might, in a sense, be justly 
said, that " man did not make and cannot 
destroy f and this is true in a degree of the 
margins of the lesser streams as well as the 
greater. The injury received under the 
former system was often but superficial, and 
a deeper culture — which they would better 
bear — has frequently brought to light a fresh 
soil never before stirred. For their level 
shape forbade their being washed into gul- 
lies, as were too many of the uplands, and 
manures, when applied, were longer retained 
or yielded a better return. If, in some 
cases, they have been damaged by freshets, 
in others they have been benefitted by their 
depositions. Added to which, they had, 
besides their own intrinsic virtues, received 
the strength of the adjacent hills for untold 
ages before they were cleared. 

Of those above Tide, it may be affirmed 
that they are almost universally adapted to 
artificial grasses for the maintenance of their 
fertility; and if some of those below arc 
less so, from an undue proportion of sand 
in their constitution, these are not unsuited 
to other valuable staples, and their texture 
may often be modified by deeper tillage, or 
manures, whether mineral or putrescent. 
Low-grounds are cultivated with less danger 
to tools and implements when these are 
properly chosen, and affurd greater facilities 
for gathering their crops into barns. The 
operations on such lands are more easily 
inspected, and the results more readily and 
accurately calculated. As they admit of a 
deeper culture, so also do they better resist 
drought and the ravages of insects in un- 
favourable seasons. Whether as corn-field 
or meadow, they have furnished sustenance 



708 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



[December 



to man and beast — proving even in disas- 
trous years a reliable source of income to 
their owners and of food to others ; and it 
henceforth will rest with their owners to say 
whether that source shall be perennial. Be- 
ing, moreover, a monopoly of no particular 
county or district, but ramified throughout 
the entire State, the fear of general suffer- 
ing from the want or high price of bread 
may be forever dismissed. 

While they are more susceptible of reno- 
vation, they also allow a more frequent 
growth of the same crop, and thus ' lessen 
the draught on the uplands of the sam-e 
estate. Such of them as lie on navigable 
rivers are, of course nearer to the ultimate 
markets, and often contain in the neighbor- 
ing hills the means of their improvement; 
or if these be wanting, they may be more 
easily brought from a distance. Many of 
those on streams of a lesser grade are sus- 
ceptible of Irrigation, by taking water from 
their channels at higher points. Where 
there has been a surplus of water, much 
valuable soil has been reclaimed and ren- 
dered salubrious by draining ponds or 
marshes, and yet more by the substitution 
of lateral canals for useless mill-ponds. The 
channels of not a few of the minor streams 
have likewise been straightened, whereby 
the danger of overflow has been lessened 
and the cultivation of their margins facili- 
tated. 

As low grounds yield a better return for 
the labor bestowed on them, and lighten the 
burden that would otherwise fall on the ad- 
joining high-land, they give a character to 
the latter which they would not otherwise 
possess. For such localities from the first 
invite settlements, are afterwards in demand 
from the more intelligent and liberal class 
qf cultivators, and can afford more costly 
and permanent improvements, whether in 
the character of the buildings, or enclosures 
or ornamental grounds. Where several 
such lie together, or others like them at a 
convenient distance, they make a desirable 
neighborhood, and many such will generally 
indicate a prosperous and intelligent com- 
munity For such neighborhoods are sought 
by public highways and other works of In- 
ternal Improvement, by the common arts 
tributary to our daily recurring wants by 
trade and commerce, and in the aggregate 
they furnish the surest basis for the higher 
education. 

If the early proprietors of some of these 



estates set an example of improvident cul- 
ture and wasteful expenditure which was 
the more injurious to their neighbors less 
favorably situated as these were less able to 
afford it — 'heir successors in the same class 
have in a measure repaired the mischief by 
establishing a different precedent. For it is 
well known that many of our most im- 
portant improvements have been initiated on 
such lands, and they still present the fairest 
examples of neat, scientific and profitable 
management to be found among us. ' 

Who, then, will not desire to know the 
extent of this the most valuable portion of 
our Territory? We have a wide — an ample 
domain, and much of it, we believe, par- 
takes of this character; far more, perhaps, 
than any one, as yet, can positively aver. 
We also know that these are not the whole 
of oyr good lands. Particular belts,, or iso- 
lated spots of greater or less area in many 
counties below the Ridge, were early noted 
as of superior excellence; and have ever 
since maintained their reputation. Such 
favoured localities are found in the counties 
of Louisa, Goochland, Powhatan, Amelia, 
Mecklenburg, Halifax, Buckingham, Am- 
herst, Nelson, Albemarle, Loudoun and 
others, and a yet larger proportion of The 
Valley, which, originally rich, has been 
farther improved under the hand of culture. 
Nor should we forget, because they are dis- 
persed, the multitude of orchards, gardens, 
yards, lawns, standing pasture, small lots 
for raising roots and other auxiliary crops, 
chiefly for home consumption, larger lots for 
Tobacco, where that culture still obtains, 
small farms near cities for supplying their 
markets with fruits and vegetables, and 
where the entire surface has been manured 
by well directed efforts; nor the numerous 
fields of larger dimensions, which, within a 
generation, and since wheat has become a 
more important staple, have been improved 
by the use of marl, lime, green-sand, gyp- 
sum, clover and other grasses, or the more 
equable spread of the manures of the farm. 
When such estates are made up in part of 
low-grounds, much of this improvement 
should, in fairness, be accredited to the 
latter, as these, by their products, have fur- 
nished the capital, and by the offal of their 
crops, the manures that have been thus ex- 
pended. So true is this, that instances are 
not rare in which upland fields had been 
exhausted and abandoned to the care of the 
fern and the sedge, and a lot of alluvial 



I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



700 



land has served both as fulcrum and lever 
for raising them to more than their pristine 
fertility. But all these for the present must 
be left out of view. 

If any among us should have heretofore 
undervalued the capacities of our State, 
this bare statement limited and modest 
though it be, should lead to a reconsider- 
ation ; and yet we know that very diverse 
representations have been given as to its 
condition, whether natural or superinduced, 
both by friend and foe; by some of our 
citizens, as well as by travelers from a dis- 
tance. Our Northern brethren habitually 
reproach us with the general poverty of our 
soil, and have persuaded themselves that it 
is the inevitable consequence of the labor 
we employ. This last opinion, which once 
had some currency among ourselves, seems 
now pretty generally exploded. The infer- 
ences of both parties were hasty, yet were 
their mistakes not wholly unjustified by 'ap- 
pearances. 

Before the era of railroads the body of 
our people had been little noted for travel- 
ling, and when they did, their observations 
were confined to a few particular estates be- 
sides those of their own neighborhood. This 
is still too much the case. Our public roads, 
for the most part, are located on the ridges, 
lead through forests or farms of minor inter- 
est, or barely touch on those of a superior 
character. As much may be said of the 
railroads which cut across the country, tra- 
versing it from North to South, and of those 
which tend westward from the Metropolis. 
The only two which avowedly seek the more 
fertile districts for the transport of their 
products, may be within convenient reach cf 
the good lands throughout their lines, some- 
times touch or cross them where this is in- 
evitable, but at best afford the passing travel- 
ler a rapid glance at only a few favored 
spots. He naturally infers from what he 
does see, the condition and proportions of 
that which is hidden from his view. There 
may be a lurking suspicion that this is not 
just; for he has heard, perhaps, the aggre- 
gate yield of Virginia lands is certainly not 
small, nor her exports of little value ; but 
he is at a loss to divine where these come 
from. It might be thought that those who 
ascend our navigable streams could hardly 
be liable to such mistakes; but neither is 
the deck of a steamboat the most eligible 
situation for inspecting the adjacent levels, 
presenting, as they do ; but little more than 



their edges to the viewer. The James River 
Canal is, perhaps, the only public highway 
within our limits that permits the traveller 
to form anything like an adequate estimate 
of the valley through which it winds; yet 
who shall say that other of our streams do 
not present continuous scenes as worthy of 
observation ? 

And how sfiall we correct the erroneous 
impressions of strangers, or the unjust de- 
preciation of our domestic croakers, or the 
ranting eulogies of declaimers, or the ran- 
dom guesses of indifferent speculators, or the 
vague conjectures of the well-meaning, or 
satisfy the enquiries of the considerate 
patriot, or strip the whole subject of the 
mystery in which it is at present involved, 
unless we adopt some comprehensive measure 
for obtaining the desired information ? That 
we have a country, a good land, a land worth 
living in and taking care of, we have never 
doubted. But if this can be reduced to a 
certainty, and if it shall turn out to be better 
than we had supposed, may not some who 
now meditate flight, whether from country 
or city, be induced to forego their purpose, 
and will not those who remain, be the more 
content in adhearing to her fortunes ? Nay, 
may it not be the means of inviting imi- 
grants and capital from abroad ? And can 
it fail to have an indirect influence for the 
better on our public credit, when we shall 
have shown the solid foundation on which 
our agricultural prosperity rests? 

We propose no inquisitorial search that 
shall minister to the pride of some and ex- 
pose the nakedness or short comings of 
others. That, alas ! has already been done 
by a higher authority. We only desire to 
have a juster idea of the bounty of Provi- 
dence in this regard. The lands in question 
are readily distinguishable from others, those 
on any single stream are fixed and invari- 
able in amount, and as a whole, they can be 
neither increased or diminished. Any por- 
tion of the task, when once accomplished, 
need never be repeated, and when complied 
entire it is done forever. 

This constant quantity may be unequallv 
distributed among proprietors by the policy 
of our laws and the spirit of our govern- 
ment, but the general aggregate remains — 
a prize to be contended for by the most 
worthy. And let not those despond who are 
excluded by circumstances from participa_ 
ting in this portion of our general inherit- 
ance. For, did they but know it, science 



10 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[December 



has at length diminished the distance be- 
tween them and their neighbors, whom they 
have habitually regarded as so much more 
fortunate than themselves, and that without 
detracting from the advantages of the latter. 
Let them rather seek this knowledge, en- 
quire whether there is nothing in the 
practises of those neighbors which they may 
safely imitate as being suited* also to their 
operations, and endeavor to make up what 
is lacking by diligence and thrift. Then 
would they find the returns sufficient for the 
supply of all their real wants, and many of 
the comforts — nay, the luxuries of life. 

We have indulged in no vague, specious 
declamation, but have endeavored to view 
this matter in the light of common sense. 
If our readers approve the proposal, let 
them — not order, but sanction it with their 
public opinion, and it may be done and done 
gratuitously. Seven years ago this might 
have been pronounced impossible without 
governmental aid. But the Farmers of 
Virginia are now happily associated, — nay, 
organized, as they never were before, and 
this were no longer a Herculean enterprise. 
Its accomplishment will be but one of the 
first fruits of their exertion. 

The Agricultural Society of Virginia has 
members, and zealous ones, in perhaps every 
county East of the Ridge, and in all or most 
of those in the Valley, besides others who 
are scattered throughout the Transmon- 
tane. Let the Executive Committee of that 
Society give this matter their consideration, 
and order their Secretary to prepare a cir- 
cular letter explanatory of the object and 
method of procedure. *Let copies of this 
be sent to some one in each county who 
would probably take an interest in its ac- 
complishment. Such an one could surely 
enlist others in each neighborhood or Magis^ 
terial District. These, while in attendance 
at court, or other places of Assembly, might 
obtain from the citizens generally the infor- 
mation desired. Clerks, surveyors, asses- 
sort would lend their aid. Patriotic physi- 
cians, who, as men of science, must be the 
friends of an improved agriculture, who go 
everywhere and visit every house, would not 
withhold their assistance. Most proprietors, 
who have any notable quantity of such land, 
have generally ascertained the amount, and 
would hardly refuse a statement when sought 
for such a purpose. These separate items 
of information, when gathered, could easily 
be embodied in a report for the county and 



forwarded to the Secretary, who would con- 
solidate all such returns in a single report 
for the State. 

The aggregates under the three first and 
the fifth heads, might probably be relied on 
as sufficiently accurate. Many of those 
under the fourth — which, however, are the 
least important, may as yet be conjectural, 
and we must be content for a time with an 
approximative estimate, subject to correction 
when actual survey shall have made them 
more exact. 

It may be that all counties will "not at 
once respond to the call; but many would, 
and their separate returns will not only be 
so much gained towards the general object, 
but will furnish material for a document 
well worthy the attention of our Farmers' 
Assembly. Should such a movement be 
commenced, the writer is assured by friends 
that he may engage for his own county, and 
he believes that in more than twenty others 
it would be zealously and promptly executed. 
With such a measure of success he cannot 
doubt that the rest would in time wheel into 
line. 

We know not that any measure similar to 
that now proposed has been executed, or so 
much as contemplated, elsewhere in our 
country, but a knowledge of this branch of 
statistics would be desirable anywhere. If 
other States have also been delinquent, 
should we, therefore, fail to take the initiative, 
or postpone it longer ? Let us rather take 
precedence in this, if we have been tardy 
in other respects, and if the result be as we 
anticipate, they would not fail to follow so 
worthy an example. 

A Farmer op Piedmont. 



From the Country Gentleman. 

Alphonse Karr on Tobacco. 

[So few ot our readers have probably met 
with this author's "Journey around my 
Garden," that although it has been before 
the public two or three years, we feel at 
liberty to' offer below the substance of a 
j chapter on the introduction of tobacco, trans- 
lated and condensed for the Country 
Gentleman, from a recent Paris edition of 
the book.] 

It is a family of poisonous plants, in which 
one finds henbane, the datura stramonium 
and tobacco. 

Here is a tobacco plant — as beautiful a 
plant as one could see — six feet in height, 



I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



711 



and from the bosom of its broad leaves of a 
fine green, throwing out bunches of flowers, 
rose-coloured and graceful and elegant in 
form. 

For a long time tobacco flourished solitary 
and unknown in some corners of America. 
The savages to whom we gave brandy, gave 
us in return tobacco. It is by this amiable 
interchange of poisons that th<i relations 
were begun between the old world and the 
new. 

The first who thought fit to put powdered 
tobacco into their noses were attacked with 
ridicule and then with some persecution. 
James the First of England, wrote his book 
called Miso-capnos, against those who made 
use of tobacco. A few years later Pope 
Urban VII. excommunicated persons who 
took it in church. The Empress Elizabeth 
imposed the penalty of excommunication 
upon those who, during divine service, 
should snuff their noses with this black 
powder, and authorized the beadles to con- 
fiscate snuff-boxes to their own benefit. 
Amurat IV. prohibited its use under the 
penalty of having the nose cut off. 

No useful plant could have withstood 
such attacks. 

If, before this invention, anyone had 
said, " Let us seek the means of drawing 
into the coffers of the State a voluntary im- 
post of several millions per year, by selling 
something to the people which everybody 
uses and which no one can dispense with. 
There is in America a plant essentially 
poisonous; if you express from its leaves an 
empyrematic oil, a single drop will destroy 
an animal in horrible convulsions. Let us 
offer this plant for sale cut up into morsels 
or reduced into a powder; we will sell it 
very dear and we'll tell people to snuff the 
powder up their noses — " 

•< You will force them to do this by law." 

" By no means — I said it should be a 
voluntary impost. What is cut up, we will 
tell them to breathe and swallow r a little of 
the smoke of it." 

" But they will die P 

" Oh no ; they will be a little pale, have 
pains in the stomach, vertigoes, sometimes 
colics, spittings of blood, and distress in the 
chest, that's all ! Beside, you know the old 
saying, ' habit is a second nature;' but, more 
than that, man is like the knife of which 
the blade had been changed three times in 
succession, and the handle twice — there is 
no longer any nature left in man, only the 



habits. People, moreover, will become, like 
king Mithridatcs, habituated in taking 
poison. The first time one smokes, he may 
suffer from pains at the heart, nausea, verti- 
go, colic, cold sweats, and the like, but by 
and by he will be so accustomed to it as 
only to meet with tryjse troubles now and 
then, as, for instance, when the tobacco is 
bad, or when it is too strong, or when he is 
not feeling very well, or in five or six other 
cases. Those who take it in powder will 
sneeze, will feel a little ill, will lose the 
power of smell, and will establish in the 
nose a kind of perpetual blister." 

" Ah ! b.ut I suppose its smell is very 
sweet ?" 

"No, on the contrary it smells vilely. 
But, as I said, we will sell it dear, and keep 
the monopoly in our own hands." 

11 Why, my good friend," one would have 
replied to the person thus speaking, " no- 
body will dispute with you the privilege of 
disposing of a commodity which, will have 
no purchasers. There would be a better 
chance to open a shop and put over the 
door, 

'KICKS FOR SALE HERE.' 
Or, ' 

< CUDGELLINGS FOR SALE AT WHOLESALE 
AND RETAIL/ 

You would find more consumers than for 
your poisonous herb." 

— Alas, it is our last speaker who is in 
the wrong — the tobacco speculation was a 
perfect success. The Kings of France did 
not write satires against tobacco, did not cut 
off noses, did not confiscate snuff-boxes. On 
the other hand, they sold the tobacco, they 

' put a tax on the noses, they gave the snuff- 
boxes to poetSj with their portraits on top 
and diamonds around them. This little 

' stroke of business brought them in, I don't 
know how many thousands a year. 

The potato had much more difficulty than 
tobacco in establishing itself, and has yet its 
enemies. 

But I am interrupted here. "You, my 
friend, are a singular preacher against to- 
bacco, when your pipe yonder forms so orna- 
mental a feature in your apartment." Let 
me explain ; I confess that I have the habit 
of smoking acquired among fishermen and 
sailors, but I have this excuse for keeping it 
up. I have often found myself with people 
who actually bored me to death, whom I did 
not wish to talk to — in fact, to whom I had 
nothing to say. I found it convenient and 



71: 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[December 



polite to make them smoke and to smoke — ■ 
they said less and I nothing at all. But I 
am often months without touching my pipe, 
and I never smoke in the garden, so as to 
mingle the fumes of this weed with the 
odor of my flowers. 

— Thus far our French philosopher. An 
American traveller, who reads in the books 
of English tourists what a filthy set of to- 
bacco consumers we all are here, is scarcely 
prepared to find smoking apparently quite 
as common in Great Britain as it is in the 
United States, while we are not a " circum- 
stance" to the Continentals — especially the 
Germans, to whom the pipe seems to be far 
more a matter of universal necessity than 
either water or soap, and that not for oc- 
casional enjoymentr— or stultification as the 
case may be — but for a habitual and con- 
stant companion. In fact, it becomes a 
matter of doubt if they do not sleep with 
the pipes still in their mouths, in an atmos- 
phere purposely darkened with clouds of 
this singular incense to the strange propen- 
sities of the race to which we belong. 



Jones and Johnson. 

William Johnson and Edwin Jones were 
both of them farmers, and they were also 
near neighbors. Their farms were beauti- 
fully situated; the soil naturally productive. 
So far there was not a particle of difference 
between the two places. Yet they wore a very 
different aspect. Johnson's buildings looked 
nice and tidy. His door yard was clean, his 
house neatly painted, his windows whole. His 
barn and out-buildings were snug and com- 
fortable, his orchard looked thrifty, and the 
trees were carefully dressed. Now, Mr. 
Jones had no more of a family to support 
than his neighbor, yet the aspects of his 
house and farm were very different. Old 
rubbish was kicking around in the yard, 
that should have been in less unsightfy 
places; his house looked weather-beaten and 
neglected; rags were seen in spots where 
panes of glass were expected to be found; 
there were large cracks in his barn, through 
which the winds of heaven had free course. 
His apple-trees were disfigured by old bark 
and dead limbs; in short, everything seemed 
to wear a look of dilapidation and neglect. 
Edwin Jones was a hard-working man, yet 
everything was at loose ends with him, and 
he often caught himself wondering how it 
was that his neighbor Johnson kept along so 



smoothly and quiet, and yet had everything 
in perfect order. 

* 5j< * * * ^C 

One rainy day in the fall, after harvest- 
ing was over, Johnson was at work in his 
tool chamber, when his neighbor Jones en- 
tered. 

" Johnson," said the latter, after he had 
watched his neighbor's plane a few moments, 
" how much did that sled of yours cost ? I 
have got to have one this winter." 

" Oh that cost me nothing ; I made that 
myself. I got out the timber last winter; so 
that matter's disposed of, and I feel proud of 
it. too. It's my first attempt." 

" Well, neighbor Johnson, I don't see 
how in the world you get along so. Your 
farm don't produce any more than mine 
does, and I clon't believe you work as hard 
as I do. Your wife don't make any better 
butter than mine; your sheep don't grow 
any better wool. You raise more fruit, to 
be sure." 

"I have not so many trees as you." 

"No, but the fruit is of a better quality, 
and finds a ready market." 

" Yes, because I have taken pains to ob- 
tain the best grafts. My trees were the same 
as yours when we started. My cows give 
more milk than yours do in winter, because 
they have a warmer barn. I raise more 
pork than you do, because my pens are tight 
and comfortable, and so on." 

"And I suppose you are laying up 
money?" muttered Jones, with a crestfallen 
look. 

"Certainly, I am — about two hundred 
dollars a year." 

"So much!" exclaimed Jones, with a 
look of surprise; "why, I can't lay up a 
single cent; in fact, I am running behind." 

"Let me tell you the secret," said John- 
son, in the kindest and most" neighborly 
way. "Last summer, I saw you buy two 
new rakes, and two pitchforks; now, how 
much did they all cost you?." 

Let's see — two dollars and a half." 

"Well, my fork-handle got broke last win- 
ter, so did some of my rakes. I brought 
them right up here, and when at leisure, 
just fixed them up. Now, you have nothing 
at all to do to-day." 

"No, indeed; it rains too hard." 

" But I am at work, making my apple- 
boxes ; how are you going to get yours ?" 

" Grainson makes them for me, and I am 
to give him a barrel of apples." 



I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



713 



" Which is as good U two dollars. Now, 
jLjf you have as good a sled as mine, made, it 
"—will cost you at least twelve dollars. You 
see how those little things count up." 

"And all this conies of your having tools 
to work with," returned Jones, whose eyes 
were beginning to open. 

" Yes, neighbor." 

" Well, it' 1 had tools I might save a good 
many sums in the course ot a year, but I 
never have the money to spare for them. 
Why, these 'ere tools of your'n must cost 
mor'n fifty dollars." 

" Just about that' 1 

"Then I am mighty afraid I shall have 
to scrape along with borrowed tools. I shall 
never have that sum to spare." 

" You don't understand. Let me explain 
the secret. I should never have gone with 
a fifty, dollar bill and bought these things. 
I have produced one at a time with my grog 
and tobacco money." 

"Grog and tobacco money!" repeated 
Jones, with a look of blank surprise." 

" Y^es," said Johnson, with a smile. "Now 
I am going to give you a lecture. I am 
going to give you the benefit of my expe- 
rience. The first year I began on a farm I 
used to have spirits by me, and every now 
and then take, a drink to keep up my 
strength, I said to myself. In the long, 
warm days, in haying and harvesting, the 
bottle used to be patronized liberally. But 
I finally began to see that it was growing 
hard for me to resist; and so, after delibe- 
rating upon the subject, I came to the con- 
clusion that rum and tobacco did me no 
good, and might do much evil, and I would 
leave them off, and I did. So I commenced 
laying up the money they cost me. I saw 
how much might be saved if I could do the 
work myself I had been obliged to pay for, 
and so I began buying such tools as I 
thought would come handy. At the end of 
the first year I found I had quite a collection, 
and it had all come from the money I might 
otherwise have drank and smoked up, and I 
felt healthier and happier than the year be- 
fore. I knew I had laid the foundation for 
future good. Time passed on, and my grog 
and tobacco money kept coining in. It was 
now a hammer, then a saw, then an auger, 
and another plane, a bit-stock, &c, till I 
have now an excellent stock of tools; and 
they are not only a source of great profit 
but solid comfort into the bargain. I be- 
lieve, friend Jones, in giving up my "grog 



ami tobacco I have b<< n a -nut gainer. 
Now, do you not think you would do as well 
without it '/" 

"Johnson," said Joins, at length, after a 
protracted silenre, L wish you had told me 
of this long ago." 

"I was afraid it might offend you; it is a 
delicate matter at best." 

"I know it, but Edwin Jones is not the 
man to be offended with a neighbor for 
friendly advice." 

"Well," said Johnson*, with a look of ex- 
treme gratification, " its never too late to 
mend; and if you get into a pinch where 
fifty or a hundred dollars will be of use to 
you come to me." 

Mr. Jones thanked his friend with a sus- 
picious moisture shining in his eye, and 
shortly after took his leave. The very next 
time he went to town, instead of refilling 
his brown jug and empty box, he brought 
home a new auger, and a proud and happy 
man was he at work with his own tools. 
Time passed away, and he soon found him- 
self the owner of quite a ' little lot of im- 
plements. This thing operated in many 
ways for good. Now that he has the ability 
to fix up the building without borrowing- 
tools, he began to take pride in doing it. 
He reset his windows, roofed his bee-house, 
built new pig-pens, tightened his barn, and 
in rainy weather was never without a plea- 
sant and profitable employment. His cows 
do not break through the barn floor now, 
and they give as much milk, his bees make 
as much honey, his trees yield as goo'd ap- 
ples, as his neighbor Johnson's do; and all 
this is because he stopped his grog and to- 
bacco expenditures, bought his tools, and 
left off depending upon his neighbors; and 
so he is now a happy, thriving and contented 
farmer. — Winchester Vi/yinian. 



About Drying Apples. 

October and November are the best 
months for drying apples, and the well- 
ripened, choice fall varieties are by far the 
best for the purpose. Foine people have an 
idea that anything in the shape of an apple, 
big enough to pare, cut and core, let the 
flavor be what it may, is just as good for 
drying as another. We beg leave to correct 
this error. It is just as important to have 
a good apple to dry, as to eat raw, cook or 
bake. To those, therefore, who want good 
dried apple, we will offer a few suggestions. 






714 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[December 



1. Let your apples be of good size, fair 
in shape, choice in flavor — sweet or tart, as 
you may prefer ; both are good for a variety 
of purposes. They should be gathered 
without brusing; laid by till nearly ripe, 
but not quite ripe; pared with a machine — 
if you have a good one and quartered, or 
half-quartered, according to the size of the 
fruit, or the use to be made of the article 
when dried. 

2. Let the work be done as rapidly as 
possible, for the fruit may ripen too fast 
after beginning to do them, and keep the 
cutting and coring up with the paring ; for 
the moment the open flesh of the fruit be- 
comes exposed to the atmosphere, or heated, 
it begins to lose its aroma, moisture, and 
flavor, all to the damage of its quality when 
dried. 

3. If you choose to. string them, which 
may be done, or not, as you prefer, do it as 
soon as you can. "We should not dry thus, 
preferring wire-racks for the purpose. Then 
instead of hanging them up by the side of 
the house, in the sun, or in the kitchen, 
where millions of flies will alight upon, and 
live on them for several days, put them in a 
kiln, or drying-room, with a heat of a hun- 
dred degrees of thermometer. Let the kiln 
be ventilated at the bottom and top, to pass 
off the exhaling moisture, but not enough 
to make a perceptible draft through it. 

4. When the drying heat has sufficiently 
closed the pores of the cut fruit to prevent 
the escape of its aroma, the heat may be 
modified ten or twenty degrees, and so con- 
tinue until they are sufficiently cured for 
storing away, which may be known by break- 
ing a few pieces, and the absence of any 
Settled moisture in the flesh, showing fer- 
mentation. 

5. When sufficiently cured, pack them 
ftway in small bags, or sacks, not closely 
Crowded in, but as they will naturally fill; tie 
them closely, and hang them to nails on the 
side of a dry room. They will thus keep 
indefinitely, or till you want to use them. 

A well selected apple, properly pared, cut, 
cored and cured, is one of the best luxuries 
of the table, while indifferent varieties, 
carelessly worked up, strung and dried in 
the kitchen, half covered with flies, fused 
with the steams of cookery, dust, and the 
accumulations and exhalations of an open 
and disordered living room, are not fit to eat, 
nor even to sell. We have seen apples 
dried after the latter fashion, even in the 



households of otherwise tidy people ; and to 
those who are in the habit of doing so, we 
say, try the other plan, and if they do not 
acknowledge it a better way, in every possi- 
ble use an apple can be put to, call upon us 
for the difference in expense. — American 
Agriculturist. 



From the New England Fawner. - 

How Cut Nails were Introduced. 

Mr. Editor : — In your paper of March 
12, under the head of " American Inven- 
tions," is a communication from Caleb 
Bates, Kingston, Mass., upon the invention 
of screw augers and cut nails. I have 
some facts in regard to the first invention of 
cut nails, received mainly from the Hon. 
John Folsom, formerly of Chester, once 
well known in various public offices, and as 
the keeper of a public house, which I will 
relate perhaps more in detail, and be more 
personal than will be generally interesting, 
but I think will interest many individuals. 

Mr. Folsom told that his father, David 
Folsom, was the first inventor of cut nails. 
The idea was suggested to him by seeing 
some person cutting with a pair of shears, 
some pieces off the end of an iron hoop. 
He commenced cutting nails with shears, 
and heading them in a common -vise. He 
then improved by having his cutting appa- 
ratus operated by a crank motion with a fly 
wheel, and a treadle operated by the foot. 
In heading, the vise was superseded by dies, 
a stationary one fastened to a bench, and a 
moveable one attached to a lever, and drawn 
together by the foot. When this was first 
invented, every nail was taken from the 
dies, as well as put in, with the fingers. 
They soon bored a hole through the bench, 
so that the nails could drop out by their 
own gravity. 

