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THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

[July

Very similar to that of the salts of ammonia and nitrate of soda; but if we refer the effect of these last two substances to their ni-trogen, because ammonia and nitric acid are food for plants, then this explanation will not hold good for common salt. For neither this salt nor chlorine enters as an element into the structure of plants, and it cannot be asserted that either of them is necessary, although both are frequently met with as constituents of the ashes of plants.

The most recent observations on the comportment of the soil towards the food of plants show how slight is the knowledge we possess of their mode of nourishment, and of the part which the soil, by its physical condition, plays in it. The comportment of the salts of ammonia, of chloride of sodium, and of nitrate of soda, towards the earthy phosphates in the soil, may perhaps assist us in throwing some light on their action, or on one of their actions, on the growth of plants.

Like carbonic acid water, the sulphate, as well as other soluble salts of ammoni.i, possesses the property of rendering the earthy phosphates soluble in water.

We know of no other way in which the earthy phosphates are dispersed through the soil than by means of carbonic acid water. If it is true that one of the chief effects of humus, or the decaying remains of plants in soils or in manures, consists in its forming a source of carbonic acid, with which the air and water in the ground is enriched ; if it

is also true that this carbonic acid water renders the earthy phosphates soluble, and thus contributes to their distribution in the soil, then there can be no doubt that the salts of ammonia, which possess the same solvent property, can in this respect repl: ce the organic matters, and thus exert an equally favourable influence on the growth of plants.

The same solvent property is also possessed among the salts of soda by Chili saltpetre and common salt. It has been recently shown that these two salts, even in the most dilute solutions, dissolve earthy phosphates to a very appreciable extent, and that consequently they must play a part in the process of the nutrition of plants, similar to that which is ascribed to carbonic acid water (to the humus) and to the salts of ammonia.

From direct experiments it appears, that 220 lbs. of sulphate of ammonia in solution in 0,900 galls, of water can dissolve 7.9 lbs. of bibasic phosphate of lime (POs, 2CaO, aq.) such as exists in bones that have been acted on by sulphuric acid; or, in other words, 100 lbs. of sulphate of ammonia in 4,500 gallons of water—dissolve nearly 4 lbs. of phosphate of lime. In like manner 123 lbs. of common salt, in 11,000 galls, of water, dissolve 7£ lbs. of bibasic phosphate of lime; and 220 lbs. of nitrate of soda, in 7,348 galls, of water, dissolve 5| lbs. of the same phosphate.

Tribasic phosphate of lime (VO5, 3CaO) is much less soluble in these fluids.

The seeds of the cereals, particularly wheat, contain phosphate of lime, and in preponderating quantity phosphate of magnesia. In many kinds of wheat the quantity of phosphate of magnesia is four times, often ten times, greater than that of the phosphate of lime; and in like manner in the grain of rye, oats, and barley, the mag-

nesia salt exceeds very greatly the phosphate of lime. These proportions are so constant that they cannot be ignored in the cultivation of these plants. The comportment of the salts above-mentionce! towards phosphate of magnesia and ammonia, and phosphate of magnesia, appears, therefore of special interest.

Til K SOI I II I.KN PLAN I :

:;s!>

Tli.' solubility in tin- same fluids of pli I mmoaia i

Dissolve of

The quantity of the earthy pliosj !. taken up by the above fluids does not ri proportion with the amount of salts in solu-' lion, hut rather on the contrary with the dilution of

Tt is cpiite conclusive from those facts, ' that water containing ■ very small quantity If common salt, nitrate of soda, or a .-alt of, ammonia, acquires thereby the power, (which it does not possess, or only in a Blight living phosphoric acid, in the , form of earthy phosphates. These feeble solution*, therefore, react towards earthy itions of carbonic acid in! 896 1' .ample, of sulphate!

of ammonia produce the same solvent effect on phosphate of Km I8J galls, of car-

bonic acid in solution in water; and 220, lbs. of common salt dissolve as much phos-iia and ammonia M a watery solution of Tl)".} galls, of carbonic acid. Direct c nts prove, that a very

'vC up phosphorio aeid from a soil which contains, eartle. . and that this j

given up by tli

lution to ■ similar soil which is noi already, jphoric acid. If we submit to I ltlny the com-!

portment of the .-alt- of ammonia, nitrate of

: -alt toward- soils, W«

that not one of I