The introduction of the business, I think, 
was at Tamworth, N. H., or that vicin- 
ity. My informant was born in 1776, and I 
think that when he was born in 1787, his 
farther removed with his family to Harris- 
burgh, Pa., and there set up the business, 
but died in a few months, leaving another 
son, William Johnson Folsom, some four or 
five years older than John, and they carried 
on the business there until John was a.bout 
sixteen, or about 1793, when they removed 
back to Tamworth, and set up the business. 

In April, 1794, Hon. Joseph Blanchard, 
of Chester, N. H., who owned the mills at 



I 



I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



715 



what, is now Auburn village, married the 
r^dow Folsom, who was the daughter of the 
iter: William Johnson, of the West New- 
bury, Mass., and the course of a year, the 
young Folsoms removed there, and carried 
on the business and after a while, com- 
menced cutting by water, but still heading 
by hand. 

After the New Hampshire State Prison 
was established, nails were cut there and 
carried to Concord to be headed by the 
prisoners, but the self-heading machines 
having come into use, it became a losing 
business, and was given up. 15. Chase. 

Auburn A r . IL, May 3, 1859. 



How to Make Good Butter. 

A lady, experienced in making butter, 
says: 

" Before I go to milk, I put a kettle, say 
one-third full, of water, and large enough 
to let the milk-pail into it, on the stove, 
where it will get boiling hot by the time I 
come in with the milk. 1 then strain the 
milk into another vessel, and wash the pail 
(which should always be of tin,) then pour 
the milk back into the pail, and set it into 
the kettle of boiling water till the milk be- 
comes scalding hot, taking care not to let it 
boil • then pour it into crocks or pans and 
set it away into the cellar for the cream to 
rise in the usual way. Cream produced in 
this way will seldom require more than 
twenty minutes to churn, while by common 
practice the poor dairy maid may often 
churn for hours, and then perhaps have to 
throw away, as I did on two occasions, before 
I became acquainted with the Russian I 
plan, the essential features of which I have ' 
adopted in my present mode given above. I 
The method is applicable to all seasons, and 
will answer in summer as well as winter." — 
Winchester Virginian. 



From the Farmers' Journal. 

An Appeal. 
[In transferring to our oolumni the; following 
appeal of the Farmer* 1 Journal to it* "Agricul- 
tural Friende" to furnish for that paper commu- 
nications on the many interesting topics relating 
to agriculture, we would, heartly second the 

appeal, and would also improve the occasion 
by saying to tire friends of the Southern Plan- 
ter — yea, to the friends of agriculture, "go thou 
and do likewise.''] — Ed. 

TO OUR AGRICULTURAL FRIENDS. 

Will you not do us and your brother far- 
mers the favor to furnish communications 
for the columns of the Farmers' Journal 
on the many interesting topics relating to 
agriculture ? Your experience cannot fail 
to enable you to impart information of a 
valuable charaction. We shall be pleased 
to hear from you often. 



Treatment of Burns. — Flour has been 
extensively recommend for burns ; but see- 
ing it tried several times, increasing the | 
pain intolerably in every instance, I would i 
not use it, nor have it used. But a short, 
time ago, one of my family was scalded on j 
the hand quite badly; flour was first applied, \ 
but could not be borne. Next the skin of 
hog's lard was applied, which relieved the 
pain almost at once, and entirely. If the 
skin of lard cannot be had, oiled silk would 
be a good substitute. 



Selection of Seed Corn. 

As the time is approaching for the ingath- 
ering of the corn crop, we would suggest to 
every farmer who reads the Journal, the 
advantage of making a careful selection of 
seed corn in the fall, rather than postponing 
it till the spring. To make the selection to 
the best advantage we would advise, that in 
cutting the tops off the corn, to leave'the 
tops on those stalks having two or more 
good ears, and which are also the most for- 
ward. By the top the seed corn can be readily 
distinguisted, so that it can be gathered 
and put away to itself. The shuck should 
not be taken off till planting time, as it will 
afford a protection against the rats. By Con- 
tinuing this process a few years, the increase 
in the crop will be materially improved, with 
so little trouble that no practical farmer 
should fail to try it. The importance of 
good seed, of every kind, cannot well be 
over estimated ; and especially is it necessa- 
ry in our staple crops of corn and wheat. 
The subject has received the attention of 
many good farmers, but there is still room 
for greater diligence. The shortest way to 
attain the desired object will be to procure 
seed of some of the most improved varieties, 
and then to pursue the plan recommended, 
keeping it up from year to year. 

Farmers' Journal. , 



Organic Life — the same in animals as in 
plants. 



716 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[December 



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

On Breeding and Rearing Cattle. 

By Henry Tanner, Professor of Agriculture, 

Queen's College, Bermingham. 

[premium gold medal.] 

NO. III. 

( Concluded from November Number.') 

Breeding for. Dairy Slock. — This requires a 
modified course of management. It happens, 
very unfortunately, that our best milkers are 
not generally our best fattening animals. It 
does happen sometimes that both points of ex- 
cellence are combined in the same individual ; 
but these are, generally speaking, cross-bred 
animals: for instance, the half-bred Guernsey 
or Alderney heifers are often remarkable for 
this, especially when crossed with a good De- 
von or short-horn bull. It would seem as if 
in such cases the dam gave the milking dispo- 
sition, and when this is stopped, the aptitude 
of the sire for fattening made itself manifest, 
This is just what our knowledge of the prin- 
ciples of hereditary transmission would lead one 
*to expect. In the heifer the tendency to give 
milk is strong, and has been a characteristic 
feature for many generations ; it has therefore 
become powerful; whereas the influence convey- 
ed by the bull is exceedingly weak, fur his prede- 
cessors have been distinguished by little disposi- 
tion for milk : hence, the power of communicat- 
ing milking tendency being stronger on the 
side of the dam than the bull, she imparts her 
character to the offspring. The opposite is 
the case with the tendency to produce fat : 
here the bull is strong and the cow weak, con- 
sequently he is able to impart to the offspring 
an aptitude for producing fat similar to that 
which he possesses himself. 

There is no necessity why these valuable 
tendencies should not be combined in the same 
animal much more frequently than at present ; 
and I deem it so important a point, that I shall 
draw attention to the principles involved in 
the production of milk. From the analysis 
already given (page 326,) the reader will see 
that milk contains the nutritious and heat- 
giving elements of the animal's food. It is 
interesting to observe the changes Which the 
food undergoes in its transition to the body of 
the young animal, for the same elements pass 
through a series of transformations. We find 
them 

In Blood, 
as 
Fibrine and Albumen, 
Fatty Matter, 
Mineral Matter. 



In Food, 
as 
Gluten, 
feugar and Oil, 
Mineral Matter. 

In Milk, 
as 
Cheese, 
Cream, 
Saline Matter. 



In the Body, 



Muscle, 

Fat, 

Bone. 



The blood is derived from the food, and then 
transformed, either directly into the body of 
the animal, or indirectly through the interme- 
diate stage of milk. Thus the same materials 
are needed in either case. 

It might be presumed that as we know the 
elements required for milk, it is only to in- 
crease the food of the cow in either particular, 
and the effect will be evident in the production 
of milk. This, however, is not strictly true ^ 
for, although we may carry into the system an 
increased quantity of those matters which 
yield cheese or butter, yet it still depends upon 
the animal economy either to mould these ele- 
ments into the cheese and butter we wish, or 
else into flesh and fat. This is quite depend- 
ent upon the natural disposition of the ani- 
mal, and this is the keystone on which all de- 
pends. Thus, although the same food will in 
one case produce flesh and fat, whilst in an- 
other it will yield butter and cheese ; still, 
when the tendency of the animal's system is 
thus marked, we can increase the product by 
presenting in the food an additional quantity 
of the elements required. It is clear, there- 
fore, that the first point to be secured is this 
tendency in the system to co-operate with us. 
In this respect cows differ; but it is worthy 
of remark that these peculiarities are heredi- 
tary.' If, therefore, we have a well-bred cow, 
with a tendency to produce an abundance, of 
good milk, such a cow would, in all probabili- 
ty, impart to her produce a similarity of cha- 
racter. 

The points which especially indicate good 
milking character must be noticed. The most 
prominent of these are the vessels which co- 
operate in the production of milk. These con- 
sist of the vessels which bring the blood, the 
glands which separate the milk, and the veins 
which carry away the blood when thus acted 
on. Of the former, I may name those veins 
which show themselves between the bearing 
(vulva) and the udder. These are often bu- 
ried so that they cannot be seen ; and although 
on pressure immediately above the udder they 
frequently appear, yet we must not immediate- 
ly condemn the animal as a bad milker when 
they cannot be observed. Generally, if the 
skin is mellow, and not much Ait present, these 
veins show themselves readily. Their pres- 
ence is very desirable, and when combined 
with a full development upon the surface of 
the udder, they indicate a free supply of blood 
to the milk glands. It is also considered a 
good point when these veins present a knotty 
appearance. 

The milk glands are situated in the upper 
portion of the udder, and are generally four 
in number, each gland being in connection 
with its own quarter of the udder. The udder 
should be capacious, extending well behind 
the legs, and also forwards under the belly; 
the coat should be thin, with a soft skin, and 
show considerable decrease in size after the 



I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



717 



il is milked. The teats, which are the 
channels from tho four reservoirs in the udder, 
should be placed well apart from each other, 
and not cramped together, for this generally 
indicates a want of capacity in the udder. 
The udder may appear large, and yet be found 
fleshy rather than capacious. After the blood 
has been acted on by the glands, it is conveyed 
a#ay by the veins ; but none of these can be 
seen externally. The milk vein, which runs 
along the side of the belly, has been so called 
from its supposed connection with the udder ; 
but such is not the case. Especial attention 
is desirable to the mellowness of the skin, and 
more particularly if the animal is poor. This 
vein is a sure indication of the quantity of 
blood supplied, and for all practical purposes 
may be taken as a guide. 

Some attention has also been given within a 
few years to a discovery made by Mons. Gue- 
non respecting " the escutcheon," as it is term- 
ed. Like many other persons, he was carried 
beyond the boundary of discretion in his spec- 
ulations, and thus his valuable observations 
were for a time lost in the mist with which he 
enveloped them. Sufficient is already known 
of its value, at least, to lead us to the conclu- 
sion that it is worthy of more general knowl- 
edge. It can scarcely have escaped the read- 
er's notice that the hair on the buttocks of 
cattle grows in two different directions — one 
portion pointing upwards another part down- 
wards, and thus producing a sort of fringe at 
the point of juncture. This hair, which has 
an upward tendency, has been termed "the 
escutcheon." A very extended observation 
has proved that, other conditions being equal, 
the modification of form presented by the es- 
utcheon will lead to an estimation, not only of 
the quantity of milk which the animal will pro- 
duce, but also of the time during which the 
cow will keep up the svjtply of milk. Without 
o'mg much into detail upon this point I may 
briefly state,* that the larger the extent of the 
Bscutcheon the greater is the promise of milk, 
ind also of its continuance, even after the cow 
s again in calf. A cow may have a small cs- 
:utchcon and yet be a good milker ; but obser- 
vation leads to the conclusion, that if she pos- 
iessed a more fully developed escutcheon she 
would have been a better milker. It may be 
jonsidered a point of merit, not as deciding 
whether or not the cow is a good milker, but 
•ather as an additional indication, which may 
De taken into consideration in conjunction with 
)ther characteristic points. It is also desira- 
ble, in estimating the extent of the escutcheon, 
10 make full allowance for the folds in the 
skin, otherwise a large escutcheon may be 



♦Those who wish to examine this more deep 
y, may advantageously consult " Traile des Va- 
'hes, LaUieres.'' par T. Guenon ; or also, "How 
.o Choose a Good Milk Cow," by J. H. Mayne 
md John Haxtox. 



taken for a small one. Besides the escutch- 
eon, there are tufts of hair (eptf) which have 
a certain degree of value, when seen upon the 
udder of the cow. 

With this safeguard, we might anticipate 
DO difficulty in transmitting a disposition for 
producing milk, espeeialy as we know these 
characteristic features are hereditary. But we 
must remember there are hereditary influ- 
ences conveyed from the bull as well as the 
cow, and hence an opposite character is often 
given to the produce by virtue of the bull's 
character. It may cause a degree of surprise 
to some that the bull should have any influ- 
ence on th'e milking properties of his produce; 
but there is. not the slightest doubt of such 
being the case. A bull, the produce of a good 
dairy cow, would favor this character being 
shown in his offspring; and should he*be bred 
with another good milker, he would confirm 
this tendency in the young calf; whereas, if 
he was descended from a family of bad milk- 
ors, he would lessen the dam's influence in this 
respect. It is here that Monsieur Guenon's 
discovery promises to be of great service, because 
we find the escutcheons seen upon the bull 
indicate a tendency to convey to his offspring 
the same peculiarities which they represent 
when seen upon the cow. 

I have before casually remarked that our 
improvements in the breed of cattle have been 
accompanied with a decreased capability for 
breeding; and the same remark holds good as 
regards the milking tendency ; and therefore 
it is a greater stimulus for the exercise of care, 
and such attention will be ultimately reward- 
ed. There is nothing essentially contradictory 
in the endeavor to combine, in the same ani- 
mal, milking as well as fattening properties. 
Many of our dairy cows are distinguished by 
both these conditions. In our high-bred ani- 
mals we find a small liver and a small lung, 
accompanied with a gentle and peaceful dispo- 
position. Now, these conditions, which are so 
desirable for producing fat, are equally favor- 
able for yielding butter and cream. These di- 
minished organs economise the consumption 
of the carbonaceous matter in the blood, hence 
more remains ready for conversion into fat, but 
equally prepared for yielding cream if the ten- 
dency of the animal is favorable to the same. 
Having, therefore, by these means got the 
blood well charged with the materials from 
which milk and cream may be prepared, it 
only remains for the animal to secrete the milk 
freely, and the. most economical results are 
realized. , It is true, we may store the blood 
with materials ready for yielding a rich milk, 
but if the milk glands are inactive or dej\ctir>\ 
then the stream of blood passes over them, 
and yields but little of the very secretion we 
want. In many of our high-bred cows, not 
qnly are the breeding powers weak, but the 
milk glands sympathise with the general tor- 
pidity of this part of the system ; and hence, 



718 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[December 



although the blood may be charged with rnilk- 
forming matter, yet in consequence of the in- 
activity of the milk-glands, these fail fully to 
separate it ; and the result is, that materials 
which might have been separated as milk and 
cream, pass on unappropriated, and probably 
become formed into fat and muscle. 

The Breeding of Beef-producing Stock, — 
Practically this will be carried out with the 
local breed of cows ; and if these are selected 
with judgment, and judiciously crossed, useful 
stock may generally be raised. Well-selected 
dairy cows will generally, for this purpose, be 
found equal, if not superior, to cows of the 
highest breed, by giving more weight, a larger 
frame, and hardier constitution ; and, being 
good milkers, will rear their calves better. It 
is also very important, for producing well-de- 
veloped stock, to breed from cattle capable of 
yielding to their calves the full nourishment 
required. In every case the bull should be of 
very superior character, and cannot be of too 
good quality. The objection which I have 
named as regards the cows does not apply 
here. On the side of the sire, we should en- 
deavor to secure the very best qualities, whilst 
the dam should be adapted for. bringing them 
to perfection. It is a serious error to select an 
inferior bull for such a purpose, and only a 
matter of surprise that any of our class — who 
are generally such shrewd calculators of pro- 
fit — should ever be found to adopt a practice 
manifestly indiscreet. ■ 

The destination of such stock should be for 
beef, because it is in the first produce you se- 
cure the advantages of both parents, but you 
cannot, with safety, use them for breeding 
purposes, as the second cross is generally an 
animal of very inferior quality. In the first 
produce we secure the advantages without the 
disadvantages, but the second cross is very in- 
ferior. 

Throughout the entire period of growth the 
course of feeding should be liberal and gene- 
rous, calculated to promote a progressive de- 
velopment of the body from the time of birth 
until consigned to the care of the butcher. 

THE MANAGEMENT OF CATTLE WHILST BREEDING. 

Having succeeded in getting the heifers in 
calf, it becomes necessary to give them a more 
liberal course of feeding, but the change must 
be gradual. They have now not only to render 
their own bodies complete, but also to nourish 
and support another animal which is daily in- 
creasing its demands on the system. Suppos- 
ing the heifers to be running loose in the yards 
or sheds, they will now receive a few roots with 
their straw, and generally some hay. They 
must be watched to prevent any unruly or 
vicious one of the lot annoying or injuring the 
others ; and separation must be made accord- 
ingly. After they leave the yards, pasturage 
oi' medium fertility will be best for them, so as 
to allow them to live well and keep in good 



condition without being absolutely fat. In this 
manner the size of the calf at birth is very 
much held under control. If the heifers are 
fed highly, the nourishment of the blood ren- 
ders the growth of the foetus more rapid than 
is desirable, and the result will be a largely- 
grown calf, which is especially dangerous for 
heifers. It is the food which the heifer received 
during this period which determines the calf's 
size, rather than the sire, as is often supposed. 
Whilst, therefore, we guard against this dan- 
gerous error, we must not keep . the heifers 
short of food, or we shall have weakly calves 
produced. A moderate allowance of food will 
be far better than either extreme. An animal 
which is in high condition is far more liable to. 
disease after calving. Prevention however, 
being better than cure, it should be our object 
to follow the happy medium of giving them 
keep of sufficient quality to support them in! 
good condition, but not overdo it by making the; 
heifers fat. 

Injuries frequently happen during this stage 
from the animals driving each other; this willl 
arise.when one or two bad-tempered ones hap- 
pen to be amongst them. Goring with the 
horn upon the flank is a frequent cause of in-* 
jury to the calf, especially in causing the heifer 
to st.rain herself in her attempts to escape. 
Running over steep land, and jumping over 
gutters in meadows, when tormented by the 
fly, are all conducive to the same end ; it may 
be the loss of the calf, or else a disarrangement 
of the calf, which produces at the time of birth 
a false presentation. The false presentations 
are often accompanied with difficulty to the 
operator, and danger both to the dam and off- 
spring. Too much care and caution cannot be 
taken to avoid injuries such as these during 
this period, as much loss and suffering may be 
saved thereby. 

Abortion may be looked upon as one of the 
greatest difficulties of this period.* Entire 
herds of fen lose their calves from this cause; 
and it often ranges through large districts. Its 
causes are varied, and claim our attention,.,.., 
During the time animals are breeding, the of 
imagination.and senses are peculiarly suscepti 
ble of external influences. Of all the senses 

(lis 

* It is not so common as is usually imagined. > 
for cows which, have once slipped calf continu- j'l 
ng to do so afterwards. It altogether depends 
upon how it is brought about. If it arise from 
contagion from cows which have slipped thei) 
calves, the risk is no doubt great; but it is bj 
far tlie greatest risk if the cow is predisposed, oi 
weak of constitution — when the generative or 
gans are not only weak, but highly sensitive a< 
the • same time. On the other hand, when i 
arises from accident — such as jumping, being 
;ored. surfeit or indigestion, a chill, or wate: 
ifter being heated — there is little fear of appre 
bending abortion, if ordinary precaution is exer 
cised.— J. D. 






er 3 



I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



719 



probably that of smell is most energetic; and 
thus we find effluvia, which at ^her times is 
disregarded, is now peculiarly offensive. In 
consequence of this, we frequently find that 
after heifers have been kept in situations ren- 
dered disagreeable to them by such a cause, 
the system becomes so excited as to produce an 
abortion bf the calf. Some smells are much 
more exciting than others, and more prompt in 
their influence — such, for instance, as the smell 
arising from a newly-born calf or a foetus. I 
have known a heifer throw her calf (and the 
foetus not being found, for the tract of ground 
was large,) and it so affected the remaining 
fifteen, that within three or four days all had 
suffered abortion. An accident which causes 
a single cow to throw her calf may thus be the 
occasion of spreading it amongst a large num- 
ber of its companions, in every other respect 
free from such attack previously. 

It is also more frequent in some seasons than 
others, and certain districts are also peculiarly 
liable to its appearance. In a moist climate — 
such as that of the west side of England, and 
especially the south-western portion — cases are 
much more common than in the drier districts 
of the east of England. No doubt this is ex- 
cited and produced by the fungi which are 
found on our grasses, appear to posses a power 
somewhat similar to, but milder than, the ergot 
of rye. I had on one occasion no less than 
twenty dairy cows and fifteen heifers under my 
care, and of these no less than thirty had pre- 
viously slipped their calves during that season. 
The course I adopted was to stop breeding for 
twelve months, and in the mean time dispose 
of all that had slipped calf. I also had the 
buildings whitewashed, and other disinfectants 
were used. During the twelve months the 
ground was kept as clear as possible of any 
but feeding bullocks. At the end of this 
period I was able to recommence breeding 
with safety and success ; but when it become 
so general, no other course appeared to be of 
any avail. It is by prompt attention to the 
first appearance that we have the best chance 
of success. 

If an animal has slipped her calf she should 
be kept as if suffering from a contagious 
disease. Let all breeding stock be kept away 
from the field or shed in which it may have 
happened for a few weeks. If this cannot be 
done, and the building must be used, let quick- 
lime and some chloride of lime be used freely 
before the stock are allowed there. The animal 
will, of course, have been removed to a place 
by herself for further treatment. This will 
consist in washing the hinder parts with a 
weak solution of chloride of lime, and giving 
her £ lb. or £ lb. of Epsom salts, and a h 
drachm of powdered ginger. She should be 
fattened and disposed of forthwith, as she is 
lmost certain to slip her calf again. I believe 
this is a source of great trouble, which breed- 
ers often bring on themselves. A very choice 



heifer slips her calf from some accident, and 
she is retained to have one more trial, and, un- 
fortunately, gives proof of the truth of the 
maxim, "one infecfed sheep will taint a 
flock." I know it is very uncongenial to our 
feelings to part with the favourites of our 
herds, but judgment must govern our feelings, 
if mischief is to be prevented. This is a 
disease in which half measures are perfectly 
useless ; the course of procedure here requires 
resolution aud vigorous execution of the same. 

Earl Spencer has published * a number of 
most interesting observations with respect to 
the probability of cows holding in calf for cer- 
tain periods of time, and also of their produc- 
ing live calves. His Lordship was thus able 
to calculate the probable number of live calves 
he might expect within certain periods. 

We may now assume that the heifer has 
been brought towards the period of her calv- 
ing, which generally happens from about 280 
to 285 days from the time of conception. Lord 
Spencer has also aided us with a very extended 
series of observations, showing the influence 
which the sex of the calf has upon the time 
the cow goes in calf. Lord Spencer adds, that 
no live calf was born earlier than 220 days, 
nor later than 313; nor was he able to rear 
any calf born less than 242 days. He consid- 
ers any calf born earlier than 260 days decided- 
ly premature, and any date longer than 300 
days must also be considered very irregular. 
From 280 to 285 days is the more general 
time, at which age the sex of the calf does not 
appear to vary much. Those calves which 
were born within the preceding five days were 
principally heifer calves, in the proportion of 
3 to 2 ; whereas those which were delayed for 
the same time were principally bull calves, in 
the same proportion of 3 to 2 ; and as the delay 
increases the proportion of bull calves increases, 
except when we come to those extreme instances 
of delayed parturition-, when the calves appear 
to be all fern ale. f 

When the period approaches for calving, the 
heifer should be prepared for it by keeping the 
bowels in healthy action and the blood cool. 
With this view each heifer should have 12 
ounces of Epsom salts, I drachm ginger, and 
£ drachm of carraway seeds in the preceding 
week, and repeated if not found effectual in 
relieving the bowels. X With this preparation 

* Journal of the R. A. S., vol. ii. 

f The age of bulls influences in a very con- 
siderable degree the sex of cattle. Old bulls 
get heifer calves in the proportion to 3 to 2, and 
young bulls vice versa. — J. I). 

X Bran-mashes, with a very short allowance of 
fodder, is the best preparation before calving. 
If anything else is required, 1 to 1$ lb. of molas- 
ses diluted in water may be given once a-day. 
If a cow has had a bad time, then 1 lb. of Ep- 
som salts, along with 1 lb. of molasses, and { oz. 
of ground ginger. — J. D. 



'20 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



[December 



we may await the time of calving. The de- 
pression on either side of the rump-bone, to- 
gether with the appearance of waxy matter on 
the teats, are symptoms of approaching calving. 
Having provided the heifer with a convenient 
loose-box, she should be left to herself. "When 
the labour-pains have been on her for half an 
hour, the man usually attending her may 
quietly examine the progress, and continue to 
do so every half hour subsequently, avoiding 
as much as possible causing any disturbance 
to the animal. As soon as the calf is making 
progress towards delivery, let him carefully 
try if the calf is in a right position ; that is, 
with its two fore-legs protruding, and the 
muzzle of the nose resting upon them. 

Having satisfied himself that all is right, let 
him give the heifer plenty of time for making 
a passage for the calf. It should be remem- 
bered that the bones of the pelvis have to yield 
for the passage of the calf, and it is much 
safer to allow Nature time 'for effecting this 
herself, and in her own superior manner, 
rather than endeavour, by applying force to 
the calf, to make a passage by other aid. 
Much mischief arises by persons being in too 
much hurry about these matters. The great 
point is to be assured that the calf is in its 
right position, and then give the heifer every 
opportunity of aiding herself. When the fore- 
feet show themselves assistance may be given, 
but even then not with that violence which is 
so often used. Excessive strength is quite 
needless, and is productive of much injury. A 
firm and steady pull at the fore-legs simply to 
prevent any return of the calf when the pains 
cease, and also to aid the calf forward when 
the pains return, will be of great service to the 
heifer, whilst an over-eager application of 
strength, often almost enough to carry the 
heifer aw\ay, is worse than useless. 

In cases of false presentation much suffering 
and loss will be saved by calling in a veterina- 
ry surgeon. I should prolong this report be- 
yond its proper limits if I were to go into this 
branch of the subject. 

As soon as the calf is born, see that it can per- 
form that new function of life — breathing. Up 
to this time this has not taken place, but now 
it has lost the warmth of the mother's body, it 
requires another supply of heat, and this is 
produced by the process of respiration. Any 
film over the nostrils should be removed ; and 
if the calf cannot draw breath, it should be 
done artificially by blowing down the throat, 
and the lungs, having once expanded, will 
probably continue to act. If the birth of the 
calf has been tedious, it may be much ex- 
hausted. In such cases, a little gin and pep- 
permint may be given in some gruel, but if it 
can be avoided with safety to the calf, it is 
preferable to do so. The calf should now be 
drawn to the heifer's head, and she will amuse 
herself by cleaning it. Shortly after, some 
warm gruel should be given to the heifer, and 



followed by a bran-mash ; but if she appears 
much exhau^ed, the gruel should be given 
quickly. In cases of protracted labour, thrist 
should never be allowed^to continue, but occa- 
sional draughts of warm and thin gruel may be 
advantageously given. 

Having traced the proper management of 
cattle from the period of birth until they have 
produced a successor capable of following a^ 
similar course, I shall proceed to notice — 

THE MANAGEMENT OF COWS AFTER BREEDING. 

After the delivery of the young calf, our 
management of the dam must be of a preven- 
tive rather than a curative character. The 
cow, having bee*n refreshed by the bran-mash 
and gruel given, may be safely left for a time 
quiet and undisturbed. In the course of two 
or three hours she should be drenched with 12 
ounces or a pound of Epsom salts, mixed with 
1 drachm powdered ginger, and 1 drachm car- 
raway seeds. If she has had an unusally bad 
time, it will be desirable to give it rather soon- 
er, and combine with it one of the following 
fever powders, consisting of — nitre, 2 drachms; 
digitalis, J drachm; tartarised antimony, J 
drachm. These are calculated to check any 
tendency to fever in the system ; for it must 
be remembered that the heifer has undergone 
a very severe strain upon the system, and the 
appearance of inflammatory action is therefore 
to be guarded against. ' The fever powder 
should only be added after cases of difficulty, 
in which the animal may have suffered badly ; 
for, in ordinary cases, the former drench will 
generally be found sufficient. 

The after-birth (or placenta) will probably 
be thrown off within twenty-four hours, but it 
may remain several days. The appearance is 
the greatest annoyance, for it does not seem to 
inconvenience the animal. It is better to avoid 
the removal of it by hand, although this must 
be done if it appears to cause irritation and 
inflammation. A small weight is often tied to 
the after-birth, if it is not thrown off in proper 
time, and this gentle pressure tends to its re- 
moval. Many are in the habit of giving irri- 
tating and exciting cleansing drenches, which 
are productive of much harm. If anything 
is given, probably a pint of good ale in some 
gruel is as good as anything. The object 
should rather be to prevent all further excite- 
ment, and to quiet the system as much as pos- 
sible. 

The drop, after calving, is one of the earliest 
and most serious attacks to which the cow is 
subject. Here, however, is a case for the at- 
tentive care of a veterinary surgeon, and no 
time should be lost in securing the same. 

Attention should also be given to the state 
of the udder and the flow of milk. In some 
cases the udder feels hard and lumpy. This 
requires gentle friction, with some softening 
ointment, such as elder-flower ointment. If 
this friction be repeated two or three times a 



I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



721 



te ^lfav . and the calf allowed |o suck immediately 
ITfter, it will probably become tuple in u short 
time. Many persons allow the calf to run 
loose, ami suck the cow at liberty, and in 
slight eases this generally answers. The 
udder must still be watched, and if not re- 
lieved by this plan, it should be rubbed by the 
hand as before directed. Warm fomenta- 
tions are useful, but unless care is taken there 
is some danger of catching a cold afterwards, 
thus only increasing the original evil. These 
warm fomentations should always be followed 
by the use of some lard or elder ointment, 
which lessens the risk of inflammation. Any 
sudden loss of the milk, or any great decrease 
in its quantity, must be carefully attended to, 
for there is always risk to the animal. Cloths 
soaked in warm water must be applied to the 
udder, and one of the fever powders (So. Plan , 
p. 654$ give* to the cow, together with n dose of 
Ef.s.-ni salts. The return of the milk will be the 
^r*t sign of improvement, and this should be 
drawn off as fast as it conies into the udder. 
The drench recommended above may be gener- 
ally given to cows when the milk lessens, be- 
cause this almost always arises from inflam- 
matory action in the system. 

Soreness of the teats is often observed in 
cows, and if neglected has a tendency to injure 
the temper, for the painful handling is almost 
sure to make them kick ; and if the cause is 
not remedied, they become bad-tempered and 
permanent kickers. Any soreness should have 
immediate attention, and the following oint- 
ment is very purifying and healing. It should 
be applied to the teats after the cow has been 
milked, and the part washed before the next 
milking:— Melt together G ounces of lard, and 
2 ounces of beeswax, and 3 ounces of olive- 
oil ; and, as they cool, rub in 2 ounces of 
fmgar-of-lead, and 2 drachms of allum. These 
substances should be finely powdered, and 
well mixed together before adding to the 
melted lard. 

The early precautionary measures having 
been taken for the preservation of the cow's 
health, we may presume that she is progress- 
ing favourably, and rearing her calf. After a 
few weeks she will again come into season, 
and be ready for taking the bull. This time, 
however, we shall be comparatively free from 
those difficulties which attended us at this 
stage previously; for, having once produced a 
calf, the animal becomes more adapted for 
doiug so again. Should any difficulty arise in 
this respect, we cannot adopt. the usual reme- 
dies as freely as before; for now we must re- 
member that we are dealing with an animal/jro- 
ducing milk, upon which the calf is dependent. 
Besides this, any imprudent step which checks 
the milk js always felt by the animal when the 
same period returns, therefore the loss of the 
cow's milk would depreciate her subsequent 
value. But the greatest danger from the loss 
of milk is upon the animal herself; for if the 
46 



milk-glands cease to act, the effect on the 
system is most dangerous. I should, in any 
MM6 of difficulty, adopt the plan of using the 
bull twice, as beforo recommended, in prefer- 
ence to any other plan* and this will be found 
almost always to overcome the difliculty, 
especially if she is put to the bull when first 
she appears ready. 

When the cow is far advanced in calf, it is 
necessary to stop milking her, in order that 
the entire nourishment of the system may be 
shared between the growth of the calf and in 
giving fresh vigour and strength to the dam. 
It is usual to give two months' rest, but with 
high-bred stock, which do not nourish their 
calves very well, three months is decidedly 
better. We thus divert the nourishment which 
would be drawn away as milk, and the result 
is a great improvement in the calf, the cow is 
prepared for the delivery of her calf, and the 
subsequent flow of milk is improved. In the 
later months the calf requires a very con- 
siderable amount of nourishment, and, when 
a well-developed animal is sought for, we 
should encourage its formation by drying up 
the milk. 

It now remains for me to notice the mode of 
feeding, and system of management, to be 
adopted whilst producing milk. I shall pre- 
sume that the calf is born in one of the early 
months of the year, and from this period the 
cow will be kept in a comfortable building 
until the grass is ready in the spring. Moder- 
ate exercise is desirable, if it can be given; 
still shelter is even more important; but their 
combined influence is best. Many have not 
the opportunity of giving exercise under 
shelter, and frequently cows are put out into 
an adjoining field for an hour or two during 
the day ; and instead of their taking exercise? 
they stand and call for their release from the 
cold. When thus turned out from warm and 
ill-ventilated cow-houses, as is too frequently 
the case, they suffer much more than when 
kept in healthy and moderately-sheltered boxes 
or stalls. 

It should be remembered, that whilst too 
much warmth weakens the animal, and ren- 
ders it more subject to disease, the opposite 
extreme of cold draws upon the food for sup- 
plying additional heat to the body, and conse- 
quently less remains to yield cream. It is, 
therefore, economical to shelter a milking ani- 
mal from the cold ; but at the same time we 
must not economise heat to the prejudice of 
the health and comfort of the animal. We 
may take it as a rule that, so far as we can 
promote the health and comfort of the animal, 
so far shall we succeed in rendering the cow 
more competent for the support and develop- 
ment of her calf. 

The food of the cow during this period 
claims our notice ; for we can exercise great 
control over the milk by regulating the food 
from which it is produced. Succulent food, 






722 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[December 



such as mangold-wurzel, and brewers' grains, 
*fec, always produces a large quantity of milk ; 
but it is not quantity alone which is important 
to the calf. The quality is the chief point for 
this use; and here we find good hay and lin- 
seed-cake showing themselves in a very marked 
manner, and producing a much larger pro- 
duce of cream. If, however, the requirements 
of the dairy render the production of cheese 
desirable, we have to look at the quantity of 
curd produced ; and here we shall find the im- 
portance of exercise, and such food as clover, 
bay, or vetches. If, in such a case, artificial 
food is given, bean or pea meal would be the 
best for producing quantity of cheese, but the 
addition of linseed-cake to the food would very 
much improve the quality of the cheese. 
Here, as in many other instances, the object 
in view must determine our course of manage- 
ment, for the food must contain the materials 
we want, — whether it is water to give quantity, 
or rich oily matter to produce cream, or highly 
nutritive matter to yield cheese, — for they can- 
not substitute each other in their modes of 
operation or uses. 

It is also worth} T of comment that, whilst 
exercise has a tendency to increase the quantity 
of cheese, it deteriorates from its richness. 
Hence we find our richest cheeses are made 
from strong and fertile land, where the cows 
take only a moderate degree of exercise, whilst 
those hilly farms, which render more active 
search for food necessary, give proportionately 
more cheese, but it is of inferior quality. Ex- 
ercise cannot fail to use up, by respiration, a 
certain quantity of carbonaceous matter, which 
would otherwise be appropriated to the milk ; 
and it is simply a question of the supply of 
oily matter being decreased on poorer land, by 
being used for another function of the body 
which exercises a prior claim. This would 
Iread one to anticipate that, for the production 
of cream, our stall-fed cows would be superior 
to others, whilst, for a, cheese dairy, a greater 
amount of exercise is desirable, and the 
practice of our dairy district strongly con- 
firms such an inference. 

I have thus endeavoured to bring before the 
reader the leading points connected with the 
breeding of cattle. I have traced the calf 
through its successive stages of growth until 
it has produced a successor capable of again 
performing the same circle- I have noticed 
the management most desirable for these 
several periods, and the principles upon which 
such practice is based, together with the dis- 
eases to which each age is peculiarly liable. 
There is no branch of rural economy of greater 
importance to the interests of agriculturists. 
It is a subject which demands our careful at- 
tention, and it will reward our zealous endea- 
vours to make the functions of animal life sub- 
servient to our requirements. 



Hear counsel, and receive instruction. 



Curing Beef and Pork. 

This recipe which originated with us, 
and has now had many years of trial, we 
believe to be unsurpassed as a -pickle. — 
Nearly all the modern recipes which have 
appeared in the different agricultural papers, 
partake, in some instances almost identical- 
ly, of the ingredients and proportions set 
forth in ours, which we first laid before our 
readers some fifteen or eighteen years ago. 
At this period in the season, when farmers 
and others will soon be putting down their 
winter's, and we may add their next year's 
supply of meat, it may be of service to re- 
publish the recipe, which is as follows : — To 
one gallon of water, take one pound and a 
half of salt, half a pound of brown sugar, 
half an ounce of saltpetre, and half an 
ounce of potash. In this ratio, the pickle* 
to be increased to any quantity desired. 
Let these be boiled together until all the 
dirt from the salt and sugar (which -will be 
not a little) rises to the top, and is all 
skimmed off. Then throw the pickle into a 
large tub to cool, and when cold, pour it 
over your beef or pork, to remain the usual 
time, say from four to six weeks, according 
to the size of the pieces, and the kind of 
meat. The meat must be well covered with 
the pickle, and it should not be put down 
for at least two days after killing, during 
which time it should be slightly sprinkled 
with powdered saltpetre. Several of our 
friends have omitted the boiling of the 
pickle, and found it to answer equally as 
well. It will not, however answer quite so 
well. By boiling the pickle, it is purified 
— for the amount of dirt which is thrown 
off by the operation from the salt and 
sugar, would surprise one not acquainted 
with the fact. — 'Telegraph. 



Victoria Cake. — One and a half pounds 
sugar; one and a half of butter; one dozen 
eggs to one pound of flour; one cupful of 
cream; one tea-spoonful of saleratus; flavor 
with rose water or nutmeg. 

Indian Meal Puffs. — Into one quart 
of boiling milk, stir eight table-spoonfuls of 
meal and four spoonfuls of sugar; boil five 
minutes, stirring constantly ; when cool, add 
six well-beaten eggs; bake in buttered cups 
half an hour; try them with a little butter 
and maple molasses, and see if they are not 
good. 






I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



72:5 



From (he Putglmrgh Evening Cronicle. 

A Visit to Knox's " Small Fruit" Farm- 
One Hundred Acres in Fruit— Fifty 
Acres in Strawberries. 

Having long heard of and desired to see 
the " small fruit" farm- of Rev. J. Knox, 
we took advantage the other day of a 
leisure afternoon to pay it a visit. We 
were so much pleased and astonished at 
what we saw that we feel prompted to give 
our readers a somewhat extended descrip- 
tion of it. This extensive and highly cul- 
tivated farm is a credit to Pittsburgh, and 
Mr. Knox deserves most honorable mention 
for the enterprise and preseverance which 
has induced him to increase year by year 
his plantations of " small fruits," until now 
they are, beyond any peradventure, not only 
the largest and most complete of any in the 
west, but of any in the United States. If, 
as has been well said, that man should be 
esteemed a public benefactor who causes 
two blades of grass to grow where but one 
grew before, how much more he who de- 
votes his whole time and means to the cul- 
ture, improvement and multiplication of va-j 
rious kinds of the most delicious fruit; who 
supplies not only our own but far distant 
and diverse markets with such abundance 
and superior qualities of berries as but a 
few years ago would have been considered 
unattainable. Nothing in the art of horti- 
culture, arbiculture, or floriculture is, to our 
minds, more instructive or interesting than 
to witness the almost endless varieties which 
have, by progressive and experimental cul- 
ture, been produced from one parent stock. 
For example, the wonderful varieties of 
multiform and varicolored roses, which are 
now catalogued by the florist or nurseryman, 1 
are but the result of science and culture' 
applied to the improvement of the common 
wild rose of our forests. So the almost innu- : 
merable varieties of apples, peaches, plums, j 
grapes, strawberries, and more lately of 
blackberries, can all be clearly and uncrr-: 
ingly traced back to a few common and in- 
ferior species. A very lew years only have' 
elapsed since any especial attention has 
been devoted to the last four varieties of 
fruit above mentioned, or what are now 
best known as " Small Fruits," and yet now 
we have almost innumerable and ever in- 



epdlesfl profusion of most luscious and deli- 
oiottS fruit. The latest products of these 
berries are as far superior in size, flavor, 
productiveness, and profitableness to those 
brought to our markets but a few years 
since, as the splendid Tube, or Monthly 
roses, are to their original — tin; modest and 
humble native of the forest, for as the 
Golden Gate and Newtown Pipin are to 
the sour and forbidding Crab, which con- 
tracts the mouth like a persimmon. "We 
have little doubt, too, that we have only 
seen the beginning of fruit culture, and 
that those which are now considered the 
best and most delicious kinds of fruits will 
be discarded for such as have been pro- 
duced far better and much more delicious. 
But we wander. 

A GENERAL DESCRIPTION" OF THE FARM. 



creasing varieties of them, contributing to 
the health and comfort of man, ministering 
to his tastes, and supplying him with au 



The " small fruit" farm of Rev. J. Knox 
is situated on the summit, but somewhat 
back from the brow of Coal Hill, nearly 
| above Burmingham, and about a mile and a 
j half distant from the city. The farm com- 
prises one hundred and twenty-five acres, 
fully one hundred of which is in close and 
unintermittent cultivation ; the rest is occu- 
pied by vegetable gardens, dwellings, out- 
houses, woods, &c, &c. The mansion, which 
is disposed nearly in the centre of the ground, 
is a plain, but roomy and comfortable struc- 
ture, of two stories, and surrounded by a 
broad porch. It looks very much like one 
of those commodious planter's houses, which 
are so often met with in the cotton states. 
This farm of one hundred acres is quite 
equivalent — so carefully is the mode of cul- 
ture and such the economy of space and 
growths — to a farm double the size. As an 
instance of how economy of space and time 
is regarded, we saw in one division a thrifty- 
young peach orchard, of some ten acres 
extent, the trees of which were not ex- 
pected to produce for four years. To turn 
this soil and time to profi: until the trees 
commenced to yield their golden fruitage, 
Mr Knox had planted out between each 
row of trees, a line of BUck Cap raspber- 
ries, which would be profitable for fruit and 
plants for four years, and between each row 
of trees at right angles to the other rows, a 
line of strawberries, from which he ex- 
pected three crops of fruit and plants, so 
that when the trees commenced bearing and 
needed all the soils nourishment, the '-small 



724 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[December 



fruit" plantations would have served their 
ends, and would be ready for rooting up. 

The entire farm is divided about thus — 
fifty acres in strawberries, ten in raspber- 
ries, ten in blackberries, seventeen in 
peaches, ten in apples, and three in very 
select varieties of the grape, chiefly the 
Concord, Delaware and Diana, raised for 
fruit, tor wine making, and for sale of cut- 
tings. We need not dwell on the apple or 
peach orchards — although Mr. Knox is one 
of the best and most successful pomologists, 
and has as choice a selection as any in the 
country — nor on the graperies, or their 
peculiar mode of culture ; nor on the large 
and highly profitable patches of choice cur- 
rent, goosberry, and giant rhubarb, Culti- 
vated fur the market and for wine making. 
These, while they engage close attention 
and most approved culture, are not Mr. 
Knox's specialities; but let us rather regard 
and describe the Strawberry, Raspberry and 
Blackberry divisions of the grounds. We 
should first promise, however, that Mr. 
Knox's business is two-fold — to cultivate 
these berries ior market, and to propagate 
plants for sale. In both of these branches 
he has been already highly successful. His 
plants of every variety of these three ber- 
ries have been transmitted, carefully packed, 
to every State South and West of us, while 
his berries have found a ready market, and 
at the highest prices, not only at home but 
abroad. 

MR. KNOX'S PECULIAR MODE OF CULTURE. 

It may not be, though it should be, 
known to all our readers that Pittsburgh 
has the reputation of producing the largest, 
if not the most delicious and finest-flavored 
strawberries in the United States, and fre- 
quently has Mr. Knox sold to an admiring 
New Yorker, or Philadelphian, visiting our 
markets, a quart box of his strawberries for 
a dollar per box, to be sent on East as sam- 
ples of remarkable size and superior excel- 
lence. This superiority in our berries is 
greatly owing, at least with Mr. Knox, to 
his peculiar and unusually careful and ex- 
pensive mode of culture. Where large 
tracts of berries are grown, the plants, or 
bushes are usually allowed to run together 
and closely occupy the whole field — not so 
at this farm. They are all set in perfectly 
straight and equidistant rows. The ground 
is frequently and abundantly enriched after 
the most approved treatment. The soil is 



often, and very thoroughly stirred by suita- 
ble cultivators, by the hoe, and otherwise, 
and then gone over at regular intervals and 
throughout the year, by hand. Every weed 
is rooted out, every plant examined, and 
every thing removed which might prove 
noxious, or added which might prove bene- 
ficial to the plants health, thriftiness and 
productiveness. This very labouous and 
expensive culture would be considered by 
most fruitists ridiculus and unprofitable, but. 
Mr. Knox thinks — nay, he knows, that it 
pays, and that very largely. The more he 
has tried and experienced their benefits, 
the more does he resolve to continue his 
care and minute labors. For this elaborate 
culture and manipulation a very large force 
is requisite, and in spring time, when the 
plants are putting forth their green leav >.s, 
and when every attention tells directly on 
the fruit, over one hundred persons are em- 
ployed on the grounds at one time. But let 
us proceed at once to the 

STRAWBERRY PLANTATION?, 

comprising fully fifty acres, forty of which 
w T ere planted out this Spring. They are 
divided into specimen, fruiting and propaga- 
ting beds. In the specimen bed there is 
grown a single row of all the best reputed 
stock varieties of strawberries known — over 
a hundred — and each kept perfectly distinct 
by the constant removal of runners. Such 
a bed is of manifest advantage in affording 
visitors opportunity to examine and com- 
pare in close proximity the plants and fruit 
of a large collection. The propagation 
beds for the production of new plants by their 
parent plants being allowed to make run- 
ners and strike out roots. The different 
varieties are grown so remote from each 
other, and are numbered and registered 
with such care, as to preclude all possibility 
of any admixture of sorts. The fruit beds 
are, as mentioned above planted and culti- 
vated in rows, no runner being allowed to 
extend or root itself. This is garden cul- 
ture introduced into the field. So far as 
we know, Mr. Knox is the only person in 
the country who has adopted this expensive 
and elaborate mode of culture on a large 
scale, and his conclusion is that it will pay 
better than any other treatment; that one 
acre thus cultivated will produce more than 
Jive treated in the ordinary way, and that 
all judicious labor spent on the strawberry 
will pay at least one hundred per cent. 



I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



725 



Mr. Knox has in cultivation over one hun- 
dred varieties, some of which are but of 
little comparative value for their fruit, but 
which, in a general collection, are very im- 
portant, as allowing persons interested to 
form a correct judgment with reference to 
them, as well as to compare them with 
others of better repute. Hence, old and 
new, native and foreign, rejected and ac- 
cepted varieties have been procured, but 
many of them are only kept in the specimen 
bed. 

THE VARIOUS KINDS OF STRAWBERRIES. 

The fruit plantations aire composed chief- 
ly, at present, of the following popular 
varieties — British Queen, Buist's prize, Bos- 
ton Pine, Brighton Pine, Baltimore Scarlet, 
Burrs New Pine, Compte de Flanders, 
Hovey's Seedling, Hooker, Honneur de 
Belique, Jenny Lind, Kitly's Goliath, Large 
Early Scarlet, Longworth's Prolific, Mc- 
Avoy's Superior, Moyamensing, Nimrod, 
Peabody's Seedling, Princess Royal, Scarlet 
Magnate, Scott's Seedling, Triomphe de 
Gand, Trollope's Victoria, Vicomptesse Her- 
ricart de Theury, and Wilson's Albany. 
There are about twenty-five varieties, which, 
for fruit, Mr. Knox says he could not get 
along without, although from three to six 
kinds will furnish sufficient variety for such 
as cultivate for family use. He regards the 
Wilson's Albany as a very valuable and 
profitable variety, and has shown his faith 
in it by planting full fifteen acres of it this 
spring. In addition to its many other ex- 
cellences, it has proved a superior berry for 
cauning, or preserving, and was this season 
in great demand for these purposes. Its 
weight, size, solidity, flavor and color render 
it popular for this use. It is, moreover, 
eminently productive, and highly profita- 
ble as market fruit. Mr. Knox is also 
very partial to Trollope's Victoria, an excel- 
lent variety of very large size, and delicious 
flavor, and which continues in bearing a 
long time. He has raised specimens of 
fruit this season, without any extra atten- 
tion, measuring from If to 2 J inches in 
diameter. 

THE TRIOMPHE DE GAND STRAWBERRY. 

But after a trial of three years, Mr. 
Knox places at the head of the list of 
strawberries, the Triomphe de Gand. But 
little has yet been said about this variety, 
and it has not been generally cultivated, but 



as soon as well-known, it will be the most 
popular strawberry in the country. There 
is no known excellence which it does not pos- 
sess. The plants are thrifty, hardy, and 
vigorous growers, bearing their fruit well 
up, which renders it easy to be kept clean. 
They arc also wonderfully productive, and 
the fruit is not only usually of very large 
size but uniformly so, and throughout the 
season, which is longer with it than with 
most other varieties. The flavor is every- 
thing which could be desired. It is of a 
very beautiful crimson color, glossy and 
altogether lovely. It keeps well after being 
picked, retaining its beautiful color and 
firmness, and carries better than any other 
variety. Mr. Knox planted of this variety, 
last spring, four acres fruiting, but was so 
well pleased with the season's crop that he 
concluded to devote] all of these to propaga- 
tion, and will have millions of plants for 
sale the coming spring. Fruit of this varie- 
ty, and Trollope's Victoria, was bought at 
Mr. Knox's Market street stand this season 
at from 50 cents to $1 per quart, and was 
sent to Cincinnati, Philadelphia, and New 
York. Besides the Jdnds above mentioned, 
there is a number of foreign varieties under 
cultivation that promise well. Some of 
them bore fruit this season of remarkable 
size and beauty ; but Mr. Knox wishes to 
test them another season before expressing 
an opinion as to their value. 



THE RASPBERRY DEPARTMENT 



Is as yet somewhat small when compared 
with his strawberry patch, but very large 
when considered by itself. He has ten 
acres, very densely planted with over twenty 
varieties. The Fastolff, Bed Antwerp, and 
Hudson River A n twerp, do exceedingly well 
with him, but his three favorite varieties 
are Brinkle's Orange, Franconia, and Im- 
proved American Black Cap. Brinkle's 
Orange, Mr. Knox considers the finest 
flavored raspberry in the world — of large 
size, beautiful color, unvarying productivess, 
and delicious flavor. The Franconia berry 
is not so highly flavored, but is very large. 
Its size and color render it attractive, and 
ever procure for it a ready market. It is 
enormously productive, and continues a long 
time in bearing. The Improved American 
Black Cap is much superior to the common 
Black Cap. The fruit is sweet dnd juicy, 
and very large — sometimes measuring three 
quarters of an inch in diameter. Many 



'26 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



[December 



persons prefer this to all other varieties. 
One advantage it possesses over all others is 
its hardiness, it never requiring any winter 
protection. Mr. K. was so much pleased 
with this variety, and the'fruit was found to 
be so popular in market this season, that he 
is producing, as rapidly as ; possible, new 
plants for sale, and will have a very large 
supply for his customers this Autumn. 

THE NEW ROCHELLE BLACKBERRY. 

The Blackberry patches will immediatly 
attract the attention, and will command the 
marked admiration of every visitor to Mr. 
Knox's farm. The blackberry is a fruit 
which has been in culture but a very few 
years, but so many and so excellent have 
been the varieties already produced, and so 
enormous and profitable has proved their 
yied that it is destined to become a o-reat 
and indispensable favorite with both the 
amateur and the professional fruitis.t. Mr. 
K. has about ten acres of them in cultiva- 
tion, but is rapidly increasing his planta- 
tions. The three chief varieties are the 
Lawton, or New Rochelle, the Dorchester 
and the Thornless, but he esteems the 
Rochelle the best; in fact it is, as it well 
deserves to be, his pet of all the berries. 
Mr. K. was the first to introduce it into this 
market, and after overcoming many obsta- 
cles and encountering and conquering many 
prejudices, he is now highly successful with it, 
not only sending enormous quantities of the 
berry to market, where it always commands 
from twenty to fifty cents per quart, but 
distributing throughout the West and South 
prodigious numbers of the plants, carefully 
packed in tidy bundles, and imbedded in 
soft moss. He has now cultivated it for 
five years, and was highly pleased with it 
from the time it commenced to bear, but he 
thinks far more highly of it now than ever, 
and it is likely to prove by far the most 
profitable department of his farm. It is 
in the most lively demand, not only for the 
fruit to eat, but for making into jams, jellies 
and wine, for which purpose there are none 
of its species can begin to compare with it. 

For propagating new plants it is highly 
profitable, as it spreads with amazing rapid- 
ity, and requires but little or no care, and 
plants are in demand at high prices. For 
wine purposes it has been found by actual 
experiment to be nfore profitable than to sell 
it as edible fruit at twenty-five cents per 
quart. Eight gallons of berries will easily 



produce five gallons of rich juice, which 
will work well and make most delicious 
wine. This berry can be devoted to so 
many profitable purposes, that it will be 
found difficult to overstock the market for 
many years to come. Its medicinal quali- 
ties are by no means its least recommenda- 
tion. During the hot season no fruit is so 
grateful to the taste, or so beneficial in its 
influences. 

In a word, it may be called the Queen of 
Berries, and Mr. Knox deserves the high- 
est credit for his enterprise in introducing 
this super-excellent fruit to our market, as 
well as doing all he possibly can to extend 
the culture of the berry throughput the 
west. It has been pronounced by many 
who have committed serious blunders in 
planting, or who have tasted the fruit when 
not fully ripe, to be somewhat of a humbug, 
but we have the very best evidence and the 
most reliable authorities for saying that 
when perfectly ripe it is a paragon of excel- 
lence — of the most exquisite flavor, and not 
equalled by any berry yet grown, in beauty, 
size and enormous productiveness. It is by 
no means fully ripe when quite black. After 
becoming black it tastes quite tart and com- 
paratively juiceless and flavorless, but if 
allowed to remain until just as it were melt- 
ing away from the stem, it has then ac- 
quired all its richest and most savory juices, 
has an incomparable favor, and is of most 
delicious lusciousness. 

PRESENT APPEARANCE OE THE RO- 
CHELLES. 

Mr. Knox's new Rochelle plantations are 
now in high season. The berries are either 
fully ripe or rapidly ripening, and present a 
sight worth going a great way to behold. 
We stood in the midst of a patch, and on 
all sides of us stood thrifty and vigorous 
bushes laden down to the very earth, and 
lying along upon the ground with large clus- 
ters of most beautiful and most appetizing 
fruit. Some of the bushes we saw must 
each of them have had from two to three 
dollars worth of ripe, or ripening berries 
upon them. We had only to take our posi- 
tion anywhere, stretch forth our hands, and 
pluck our fill of such beautifully large, and 
deliciously melting berries as we have never 
seen equalled and never expect to see ex- 
celled. It makes the mouth water even to 
write of them. Large as these berries are 
they contain scarcely any seed, but just 



I 



I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



melt away in the mouth like snow-flakes. 
No, the Rochelle Blackberry is no humbug, 
a fact most abundantly proved by those who 
have grown it largest and most extensively, 
and who now universally and enthusiastical- 
ly unite in expressing their opinion that no 
more \ productive j delicious or profitable berry 
has ever yet been produced. 

THE ROCHELLE BERRY AS A WINE 
MAKER. 

Wonders are now related of the almost 
incredible profit to be derived from the new 
llochelle Blackberry when expressed into 
wine. The largest growers are bestowing 
great attention to this new and valuable use 
for the berry. Where large markets are 
not accessible for the consumption of the 
fruit, or when the markets happen to be 
glutted, wine making will be its chief use. 
It has been proved by actual experiment to 
be more remunerative to make it into wines 
then to sell the fruit at twenty-five cents per 
quart. Its yield of wine is most generous, 
and the process of manufacture most sim- 
ple. Eight gallons of well-ripened fruit 
will yield five gallons of pure juice, to which 
twice the amount of water, and the requi- 
site amount of sugar is added, making fully 
fifteen gallons of rich, nutty, generous, and 
very wholesome wine. 

When well made and long enough kept, 
this wine has been pronounced by the very 
best judges as superior to that of any native 
grape, excepting alone the Catawba, and in 
many localities superior even to that. Pro- 
fessor Mapes, and other old wine drinkers, 
pronounced some made by Seymour & Co., 
and without any admixture of spirits, to be 
the best native wine they ever had tasted, 
only one of the party suspecting when it was 
offered and drank, that it originated from 
other fruit than the grape. As a still wine, 
it is said to more closely resemble the best 
South Side Madeira than any other brand. 
As a sparkling, or Champagne wine, it has 
not yet been tried. The best feature of 
the blackberry wine, and one that cannot 
and should not be overlooked in these days 
of villainous concoctions and poisoned li- 
quors, is its benefit as an energetic tonic and 
stimulant. Where a pure and reliable arti- 
cle is required by the aged, and for the debili- 
tated, no better stimulative, or recuperative 
tonic could be obtained. It never affects 
the head, has a most penetrating influence, 



and diffuses a warmth and glow throughout 
the whole system. 

Mr. Knox, a few days since, presented 
us with a bottle ,of llochelle wine to test. 
and we can safely say, after having had 
abundant opportunities of drinking the best 
and purest of imported wines, that it sur- 
passes most of them, and that we could not 
distinguish it from a veritable grape wine. 
We presume if the article sent us had been 
older it would have been still better. Mr. 
Knox has just purchased a wine press and 
intends making this season several casks of 
this blackberry wine, and we can safely 
venture the assertion that if it be as good 
as the sample given, it will command a 
ready sale in this community at (according 
to age) from one to two dollars per bottle. 

We would conclude this long, but* we 
hope not uninteresting article, by simply re- 
questing all who take any interest in fruit 
culture, or who wish to provide themselves 
with choice varieties of " small fruit" plants, 
to visit Mr. K.'s farm some of these fine 
mornings and see for themselves whether 
our statements have been too highly col- 
oured. 



How to Raise Early Tomatoes. — 
About the first of April, take a few large 
turnips an'd cut out the hearts of them, to 
form a sort of cup. Fill the cavities with 
earth and plant two or three tomato seeds 
in each. When the seeds have well 
sprouted, pull up all but the healthiest plant 
in each turnip, and let those that remain 
stand where they will have the benfit of 
the sun ; the plant will grow very thrifty — 
the . decaying, turnip furnishing it food. 
When the weather becomes sufficiently warm, 
set the turnips in well prepared soil, not less 
than three feet apart, make the lath frames 
to keep the vines from the ground, and keep 
the soil well hilled up around them, and 
you will have a crop that will astonish the 
natives. The advantage consists in getting 
the plants started early without setting them 
back in transplanting. — Eastern Farmer. 



Growth of Life. — The life which Christ 
imparts to the soul will rise and rise until, 
overflowing the bound of sinful fear and 
the conventionalisms of the world, it bursts 
into life bearing down all opposition, and 
compelling even the ungodly to admit that 
Christ has gained another friend. 



728 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[December 







I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



729 



Steam Engine. 
The introduction of the Steam Engine, 

as an appendage to our farms, is attracting 
the attention of our best and most success- 
ful Fanners; and I propose, in this com- 
munication, briefly to discuss its merits. 

To the celebrated Watt, the world is 
chiefly indebted for all it knows of the 
Steam Engine. In order to designate the 
power of the Engine, lie established a stand- 
ard based upon the effective force or power 
of the Horse, which he called a J/orsr 
power. He found that a London cart horse 
could raise 33,000 pounds one foot high in 
a minute. An engine producing the same 
result would, therefore, be classed as a one 
horse powo- ciujihc, or if raised 33,000 
pounds ten feet in a minute, it would be a 
ten horse power engine, and so on. 

The power of an engine, depends upon 
the diameter of the cylinder, the length of 
the stroke, and the amount of steam-pressure. 
One-third of the power is consumed by 
friction. This is an ample allowance in 
well-built machines, where the parts are all 
perfectly adjusted and work true; but if 
the work be badly executed, the different 
parts badly proportioned and out of true, 
the friction is increased to an unknown ex- 
tent, and instead of buying a twenty horse 
engine, as you bargained for, you may, per- 
chance, get one of fifteen or sixteen horse 
power. 

Whatever some of us may think of the 
ultimate substitution of steam for horse 
power, we must all agree that the time has 
not yet arrived, when horses can be dis- 
pensed with. Our country is too new and 
our roads too rough, for our daughters to go 
to meeting, and our sons fox-hunting, on a 
Steam Engine; and however desirable such 
an event may be to the utilitarian or the 
political economist, it will be a long time 
before the Virginian's hereditary veneration 
for that noble animal will suffer his place to 
be filled by any other substitute. It is be- 
cause I duly appreciate this sentiment, that 
I would rescue him from much of the 
drudgery, the destructive and ignoble work, 
to which he is now of necessity subjected. 

That there are many operations connected 
with the farm, that can be more profitably 
performed by the power of steam than of 
horses, no one will deny; for instance, 
threshing, grinding, sawing, and various 
other mechanical operations, where steady 
and reliable power is required. It then be- 



comes a question, simply of economy, of 
dollars ;ind cents, how far we should be 
justified in dispensing with a portion of our 
horse power, and substituting for it that of 
steam. 

Now let us take, for example, the opera- 
tions on a twelve horse farm. 

As soon as the land is in a condition to be 
worked, you begin breaking it up for corn, 
and your twelve horses are driven to their 
utmost endurance from that time until the 
crop is laid by, frequently not until after 
harvest, in July. What now is their con- 
dition ? Count their ribs; see the galls of 
the trace-chain upon their legs, and of the 
collar upon their shoulders, and witness the 
seeming agony with which they move their 
stiffened limbs. Surely these poor creatures 
should enjoy a long resting spell, to recover 
their exhausted strength and heal their galls 
and bruises ; but no, — a little tar and grease 
to protect the galls from the flies, and a few 
days in a meagre pasture, is all they get. 
Threshing time arrives, the wheat must be 
got out for market, and the horses, galled, 
jaded and broken down in the corn crop, 
are hitched to the murderous threshing-mill, 
than which no other machine, invented by 
man, is more destructive to the energies of 
the horse. Well, at last the wheat is 
threshed out and winnowed, with the as- 
sistance, perhaps, of a horse or two borrowed 
from a neighbour, to whom we promise to 
reciprocate the favor next year, that is, if 
we can. And what now is the condition of 
the horses? are their ribs less distinctly 
counted ? do their galled shoulders wince 
less under the pressure of the collar? or do 
their stiffened joints bend with a more elastic 
spring ? No indeed — but no matter, the 
ground must be broken up for wheat, and if 
we have good luck and seasonable rains to 
soften it, they will, no doubt, hold out to 
finish the fallow and put in the wheat, — so 
they arc unhitched from the thresher, hitched 
up to the heavy plough and subjected, for 
three or four months more, to the scv. 
labor of the year, when they are the least 
able to endure it. 

Have I drawn this picture too strongly? 
Perhaps I have, to the taste of many; but 
if the horse could answer, I should like to 
refer the question to him. 

Now, where is the remedy for all this in- 
humanity and misjudged economy ? Either 
we must increase our stock of horses, so as 
to rest them and keep them in good working 



'30 



THE SOUTHE11N PLANTER. 



[December 



condition, or furnish a substitute to do a 
portion of the heavy work, and thus be en- 
abled to reduce the number of horses. This 
substitute is the Steam Engine. 

Now, how many of the twelve horses could 
be dispensed with, if the labor of the re- 
mainder was confined to the preparation of 
the land and the cultivation of the usual 
crops, and if the threshing, grinding, and 
other necessary mechanical operations were 
performed by steam? At least two. For 
you will bear in mind, that from the time 
the corn is laid by, until you commence fal- 
lowing for wheat, your horses will have noth- 
ing or little to do for six or eight weeks, 
during which time they will be resting and 
fitted to do full work in the fallow field. 

The Steam Engine, then, would dispense 
with two horses- and now let us see what 
would be their comparative cost, assuming 
that an engine will live, upon an average, as 
long as a work-horse. 

Two horses would cost, - - $320 00 
The interest upon this sum for one 

year, - - - - 19 20 

Shoeing two horses, one. year, 12 00 

Feeding, one year, at the army al- 
lowance, say two gallons of corn 
and fourteen pounds of hay, 
each, per day, - - - ' 200 00 



Making the annual cost of 2 horses, $231 20 
It may be objected here, that this is an 
over estimate, as for a portion of the year 
the horses are not fed on corn and fodder, 
but are turned out to pasture, which costs 
nothing. Not so. Every spear of grass 
eaten or trodden down by your horses, costs 
you something, perhaps as much as the corn 
and fodder they would consume if regularly- 
fed ; for if the grass is removed from the 
land, an equivalent, in the form of manure 
of some kind must be returned for it, or 
your land goes down. If this proposition 
be not true, then is the theory of Arator 
and the experience of our best farmers 
falsified, and we had better stop sowing 
clover and turn out our fields to the com- 
mons, as soon as we have secured the crop. 

The annual cost, then, of two horses, is 
$231 20. Now, a Steam Engine, of ten 
horse power will cost, complete, say $800. 
The interest on this sum, per year, is $48 00 
Fuel and oil whilst threshing wheat, 

say 12 days, at $1 25, - 15 00 



Making, - 



$63 00 



And showing a saving of $168 20 a year 
on dispensing with two horses and substi- 
tuting a Steam Engine. 

But this is only a small part of the saving, 
as you perceive the engine is only credited 
with twelve days work during the year. 
Suppose you work it two hundred days more, 
how will the account then stand ? Why, 
you will have the effective power of ten 
horses for two hundred days, which, accord- 
ing to the foregoing estimate of thirty-two 
cents per day, the cost of each horse will 
amount to the round sum of $640, which 
you can realise at your pleasure, by applying 
the power in any way you think most profit- 
able. And you will also bear in mind, that 
whether a horse work or not, he must eat; 
the Steam Engine only eats when it works ; 
and in sawing, supplies its own food, in the 
slabs and saw-dust it makes. 

But, says the cautious farmer, I am afraid 
of steam, the boiler may burst and kill 
somebody. Possible. But have you never 
known anybody killed by the running away, 
or kicking of a horse ? Have you never 
known your stock injured, or your' fences 
thrown down and your crop endangered by 
a vicious or mischievous animal ? and are 
you sure that a ten horse Steam Engine is 
more destructive to life, or property, than 
ten horses would be ? I verily believe it is 
not. I believe, as the modern engine is 
constructed, it is as safe as horses or any 
other power, and if any accident occur, it 
must arise from the grossest and most un- 
pardonable negligence. It cannot be other- 
wise, with the precautions now taken of 
safety valves steam cocks, steam and water 
guages, which are constantly exposed to 
view; and the time is not distant, when the 
Steam Engine will be considered as neces- 
sary to the farmer as it is to the manufac- 
turer, or the rail road. 

An Old Farmer. 



Plum Pudding, — One stale brick loaf — 
take off the brown crust — cut it in thin 
slices, and spread them with butter; pour 
over it one quart of boiled milk, and let it 
stand until morning; grate in one nutmeg, 
one teaspoonful of salt, eight eggs, well 
beaten, a pint bowl of stoned raisins, flour 
the raisins and bake two hours. To be 
baked immediately after putting in the 
raisins and eggs. 







! ' I ' 



THE SOUTIIKKN PLANTER, 



731 



Recipe for Blackberry Wine. 

There is a bm amount of blackberries 
now being brought into cur marked by the 
different railroaaa for the purpose of being 

made into jams and wines. W€ have heard 
of much complaint from unskilful wine ma- 
kers, that their kegs and vessels are burst 
open while the juiee is jn process of fer- 
mentation. In another column we have 
much to say of the wine making qualities 
Of the Roehelle Blackberry, principally cul- 
tivated here by the Kev. J. Knox, lie 
hands us the following rocipe, as used by 
Messrs. Geo. Seymour & Co., the largest 
manufacturer? of blackberry wine in the 
country. It is as follows ■ 

One gallon New Roehelle Blackberry 
juice; two gallons water; nine pounds of 
refined sugar; reduce the berries to a pulp 
in a small cider mill, or in any other conve- 
nient way, and press to a fair degree of 
dryness ; put away in kegs, or barrels, with 
t'utt, and as soon as the first fermentation 
has subsided, so as not to endanger the 
packages, bung tightly, and time will ac- 
complish the rest. The New Roehelle, 
being a high-spirited berry, requires no 
spirits whatever to be added to the wine. 
Probably the common berry juice might be 
the better far a small addition of choice 
brandy. Blackberry wine, like all grape 
wines, improves Very much by age and 
long keeping. The older the better. 



Principles of Manuring. 

Lmccs and Liebiy's Controversy on the 
Principles of Manuring popularly ex- 
pktmed — The Rothnmstcd Espcrimtnts 
with Special Manures described — Lav's 
Doctrine* in Nitrogenous Manuring quee- 
tioued — Liebiys Doctrines confirmed — 
The success of Consecutive Corn-growing 
with Special Manures provid mjn rim* at- 
ally. 

In the second paper of this series, it was 
demonstrated that the principles which 
guided the authors of the Rothamsted experi- 
ments in their selection of a common gang* 4 
or standard of comparison, and in their 
grouping and averaging of results, were al- 
together erroneous. Let us now endeavour, 
in the first place, to discover and choose 
from jfmongst the twenty instances some one 
of them possessed of the qualifications ne- 



iV in ft genuine teat, and, in the second 

place, to distribute the individual trials into 
nmre natural and instructive associations. 

Now, assuming it to be undeniable in 
principle that that which constitute- a per- 
fect manure, is its possessing »///the elements 
of plant nutrition, we art: naturally led to 
examine whether any of the experimental 
compounds belong to this category, and 
whether the results from their use. ire such 
as to furnish a good standard mean. Ai ■ 
perfect fertilizer, no known substance, pro- 
bably, excels rape-cake. But, as standards, 
the experiments with this manure, whether 
alone or in association with alkalies and 
phosphate of lime, are disqualified both 
singly and in aggregate, belonging as they 
all do (see Table V. of the last paper) to the 
indeterminately ascending class. Again, 
except these, the only other approximately 
perfect instances, experiments 11 and 17 of 
the table ; and surely it is to be regarded as 
a very remarkable characteristic of them, 
that not only is No. 11 so nearly constant in 
its effects as to show a decrease in six years 
of only three pecks per acre per annum; but 
the other, No. 17, in each of the divisions 
of three years, into which the entire period 
of the trials has been divided, exhibits a 
mean so essentially exact as to differ to the 
immaterial extent of less than half a peck. 
The details of this important experiment, 
No. 17, are shown thus: — 

Table I. 

MEAN PRODUCE. 

1st period 2nd period 
Experiment No. 17. of 3 \ is. of 3 yrs. 

b. p. b. ]). 

Crop 165-2 45 Of '../. — 

• rrca fr a ... — 

" 1854 6:2 3 ... — 

"1855 — ... 49 91 

" 1856 — ... 37 2$ 

" 1857 — ... 64 3] 

i 

3)15- If J .3)152 Of 

Triennial mean M 3j ... 50 2| 

Hence, then, not only does this experi- 
ment possess the significant characteristic o\' 
secular permanency of yield, but also this 
other striking peculiarity, of exhibiting a 
higher rate of productiveness than any other 
of the entire list; and in every respect, 
therefore, it is entitled to receive very special 
consideration ; and to this end we present the 
following comparative table: 



732 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



[December 



Table II. — Showing the mineral and nitrogenous constituentsof the experimental manure No. 17, 
and approximately of the crop of barley, including straw, thereby produced. The analysis 
of rape cake is introduced with a view to after-reference. 



Commercial Substance composing the 
Manures. 


Chemical Substances 
composing the 

Manures. 


Manure 
Exprmt 
No. 17. 


Crop 
Exprmt. 
No. 17. 


2,000 lbs. 
Rape 
Cape. 






lt)S. 

163.5 

39.6 

60.5 

24.7 

Trace 

135.1 
33.6 

482.6 


lbs. 

173.0 

16.0 
9.0 

23.0 

10.0 
1.0 
2.0 

37.0 
5.0 


ft>8. 

21.0 




Potash 


35.2 


Mineral : — 

300 lbs. Sulphate of Potash 
200 « " Soda 




Soda 


0.3 




13 8 


100 " " Magnesia 




23.6 


600 lbs. 

350 lbs. Superphosphate of Lime 

200 lbs. Sulphate of Ammonia 
200 lbs. Muriate 

400 lbs. 
Nitrogenous: — 


Oxide of Iron 

Chlorine 

Phosphoric acid 

^Sulphuric acid 


7.2 

0.7 

52.2 

2.6 


350 lbs. Superphosphate of Lime 


14.0 
89.6 


56.0 




300 lbs. Sulphate of Ammonia 1 
200 lbs. Muriate " f 


Nitrogen 


103.8 






From this table, then, is seen how coinci- 
dent in quality in every respect, save in 
silica, are the several chemical ingredients 
of the manure and of the produce raised by 
it; and probably the silicious element of 
vegetation is seldom otherwise than natural- 
ly superabundant in all soils containing a 
moderate proportion of clay. 

In trial 17th, therefore, is presented a 
manure theoretically perfect, since it em- 
braces in its composition every one of the 
mineral constituents of vegetative fertility, 
and no less practically an effective one, since 
not only did its use very largely enhance 
the yearly crop to which it was applied, 
but maintained unflagging productiveness 
throughout the entire period of six succes- 
sive years during which its use was repeated. 
Here, then, are found all the elements re- 
quired to constitute a valuable test; and, 
thus, with the aid of this experiment No. 
17, as a guage or standard of comparison, it 
may now be possible to discover how well or 
ill-founded are certain general conclusions 
deduced by the experimenters themselves 
from the experimental data, and expressed 
at p. 492 of their report — 

" From a review," they there write, " of 
the whole of the results relating to the 
action of special manures upon the barley 
crop," &c, " we learn that exclusively 
mineral manures, and especially those con- 
taining phosphoric acid, annually increased 



the produce of barley, even doing so in the 
first year, of their application on the land in 
the condition described." 

The following figures give the experi- 
mental particulars falling within the scope 
of this proposition — 



Table III. # 
Exp. 5. — Superphosphate of Lime. 



Produce 



Mean of second period of three years, 
True gauge of mean, 

Comparative deficiency, . 

Exp. 3. — Mixed Alkalies. 

Mean of seoond period of three years, 
Guage mean, ..... 



Comparative deficiency, . . 22 3^ 
Exp. 6. — Superphosphate of Lime and Mixed Al- 
kalies. 

b. p. 

Mean of second period of three years, 32 1 
Gauge mean, . . ... . 50 2| 



per acre, 
b. p. 
20 


50 


H 


21 


4f 


b. 

27 


P- 
3 


50 


2i 



ComparativB deficiency, . . 18 If 

(The mean of the second period is here 
and subsequently adopted in comparison, as 
being of more approximate accuracy than 
that of the first period, whether in decreas- 
ing or increasing instances.) 



I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANT K 11 



733 



Of these three experimental manures, it 
must further be remarked, that although 
relatively inefficient when compared with 
tlie tltM guage, they certainly exhibit tome 
fertilizing influence when tested by the un- 
manured experiment N<>s. 1 and 2; No. •">. 
in this point of view, showing an increase 
of 3 b 2$ p. per annum. No. 4 of 3£ p., 
and No. f> of f> b. 2 p. Bttt this manifes- 
tation of fertile power, relatively small as it 
is, is no less I complete exemplification of 
Liebig's teaching, wnieh assigns to every 
seemingly successful special manure, wheth- 
er nitrogenous, phosphatic, or alkaline, an 
exhaustive character. This is demonstrated 
by the following figures — 



Table 


TV. 








Ex.5. 


Ex. 4. 


Ex. 6. 


Produce of these three 


b. p. 


b. p. 


b. p. 


experiment! several- 
ly in the first perioil 
Of three years, 
Produce of these three 


34 


30 


36 3 


experiments several- 








ly in the second pe- 
riod of three years, 


29 


27 3 


32 1 



Superiority of tin* oitrogenoui rnnnare 

no. I <<vi-r the minor*] mi lot, . 6 1 

Ex. i.!.— Produce ... '.'en it,-, each Mil- 
pboteand murine of emmoam, mean 
it second period, ... 41 3 

i. 6. — Average prodnoe of the 
three experiments foruiing the mine- • 
iai Mriee, . . ... . 30 3 



Secular decrease 
per acre per annum, 

Here it is plainly 



5 



2 1 



4 2 



seen that the greatest 



Superiority of the nitrogenous manure 
No. 13 over the mineral Miie-, I 5 



Hut although these ammoniacal manures, 
Nos. 8 and I'd, compared with the mineral 
series, evince a marked superiority, yet, 
when contrasted with the true gauge | \o. 
17,) No. 8 shows a deficiency of 14 b., and 
No 13 of 3 b. 1J p-; and still more im- 
portant is it to remark that both belong to 
the secularly decreasing instances: thus — 



Table V 



Ex. s. Ex. 13- 



Produee of the two experiments 
severally in the first period of 
three years, . . . 41 

Produce of the two experiments 
severally in the second period 
of three years, . . 36 

Secular decrease per acre per 
annum, .... 5 



47 1 



44 3 



yields at first fell off most latterly. 

The second conclusion deduced by the 
experimenters is as iollows — 

" That with barley grown continuously on IIere> indeed a vcry „ g , ik . 

the same land (as was the case with wheat), | in „ effect;" but it is the effect of ultimate 



nitrogenous manure had a much more strik 
ing effect than mineral manures." 

Now, the best interpretation which can 
be given of this somewhat vague conclusion 
(and which no doubt applies to the nitroge- 
nous contra-distinguished from the mineral 
manures) will be to place the effects of the 
two sets in juxtaposition — 



Table V 



Produce 
per acre. 



Ex. 8. — Produce of 100 ft)s, each sul- 
phate and muriate of ammonia, mean 
of second period, 

Ex. B, 1, G. — Average produce of the 
three experiments forming the mine- 
ral series, . . . ... 



36 



20 



exhaustion, induced by the use of a species 
of manure all but entirely destitute of any 
mineral clement of plant nutrition, and 
seemingly acting only as an unnatural and 
eventually depressive stimulant. 

Again, it is asserted by the experiment- 
ers — 

"That by the annual supply of nitroge- 
nous manures alone (nitrate of soda or am- 
nion iacal salts), larger successive crops both 
of corn and straw were obtained than by 
the annual use of 14 tons of farmyard 
manure with all its minerals, and certainly 
more nigtrogen than either the nitrate or 
ammoniacal salts employed by its side." 

This is most erroneous, as is shown 
below — 






■TO 4 

<o4 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[December 



Table VII. 






Me a 


n of 


Menu oJ 
second 


Secular , Sec ; H,ar 
1 de- 

mcrease. 

crease. 

1 


• 


Manures. 
at 7. — Produce of 275 lbs. nitrate of soda. 


6 years. 


period of 
3 years. 


Experime 


b. 
42 


oj 


b. p. 
40 2 


b. p. 


b. p. 

3 




8. — Produce of 100 lbs. each of sulphate and 














muriate of ammonia, .... 


38 


2* 


36 


— 


5 


» 


12. — Produce of 550 lb*, nitrate of soda, 


47 


3* 


49 3 


3 3 


— 


« 


13. — Produce of 200 lbs. each of sulphate and 














muriate of ammonia, . 
Mean, ....... 


46 





44 3 


— 


2 2 




42 


2* 


42 3 






(( 


3. — Produce of 14 tons of farmyard manure, 

Superiority of nitrogenous manure, taking a 


43 


o| 


44 2 












« 




mean of six years, , . . . 

Superiority of farmyard manure, taking a 
mean of the second period of three years. 





H 


— 












1 3 





I 



Here, then, it is shown that were the 
average of six years to be a proper criterion, 
the difference either way is too immaterial 
to be regarded. On the other hand, tested 
by the more appropriate mean furnished by 
the second moiety of that period, the 
superiority is unequivocally in favour of the 
farmyard manure, amounting, as it does, to 
all but 21b. per acre per annum of greater 
yield. 

But what at once demonstrates that any 
fair comparison of these four nitrogenous 
manures with farmyard manure is impossi- 
ble, is this — that, excepting the anomalous 
instance No. 12, they all being in very 
striking degrees to the decreasing class of 
the experiments, the trial with farmyard 
manure belonging, on the other hand, to the 
increasing list. On referring to Table V. 
of the former paper, it will be seen that in 
No. 13 the secular annual decrease per acre 
is 2 bush. 2 peck; in No. 7, 3 bush.; and 
in No. 8, it is no less than 5 bush. Per 
contra to this, there is a secular increase ef- 
fected by the farmyard manure of all but 
2 bush, per acre per annum. 

Again, reverting to the summary of con- 
clusions presented by the experimentalists 



themselves, we find this other proposi- 
tion : 

" That, within certain limits, even on this 
comparatively exhausted soil (and it would 
probably be more nearly so on soils in ordi- 
nary condition for the crop), nitrate of soda, 
ammoniacal salts, and rapecake all increase 
the produce of barley, approximately, in 
proportion to the amounts of nitrogen the?/ 
respectively supplied. Their comparative 
effects will, however, vary generally more 
rapid in its action." 

And again it is said : 

"That the effect of a given amount of 
nitrogen, if not excessive, will be considera- 
bly increased by the addition of certain 
mineral manures, especially those contain- 
ing phosphates. The action of the mineral 
manures is very much increased under such 
circumstan es — that is, their application 
gives very much more increase when there 
is present a liberal supply of available nitro- 



gen witht 
not." 



the soil, than when there 



It is impossible to assent to these propo- 
sitions; and, indeed, the reverse of them is 
true, as shall be proved by means of the fol- 
lowing tabulation: 



1800.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



735 



TabXI VII!., -bowing — 1st, That a secular decrease of produce prevailed among-i bhe 
instancrs of manuring in wfcicfc nitrogenous salts were used ; 2ndly, Tliat this decrease 
was greatest where (he proportion of nitrogen was largest; and .'Jrdly, That the annual 
acreablc produee was moat where the nitrogen was proportionally 1- 



J 


Mancrks. 


V 
'S C 

a 


i 
- / 

i r. 
— -~ 

1 


- z 

B 


Mean produce 

per Acre per 
Annum in 2d 
period. 

Proportion of 


a 

If 

y C 
< 


Actual amount 
of Mineral. 


8 
IS 

7 


Class 1. — Nit'n in maximum mean Amount of i-lth. 
Sulphate anil muriate of ammonia. 

■ * " and alkalies, . 
Nitrate of soda, . 

Mean, 


Lhs. 

•joe 
1000 

270 


•• 


B. P. 
9 
4 

3 

1 


B. P. 

M l-5th 

40 | ! 1-1 1th 

10 -J 1-Oth 


Lb-. 
i l.i 
69.6 


Lhs. 
155.2 

'.110,1 

230.6 


• 




30 j l-7th 


50.8 


431.9 


13 
9 

w 


2. — Xilro'n in medium mean A mount of 1-lU/i. 
Sulphate and muriate of ammonia, 

ami alkalies, . 
•' • •• and superphos- 
phate of lime, 

Mean, 


400 
800 

550 




2 2 
8 1 

2 


■11 3 Mill 

a i-i Mh 

44 2 l-12th 


80.0 
44.8 

44.8 


310.4 

705.J 

505.2 








9 1 


42 1 1-1 1th 


50.7 


52:;.., 


11 
10 

17 


Class 3. — Nitro. in minimum mean Amount of l-16th. 

Sulphate and muriate of ammonia, alkalies and 80- 
pei -phosphate of lime 

Sulphate and muriate of ammonia, and superphos- 
phate of lime, ...... 

Sulphate and muriate of ammonia, alkalies and 
superphosphate of lime, . 

Mean, 


1150 

750 

1350 


•• 


3 
1 



45 3 

49 2 

50 3 


l-20th 
l-8th 

1-1 5th 


44.8 
89.0 
80.0 


1105.2 
000.4 

1200.1 








0±| 48 3 j l-10th 


74.7 


1009.0 


12 


Nitrate of soda, ....... 


550 


33 




49 3 


i-0th 


90.0 


400.0 



Putting aside the Experiment No. 12, as j 
being in it*s results too anomalous to be as- 
sociated with any of the other instances, 
here are presented three classes, arranged 
according to the several degrees of secular 
decrease exhibited by the experiments, and 
comprising all the trials with substances 
composed wholly or in part of nitrogenous 
salts; and from this arrangement, it clearly 
appears that — 

In class 1 st, where the secular decrease is 
the. greatest, (and hence the progressive ex- 
haustion of the soil most strongly evinced,: 
the. main proportion of nitrogen, in the three 
instances comprised in it, M thr highest. 

In class 2d, where the secular decrease is 
smaller, so also is the mean amount of nitro- 
genous element. 

In class 3rd, where the yield is not only 
steadiest but greatest, the proportion of ni- 
trogen is fed 

Arranged according to the several amounts 



of mineral ingredient, the table may be ab- 
stracted thus : 

Table IX. 



-.■-» ■ 


= 




B 


i 


Classes. 


O to 

3* 


rtion of 
ogen. 


a >_ 
— o 


p 6 
* as 




5 5 1 g.= 


Cm 


in 




E t> 1 DC 








< - 


B P. 


B. P. 


ei«M i . . 


431.9-J l-7th , 30 


4 O 


Cl«sfl II., . 


.<• I- Nth 12 2 


2 1 


Clau III.. . 


1-1 'tli 48 3 





From this, the true conclusion seem- bo 
be the very reverse of that deduced by the 
experimentalists themselves, for here it 
would seem that if the mineral elements be 
applied in plenty to the soil, an abundant 
and sustained yield will be procured, albeit 
the quantities of nitrogen in the manure be 
proportionally very inconsiderable. 

From these last tabulations, the experi- 



'36 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[December 



merits with rape-cake have purposely been 
omitted, because composed as that fertilizer 
is of substances in a state of organic union, 
there is no rational analogy between them 
and the crude salts forming the components 
of factitious experimental matters. But 
even in this organic manure, when supple- 



mented with mineral ingredients, the same 
consequence of an increase of produce coin- 
cident with a decrease of the proportion of 
nitrogen, exhibited itself. The following 
calculations (but only approximate as re- 
gards the composition rape- cake) are very 
conclusive on this point : 



Table X. 





-3 








>> 


>> 








~> s 






<*< 










"2 


2 c* 






o 


fl v 


c "Is 






X fl 


X 


s 




i i 


5 c 


5 5 




Manure. 


— . bC 


a«"' 


h ~ l 


6 


3 &■ 


C" 1 *j 


o\5 






a o 


s .2 


3 


X 


| s 


«*■ 


■S3 


fa 

K 




jjfc 




p 

o 

V 
CO 


o 






<1 


14 


2,000 pounds oi" rape-cake alone, (see Table II..) 


260.4 


49 3 


3 


1 


l-3rd 


103.8 


156.6 


lb 


2,000 pounds of rape cake and mixed alkalies, 


860.4 


47 1 


5 


2 


l-9th 


103.8 


756.6* 


19 


2,000 pounds of rape-cake and superphosphate of 


















lime, 


610.4 


50 3 


6 


1 


l-6th 


103.8 


506.6 


20 


2,000 pounds of rape-cake and mixed alkalies, and 


















superphosphate of lime, .... 


1210.4 


49 3 


3 


3 


l-12th 


103.8 


1106.6 




Mean 




49 1 


5 


1 


14th 







It is true that here the mean of the pro- 
duce effected by the mineral admixtures is 
rather less than that of the rape-cake ad- 
ministered alone, but in point of secular in- 
crease the superiority is very strikingly in 
their favour, although, as respects nitrogen, 
the proportion they contain is only l-9th 
part, whilst in the cake alone, it is nearly 
three times as much. 

And now, to conclude. At the outset of 
this examination of the Rothamsted experi- 
ment, we premised, in the language of Lie- 
big, that " the use of manure, rich in nitro- 
gen, by the farmer, prepares for the proprie- 
tor the ruin of his land;" and moreover, 
" that a field which by manuring with salts 
rich in nitrogen has produced a larger crop 
for one or more years is thereby impaired in 
fertility for future crops." We also quoted 
a passage from his last work on " Agricul- 
tural Chemistry," which, by obvious impli- 
cation, Lifers that the only means by which 
the farmer can keep his soil in sustained 
fertility is, by returning, from time to time, 
the mineral substances alienated from thence, 
in the condition of live stock and corn sent 
to market. Adopting these propositions as 
the basis of our argument, we next presumed 
to assert as demonstrable that the results of 
the Rothainsted manurial trials in corn 
growing, when properly examined, complete- 
ly confirmed these data; and the only pos- 
tulate we sought in demonstration was this — 



that if, dividing into halves the period of 
years involved in the use of nitrogenous ma- 
nures, the yield during the latter moiety of 
time was less than in the previous period, 
that then the German controversialist's doc- 
trines were to be held as thereby proved. 
Now, firstly, both in the wheat and in the 
barley experiments a palpable secular de- 
crease of this kind has been pointed out, in 
every trial in which, by means of substances 
selected and used by the experimentalists 
themselves, a liberal amount of available 
nitrogen was deposited in the soil. And 
hence, seconly, the English disputants have 
with their own hands placed the garland of 
controversial victory on their antagonist's 
brow. 



To Cook a Beefsteak. — Cut off the 
fat and place it upon the gridiron first, and 
when warmed set on the lean, which is to 
be removed before the fat; this makes the 
fat like marrow. Serve as usual. 

Cocoa-Nut Drops. — : Take the white 
meat of* a cocoa-nut and grate it; the whites 
of four eggs; half a pound white sugar; a 
tea-spoonful essence of lemon; make a bat- 
ter, drop on buttered paper, and bake. 

Rose Drops. — One pound flour; one half 
pound white sugar; half pound butter; six 



a wine 



glass of 



rose water; one cup 



cream and one tea-spoonful saleratus. Drop 
on tins and sift sugar on before baking. 



18G0.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



73^ 



JOURNAL OF TRANSACTIONS 



VIRGINIA STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



JOURNAL OF FARMERS' ASSEMBLY. 

The members elect of the Farmers' As- 
sembly convened at the Hall of the House 
of Delegates, agreeably to public notice, on 
Monday evening, the 22nd of October, I860. 

The meeting was called to order by the 
Secretary of the State Agricultural Society, 
who proceeded to call the roll, when it was 
ascertained there was no quorum present; 
whereupon, on motion of Mr. Wiokham, 
the meeting adjourned to meet at this 
place to-morrow evening, at half-past 7 
o'clock. 



Tuesday Evening, October 23rd, 1860. 

The members of the Farmers' Assembly 
met pursuant to adjournment; when, on the 
calling of the roll, it was found that i 
quorum was in attendance. 

Mr. Morris nominated Wyndham Robert 
son, Esq., as speaker, who was unanimously 
elected. 

Mr. Wickham nominated Ch. B. Williams 
as clerk, who was also duly elected. 

The annual reports of the Executive 
Committee, and of the Treasurer, were then 
read by the Secretary, and are as follows: 



FINANCIAL CONDITION OF THE SOCIETY: 



ANNUAL REPORT 

OF THE 

Executive Committee of Ya. State 
Agricultural Society. 

Members of the Farmers' Assembly : 

The Constitution of the Society directs the 
Executive Committee to make '* an annnal re 
port to the Farmers' Assembly of the condi- 
tion of the Society, and of any other matters 
they may deem pertinent." 

In discharging that duty, they have the 
honor to submit the following analysis of the 
47 



The Permanent Fund amounts 
to 

Invested in Virginia State 
Stock, ."•-"- - - 1,800 

Invested in City of Rich- 
mond Bonds, - - - 44,750 



The annual interest of which 
is, 

The Contingent Fund at the 
commencement of theyear 
consisted of the amount 
on deposit in the City 
Savings' Bank, as per last 
annual report of the Trea- 
surer, - 

And the balance of cash on 
hand, .... 



40,550 



DISBURSEMENTS. 



$40,550 



2,793 



2,457 83 
1,078 01 
3,535 84 



RECEIPTS DURING TnE YEAR. 

Donation of the City of 
Petersburg, - 

Receipts from annual mem- 
bers, - 

Gate Fees received at the 
Inst Fair, 

Interest on Stock, &c, 



1,000 

218 30 

666 50 
2,862 26 

8,282 80 



Premiums of 1859, 
Expenses of 1859-60, 



3,902 50 

2,690 41 6,592 91 



Leaving a balance appli- 
cable to contingent pur- 
poses, of - $1,689 99 
The permanent fund or invested capital of 
the Society, is set apart by the Constitution as 
"a fund sacred to the cause of agricultural 
improvement, of which the income only shall 
be subject to appropriation." That invested 
capital cannot be expended by any authority 
without a change of the Constitution of the 



738 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[December 



Society. The interest upon this fund, the re- 
ceipts from annual and new members, and in- 
cidental receipts from holding annual Fairs, 
constitute the only means at the disposal of 
the authorities of the Society. In all arrange- 
ments for holding Fairs, and other necessary 
expenditures, your Committee have been con- 
fined to those contingent and uncertain re- 
sources, varying in amount, and for several 
years past, wholly insufficient to defray the 
cost of preparing Fair grounds and fixtures for 
holding an independent Fair. A modification 
of the Constitution to authorize the appropria- 
tion of a portion of the permanent fund for 
such purpose, or some increase of the annual 
income can alone enable the Executive Com- 
mittee to hold annual Fairs as prescribed by 
the Constitution. 

The Farmers' Assembly at its last annual 
meeting, appointed a Committee to make ar- 
rangements for holding the present Fair near 
the City of Richmond ; and to report a plan to 
your body for the permanent location of the 
Fairs. This duty being thus imposed upon 
another Committee, your Executive Committee 
refrained from taking any action on that sub- 
ject in the early part of the year. Deference 
to the wishes and the power of the Farmers' 
Assembly ; and also high respect for the great J 
influe .ce, position and intelligence of yourj 
Special Committee induced delay as long as 
the successful execution of your wishes would 
justify. But your President having been in- 
formed by the Secretary in April last, that the 
Central Society had appointed its Committee 
on Premiums, and was taking preparatory 
measures for holding an independent Fair, apd 
as in the opinion of the President, the union 
of the two Societies for the present year pre- 
sented the only practicable means, with the 
limited resources at your disposal, of carrying 
your wishes into faithful execution, he felt 
assured that your Committee specially charged 
with the duty, as well as your body also, would 
excuse the assumption of power, If thereby 
your wishes could be substantially complied 
with. The purpose you had indicated, was too 
clear and decided to leave any doubt. You had 
resolved to hold this Fair near the City of 
Richmond, if it could be effected within Con- 
stitutional powers, upon just and honorable 
terms, either through the means of your Special 
-Committee, or by the efforts of your Executive 
Committee. Firmly impressed with these 
views, the President of the Society determined 
with the approbation of the Executive Commit- 
tee, to propose to the President of the Central 
Society, in person, definite terms for uniting 
the two Societies, the present year, in holding 
their Fair. 

The proposition was considered promptly, 
in a spirit, conciliatory and cordial, with due 
regard to the interest sf each Society, and 
after a few modifications, submitted to the re- 
spective Executive Committees, accepted and 



approved by them and signed by the President 
of each Society. 

The following is the agreement: "The 
Virginia Central and the Virginia State Agri- 
cultural Societies, agree that the Societies will 
unite in holding the next Fair upon the 
grounds of the Central Society, on the follow- 
ing conditions: 

"The members of each Society shall have 
the same rights and pay the same entrance 
fee. 

" All fees at the gates and other incidental 
receipts, with the receipts from annual mem- 
bers, shall be devoted to paying the expenses 
of the Fair, including the interest upon the 
purchase money of the grounds, viz : $750. 
The other expenses of the Fair shall be paid, 
if any deficiency, in equal parts by the two 
Societies. 

"A Joint Committee composed of equal 
numbers from each Executive Committee, 
shall arrange the premium list and regulations 
for holding the Fair. The officers of the So- 
cieties shall hold their respective grades 
during the Fair, and the Presidents shall ap- 
point, on consultation, the Marshals, &c. 

" The Orator shall be elected by the joint 
action of the two Executive Committees. 

" The State Society will claim no portion of 
the surplus after paying the expenses of the 
Fair." 

This agreement recognises equality in the 
rights of the officers and members of each Socie- 
ty upon the grounds, and equal authority in ar- 
ranging the premium list and regulations for 
holding the Fair. Under its provisions the 
Joint Committee have united cordially and 
zealously, and the result is before you. A 
liberal premium list has been offered to induce 
more extended competition and a more success- 
ful exhibition. 

The Executive Committee have limited their 
action to the arrangement of'terms of holding 
the Fair the present year ; but have taken no 
steps to ascertain upon what conditions per- 
manent arrangements could be effected. They 
regarded themselves justified in assuming that 
duty under the exigencies of the case, deferring 
to your Special Committee the more important 
task enjoined by your resolution. Earnestly 
desirous that your views should be fully carried 
out, the Secretary was directed to call the at- 
tention of the Chairman of your Committee to 
the urgent importance of maturing and report- 
ing some practical plan for holding all future 
I State Fairs near the Metropolis of the State. 
| It is earnestly hoped that no difficulties will 
interpose to prevent so desirable an object. 

The Secretary, when about to execute the in- 
structions above referred to, by embodying in 
a note to the Chairman of the Special Com- 
mittee the substance of the resolution under 
which the Committee was appointed, discovered 
that, as reported by the Clerk of the Farmers' 
Assembly, it contained no specification of 



I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



739 



authority to make arrangements for holding 
the future State Fairs. He was consequently 
withheld, for the time, from addressing to the 
Chairman of the Special Committee, the com- 
munication he had contemplated. 

Ho has since, however, been favored with a 
personal interview with the Chairman, who 
was the Speaker of the last Farmers' Assem- 
bly, and finds on consultation with him, that 
he, as well as the mover of the resolution, the 
President of the Society, and other members 
of the last Farmers' Assembly, retains a dis- 
tinct recollection of the fact that, the resolu- 
tion, as adopted, did contain a clause authoriz- 
ing the Committee to discharge the duty in 
question, lie will, therefore, call the members 
of the Joint Committees together, and will 
zealously endeavor, in co-operation with his 
colleagues, to consummate the wishes and in- 
structions of the Farmers' Assembly. 

It is due to the clerk to say that, no imputa- 
tion of blame rests upon him, as the Execu- 
tive Committee feel perfectly assured that the 
omission was purely accidental. 

A resolution was adopted by the last Far- 
mers' Assembly, instructing the Executive 
Committee 4 * to proceed at an early day to 
re-arrange the Electoral Districts of the State 
Agricultural Society in accordance with the 
second clause of the fifth section of the Con- 
stitution ; and In such re-arrangement, that 
they regard as members of the Society such 
as were actually members at the adoption of 
the Constitution and have not since w.th- 
drawn ; and such as have become members 
since that time, and so remain at the time of 
the re-arrangement.'* That duty has been 
carefully performed; the enquiry in respect to 
the qualification of members being limited by 
legal considerations to the date of the ineor 
poration of the Society, instead of the adop- 
tion of the amended Constitution. Under 
this rule of action, there wore found to be 
1736 persons not legally entitled to member- 
ship, who were stricken from the list, and the 
aggregate of representation in the Farmers' 
Assembly was thereby reduced from 128 to 
111 members in the re-apportionment conse- 
quent thereon. A derailed statement of the 
electoral districts, and the number of repre- 
sentatives from each is embraced in the paper 
marked A, and herewith submitted : 

The whole representation in the Farmers' 
Assembly is anamolous and rests upon a ficti- 
tious basis. A member of the Society, when 
once initiated, is bound by the Constitution 
thereafter to pay an annual contribution of 
one dollar, unless he shall notify the Secretary 
of the Society of his wish to withdraw ; but 
this provision has been almost wholly disre- 
garded, and the practical construction prevails 
that he may release himself at any time from 
the obligation by withholding his annual dues. 
The effect has been the retention on the lists 
of membership of the different counties and 



towns a largo number of names of persons 
who will admit no liability to the Society for 
the piyment of their annual dues, while yet, 
they cannot be legally discharged except upon 
their own application, and are therefore neces- 
sarily regarded as an element in the appor- 
tionment of the electoral districts of represen- 
tation in the Farmers' Assembly. The ob- 
vious remedy for this evil is, to change the 
constitutional term of membership so that it 
shall expire with the year for which payment 
is made, and be renewable annually only so 
long as the annual contribution continues to 
be made. 

The Committee appointed by the last Far- 
mers' Assembly to memorialize the General 
Assembly on the subject of taking " Annually 
the Agricultural Statistics of the Common- 
wealth," submitted to the Legislature a me- 
morial pvaying the enactment of a law answer- 
able in its provisions to the views and wishes 
of the Farmers' Assembly. The memorial 
was received by the Senate, and referred to a 
Standing Committee of that body, but no 
other or further action was had upon it. A 
copy is herewith submitted marked [Bj. 

The Executive Committee, firmly impressed 
with the belief that the attendance of a full 
delegation at this meeting of your body was 
of vital importance to the welfare of the 
Society, caused a circular letter to be prepared 
invoking the active cooperation of the Com- 
missioners of Election with the members 
generally "in the promoting, by all suitable 
means, the attainment of so desirable an ob- 
ject." 

They felt that a failure to form a quorum 
at this time would prove disastrous to the So- 
ciety, by postponing — perhaps indefinitely — 
the salutary reforms in the constitution, which 
experience had demonstrated to be " necessa- 
ry to adapt it to a more efficient subservience 
to the purposes and objects for which the So- 
ciety was originally founded, and so munifi- 
cently endowed." They, therefore, sought to 
stimulato the friends of the Society to u an ear- 
nest and concerted movement, to secure the 
election of persons in every district competent 
to the efficient discharge of the representa- 
tive trust," and who should be pledged in ad- 
vance to attend, if elected, the present meet- 
ing of your body. A copy of this Circular is 
submitted, marked C. 

The progress of improvement since the in- 
auguration of the Society may with truth be 
said to mark a distinct epoch in our history. 
The wonderful triumphs of mind over matter, 
in the discovery and development of the hith- 
erto hidden laws of nature — bringing the 
whole range of physical science into subsidi- 
ary relation to*this nob e art — have invested it 
with so vast an accession of power over the 
forces of nature, in harnessing them for its 
uses, as is only limited by the want of ade- 
quate knowledge to control and apply them. 



740 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[December 



Hence, while inventive genius and educa- 
ted mind are plying all their powers to re- 
place the seriously felt want of a suffi- 
ciency of manual labour, by the introduction 
of implements and machinery, constructed 
upon scientific principles, and adapted to sub- 
serve the greatest economy in the operations 
of husbandry, the academic institutions of the 
State are being crowded with the sons of ag- 
riculturists, earnestly seeking after know- 
ledge — the synonyme of power — that they 
may be thoroughly furnished — as in other so- 
called learned professions — to meet the re- 
sponsibilities and fulfil the obligations of 
their station, when they shall come to enter 
upon the active duties of a department in 
social life, demanding the highest order of 
qualification for the successful conduct of its 
operations, and habits of study and investi- 
gation to be acquired only by the severe dis- 
cipline of the mind during the plastic sea- 
son of youth, that shall fit them to advance in 
knowledge and practical improvement as the 
area of known truth shall continue to expand, 
and fresh trophies of science shall be laid at 
their feet. 

The cause of Agriculture is the one great 
and paramount interest of the Commonwealth. 
The basis — and directly or incidentally — the 
support of all the other social interests, the 
development of its resources, and the aug- 
mentation of its profits are attended with a 
proportionate increase in the population, 
wealth and power of the State, and a corres- 
ponding advance of society in intelligence, 
refinement, and social happiness. 

The distinguished mission of this Society, 
then, is, to stimulate every department of in- 
dustry, and to urge forward the car of im- 
provement, until the illimitable stores of the 
mineral wealth of the State shall yield to the 
hand of labour their ample tribute ; until the 
fruits of the workshop and the factory shall 
be united with the exuberant productions of 
the well-tilled farm ; and Virginia, disen- 
thralled from Northern dependence, shall 
manufacture her own goods, conduct her own 
trade with her own marine, and spread the 
wings of her commerce to the fourfwinds of 
heaven. q 

.Respectfully submitted 

By the EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, 
Cfl. B. Williams, Sec'y. 

The Treasurer has the honour to submit to 
the Farmers' Assembly the following report : 

The permanent Fund of the Society consists 
in the following investments, viz : 

In Virginia State stock, -. 1,800 
In Richmond City stock, . 44,750 

$46,550 

The following are the amounts of the re- 
ceipts and disbursments of the fiscal year end- 



ing on the 29th of September, and the gen- 
eral quarterly statement and balance sheet to 
the same period : 

Va. State Agricultural Society, 

In account with Ch. B. Williams, TreasW : 

RECEIPTS WITHIN THE YEAR. 

1859. 
Sept. 30. Balance on hand, . . $1078 01 

Nov. Donation from city of 

Petersburg, . . . 1000 00 
Receipts from annual 
members, . . . 218 30 

Gate fees at the Exhi- 
bition of 1859, ... 666 50 
Withdrawn from Savings 
Bank, .... 2457 83 
1860. Interest, . . . 2862 26 



DISBURSMENTS. 

Office expenses, . . . $290 56 
Salary of Secretary . 1000 00 
Printing and advertising, 551 73 
Incidental expenses, . . 408 81 
Forage Department, . . 439 31 
Premiums of 1859, . 3902 50 


$8282 90 
6592 91 



Sept. 29. Balance appli- 
cable to contingent 
purposes, of . 



$1689 99 



Quarterly Statement, Sept. 29th, 1860. 



Contingent Fund, 
Permanent Fund, 
Interest Account, 

Cash, 1689 99 

Virginia State stock, 1,800 00 

Richmond City stock, 44,750 00 

Premiums of 1853, 3,353 00 

Premiums of 1854, 3,843 50 

Premiums of 1855, 3,731 00 

Premiums of 1856, 3,805 00 

Premiums of 1857, 3,896 50 

Premiums of 1859, 3,902 50 

Expenses of 1853-4, 3,884 24 

Expenses of 1854-5, 7,456 77 

Expenses of 1855-6, 8,958 44 

Expenses of 1856-7, 9,039 91 

Expenses of 1857-8, 7.343 45 

Expenses of 1858-9, 2,077 11 

Expenses of 1859-60, 2,690 41 
Union Ag'l So'y of 

Va. and N. C, 295 00 



$50,288 19 
46,464 00 
15,764 63 



$112,516 82 $112,516 82 

The undersigned has examined the above 
statement, and compared it with the books of 
the Treasurer, and finds it correct, and sup- 
ported by proper vouchers. 

WM. G. CRENSHAW. 



I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



741 



The Speaker laid before the Assembly a 
letter from John R. Edmunds, Esq., de- 
clining a re-election to the office of Presi- 
dent of the State Society at the close of his 
official term; which was, on motion, laid 
upon the table. 

Mr. Morris moved to take up the resolu- 
tion offered by Mr. Harvie at the last an- 
nual meeting of the Farmers' Assembly, 
namely: to amend the Constitution by strik- 
ing out the 4th clause of the 11th section, 
and inserting the following in lieu thereof: 

"Amendments may be made to the Con- 
stitution by a two-thirds vote of the mem- 
bers in attendance." 

After discussion, the said amendment was 
carried in the affirmative. 

Mr. Wickham then moved to take up 
the resolution offered by him at the last 
Farmers' Assembly, viz: 

" Resolved, That so much of the Consti- 
tution as refers to the Farmers' Assembly 
be altered and amended so as to abolish the 
said Assembly, and devolve its powers and 
duties on the general meetings of the Society 
and on the Executive Committee." 

Mr. Tate offered, as a substitute, the reso- 
lution proposed by him at the last Assembly, 
in the following words : 

" That the Constitution be so amended as 
to devolve all the duties and powers of the 
Farmers' Assembly on the life members in 
legislative meeting." 

Mr. Minor proposed to amend the substi- 
tute by including annual members, as well 
as life members, as the depositaries of the 
powers now exercised by the Assembly ; 
whereupon, on consultation, the following 
amended resolution, proposed by Mr. Minor, 
was accepted by the movers of the original 
resolution and the substitute, viz : 

Resolved, That so much of the Constitu- 
tion as refers to the Farmers' Assembly, be 
altered and amended so as to devolve its 
powers and duties on the general meetings 
of the Society, in which life members and 
all annual members, who have paid their 
annual contributions six months before the 
general meeting at which they may offer to 
vote, shall have the right to vote and none 
others. 

After protracted discussion, and several 
ineffectual motions to lay the resolution on 
the table, on the motion of Mr. Crump, the 



Assembly adjourned to meet in this place 
to-morrow evening at hall-past 7 o'clock. 

Wednesday Evening, October 24th. 

The Assembly met pursuant to adjourn- 
ment. 

On motion of Mr. Morris, 

Resolved, That the rules of the Virginia 
House of Delegates be adopted as the rules 
of this Body, so far as they are applicable. 

The substitute of Mr. Minor was then 
taken up, and, by general consent, the fol- 
lowing clause was added thereto, viz : 
But this amendment shall not take effect 
until the end of the present Session of this 
Assembly. 

On motion of Mr. Wickham, 

Rssolved, That the roll be now called, 
and that the names of the members present 
be spread upon the record. 

The Clerk proceeded to call the roll ac- 
cordingly, when no quorum being present, 
the Assembly took a recess to allow time 
for summoning absentees; meanwhile Prof. 
Gilham, on the invitation of the Assembly, 
proceeded to address them on the general 
subject of artificial manures, and was fol- 
lowed, by the request of the Assembly, by 
Mr. Newton, and Mr. F. G. Ruffin, on sub- 
jects highly interesting to the agriculturist. 

Several absentees appearing in the Assem- 
bly during the recess, the Speaker called 
the Assembly to order, and the call of the 
roll was completed. 

The following persons answered to their 
names: 

Franklin Minor, R. N. Trice, Wm. W. 
Minor, James Fife, Samuel B. Finley, 
William M. Tate, George W. Mowry, J. 
Wayt Bell, Wm. B. Price, Grandison Mose- 
ley, Odin G. Clay, Edmund T. Morris, 
Joseph Jesse, Edward Willcox, Wood 
Bouldin, Samuel S. Bradford, James M. 
Austin, John F. Cobbs, Wm. B. Stanard, 
Littleton Edmunds, William II. Clarke, 
David Chalmers, Williams C. Wickham, 
William Nelson, John R. Garnett, Carter 
W. Wormley, Alexander Fleet, C. G. Cole- 
man, Thomas S. Watson, U. H. Dulany, X. 
F. Cabell, Sharpe Carter, Ferdinand Jones, 
Thomas Branch, Elisha Kcene, Richard 
Stokes, D. J. Saunders, Wyndham Robert- 
son, Win. H. Macfarland, Wm. W. Crump, 
Corbin Warwick, Henry C. Cabell, George 
Watt, Wm. M. Harrison, R. B. Haxall, 



42 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[December 



Thos. J. Deane, Robert Edmond, Wm. Gr. 
Crenshaw, Peyton Johnston, B. W. Haxall, 
Wm. Gilham, George B. Billard, Benjamin 
L. Cason, Hugh M. Nelson, Willoughby 
Novton, Warner T. Talliaferro, Sen'r. — 56. 

On motion of Mr. Boiling, 

Resolved, unanimously, That the action of 
the President and Executive Committee, in 
making arrangements for holding the present 
Fair near this city, in conjunction with the 
Central Agricultural Society of Virginia, is 
hereby approved. 

On motion of Mr. Morris, 

Resolved, That the Executive Committee of 
this Society be and is hereby authorised and 
requested, at their discretion, to treat with 
the Central Agricultural Society of "Vir- 
ginia, for the purpose of fixing the terms 
of a permanent union of the two Societies 
in their annual Fairs and Exhibitions, and 
to make report to the next meeting of the 
Society ; and the said Committee is hereby 
further authorised and requested, in the 
mean time, to make arrangements with the 
Central Society of Virginia, to hold our 
next Annual Exhibition, Cattle Show, and 
Fair, at Richmond, in connection with said 
Society, if •arrangements can be made, 
which, in their opinion, would not result in 
injury to this Society. 

Mr. Wickham moved as a substitute for 
the pending amendments of the Constitution, 
a series of amendments which had been 
agreed upon among the friendsof the measure; 
but after discussion, proposed to withdraw 
the same, whereupon, Mr. Crenshaw re- 
newed the motion, and the question being 
taken thereon, they were adopted, and the 
Constitution, as thus amended, is in the fol- 
lowing words : 

CONSTITUTION 

OP THE 

Virginia State Agricultural Society. 
SECTION I. 

NAME AND PURPOSE. 

1. The name of this Society shall be 
" The Virginia State Agricultural So- 
ciety." 

2. Its object shall be to advance and im- 
prove the condition of Agriculture, Horti- 
culture and the auxiliary Mining and Me- 
chanic Arts. 



SECTION II. 



ANNUAL FAIR. 



The Society shall hold an Annual Exhi- 
bition, Cattle Show and Fair, at such time 
and place as may be designated by the Ex- 
ecutive Committee. 

SECTION III. 

MEMBERSHIP. . 

1. The Society shall consist of such per- 
sons as shall pay to the Secretary of the So- 
ciety, or other person duly authorized to re- 
ceive the same, an initiation fee of two dol- 
lars; of life members; and of such as shall 
be elected Honorary Members thereof 
by the members of the Society in general 
meeting. 

2. Every person so paying two dollars 
shall be accounted and listed a member of 
the Society for twelve months from the next 
preceding first day of January, and shall be 
bound thereafter to pay an annual contribu- 
tion of one dollar, unless he shall notify the 
Secretary of the Society of his wish to with- 
draw; such withdrawal shall be duly re- 
corded by that officer, and take effect from 
the close of the current year. 

3. The payment of twenty dollars, at one 
time, shall constitute a member for life, and 
shall exempt the payer from annual contri- 
butions, 

SECTION IV. 

OFFICERS. 

1. The officers of the Society shall con- 
sist of a President, eight Vice Presidents, 
and of ten other persons, (all being mem- 
bers of the Society,) to constitute together 
the Executive Committee, and a Secretary 
and Treasurer, who shall be one person. 

2. These officers shall be elected annually 
by separate votes by the members of the 
Society in general meeting for one year, 
and till their successors be appointed, and 
they shall be re-eligible to office, except that 
from and after the adoption of the Constitu- 
tion the same person shall not be President 
of the Society for more than three consecu- 
tive years. 

SECTION V. 
1. The life members and such annual 
members as shall have paid all their dues to 
the Society six months previous to the meet- 
ing, shall be entitled to vote in the general 
meetings of the Society. 



I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



743 



2. Two hundred members of the Society 
shall constitute a quorum. 

SECTION VI. 

POWERS AND DUTIES OF PRESIDENT. 

1. The President of the Society shall 
preside at all general meetings of the Society 
at large. 

2. May, at his option, make an annual 
communication to the Society, with such re- 
commendations as he may think expedient. 

3. Shall appoint and have the direction 
of all Marshals and other agents required to 
carry out and give effect to the rules and 
regulations prescribed by the Executive 
Committee for the annual fair. 

4. Shall preside at all meetings of the 
Executive Committee, and convene special 
meetings thereof when he may deem it ne- 
cessary, or a quorum of their number request 
it; and, in addition to his vote as member 
thereof, shall, as Chairman, have the casting 
vote in case of a tie. 

SECTION VII. 

POWERS AND DUTIES OF VICE PRESIDENTS. 

The Vice Presidents shall be ex-officio 
members of the Executive Committee, and 
shall, in the order of their election, perform 
the duties of the President in the absence 
of that officer. 

SECTION VIII. 

POWERS AND DUTIES OF EXECUTIVE COM- 
MITTEE. 

1. The Executive Committee shall hold 
stated meetings at such time as they may 
fix. 

2. Shall fill vacancies in their own body, 
as also in the office of Secretary and Trea- 
surer. 

3. Shall procure and take charge of all 
such useful models, books, seeds, plants, or 
other property of the Society, as they may 
deem fit, or may be transmitted to the So- 
ciety, and take order for the proper preser- 
vation or distribution thereof. 

4. Shall invite communications or essays 
from men eminent in agriculture, or in 
science or art auxiliary thereto ; shall make 
provision for an Address to be delivered be- 
fore the Society at large at each annual 
fair. 



5. Shall prescribe the manner of holding 
the annual fair, in such mode as to them 
shall seem best, determine the objects to 
which premiums shall be awarded, and the 
manner in which the same shall be appor- 
tioned and paid, and generally direct every- 
thing appertaining to the said fair. 

6. Shall make an annual report to the 
Society of its condition and of any other 
matters they may deem pertinent; and may, 
at their discretion, publish such of the pro- 
ceedings, essays, communications, or other 
matters as they may deem interesting to the 
Society, or calculated to promote its objects. 

« 7. Shall have power, by a vote of a ma- 
jority of their whole number, to remove the 
Secretary and Treasurer, and appoint an- 
other in his stead, to serve till the next 
meeting of the Society, and till his succes- 
sor be appointed ; and shall record and re- 
port to said meeting the causes of such re- 
moval. 

8. Shall, subject to the control of the So- 
ciety, manage the funds of the Society, and 
direct their disbursements; and shall invest 
all surplus moneys of the Society, hereafter 
received, in State Stock. 

9. Shall, in the absence of the President 
and Vice President, be authorized to ap- 
point a Chairman pro tem., and generally 
shall do all acts not inconsistent with the 
provisions of this Constitution or the direc- 
tions of the Society, which they may deem 
calculated to advance the interest and ob- 
jects of this Society. 

Five members shall constitute a quorum 
of said committee. 

SECTION IX. 

POWERS AND DUTIES OF SECRETARY AND 
TREASURER. 

1. The Secretary and Treasurer shall at- 
tend all the meetings of the Executive Com- 
mittee, and keep minutes of their proceed- 
ceedings. 

2. Shall keep a list of the members of 
the Society, erasing therefrom, as occasion 
arises, the names of members dying, with- 
drawing or removing from the State. 

3. Shall carry on such correspondence- 
with other Socteties and with individuals as 
he may deem calculated to further the ob- 
jects of the Society, or as the Executive 
Committee may direct. 

4. Shall collect, by himself or such un- 



744 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[December 



paid or other assistants as lie may be able to 
engage, all dues to the Society, deposit them 
or any other moneys of the Society coming 
to his hands, as received, in such bank as 
the Executive Committee may direct; and 
disburse the same by checks drawn by the 
President, or in his absence by the Chair- 
man of the Executive Committee, and coun- 
tersigned by the said Secretary and Trea- 
surer. 

5. Shall keep regular accounts of all re- 
ceipts and disbursements, and report the 
same to every stated meeting of the Execu- 
tive Committee, and perform all such other 
duties, not specially prescribed herein, as 
may be required of him by the said Com- 
mittee. 

6. He shall keep an office in the City of 
Richmond, where shall be preserved the re- 
cords of the Society, and whatever else the 
Executive Committee may direct; which 
office shall be open daily, at convenient 
times, to the members of the Society; and, 

7. He shall give bond and security in 
such form, and for such sum, as the Execu- 
tive Committee shall prescribe, conditioned 
for the faithful performance of his duties. 

SECTION X. 

GENERAL PROVISIONS. 

1. All capital of the Society, now or here- 
after invested, shall be held a fund sacred 
to the cause of Agricultural improvement, 
of which the income only shall be subject 
to appropriation. 

2. No officer of the Society, elected under 
the 4th Section of this Constitution, except 
the Secretary and Treasurer, shall receive 
compensation for his services, or any allow- 
ance for traveling or other expenses. 

3. The year of the Society, as regards 
elections, memberships, &c, shall be under- 
stood to be the calendar year : except that 
the fiscal year shall terminate on the 30th 
day of September. 

4. Amendments to this Constitution may 
be made by a two-thirds vote of the mem- 
bers in attendance at a general meeting, 
provided that the first clause of this sec- 
tion shall not be changed by a vote less than 
a majority of all the members of the So- 
ciety. 



On motion of Mr. Branch, 

Resolved, That the committee appointed 



by the last Farmers Assembly be continued, 
with instructions to examine the accounts of 
the Treasurer for the last three years, and 
that they report to the Executive Committee, 
and publish a copy of the report in the city 
papers.* 

On motion, 

Resolved, That the Assembly do now pro 
ceed to the election of officers to serve for 
twelve months from the 31st of December 
next: Whereupon the following were unan- 
imously elected. 

President. 

John R. Edmunds, of Halifax. 

Vice-Presidents. 
Willoughby Newton, of Westmoreland, 1st. 

E. W. Hubard, of Buckingham, 2nd. 

Frank G. Ruffin, of Chesterfield, 3rd. 

Franklin Minor, of Albemarle, 4th. 

Thomas L. Preston, of Campbell, 5th. 

Wm. C. Knight, of Henrico, 6th. 

R. H. Dulany, of Loudon, 7th. 

Richard Irby, of Nottoway, 8th. 

Executive Committee. 
Hugh M. Nelson, of Clarke. 
Wm. G. Crenshaw, of Richmond. 
Wm. T. Scott, of Charlotte. 
John R. Garnett, of Henrico. 
Colin Stokes, of Lunenburg. 



* VIRGINIA STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 

[A Copy.-] 

The undersigned, appointed by the Farmers 
Assembly, a committee to examine the accounts 
of the Treasurer of the Virginia State Agricultu- 
ral Society, respectfully beg leaue to report to 
the Executive Committee that they have not 
deemed it necessary to re-examine the papers 
which have already undergone the scrutiny of 
the Committee of Accounts and been accepted 
by them as "proper vouchers," but, that they 
have carefully reviewed the accounts of the 
Treasurer, compared them with his books, and 
find them correct and in exact correspondence. 

They find in the custody of the Treasurer, 
agreeably to his last report, certificates of Vir- 
ginia State Stock amounting to .$1,800 00 

And certificates of Richmond City 

Stock, ...44,750 00 

Making the total invested fund, 46,550 00 

And the balance of cash on hand as 

per last annual report, 1,689 99 

All of which is respectfully submmitted. 
[Signed.] Corbin Warwick, ^ 

David J. Saunders, >- Committee. 
R. Barton Haxall, J 
Richmond, Nov. 14, 1860. 



I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



745 



Snimiel McD. Reid, of Rockbridge. 

& W. N. Noland, of Albemarle. ' 
Win. Overton, of Louisa. 
Odin G. Clay, of Campbell. 
B. F. Dew, of King & Queen. 

Secretary and Treasurer. 

Charles B. Williams, of Henrico. 

On motion of Mr. Nelson, 

Resolved, That the thanks of the Assem- 
bly are hereby tendered to the speaker, for 
the ability with which he has discharged 
the duties of the chair. 

The speaker tendered his acknowledg- 
ment of the honor in a brief and feeling ad- 
dress, and the Assembly then adjourned 
sine die. 

Ch. B. Williams, Clerk. 



PREMIUMS AWARDED 

BF THE 

Virginia State and Central Societies 

AT TDEIR UNITED FAIR AND CATTLE SHOW 
IN OCTOBER, I860. 

ESSAYS OR WITTEN COMMUNICATIONS. 
Class 1. 

1. For the best Essay on the practical 
management of a farm of not less than 300 
acres, devoted to the cultivation of corn and 
wheat as staple crops. The necessary farm 
buildings to be described ; the proper divi- 
sion of the farm into fields; the force in 
teams and farm hands necessary for its cul- 
tivation ; the rotation of crops pursued ; the 
artificial grasses cultivated ; the green crops 
plowed in for manure ; the quantity and kinds 
of stock which may be usefully and profita- 
bly kept upon it; and all other matters 
deemed necessary by the writer for its pro- 
fitable and economical management to be 
distinctly stated. Also, the proper prepara- 
tion of land for corn and wheat, the best 
times in the opinion of the writer for plant- 
ing and sowing these crops, the method pur- 
sued in the management and disposal of the 
shucks, stalks, and fodder of the corn, and 
in harvesting, preserving and threshing the 
wheat crop, and preparing it for market — 

A Gold Medal of the value of $100 



Class 2, 

2. For the best Essay on the cultivation 
and management of Tobacco, including the 
preparation of the plant-bed, and tbe rear- 
ing of plants ; the preparation and manur- 
ing of the land; the number and proper 
construction of tobacco barns; the mode 
of curing, assorting, ordering, and prizing 
lor market; and the force to every thousand 
hills necessary to cultivate the crop success- 
fully— 

A Gold Medal of the value of $50 



The Committee on Essays would respect- 
fully report: — That papers on six of the nine 
classes of subjects included in the Society's 
Schedule-, have been submitted to their in- 
spection, and that the result of their exam- 
ination is as follows : 

To an Essay on " The practical and sys- 
tematic management of a farm of 300 acres 
of which corn and wheat are the principle 
staples," by Mr. Edmund Taylor, of Camp- 
bell, they award the premium mentioned 
under Class 1st. The Committee are not 
prepared to subscribe to all the views of this 
paper ; but the points in which it is open 
to criticism are so few, as compared with 
those in which it is to be commended, and 
are so readily susceptible of modification ; 
and the number of its approved suggestions, 
(whether confirmed by the experier.ee of the 
writer or gathered from the practice of 
others, we know not,) is such that its sup- 
posed errors have not been thought sufficient 
to alter our decision. 

Of Essays on the Cultivation and Man- 
agement of Tobacco, they have, with some 
hesitation, awarded the premium to one by 
Mr. Henry M. Folkes, of Chesterfield — not 
that they doubted its sufficiency as a sum- 
mary of the modes most approved in this 
quarter of the State, but because of the 
merits of another paper, by Mr. Samuel C. 
Shclton, of Henry eounty, giving the more 
novel and somewhat peculiar methods prac- 
tised in another district, in the preparation 
of this crop for other and very different pur- 
poses. The Committee, therefore, think that 
this paper is worthy of a like premium ; or 
if, under the Rules of the Society, this be 
inadmissible, that its equivalent should be 
equally divided, and a half assigned to each 
writer in some other form. 

l'.-ays on Manures, on Grasses, and on 
Swine ; were also presented; — not one of 



746 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[December 



which was without its merits — in some cases 
very decided, and such as might well bring 
it in competition for a premium, had a due 
proportion been observed in its several parts. 
But as they now appear, from the omission 
of some topics, and the defective presenta- 
tion of some others, they seem to come short 
of the standard required by the Society's 
Schedule; we, therefore, decline awarding 
a premium to any. But as each contains 
information, the fruit of personal experience, 
and worthy of public attention, the Com- 
mittee have instructed their Chairman to 
communicate with the several .writers, sug- 
gesting the several points in which it is 
thought their papers are deficient, — in the 
hope that, after due revisal, and with proper 
additions, they may be again brought for- 
ward and re-submitted to a future Commit- 
tee of the Society with better prospects of 
successful competition. 

Several Essays on Fruit trees were also 
laid before us ; but the number and charac- 
ter of these papers, and the late hour at 
which they were handed in, have not left 
us sufficient time for their due considera- 
tion • we, therefore, reserve our decision as 
to their comparative merits until we shall 
have been able to give them a more mature 
examination, after which our award shall be 
announced to the Secretary of the Society. 
Respectfully submitted, 

N. F. Cabell, Chairman. 

J. R. Bryan, 

Wm. M. Tate. 

Dr. J. R. Baylor has read carefully, and 
unites in the award made by the Committee 
of the Premiums for the Essays No. 1 and 
No. 2, and is only prevented from signing 
by his absence, occasioned by illness. 

N. F. Cabell, 
J. R. Bryan. 



CATTLE DEPARTMENT. 

Class 11. 

Durham Bulls of Native Stock. 

11. To V. Hansberger, of Rocking- 
ham, best Bull 3 years old or up- 
wards, "Scipio," " $75 

12. To Dr. D. Sanders, of Wythe, 
second best, "Valentine," 35 

13. To J. M. McCue, agent for A. 
Gooch, of Mercer, best Bull 2 years 

old and under 3, "Simon Pure/' 35 



14. To W. Radford, of Bedford, sec- 
ond best, "Glaucus," $15 

15. To Dr. D. Saunders, of Wythe, 
best Bull 1 year old and under 2, 
"Van Tromp/' .. 20 

16. To R. H. Dulany, of Loudoun, 
second best, " Lord Fairfax," 10 

Class 12. 
Durham Coics and Heifers of Native Stock. 

17. To S. W. Ficklen, of Albemarle, 
best Cow 2 years old or upwards, 

" Flora the 3rd," 40 

18. To R. H. Dulany, of Loudoun, 
second best, " Dairy Maid," 20 

19. To Dr. D. Saunders, of Wythe, 
best Cow or Heifer 2 years old and 
under 3, "Molly May," 20 

20. To Dr. D. Saunders, of Wythe, 



second best, "Lottie Lin wood, 



10 



40 



20 



4J) 



Class 15. 
Devon Bulls of Native Stock. 
35. To J. H. McIIenry, of Mary- 
land, best Bull 3 years old or over, 
" Uncas," 



75 



21. To W. Radford, of Bedford, 
best Heifer 1 year old and under 2, 
"Fanny Fly," 15 

22. ToS.W. Ficklen, of Albemarle, 
second best, " Martha Clay," 8 

Class 13. 
Hereford Bulls of Native. Stock. 

23. To John Merry man, of Mary- 
land, best Bull 3 years old or over, 
"Blenheim," * 75 

24. To Stephen Hunter, of Henrico, 
second best, "Catalpa," 35 

25. To John Merryman, of Mary- 
land, best Bull 2 years old and under 
3, "Expectation," 35 

Class 14. 

Hereford Cows and Heifers of Native Stock. 

29. To John Merryman, of Mary- 
land, best Cow 3 years old or upwards, 
" Promise," 

31. To John Merryman, of Mary- 
land, best Cow or Heifer 2 years old 
and under 3, "Fill the Pail," 

29i To J. Merryman, of Maryland, 
best rmported Hereford Cow, " Mil- 
ton," 



I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



747 



86. To S. S. Bradford, of Culpeper, 
second best, " Henry Clay," $35 

37. To Dr. G. B. Dillard, of Spott- 
sylvania, best Bull 2 years old and un- 
der 3, "Duke of Hanover," 35 

38. To II. J. Strandberg, of Mary- 
land, second best, "Baltimore," 15 

39. To Alex. Garrett, of Richmond, 
best Bull 1 year old and under 2, "He- 
rod," 20 

40. To H. J. Strandberg, of Mary- 
land, second best, " Brooklyn," 10 

35 h To T. J. Carson, of Orange, 
best imported Bull, "Napoleon," 75 



Class 15. 

Devon Cows and Heifers of Native Stock. 

41 To H. J. Strandberg, of Mary- 
land, best Cow 3 years old or over, 
" Matilda,"* 40 

42. To Dr. G. B. Dillard, of Spott- 
sylvania, second best, "Malibran," 20 

43. To Wm. Allen, of Surry, best 
Cow or Heifer 2 years old and under 3, 
"Beauty," 20 

44. To Dr. G. B. Dillard, of Spott- 
sylvania, second best, " Norma," 10 

45. To Dr. G. B. Dillard, of Spott- 
sylvania, best Heifer 1 year old and 
under 2, "Pearl," 15 

45. To Dr. P. B. Pendleton, of 



Louisa, second best, "Virginia," 



41*. To T. J. Carson, of Orange, 
best imported Cow, "Penelope," 40 



Class 17. 
Ayrshire Bulls of Native Stock. 

47. To Lewis Graves, of Orange, 
best Bull 3 years old or upwards, 
"Defiance," 75 

46. To John B. Crenshaw, of Hen- 
rico, second best, " Lord Mar," 35 

51. To R. B. Haxall, of Richmond, 
best Bull 1 year old and under 2, 20 



* On establishing for her a thorough pedigree. 
in default of which the first premium is award- 
ed to Dr. G. B. Dillard for "Malibran" id lieu 
of the second. 



Class 18. 
Ayrshire Cows and Heifers of Native Stock- 

58. To Peter D. Glinn, of Henrico, 
best Cow 3 years old or upwards, 
"Christmas," $40 

54. To Peter D. Glinn, second best, 
"Martha," 20 

55. To B. W. Haxall, of Henrico, 
best Cow or Heifer 2 years old and 
under 3, "Heifer," 20 

Class 19. 
Alderney Bulls of Native Stock. 

59. To Peyton Johnston, of Rich- 
mond, best Bull | years old or up- 
wards, "Pryor," 75 

60. To J. H. McHenry, of Mary- 
land, second best, "Reward,'' 35 

61. To S. S. Bradford, of Culpeper, 
best Bull 2 years old and under 3, 

" Burgundy," 35 

62. To J. H. McIIenry, of Mary- 
land, second best, "Hector," 15 

63. To Peyton Johnston, of Rich- 
mond, best Bull 1 year old and under 

2, "Colonel," 20 

64. To J. H. McHenry, of Mary- 
land, second best, " Figaro," 10 

Class 20. 
Alderney Cows and Heifers of Native Stock. 

65. To Peyton Johnston, of Rich- 
mond, best Cow 3 years old or up- 
wards, "Nora," 40 

66. To J. H. McHenry, of Mary- 
land, second best, "Lady," 20 

67. To J. H. McHenry, of Mary- 
land, best Cow or Heifer 2 years old 
and 3, "Constance," 20 

69. To Peyton Johnston, of Rich- 
mond, best Heifer 1 year old and un- 
der 2, "Daisy," 15 

70. To J. H. McHenry, of Mary- 
land, second best, " Plenty," 8 

65i To J. H. McHenry, of Mary- 
land, best imported Cow, " Hope," 40 

Class 21. 

Grade Cows and Heifers. 

71. To Stephen Hunter, of Rich- 
mond, best 3 year old or upwards, 
"Maggie," 20 



'48 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



[December 



72. To S. W. Picklen, of Albemarle, 
second best, $10 

73. To Crouse & Irvine,of Lynch- 
burg, best cow 2 years and under 3, 

" Mary Mathews," 15 

74. To Peyton Johnston, of Rich- 
mond, second best, " Georgiana," 8 

Class 22. * 

Dairy Cows. 

75. To S. S. Bradford, of Culpeper, 
best Cow for the dairy, " Dairy Maid," 40 

76. To Peter D. Glinn, of Rich- 
mond, second best, " Martha," 20 

Class 23. 
Yoked Working Oxen. 

77. To W. B. Crawford, of Augnsta, 
best pair 4 years old or upwards, 40 

78. To P. Linn, of Augusta, second 
best, 20 

Fat Stock. 
Class 24. 

Fat Bullocks. 

82. To Francis Bell, of Pulaski, best 
pair 5 years old or over, 50 

83. To Francis Bell, of Pulaski, best 
pair 3 years old and under 5, 50 

84. To Francis Bell, of Pulaski, best 

fat Bullock of any age, 30 

Class 25. 
Fat Cows and Heifers. 
86. To J. E. Carson, of Augusta, best 
fat Cow, 5 years old or over, 30 

Class 26. 
Fat Sheep. 

88. To P. B. Jones, of Orange, best' 
pen of fat Sheep, 4 or more, 20 

89. To G. W. Hackett, of Louisa, 
second best, - 10 

90. To P. B. Jones, of Orange, best 
slaughtered mutton, 10 

91. To H. G. Guthrie, of Augusta, 
second best, 5 

Class 27. 
Fat Hogs. 

92. To William Ballard Preston, of 



Montgomery, best pen fat Hogs, 4 or 
more, $20 

HORSE AND MULE DEPARTMENT. 

Class 28. 
Thorough Bred Stallions and Colts. 

94. To J. Maury Garland, of Rich- 
mond, best thorough bred Stallion, 4 
years old or upwards, " Duealeon," 100 

95. To R. V. Gaines, of Charlotte, 
second best, " Trojan," 50 

96. To W. T. Walker, of Goochland, 
best entire Colt, 3 years old and under 

4, " Gray Colt," by Red Eye, 50 

98. To W. T. Walker, of Goochland, 
best entire Colt, 2 years old and under 

3, " Colt," by Red Eye, 30 

99. To W. T. Waring, second best 

<" Colt," by Otelius, 15 

100. To R. V. Gaines, of Charlotte, 
best entire Colt, 1 year old and under 2, 

" Roscoe," 20 

Class 29. 
Thorough Bred Mares and Fillies. 

103. ) To W^m. C. Scott for " Pau- 

104. } line," and John M. Botts, for 
" Crinoline," the first and second pre- 
miums were united and divided in 
equal parts between them of $37 50 
each. 

107. To John Eubank, of Lunen- 
burg, best Filly, 2 years old and under 

3, " " 20 

108. To R. Y. Gaines, of Charlotte, 
second best, " Sunshine," 10 

109. To W. C. Scott, of Powhatan, 
best Filly, 1 year old and under 2, out 

of Pauline, by Fly-by-Night, 15 

110. To H. M. Fowlkes,of Chester- 
field, second best, 10 

Class 30. 

Roadster Stallions and Colts, adapted to 
Quick Light Draught. 

112. To S. W. Ficklen, of Albemarle, 
best Stallion, 4 years old or upwards, 
"Blackhawk," ■ 100 

113. To William Ellis, second best, 

« Black Eagle," 50 

115. To William Walls, best entire 

Colt, 3 years old and under 4, " Oracle," 50 
115. To John Rowlett, second best, 

" Upright," 25 



I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



749 



116. To II. M. Fowlkes; best entire 
Colt, 2 years old and under 3, " Hamp- 
ton/' 330 

117. To J. C. Garnett, second best, 

" Criterion," by Imported Emperor, ' 15 

118. To Dr. \V. H. Macon, best en- 
tire Colt, 2 years old and under 3, 

" Jno. J. Crittenden," 20 

119. To R. \V. Wyatt, second best, 

" Morgan Hunter, Jr." 10 

120. To Norborne Berkeley, best en- 
tire Colt, under 1 year old, 10 

Class 31. 

Roadster Mares and Fillies, adapted to 

Qyick Light Draught. 

121. To John H. Timberlake, best 
Brood Mare, 4 years old or over, " La- 
dy Kossuth," 50 

122. To Joseph Brummel, second 
best ■" Nelly," 25- 

123. To S. W. Ficklen,best 3 years 

old and under 4, " Lassie," 30 

124. To R. B. Haxall, second best, 

" Empress," by Imported Emperor, ' 15 

125. To B. W. Green, best Filly, 2 
years old and under 3, 20 

126. To B. W. Green, second best, 
"Betty Collin," 10 

127. To Col. Geo. Willis, best Filly, 
1 year old and under 2, * Ann Em- 
press," by Imported Emperor, 15 

128. To Dr. W. H. Macon, second 
best, Victoria, 10 

129. To B. W. Green, best Filly, 
under 1 year old, 10 

Class 32. 

Roadster Stallions and Colts, adapted to 

Quick Coach Draft. 

130. To Alexander Rives, best Stal- 
lion, 4 years old or upwards, " Carl," 

by imp. Emperor, $100 

131. To L. Manger & Co., Baltimore, 
second best, u Paul Clifford," 50 

132. To James Newman, best En- 
tire Colt, 3 years old and under four, 

" Cardinal," 50 

133. To R. B. Haxall, second best, 
"Ala-Mode Kossuth," 25 

134. 'To R. H. Dulany, best En- 
tire Colt, 2 years old and under 3, 30 

135. To J. H. Dillard, second best, 15 

136. To George Willis, best En- 
tire Colt, 1 year old and under two, 

" Emperor," by imp. Emperor. 20 



137. To J. B. Newman, second best, $10 

138. To S. W. Ficklen, the best 
Entire Colt, under 1 year old, 10 

Class 33. 

Best Roadsted Mares and Fillies, adapted 
to Quick Coach Draught. 

139. To W. H. Macon, best Brood 
Mare, 4 years old or over, 50 

140. To R. H. Dulany, second best, 25 

143. To James Walker, of Augusta, 
best Filly, 2 years old and under 3, 

" Lillie," 20 

144. To J. S. Wharley, second best, 10 

145. To Maj. Jno. Lee, of Orange, 
best Filly, 1 year old and under 2, 15 

146. To W. B. Sydnor, second best, 10 

147. To Dr. Jno. R. Woods, of Al- 
bemarle, best Filly, under 1 year old, 10 

Class 34. 

Saddle Stallions and Colts, adapted to the 
Breeding of Improved Riding Horses. 

148. To Henry k Broughn, best 
Stallion, 4 years old or over, " Virgi- 
nia," $100 

149. To C. F. Berkeley, second best, 

« Tom Telegaph," 50 

151. To John H. Swarts, second best 
entire Colt, 3 years old and under 4, 

" Latham," 25 

152. To B. Johnson, best entire 
Colt, 2 years old and under 3, " Quix- 
otte," ' 30 

153. To H. F. Davis, second best, 

" Henry A. Wise," 15 

154. To J. P. H. Graves, best en- 
tire Colt, 1 year old and under 2, 

" Zouave," 20 



Class 35. 

Saddle Mares and Fillirs, adapted to the 
Breeding of Improved Riding Horses. 

157. To G. W. Mowry, best' Brood 
Mare, 4 years old or over, " Gyp," $50 

158. To H. M. Fowlkes, second best, 

u Katy Darling," 25 

159. To Jno. M. Hooper, best Filly, 

3 years old and under four, " Mozolle," 30 

160. To R. V. Gaines, second best, 

" Polly Hopkins," 15 

161. To J. H. Swarts, best Filly, 

2 years old and under 3, " Fanny," 20 



750 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



[December 



102. To G-. W. Dillard, second best, 
"Sally Miller," $10 

163. To H. M. Fowlkcs, best Filly, 

1 year old and under two, u Maggie 
Mitchel," 15 

164. To G. H. Dillard, second best, 

" Bessie Bramham," 10 

165. To H. M. Fowlkes, best Filly, 
under 1 year old, " Ticonderoga," 10 

Class 36. 
Heavy Draught Stallions and Colts. 

166. To Absalom llowe, best Stal- 
lion, 4 years old or over, "Champion," 50 

167. To James D. Mundy, second 
best, " Cobham," * 25 

170. To S. B. Finley, of Augusta, 
best Entire Colt, 2 years old and under 

3, " Emperor," by imp. Emperor, 20 

171. To T. E. Dillard, second best, 10 

172. To H. F. Davis, best Entire 
Colt, 1 year old and under 2, . 10 

Class 37. 
Heavy Draught Mares and Fillies. 
176. To John Hanger, best Filly, 3 
years old and under 4, " Lady Augusta," 20 

Class 38. 
Trials of Speed. 

182. To John Kinsley, first premium 
for Horses, Mares or Geldings, best time 
limited to 2 min. 50 seconds, won in 

2 minutes 46f seconds, by " belle of 
Baltimore," * $250 

183. To J. R. Parker, of Vermont, 
second premium for Horses, Mares or 
Geldings j best time limited to 3 min., 
won in 2 minutes 43 f seconds by 
"General Dunham," 150 

185. To Pierre Lapence, for Horses, 
Mares, or Geldings, 4 years old and 
under 7 ; best time limited to 3 min. 10 
seconds; second premium won in 3 
min. 1£ sec, by " Gray Stranger," 75 

186. To R. H. Dulany, of Loudoun, 
first premium for Colts or. Fillies, un- 
der 4 years old ; best time limited to 3 
min. 30 sec, won in 2 min. 54£ sec, 

by " Lady May," 100 

187. To R. H. Dulany, of Loudoun, 
second premium for Colts or Fillies, 
under 4 years old; best time limited to 

3 min. 40 sec, won in 3 min. 11 sec, 

by "Walter Morgan," 50 



Class 89. 

Match Horses in Harness, accustomed to be 

used as such in Pairs, for Quick , 

Light Draught. 

190. To J. R. Allen, best pair 
Mares, $50 

Class 40.. 

Match Horses in Harness, accustomed, to be 

used together as .such, in Pairs, for 

Quick Coach Draught. 

191. To R. S. Allen, best pair Mares 

or Geldings, $50 

' 191*. To Edm'd Bossieux, best 
single Mare or Gelding, in Harness, 
adapted to the road, 40 

191f. To James Lyons, second best, 20 

Class 41. 
Saddle Horses. Under the Saddle. 

192. To Sanderson Thrift, of Lou- 
doun, best Mare, " Lillie," 40 

193. To T. J. S warts, second best 



Mare, 



20 



Class 42. 
Ponies and Horsemanship. 

194. To A. T. Partman, best Pony, 
ridden by a lad 14 years of age, the 
Horsemanship also considered, 20 

195. To Alphonso Green, second 
best, " 10 

Clast 43. 
Mules and Jacks. 

196. To Nimrod Bramham, of Albe- 
marle, best Jack, 50 

197. To Isaac G. Caison, of Spott- 
sylvania, second best, 25 

" 198. To John Eubank, of Lunen- 
burg, best Jennet, 30 

SHEEP DEPARTMENT. 

Class 44- 

Fine Wools of Native Stock, including pur c 
bred Spanish, Saxon, French and Si le- 
sion Merinos. 

206. To S. S. Bradford, of Culpe- 
per, best Ram, 20 

207. To W. §. Rowley, of Henrico, 
second best, 10 



1800.] 



the southern Planter. 



51 



208. To S. S. Bradford, of Culpeper, 
best pen Kain Lambs, 4 in number, $15 

2(H). To *.* Bradford, of Cilpcftr, 
best pen Ewes, -'5 in number. 30 

210. To S. S. Bradford, of Culpeper, 
second best, 15 

211. To S. S. Bradford, of Culpeper, 
best pen Ewe Lambs, 4 in number, 15 

212. To S. S. Bradford, of Culpeper, 
second best, 10 

Imported Fine Wool Merinos. 
Class 45. 

213. To S. S. Bradford, of Culpeper, 
best Ram, 30 

214. To S. S. Bradford, of Culpeper, 
best Ewe. 30 



Class 46. 

Fine Wool Grades, including crosses of the 
above classes. 

215. To S. S. Bradford, of Culpeper, 
best pen Ewes, 3 in number, 30 

fcl6. To S. S. Bradford, of Culpeper, 
second best, 15 

217. To S. S. Bradford, of Culpeper, 
best pen Ewe Lamts, 10 



Class 47. 

Middle Wools of pure bred, Native Stock, 
including South Douns and other JHpB 
breeds of Middle Wools. 

218. To R. H. Dulany and Tbos. 

L. Parish, divided, best Ram, 20 

219. ToR. H. Dulany and Thomas 

L. Fariah, divided, second best, 10 

220. To R. H. Dulany, of Loudoun, 
pen Ram Lambs, 4 in number, 15 

221 To R. H. Dulnny,of Loudoun, 
best pen Ewe Lambs, 3 in number, 30 

222. To R. 11. Dulany, of Loudoun, 
second best, 15 

223. To R. H. Dulany, of Loudoun, 
best pen Ewe Lambs, 4 in number, 15 

Class 48. 

Imported Middle Wools, including the above 
varieties. 

225. To R. H. Dulany, of Loudoun, 
best Ram, 30 

220. To R. H. Dulany, of Loudoun, 
best Ewe, 30 



Class 49. 

Middle Wool tirades. 

227. To Dr. Jnu. II. Wttodi, of Al- 
bemarle, best pen Bwes, '•> in number, $30 

22S. To Frank G. Ruffin, of Ches- 
field, second best, 15 

229. To Frank G. Ruffin, best pen 
Ewe Lambs, 4 in number, 10 

Class 50. 

Long Wools of Native Stock, including 
Bakcwcll, Leicester, Cotswood. or New 
Oxfordshire and Lincoln. 

230. To Dr. John R. Woods, of Al- 
bemarle, best Ram, 20 

231. To Dr. John R. Woods, of Al- 
bemarle, second best, 10 

282. To Dr. John R. Woods, of Al- 
bemarle, best pen Ram Lambs, 4 in 
number, 15 

233. To Dr. John R. Woods, of Al- 
bemarle, best pen Ewes, 3 in number, 30 

234. To Dr. John R. Woods, of Al- 
bemarle, second best, 15 

235. To Dr. John R. Woods, best 
pen Ewe Lambs, 4 in number, 15 

Class 52. 

Long Wool. Grades, including Crosses of 
the above Breeds and Natives. 
239. To (1. W. Hackett, of Louisa, 
best pen of Ewes, 3 in number, 30 



°A0. To Edmund Fontaine, of Han- 



over, second best, 



15 



SWINE DEPARTMENT. 

Classes 34 and 35. 

Reports on these two classes have been 
referred to the Executive Committee of the 
Central Agricultural Society of Virginia, 
but no action has yet been had upon them. 

POULTRY DEPARTMENT. 

Class 55. 

Gallinaceous Folds. 

262. To W. J. Hubard, of Henrico, 
best pair Game, 5 

263; To J. G. Turpin, of Petersburg, 
best pair Spanish Black, 5 

204. To Mrs. Johnson, of Henrico, 
best pair White Dorkings, 5 



752 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[December 



268. To J. G. Turpin, of Petersburg, 
best pair Black Hamburg, 

209. To W. S. Chandler, of Henrico, 
best pair Dominiques, 

279. To Mrs. Wall, of Henrico, best 
pair Silver Polands, 

272. To W. J. Binford, of Hanover, 
best pair White Crested Polands, 

273. ToW. A. Dunnaway. of Henri- 
co, best pair White Bantams, 

274. To D. M. Miller, of Richmond, 
best pair Black Bantams, 

275. To W. S. Britton, of Henrico, 
best pair Mongrels, 

276. To Jackson Bolton, of Rich- 
mond, best pair Capons, 

Class 56. 
Ducks. 

277. To J. G-. Turpin, of Petersburg, 
best pair Aylesbury, 

278. To J. G. Turpin, of Peters- 
burg, best pair Java, 

279. To G-. A. Carter, of Henrico, 
best pair Muscovy, 

281. To W. J. Binford, of Hanover, 
best pair Rouen, 

282. To Mrs. B. Slade, of Richmond, 
best pair Mongrel, 

Class 57. 
Geese. 

283. To J. G. Turpin, of Petersburg, 
best pair African, 

284. To J. G. Turpin, of Petersburg, 
best pair Bremen, 

285. To Mrs. Dr. Johnson, of Hen- 
rico, best pair Hong Kong, 

286. To Washington Jones, of Han- 
over, best pair Mungrel, 

287. To George Palmer, of Rich- 
mond, bost pair Wild, 

Class 58. 
Turkeys. 

288. To Dr. J. E. Williams, of Hen- 
rico, best pair Domestic, 

Class 59. 
Guinea Folds, Pea Fowls, &c 
290. To W. S. Britton, of Henrico, 
best pair Guinea Fowls, 



291. To Mrs. B. W. Green, of Hen- 
rico, best pair Pea Fowls, $5 

293 To Geo. Palmer, of Richmond, 
best collection Pigeons, 5 

FARM AND GARDEN PRODUC- 
TIONS. 
Class 61. 
Manufactured Tobacco. 

297. To W. B. Ross & Co., best 
specimens for general home consump- 
tion, $c 

Class 62. 
Flour, Grain, and Corn. 

298. To W. W. Dabney, King 
William Mills, best barrel Flour, $10 

299. To M. Blair & Co., Slate Hill 
Mills, second best, 5 

300. To Dr. A. J. Terrill, of Hen- 
rico, best bushel of Wheat, 10 

301. To Gr. H. Dillard, second best, 5 
303. To Garland Hanes, of Henrico, 

best bushel of Oats, 5 

305. To W. B. Sydnor, of Hanover, 
best bushel shelled white Corn, 5 

Class 64. 
Beverages. 

320. To Miss Julia E. Turpin, best 
specimen of Domestic Wine, other 
than Grape, $10 

321. To Joseph Sinton & Son, best 
barrel of Cider, 15 

Class 65. 

Fruit and Fruit Trees all raised by the Ex- 
hibitor on this side of the Potomac, and 
suitable for Southern cultivation. 

322. To H. B. Jones, best and largest 
variety of Apples, each labelled with 

its name, $20 

323. To Joseph Sinton & Son, best 
and largest variety of Pears, each 
labelled, * 15 

325. To Franklin Davis, best and 
largest collection of Apple Trees, 10 

326. To Joseph Sinton & Son, best 

and largest collection of Pear Trees, 10 j 

327. To Franklin Davis, best and 
largest collection of Peach Trees, 10 



I860.] 



THfi SOUTHERN PLANT BR. 



753 



828. To Joseph 9inton k Son, best 
specimen Fig Trees, $5 

329. To Franklin Davis, best col- 
lection Grape Vines, 5 

;{:)(). To John Stranslmry, best col- 
lection Strawberry Plants, 3 

831. To Joseph Sinton A Son, best 
collection of Raspberry Plants, 3 

383. To Miss A. C. llcnnie, best 
bushel of Dried Apples, cured by the 
exhibitor, 3 

334. To Mrs. R. H. Dibrell, best 
and largest collection native drapes, 10 



HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. 

Class 06. 

Fhncers. 

338. To James Truest, best and 
largest collection choice plants, 810 

340. To J. Morton, best and greatest 
variety of Dahlias, 5 

341. To James Gliest, best 12 Dah- 
lias, 2 

342. To James Guest, best and 
greatest variety of Roses, 5 

343. To James Guest, best 25 Roses, 2 

344. To James Guest, best and 
largest collection of Crysanthemums, 3 

335. To J. Morton, best Floral Or- 
nament, 5 

348. To Franklin Davis, best and 
largest collection of Evergreens, 5 

349. To Franklin Davis, best- and 
largest collection Flowering Shrubs, 5 



Class 67. v 
Vegetables of Virginia Growth. 

350. To S. Chamberlain, best and 
largest assortment table vegetables, $20 

35L To William Smith, best half 
dozen Long Blood Beet, 2 

352. To J. W. Bcvridgc, best half 
dozen heads Cabbage, 2 

353. To Thomas Bruton, best half 
dozen Cauliflower, 2 

355. To William Smith, best half 
dozen Carrots, 2 

356. To S. Chamberlain, best half 
dozen Egg Plants, 2 

357. To Geo. II. King, best peck 
Onions, 2 

358. To William Smith, best half 
dozen Parsnips, 2 

48 



859. To A. Bchaad, bust bunch 
Celery, S"> 

360. To John Gordofl, best bunch 
Salsify, 5 

861. To Thus. Brnton, best bushel 
Irish Potatoes, 5 

862. To David Moore, best bushel 
Seewt Potatoes, 5 

363. To S. Chamberlain, best acre 
Irish Potatoes, 268J bushels per acre, 25 



DOMESTIC DEPA11TM ENT. 

Class G8. 

Butter and Cheese. 

3G5. \ To Mrs. Edwin Hill of Han- 

366. j over, t20j and Mrs. W. II. 
Saunders of Henrico, $20, best speci- 
men of fresh Butter, not less than 10 
pounds, 1st and 2nd premiums, united 
aud divided between them, $40 

867. To Mrs. T. J. Ilansberger of 
Rockingham, best firkin or tub of salted 
Butter, nor less than 6 months old, of 
40 pounds or more, $25 

369. To Mrs. M. J. McCue, of 
Augusta, best Cheese, not less than 20 
pounds, 10 

370 Second best divided between 
lots 6 and 14, 5 

Class G9. 
Honey, Bee Hives, and Bacon Hams. 

371. To A. S. Maddux, Chesterfield, 
best specimen of Honey, nor less than 

10 pounds, $5 

372. To A. S. Maddux, Chesterfield, 
best Bee Hive, Phelps' patent, 10 

373. To R. O. Haskins, Richmond, 
best Ham, cured by exhibitor, 8 

364. To S. W. Ficklen, Albemarle, 
second best, 4 

Class 70. 
Domestic Man ufactures. 

367. To Young & Winston, N. C, 
best and largest variety of W'oolen' 
Goods manufactured in any other 
slave State, if of equal quality to those 
manufactured in Virginia, to be la- 
beled with a descriptive commercial 
name, &c, $50 



'54 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[December 



Class 71. 

Household Ma n ufactures. 

278. To Mrs. Lorraine, Richmond, 
best Bed Quilt, 

379. To Mrs. E. Brock, 2nd best, 

380. To Mrs. Burton of Madison, 
best Counterpane, 

381. To Mrs. R. A. Mills of Rich- 
mond, 2nd best, 

382. To Mrs. T. E. Bush, best home 
made Blankets; 

383. To Mrs. T. B. Anderson, best 
home made Carpet, 

384. To Mrs. H. E. Johns of Buck- 
ingham, best home made Hearth Rug, 

385. To Miss T. C. Harrold, best 
home made Curtains, 

388. To Miss H. J. Turner, Louisa, 
best fine long Yarn Hose, 

389. To Miss H. J. Turner, Louisa, 
best fine long Cotton Hose, 

390. To Miss C. Tally of Hanover, 
best Silk Hose of home made Silk, 

391. To Mrs. Mary Waddell, best 5 
lbs. Maple Sugar, 

392. To Mrs. John P. Tabb, best 
home made Family Bread, 

393. To Miss S. P. Bigger, best 
home made Pound Cake, 

394. To Miss S. P. Bigger, best 
home made Sponge Cake, 

395. To Mrs. "William Willis, best 
and largest variety home made Pickles, 

396. To Mrs. B. W. Green, best and 
largest variety home made Preserves, 

397. To Miss Julia A. Turpin, largest 
variety, and best home made fruit Jelly, 

398. To Mrs. William Miller, best 
5 pounds home made Soap, 



Class 72. 
Ladies 1 Ornamental and Fancy Work. 

399. To Miss A. E. Dudley, best 
specimen Embroidery,' $8 

400. To Mrs. Peter C. Warwick, 
second best, 6 

401. To Mrs. John Allen, best speci- 
men Worsted Work, 8 

402. To Mrs. E. Semmes, second best, 6 

403. To Miss M. E. Gordon, best 
specimen Crotchet Work, 8 

404. To Miss E. P. Gray, second 
best, 6 

405. To Mrs. S. II. Burton, best 
specimen Shell Work, 8 



406. To Miss M. Carr, second best, 

408. To Miss Warren, second best 
specimen Leather Work, 

409. To Mrs. E. T. Morris, best 
specimen Knitting, 

410. To Mrs. Mickell, of Prince 
Edward, second best, 

411. To Mrs. P. Woolfork, best 
specimen Netting, 

412. To Miss E. P. Gray, second best, 

413. To Miss K. Vanderventer, best 
specimen Needle Work, 

414. To Miss M. E. Rennie, second 
best, 

415. To Mrs. J. C. Burton, best 
made Shirt, 

416. To Mrs. R. Sheppard, second 
best, 

417. To Mrs. B. W. Green, most 
extensive variety of Useful, Ornamen- 
tal and Fancy Work, not excluding 
articles which may have had premiums 
awarded to them under the above speci- 
fications, a premium of. 

Class 73. 
Servants' Premium. 
419. To Ira T. Carlton, best dozen 
Baskets of Virginia grown materials, 

423. To Corbin Street, best Straw 
Chair, 



MECHANICAL DEPARTMENT. 

Class 74. 
Ploughs, Cultivators, &c. 

425. To P. H. Stark, Richmond, 
best 3 or 4 horse Plough, 

426. To P. H. Stark, best 2 horse 
Plough, 

427 To P. H. Stark, best 1 horse 
Plough, 

428. To P. H. Stark, best Shovel 
Plough, 

429. To George Watt, best Subsoil 
Plough, 

430. To P. H. Starke, best New- 
ground or Coulter Plough, 

431. To George Watt, best Hillside 
Plough, 

432. To H. M. Smith, best Water- 
furrow Plough, 

435. To H. M. Smith, best Culti- 
vator for corn and tobacco, 

436. To H. M. Smith, best Culti- 
vator for 2 horses, 



10 



10 
10 
5 
5 
5 
5 
5 
5 
5 
5 



I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANT KK. 



755 



CLA86 7-"). 
Drill*, Broad- Cotter 8, (fee. 
437. To Bickford & Hoffman, best 
Broad-Casting .Machine for sewing 
grain or grass seed, 610 

488. To J. R. Black, by CardwellA 
Co., best Wheat' Drill, with Guano At- 
tachment, 40 

489. To A. P. Routt* best Corn 
Planter, with Guano Attachment, 10 

-140. To Dr. .). li. Garnett, best Im- 
plement for Bowing and covering peas 
among corn, at or immediately following 
the last tillage, cither with or without 
guano, 15 

442. To II. M. Smith, best Turnip 
Drill, 3 

Class 76. 
Wagons, Girts, Harness, dec. 

443. To C. D. Flynn, of Lynchburg, 
for Self-Adjusting Brake, on wagon, 
for farm use, being a valuable imple- 
ment, deemed worthy of premium, 20 

446. To H. M.Smith, of Richmond, 
best Wagon Body, or Ladder, for haul- 
ing wheat in the sheaf, or hay, or straw, 5 

447. To G. Kann, best and most 
numerous collection of Saddles, Bridles, 
Collars, Humes, Harness, kc, 25 

Class 77. 
Farm Gate, Hurse Powers, Threshers, &c. 

440. To Leonard S. Treat, best Farm 
Gate, including best Hinge-Fatteningg, 
&c.,_ 10 

450. To John ITaw, of Hanover, 
best simple Horse Power, 25 

451. To C. C. Wetford, of Frede- 
ricksburg, best Threshing Machine, 30 

■ Class 78. 
Straw, Root Cutters, Gorn-SheUer$ 9 &c* 

458. To H. If. Smith, Richmond, 
best Hay or Straw Cutter, 10 

455. To Shinn & Taylor, best Grist 
Mill, for horse-power, 10 

457. To John Haw, Hanover, best 
Saw Mill, for farm use, 10 

Class 79. 
Hat/ Press, Fan Mill, drc. 
460. To II. M. Smith, best Hay 



Press, 



15 



461. To Montgomery & Bro., best 

Fan Mill, (Rockaway,) 810 

464, To II. M. Smith, best Horse 

Rake, lor Hay, 5 

1 

Class 80. 
Machines and Imph rm 

466. Divided between II. M. Smith, 
$25, and John W. Card well, & Co., 
S25, for the most extensive and valuable 
collection of useful Machines and Im- 
plements exhibited and made at any one 
factory in Virginia, whether including 
subjects for other premiums or not, 50 

Class 81. 
Carriages and other Vehicles. 

467. To G. A. Ainslie, Richmond, 
best and most numerous collection and 
variety made in Virginia, 50 

468. To II. II. Bosher, best 2 horse 
Family Carriage made in Virginia, 25 

Class 82. 

Miscellaneous. 

469. To Daniel O. Donnell, Rich- 
mond, best Pump adapted to deep 
wells, 10 

470. To Sampson & Pae, Richmond, 
best Lifting and Forcing Pump, 15 

471. To Salem T. Lamb, best im- 
proved Churn, 10 

472. To Wilcox & Gibbs, per Geo. 
Darby, Agent, best Sewing Machine 

for general use, 15 

Class 83. 

Agricultural Steam Engine. Steam Plough, 
Steam Saw Mill. 

476. To Joseph R. Anderson & Co., 
best Steam Engine, applicable to agri- 
cultural purposes generally, as a substi- 
tute for horse power, §100 

Class 84. 

Reaping and Msw in g Machines. 

479. To McCormick, best Reaping 
Machine, 50 

480. To C. Dimmock, Richmond, 
best Rake and Real, for combination 
with Reaper, 20 



756 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[December 



Class 86. 
Minerals of Virginia. 
482. To Oswald Henrich, of Rich- 
mond, best collection and largest variety 
Minerals, $80 

Class 87. 
Trials of Phvghs and Ploughing Match. 



483. f To Geo. Watt & Co., $20, 
] and P. H Stark & Co., 20, 
1 equally divided for the best 

484. [2, 3 and 4 horse Ploughs, 

485. To William Shepperson, Hen- 
rico, best Ploughman with horses, 

486. To R. M. Courtney, second best, 
4 8. To W. C. Allen's man, Lee, 

best colored Ploughman, 

489. To B. W^Haxall's James, 2nd 
premium, 



20 



20 

10 
5 

10 




%\t j$0ui|jtrn planter. 

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA. 



Our Union Fair. 

The joint exhibition lately held in this city, 
by the Virginia State and the Central Agricultural 
Societies, was the very best show, (in all its de- 
partments.) of this kind, that we have ever had 
the pleasure of attending. The weather was 
lovely, and as genial as spring. The absence 
of even a threatening cloud during the whole 
progress of the Fair, seemed to indicate that 
Heaven itself smiled upon the assemblage of 
orderly, courteous, good looking gentlemen and 
ladies, who were there engaged in the laudable 
purpose of promoting the Agricultural and Me- 
chanical interests of our beloved old State. 
Good nature shone on every face, and all that 
vast crowd of attending visitors seemed to vie 
with each other in courtesy, and that gentle 
spirit of kindness, which everywhere is recog- 
nised as the distinguishing mark of Nature's 
noblemen. 



The scene upon the Fair Grounds was one of 
which any State might be proud; and the fact 
that we had amongst us as visitors and ex- 
hibitors, some of the best citizens of our sister 
States — while the magnificent display of ani- 
mals, machinery, and other articles evincing in- 
genuity, taste, and industry on the part of ex- 
hibitors, was brought about by the joint action 
and harmony of our two Societies, proved, if 
proof was wanting, that " in union there is 
strength." 

The merits of many of the animals compet- 
ing in the various classes for premiums, were so 
closely balanced, as to make it often a very diffi- 
cult matter on the part of Judges to decide be- 
tween them — notwithstanding which, the de- 
feated kept up their spirits and good humor in 
an unusual degree, and determined to "pick 
flint and try again." 

Perhaps the best display in any department, was 
in that of the Horses. Every stall was filled, 
and among them were some of the most superb 
specimens of horse-flesh that ever we saw. 
"Every man thinks himself a judge of a horse," 
says an old proverb, and we only claim for our- 
selves those rights which other people have. 
Therefore, we don"t expect to be contradicted 
when we assert that the show of horses would 
be very hard to beat by a similar number in any 
country. 

We intended to say something of particular 
animals, which greatly excited our admiration ; 
but since the Fair was held, we have received 
a communication from a subscriber on this very 
head, which expresses our views; we endorse 
it, and publish it here : 

"It is conceded that the exhibition of horses 
was superior to that at any previous Fair in the 
State, and it would probably not exceed the 
truth to say that it was equal to any ever seen 
in the United States. The equine tribe was cer- 
tainly represented by many of the noblest de- 
velopments of its various 'types. In the class 
of thoroughbred, with his coat of satin, his 
bones of ivory, and his sinews of steel, justly 
regarded the very basis of all real improvement 
in horse breeding, were some noble specimens — 
the beautiful Deucalion, considered the very re- 
finement of thorough breeding, Trojan, Eugenie, 
Pauline, Crinoline, and others of less note. In 
the class of coaching horses were several speci- 
mens of the Cleveland stock, combining great 
power with fine action, and prominent among 
them was the last importation of Dr. John R. 
Woods, of Albemarle, called Symmetry. A 
horse of more imposing appearance, or more 
majestic carriage, I have never seen. He im- 
presses the observer with a sense of his com- 
bined strength and activity, and his perfect adap- 



18C0.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



757 



ration to all purposes of heavy quick draft. 
There was the real Yankee horse, " Black 
Ha w k.*" represented by aa noble looking speci- 
mens as my eye ever rested upon, belonging to 
Mr. Ficklen, of Albemarle, and "Kossuth," the 
property of Mr. Smith, of your city, together 
■with mauy'of his colts — (9) nine of which re- 
ceived premium:- — and a horse of wonderful 
si; e, representing the old English cart-horse, 
suited to extremely heavy slow draft. 

•• Among the noted brood marcs was old slaty 
Darling, the property of II. M. FouMtes, of Ches- 
terfield, considered to combine a> much of ex- 
cellence as can be broughl within the compass of 
a medium-sized animal. At this Fair she scores 
down her fifth prize — never having Known de- 
feat in the class of brood-mares for saddle: — 
with her were her family of three colts, every 
one a first prize animal. Her first produce, 
Hampton, the magnificent two year (Ail. stands 
fail sixteen hands, a mode] of eleganl propor- 
tion, and is full Of action of every kind. He 
represents what is known in England as the 
high-bred weight-carrying hunter, equal to any 
weight, for any distance, over any country. Her 
second is a .-upeib filly by Red Eye, of exquisite 
beauty; and her youngest, now at her side, a 
truly light and graceful thing, a scion of the 
"picture horse,'" Ticonderoga Black Hawk, tin: 
winner of more iirst prizes than any horse of 
his day. 

"Without professing to be a prophet. 1 venture 
the prediction, that in ten years from to-day, 
Virginia will be able to boast the finest stock of 
horses 6f all kinds in the world. From the cha- 
racter of her present stock, and the enterprise of 
her amateur breeder.-, such must certainly be the 
result." 

We were glad to see among the descendants 
of '-Cleveland Bays." colts pf great beauty and 
promise, as we frankly confess that our impres- 
sions of the Brsl Of the kind we ever saw were 
not favorable to them. We supposed the Cleave- 
land would prove too heavy and large for the 
wants of the present " fa*i " age — but we were 
in error, we now believe, since we saw some 
splendid colts, (sired by Cleveland Stallions.) 
Which were said 1o he out of ordinary mare.-. 

We think our breed of Coach Horses will be 
greatly improved by their introduction to this 
country; and we are Very anxious to see the 
made between them and our Morgans and 
Black Hawk-, as we should expect from such a 
cross, size, style and speed. The stallions 
to be remarkably docile and gentle. " Symme- 
try." the tine stallion spoken of by our corres- 
pondent, the property of Dr. John R. Woods, of 
Albemarle, made his appearance in our Horse 
Ring in harness. 

He had harness put on him for the first time, just 
one u-eek before the Fair commenced, after having 
made a season. J 



He was bitched np and driven off in our pres- 
ence, and worked Straight along without 
per. He wanted scarcely any breaking, and we 
Were never more surprised than when Wfl 

ahorse of such extraordinary size and power 
submit to beinrr harnessed, handled and driven 
ranger, without showing some ill nature 
or vice. 

The •• Black Hawk " stock had representatives 

on the ground which well maintained their 
claims to deserved popularity. 

Mr. Dublin's ■ Lady May " — a three year 
old — we thought the best filly irr ever s<ur ; nor 
were we alone in our judgment of her. as she 
combined size, beaut)-, action and speed enough 
to strike the attention of any man, "who knows 
a horse when he sees him." 

Tiie show of Durhams and Devons was fine. 
We have seen before a larger number of the 
former on exhibition — but what they lacked in 
number was more than made up by their supe- 
rior quality. 

It was a very difficult matter for the Judges 
to decide between the contending Devons. We 
have never before seen so great an array of 
beauty in this class. 

We give the names of prize-winners in the 
Premium List, which is published in the present 
number. Among our Virginia friends who were 
exhibitors, we noticed some very superior ani- 
mals. 

Dr. George B. Dillard's bull, "Duke of Han- 
over," and cows, " Malibran '' and "Norma," 
would be hard to beat at any show of animals 
of similar ages. Win. Allen's "Beauty,'' (rightly 
named we think,) S. S.Bradford's "Henry Clay," 
Alex. Garrett's " Herod,'' Dr. P. B. Pendleton's 
" Virginia," were all prize winners and of na- 
tive stock, while Mr. T. J. Carson had two su- 
perb imported animals, which received the same 
honors in their class. 

Mr. Merryman, of Maryland, had a herd of 
Hereford*, which we thought the finest animals 
of this breed we had ever seen. The si^ht of 
them gave ni almost as much pleasure as we 
presume they would have given Mr. Sotham, of 
X. Y.. who has for a long time disputed with 
the breeders of short-horns their claims of supe- 
riority over this breed. 

Mr. J. H. MoHenry, of Maryland, had both 
Devon* and Mdemeys of such quality that he 
might afford to brag over them, did not his gen- 
tlemanly modesty prevent him. We heard De- 
von breeders praise his stock very highly — but as 
we were more interested in the Alderneys. we 






'58 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



[ December 



examined them much more closely, and observ- 
ed some bulls and heifers which we thought 
very superior — his young bull, " Figaro" espe- 
cially. 

Mr. P. Johnston and S. S. Bradford, Esq., of 
Virginia, also exhibited Mderneys, which were 
winners of prizes. We are glad to see on our 
show grounds good specimens of so many dif- 
ferent breeds of animals, as it is evidence of a 
growing spirit of observation and experiment 
which proves our agriculturists are wide awake 
to the importance of constant efforts at improve- 
ment, which must be productive of benefit to 
them finally. Mr. Bradford had a cow from 
Kerry county, Ireland, which was a remarkable 
animal, and attracted much attention. She is 
almost as broad as she is long, and has very short 
legs. She gives a large quantity of rich milk, 
and is very valuable for dairy purposes. 

Messrs. Kuhn & Martin, of Henrico Co., exhib- 
ited their splendid bull, " Mazeppa." whose tow- 
ering size, graceful carriage, and general beauty, 
makes him not only a curiosity, but as noble a 
specimen of the Bovine race as any man ever 
saw. This bull weighs nearly 3,000 pounds, 
and yet as active as a calf. He is out of the 
Khaisi cow imported by Lieut. Lynch from the 
vicinity of the Dead Sea, and was sired by a fine 
Durham from the herd of Col. L. G. Morris, of 
N. Y. The Khaisis make very valuable oxen, 
and from what we have seen of them, we think 
highly of the grades as milkers. 

The number of sheep on the ground was not 
as large as usual — but in this department, too, 
the quality was as good as it could be. Messrs. 
Bradford, Dulany, Ruffm and Dr. Woods were 
the principal exhibitors in this department. 

The display of machinery was unusually 
good, but the limits of this article will not allow 
us to speak very particularly of it. We present 
to our readers wood cuts and explanations of 
two valuable and new inventions, viz: the 
Portable Fence, which can be made straight, 
crooked or round, and a Rat Trap, which is as 
curious as useful. 

W. E. Rider, of New York city, exhibited some 
magnificent specimens of Parraffine Candles. 
Candles made from the products of Virginia 
coal, as clear and as hard as glass, giving 
a light, it is said, equal to two of the very 
best Sperm candles, and lasting as long, 
i'i.. i'i. They arc for wholesale by I. & G. B. 
Davenport, of this city, and retailed at all the 
respectable grocery stores throughout Virginia. 



Patent Packages for holding spices, seeds, teas, 
coffee, &c, &c. attracted a great deal of attention. 
All the old ladies that were good housekeepers, 
and all the young ladies that had a view of 
eventually becoming good housekeepers, admired 
those boxes very much. Thomas Bruton aston- 
ished the people exceedingly with some samples 
of " solidified milk " from the manufactory of 
the American Solidified Milk Company, Dutch- 
ess county, N. Y. We tried it in our coffee, and 
make.no hesitation in saying, that on sea or in 
large cities, where good milk is difficult to be 
had, it must indeed prove a very useful inven- 
tion. Spalding's prepared glues, in bottles of 
varied sizes and hues, looked very nice. — 
French's Conical Washing Machine "was much 
admired for its simplicity and solidity of con- 
struction. 

In taking leave of the exhibition, we cannot 
refrain from the expression of our admiration 
for the courtesy and continued good humor of 
the officers superintending it, who, although 
subjected to many questions, interruptions, and 
botherations, were not in a single instance un- 
mindful of the most genuine politeness and 
kindness. 

We trust that the Chief Marshal, (Capt. Dim- 
mock,) will fill the same post for many years to 
come. 



The Close of the Year. 

With this number, the twentieth year of the 
"The Southern Planter's" labors to promote the 
interests of the Farmer and Mechanic closes, 
and it enters upon, its " majority." 

We disclaim for it any of that feeling which 
animates the bosom of " Young America," and 
makes him anxious to throw off the counsels 
and assistance of surrounding friends. On the 
contrary, as it approaches "the years of discre- 
tion," it more highly appreciate the sympathy, 
the advice and support of those friends who 
have cheered it on during the " burden and 
heat" of the days through which it has passed • 
and who have lightened its toils by the bestowal 
of "gentle words and loving smiles." 

To these we say, " deal gently with the young 
man," and help him go on in a path of useful- 
ness, which he has no wish to leave. Let him 
feel that there are those for whose sakes it is 
worth while to work, and who feel that "the 
laborer is worthy of his hire." 

The Editor begs to assure the partrons of the 
paper, that no effort of his shall be wanting to 
make it worthy of the confidence and support of 



18G0.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



769 



the Carmen of the country — particularly those of 
the South. A farmer himself, he is directly in- 
terested in all that concerns his brethren, and he 

never asks one of them to follow in any matter 
where he is afraid to lend, lie believes that the 
arrangements made tor conducting the paper 

during the next year, will greatly add to its use- 
fulness and interest; and he earnestly appeals 

to its friends ldr their zealous co-operation in his 

efforts to increase it-- circulation. 

Major Win. Gilham, IV fessor of Agriculture, 
in the Virginia Military Institute, at Lexington, 
will be associated in the editorial control of the 

Planter. 

The -Major has been so long and favorably 
known to the citizens of <>ur State, as an accom- 
plished, faithful, and energetic teacher and 

writer, that we deem it unnecessary 10 add a 
word more in relation to the arrangement, ex- 
cept to express our personal satisfaction at the 
prospect of st> pleasant an association — but let 
him speak for himself in our January number. 

Sombrero Guano. 

See the advertisement in onr advertising 
sheet, of this Guano, furnished by Mr. Elliott, 
of Baltimore, to Messrs. Eihnond. Davenport fy 
Co., of this city, who are not only engaged in 
selling it. but have used it successfully on their 
own farm near Richmond, for several years 
past. 



Big Potatoes and Turnips. 

We tender our thanks to our friend and neigh- 
bor P. W. Grubbs, Esq., for some very tine Pota. 

tatoes and Tumipi — the former of which 
(planted late in June,) weighed lire iiiy ounces — 
the latter, (planted late in' July. J weighing, with 

the tops, 'J lbs. 

Wc are every year trying our best to beat him 
farming, and although wc have not succeeded, 
we are glad to see that he bears us no malice 
for the effort. In view of the big Potatoes and 
Turnips which he has this year raised, and the 
improvements we expert to make in our farm, 
we cannot help thinking that we H retired pill- 
makers" are " some" at farming — anyhow. 



E. H. Crane's Revolving Self-Setting Ani- 
mal, Game and Rat Trap. 

Among the most attractive features in the 
mechanical department of our late Fair, was 
the Rat Trap which is named at the head of this 
article. It is thus described in the business 
card of the proprietors: 

When this Trap is set, it will catch a Rat, kill 
him, throw him away in a box. and set itself for 
another and so continue to do until it has caught. 
fourteen, without re-setting by hand. 



Errata. 

In the article on the low grounds of Virginia, 
the reader will please make the following cor- 
rections. 

Page 700. Strikeout " chowan" occurring in 
the fourth line from the to}) of first column. In 
the 18th line of second column, same page, for 
•• position' 1 read positive. 

Page 707, 5th line of second column, for 
"years" read acres. Insert ''oiir" before Ter- 
ritory near the dose of the next paragraph. In 
the 7th line of the next paragraph alter, the 
words '"proved good or." insert injured by. 
which the reader will see is necessary to make 
out the sense in which the author intended to 
speak. 



" Gardever's Monthly." — See the Prospectus 

of this valuable monthly periodical in our ad- 
vertising sheet. It is just such a paper as 
Gardeners and Florists ought to have. 




Messrs. Fisher & Burt are the assignees of the 
inventor, and arc prepared to sell State and 
County Rights. They have made arrangements 
for the manufacture and sale of their Traps in 
this City. 

We have thought proper to introduce it to our 
readers, because we think it likely to become a 
public benefit by its general use. 



7(>0 



THE SOUTHREN PLANTER. 



[December 




1SG0.] 



THE SOUTH BRN PLANTER. 



761 



Rural Affairs. 

The popnlai and accomplished Edit< 
The Ccmntry Qtntleman, (Messrs. Luther Tucker 
ft Son, of Albany, N. F..)bave issued tha edition 
if tills valuable little \\ orb i"i 1 861 . 

We bave several limea before called the atten- 
tion of our friends to the im-rit.- di' this publica- 
tion, which should be iu tin- bands of 
farmer and house-keeper. 

We lay now, buy ■ copy of it tvtry year, and 
our word lor it, you will never regret it. Price 
25 cents. 



The following " Kossuth' 1 colts rec 
premiums ai our hue Fait : 

Dr. Howlett'a 1st premium, John Rowlett's 2d 
premium, Dr. W. 11. Macon's 1st premium, John 
H. Tembulake'e 1st premium, T. K. Dillard's 2d 
premium, K. B. Haxall'e 2d premium, James 
Walker's 1st premium, Geo. W. Dfllard's 2d 
premium, John Hangers 1st premium, John R. 
Allen's 1st premium. 

Also two yearling colts by ■•Sultan" received 
premiums. 

Well done neighbor Smith. We congratulate 
you on your stock. 



From the Valley Farmer. 

Adornment of Home. 

Home lias a meaning and intention be- 
yond the simple necessities of life. It is 
made, or ought to be, for something more 
than a place to eat and drink and .sleep. It 
is for cultivation, pleasure, rational enjoy- 
ment, and improvement. Cultivated man 
generally exhibits some taste about home. 
It is generally the index to his degree of 
cultivation. The savage leaves his home 
unadorned. The barbarian deems it un- 
worthy of him to study for rational adorn- 
ments of his home; or even for ordinary 
comfort. 

Just as civilization advanc Iiibits 

itself in the homes of the people. A culti- 
vated mind craves a beautiful hume. And 



what makes a beautiful h( 



It is not 



wealth, for we have just been told of a man 
worth $250,000, who nevef had a ehair in 
his house, or rather hovel. He and bis 
sat on rude stools. It is not professional 
honors, nor learning, nor talent, that makes 
home beautiful ; for we have scon till these 
in homes disgusting to every idea of taste, 
or order, or neatness. It is what is around 
and within our home ; that makes it beauti- 



ful — the evidenae of taste, refinement and 
culture that encircles it. A home must 
have some things about it, or it cannot be 

tasteful, it Cannot be brauliful, cannot be in 

the highest degree pleasant The first of 
these is order. There must be order in the 
arrangement in the buildings. They must 
be situated in proj.tr relation to the points 
of compass. A bouse that faces no way in 

particular, neither north, south, east or 

is sadly out of order, unless the road or 

street, or bills or valley, or stream, OT some 
other prominent natural object, be so im- 
portant as to be its regulator. When a 
house is orderly established with respect to 

the points of compass or the scenery about 
it — the next tiling is to have the 1 tnd im- 
mediately around it so graded as to carry 
oil" all water and look pleasantly to tb< 
Then the fences about the house should 
square with the house and other buildings. 
They should be neat, trim,— the best of their 
kind — made both with respect to conveni- 
ence and good taste. Fences may be cheap 
and in good taste, or expensive and out of 
taste. The yards, gardens, &e., about a 
home, when neatly fenced add greatly to its 
appearance. Fine fences beautify a farm, 
and especially a borne. When kept in good 
repair, painted or whitewashed, free from a 
hedgeway of weeds, briars, thistles, brush- 
wood, etc., they remind every passer-by of 
thrift, taste and happiness within. The 
next point of importance is walks to the 
road, garden, yards and OUt-buildingS. They 
are easily made, and when neatly made and 
well arranged, add greatly to the beauty of 
home. A puddle of water, a mudhole, or 
any such pestiferous obstruction in a fre- 
quented path or walk about a farmer's home 
IS a meat annoyance, and reflects seriously 
on his good taste and good sense. The walks 
made, trees and shrubbery are wanted. 
along the road, trees about the yards, 
and shrubbery about the house, ai 
natural, so grateful to tie tUUSioal to 

the ear, BO delicious to the taste, that a heme 
without them scaieelv deserves the name. 
We would not have it all trees about a 
home. That would create too much damp- 
But just trees enough to make a 
sprightly contrast betwet n sunshine and 
shade, between heat and cold. 

But trees are not enough. There should 
be vines — an abundance of vines, those 
beautiful emblems of affection about every 
home. A home without vines, is like a man 



r 62 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[December 



without a wife, or a bird without a mate. It 
wears a look of desolation. Vines come 
creeping about so lovingly, grow so thriftily, 
bloom so profusely, can be trailed into so 
many beautiful forms, and are withal so fresh 
and fragrant, that they should be about 
every home, to remind its inmates of indus- 
try, sprightliness and affection. 

Then come the flowers, close along the 
walks, beside the doors, under the windows, 
in the corners of the fences, sprinkled in 
profusely, and yet orderly, so as to give an 
idea of finish, as well as of beauty and hap- 
piness. A home without flowers ! No, let 
it not be. Let every woman, every child 
with tiny hand and growing taste, plant 
flower seeds and roots in little nooks and 
recesses and beds, where they can as well 
grow as not. They love to grow and blos- 
som. Who does not love to see them ? Let 
the buildings all be painted, then let the 
flowers challenge them to a contrast of 
colors. When all is in order, let it be kept 
in order. And when the outside is beauti- 
ful, let the inside be, with order, neatness, 
comfort, taste, virtue, peace, good will, love 
and happiness. * 



Salt in Agriculture. 

The application of two to four hundred 
pounds of salt to the acre has been found 
to be of great advantage in promoting the 
growth of all plants and trees. Warm soils 
of the inland districts, and especially those 
that have been dressed liberally with animal 
manure are the most benefited. A dressing 
of salt upon a grass lawn will often increase 
the growth and thicken up the plants far 
more than a coating of animal manure. — 
Scientific American. 



Barrels For Fruit. — Everything in 
contact] with fruit should be clean and 
sweet, and the vessel in which it is placed 
should be dry and tight. Old flour barrels 
should not be used, unless well washed and 
dried, as the particles of flour left in the 
barrel will mould and impart to the fruit an 
unpleasant odor and flavor. Old lime bar- 
rels, it is said, are excellent for this purpose 
— the lime absorbing the vapor and gases. 
If this is so, a little fresh slacked lime 
scattered on the bottom, sides and top of 
the barrel, would be beneficial. — Genesee 
Farmer. 



The Land of Rest. 

FROM THE GERMAN OF UHLAKD. 

There is a land where beauty will not fade. 

Nor sorrow dim the eye ; 
Where true hearts will not sink nor be dismayed, 

And love will never die. 
Tell me, I fain would go, 
For I am burdened with a heavy woe ; 
The beautiful have left me all alone; 
The true, the tender from my path have gone, 
And 1 am week and fainting with despair; 
Where is it 1 Tell me where 1 

Friend, thou must trust to Him who trod before 

The lonely path of life ; 
Must bear in meekness, as He meekly bore, 

Sorrow and toil and. strife. 
Think how the son of God 
These thorny paths has trod ; 
Think how he longed to go, 
Yet tarried out for thee the appointed woe ; 
Think of His loneliness in places dim, 
When no man comforted nor cared for Him : 
Think how he prayed, unaided and alone, 
In that dread agony, " Thy will be done !" 
Friend, do not thou despair, 

Christ, in his heaven of heavens, will hear thy 
prayer. 



For. Chilblains. — Immerse the feet in 
salt water as hot as can be borne. Have a 
kettle of boiling water by you, and gradual- 
ly increase the temperature by pouring it 
in. The feet will become puffy and swollen. 
Keep the feet in for half an hour or longer, 
and then wipe dry and go to bed, and it 
will be found that the soreness and inflama- 
tion have entirely subsided. Remember this, 
it is so simple and effectual. 

Dropped Eggs are probably the most 
heathful form in which they can be prepared 
for the table. Break the eggs very careful- 
ly into a pan of scalding water, and let the 
water come gradually to a boil, removing 
the eggs with a skimmer as soon as the 
white is set. Serve on a hot platter with a 
little salt, pepper and butter, or lay the eggs 
on hot buttered toast. For invalids, use 
cream instead of butter. 

Durability of Wood. — Cedar is the 
most durable of known wood, and the black 
ash is the next so. Posts of the red cedar 
have been found to be in a good state of 
preservation after having been in the ground 
fifty years. Fir will make good rails, last- 
ing a number of years. Poplar, if cut in 
December, and the bark taken off the June 
after, will last fifteen or twenty years. It is 
a light wood when seasoned; and easy to be 
made into fence. 



IIsTDEX. 



PAGl 

Agriculture, Opposite Systems of 481-687 

Agriculture iu France, 6Q6 

Agricultural Statistics, 182 

Agricultural Hymn, 250 

Agricultural Address of Hill Carter, 272 
Agricultural Letter, 359 385-480 
Agricultural Geology, by J. L. Campbell, 391 
Agricultural Address of Edmund lluffin, 401 

Agricultural Economy, 431 
Agricultural Meeting of Virginia State 

Society, in 1818, 550-5G7 

American Guano, 180 025 

American Guano on Tobacco, 277 

American Watch Company, Visit to 415 

American Pomological Society, 500 041 

Ashes against Plaster, 080 

Ashes, Coal 213-342 

Ashes and Woods Mould, 239 

Album, Lines for a Lady's 250 

Address of Hill Carter, 272 

Address of Hon. A. II. Stuart, 321 

Address of Prof. Milligan, 337 

Among the Farmers, 438 

Analysis, methods of 532 

A Chinese Gentleman's House, 507 

A Funny Speech, 574 

Advantages of Pulverizing the Soil, 500 

Activity, Mental, Among Farmers, 010 

Application of Manures, 049 

Absorbing Powers of Soils, 059 

Answer to a Difficult Question, 084 

Anti-Book, Farmers, Portrait, 099 

Agriculture, Salt in 702 

B. 

Bone Earth, 80 

Bones, 84 

Bones, Tyson's Report on 304 

Birds and Acorns, . 102 

Birds? What has Become of Our 202 

Bird's Nest, The Edible 224 

Birds, "TheChiek-a-dee" 41:; 

Bee Protector, 07n 

Bee, Italian 187 
Broom Corn, 174-180-185-244 

Be a Man, 192 

Bread Stuffs, 236 

Brick Work, Protection to 413 

Board Floors, (Mechi's,) 430 

Be Gentle with Thy Wife, 570 

C. 
Caloric, Marvels of Human 19 
Capital and Enterprise, The Basis of Pro- 
gress, 30 



Cooking by Gas, 

Crops, R )tation of 

Courtesy, 

Cheese Making, (in Ohio,) 

Coal Ashes ai a Fertilizer, 

Chemistr}', Agricultural 

Cooking by the Sun's Kays, 

Can't Afford It, 

Copy, Following the 

Culture, Horizontal 

Chick-a-dee, 

Curry Comb*, 



PAGE 

63 

G9 

151 

154-156 

215 
280 
355 
303 
373 
379 
413 
447 



Canc-Brake Lands of Alabama, 449-522-570 

Charcoal as a Manure, 478 

Condensed Cattle Food, 530 

Concrete Houses, 538 

Carts and Wagons, 585 

Crops, Kotation of 010 

Covington and Ohio Rail Road, 019 

Currant Jelly, 590 

Chemical Composition of Soils, 049 

Cud, Loss of the 005 

Commercial Fertilizers, 071 

Cleaning Teeth, 085 
Cooked and Uncooked Food for Swine, 088 

Chinese and Japanese, 70S 
Cows— Can they Hold Back their Milk ? 098 

Cows, Spaved 447 

Cattle, Change of Food for 15-104 

Cattle, Vaccination of 100 

Cattle, Tongues, 447 

Cattle, Keeping Economically, 548 

Cattle, Breeding and Rearing, 591-053 

Corn, in Drills, 174 

Corn, Seed 245 

Corn Cobs, Value of 373 

D. 

Drainage, Farm 20 

Droughts, Ultimate Benefits of 21-00 

Discovery, Important 01 

Dyeing Hats and Feathers, 87 

Diseases of Horses, 117 

Ditching, 218 

Draining, Lecture on 257-575 
Draining, Advantages of Under 279-353-432 

Daily Work, 448 

Drilling and Broadcasting Compared, 4'»7 

Domestic Enonomy, 572 

Don't Scold, 702 

Dairy Management, 29-123 

Dairy, Value of Products, 157 

Dairy, Short Horns for the 158 

E. 
Economical Living and Home Industry, 58 



7G4 



THE SOUTHERN "PLASTER.— INDEX. 



Earthy Mutter Properties, Physical 

Editor, An Able 

Editors, 

Economist, Nature the Best 

Excellent; 

Experiments, Plaster on Pea Fallow, 

Experiments, Importance of 

English Authors, Early Agricultural 

English Women, Their Good Sense, 

p: 

Food for Cattle, Change of 

Food, Animal and Vegetable 

Fruit Trees, Where to Feed 

Fattening Animals, 

Flower, Artificial, Making, 

Feeding Statistics, 

Fruit Culture, 

Fertilizers, 46"J 

Faults, Pmupey Couldn't Remember 

Fund, Parasitic 



PAGE 

129-193 
278 
374 

407 
590 
678 
32 
100 225 
534 



15-104 
27-90 
103 
237 
299 
349 
432 

-513-577 
533 
030 
024 

607-704 

33-97-209 

110 

144-320 
240 



Fertility of the Soil, 

Flowers, 

Farmers, Advice to Young 

Farmers and Farms, 

Farmers, Facrs for 

Farmer, The Contented 

Farmers, Take a Hint, 352 

Farmers and Millers, Relations of 301 

Farm— What's Mine Worth? 313 

Farm, Dr. John N. Powell's 444 

Farm, John Walton's 491 

Fair, Our Union 756 

G. 
" Go for the Right, Whatever Betide," 128 

Golden Mean, The 145 

Goats, The Cashmere 148 

Gypsum, 17G 

Geology, Agricultural 301-344 

Glass, To Cut, Without a Diamond, 302 

Gleanings for the Curious, 408 

Grape Culture, . 495 

Grooming a Horse, 531 

Grand Exhibition of Mowers, 539 
Greeley, Horace, On the Agricultural 

Press, 559 

Grammar in Rhyme, 685 

Grasses, 694 

Gravel in Horses, 098 

Guano, American 186 309 
Guano, American, Eperiments with, and 

other, 254 

Guano, Tyson's Report on 289 
Guano, Experiments with Peruvian and 

Sombrero 360 

Guano, Report on 362 

Guano, Manipulated 505-570 

Guano vs. Coprolites, 552 

Guano and other Fertilizers, Inspection 

and Value of 553 

Guano, Theory of Mixed 009 

Guano, Sombrero 750 

II. 

Hats and Feathers, 87 



Husbandry, The Louis Weedon System 

Humbugs, Remedy for 

Hen Speculations, 

House Plants, 

Hay Crop, 

Head Work, 

Husband, The, to Mind the House, 

Hay Stacks, To Measure 

House- Warming and Ventilation, 

Humanity to Horses, 

Haste Not— Rest Not, 

"Hail Columbia," Origin of 

Hot- Tallow, for Ingrowing Nails, 

Horse, The, an Intellectual Being, 10-110-117 

Horse, The Form and Action of Saddle, 78-151 



PAGE 

89 
143-173 
160 
103 
105 
278 
295 
336 
398 
412 
512 
575 
666 



Horse, How to Use the 
Horse, Founder in the 
Horse, Stable Management of 
Horse Needs Air and Light, 
Hog Pasture, 
Hog Fattening, 
Hogs, Different Breeds of 
Home, Adornment of 

I. 
India Cotton Question, The 
Implemonts, Care of 
Implements, Trade in, &c, 
Ivory, A 7 egetable 

" I Love this Glowing Southern Clime, 
Industry and Economy, 
Iron Manufacture of U. S., 
Independence of Virginia, 
Inventions, Tendency of 
Ice House, To Build an 

J. 
Johnson, John and his Farming 
Johnson, John, Christmas Present for 
Japanese Women 
Japanese Industry 



85 
105 
298 
343 
127 
165 
441 
761 

13 

84 

91 

110 

» 128 

145 

230 

249-314 

281 

023 

10 
149 

342 
574 



"Live for Something" 192 

Lord's Prayer, The 309 

Light 400 

Leaf by Leaf 449 

Love, A Sister's 534 

London Agricultural Society 570 

Life, The Voyage of Life 04 

Life's Harvest . 384 

Life, Law of 409 

Lime and Salt Mixture, 62, 183 

Lime from the Gas House 181 

Lime, Superphosphate of 370 

Land Poisoning 92 

Land, A few Reasons why we should Im- 
prove 
Land, Improving our 
Land, Measuring 
Laud of Rest, The 

M. 
Man, The Contented 
" Make your Mark " 
Meat, Effects of Heat upon 



10 
218 
480 
862 

64 

192 
217 



__ 



THE S OUT UK EX PL ANTBB.— INDEX, 



765 



27'.» 

400 
485 

4 I,:, 
499 
685 
702 



Muck, The Use of 

Melon, The Apple Pii 

Make the beel of Everything 

Mistakes of Young Men 

Maul. Best Shape for 

Meteorologies] Inquiries 

Meteorology 

Ma ion and Dixon's lino 

Maxims for Married Women 

Manure 24,8 54,371 

Manure, Influence of on Herbage 312 

Manure, Certain Crops ns 

Manure, Lime and Salt Mixture, 162, 

0. 
Omitting too roach 60 

Oxen, Training 12C, 434 

Onward, Poetry L2fl 

One by one 220 

Orchards, Renovating 3 12 

Odds and Ends 
Ox Yokes 623 

P. 
Premiums of Va. State Ag. Society, 1859 48 
Pump, The Common 83 

Poultry House 114 

Pig Raising 166 

Physiology, Vegetable 308 

Pear, The Seekel 343 

Proof Reader, The 384 

Poverty not so great a Curse 300 

Proverbs Picked up 40u 

Perseverance 413 

Pleuro-Pneumonia in Cattle 476 

Phosphorous, Its Source and Nature 533 

Poor Land, What shall we do with it 568, 637 
Premiums, How obtained 614 

Plants, Functions and Nutrition 696 

Plants, Diseases of 346 

Plants, Parasitic 351 

Plants, New Method of Propagating 298 

Plants, Preserving 164 

Potatoes, Growing under Straw 87 

Potatoes, Culture of 175 

Potatoes, Keeping Sweet 280 

Potatoes, A good way to grow 353 

Premiums of Virginia State Agricultural 
Society 



Portable Fences 
Quails, Use of 



Q. 



Rotation of Crops 

Root Crops, Culture of 

Rivers, Banks of 

Racks, Phosphatic 

Hope-Making 

Rust and its Effects 

Reply to N. C. Crenshaw 

Reaping Machines on Prairies 

Rales, Eight Useful 

Rich, Rare and Racy 

Room Plants 

Rural Affairs 



745 
760 

40 

60 
81 
150 
L88 
216 
296 
43 1 

589 

614 

761 



16 



PAGE 

s. 

Slavery an 1 Free Labor 
Stock Feeding 17,24, 77, 108, 146, 170, 172 

S Hing 24 

six Little Feet on the Fender 6 1 

Saddle [Torses, Form of 78 

S 41. Physical Condition of 95 
BoiJ, Pulverising, Advantage of 

Science and Arc, Results of 115 

Soap Making 150 

Sw eeney in Hoi 13 1 

Stumps, Blowing up 173 

Soil, Surface, Influence of 101 

Sorghum 213 

Stables, Dark -35 

Science a Branch of Education 245 

» She Sleepeth " 320 

Steamships between New York and Liver- 
pool, 
Sun, The 
Steam Press 
Sleep 

Stories of a Horse Trader 
Science a Witness for the Bible, 
Shares' Coulter Harrow 
Studies of the Soil 
Sombrero Guano 
Sleep, Importance of 
Seventy Years' Experience in Farmii 
Snoring, Cure fur 
Sheep Raising 
Sheep, Merino 
Sheep, Tartar 

Sheep, Sexes, Among Production of 
Sheep Shearing, den. J. S. Goe's 
Sheep, The Seth Wright 
Salt as a Fertilizer 
Salt and Lime 

Salt on Tobacco Land 181, 

Salt for Rot in Tobacco 

T. 

Tobacco 22, 30, 88, 216, 23 t, 

Tomb Stone Literature 
Tomatoes, How to Raise eaidy 
Table, A Valuable 

To 

"To my Mother" 
Tobacco Fertilizers 
Tendency of Inventions 
The Poor Customer 
The best Time for Closing the Year 
Things that never die 
Tract ion Engine 
Top Dressing 
Talent of Success, The 
The Maiden's Choice 
Transferring Engravings 
Twaddles and Waddle on Agricultural 
Education 

• • Worms, 
Theory of Mixed Guanos 
" The Bird that sung in May " 
"The Rose that Bloomed up Stairs" 



434 
438 
495 

521 
535 

561 

611 
639 

623 
670 
601 

170 
213 
232 
404 
571 
26, 618 
183 
2:; 8 
•245 



238 
152 

277 

329 
320 

307 
503 

512 
540 
555 

580 

602 
621 
609 
7*4 

704 



"V 



'66 



THE SOUTHERN PL ANTER.— INDEX. 



Transactions Virginia State Agricultural 

Society, Journal of 
Turnips and Potatoes, Big 

U. 
Urine, Retention of, in Horses 

V. 
Virginia State Agricultural Society, 
Vegetable Ivory, 
Vegetable Physiology 
Vegetation, Action of Soil on 
Vine Growers, Address to 
Ventilator, New 
Virginian Independence 

W. 
Water, Physical action of, on Soils 
Wind, Thick in Horses 



178, 



AGE 




PAGE 




Wife, The Farmer's 


164 


737 


Wnx and Resin for Painting 


341 


759 


Warning, A Timely 


341 




Wafers 


362 


698 


Wonders, A List of 


372 


Women, The Rights of 


384 




Woolen Company 


440 


41 


Wheat, Harvesting and Shocking 


445 


110 


Wheat, Mediterranean 


446 


241 


Work 


448 


345 


Wife's Influence 


495 


382 


Will it Pay to build a Barn 


532 


435 


What iiiny be Learned from a Tree 


565 


506 


"Will Wood of the Farm" 


576 




Wives, Interesting to 


701 


65 


Y. 




116 


Year, The Close of the 


758 



I 



./ 



A 



A/j 



Va 






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■ 



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I 



■ 



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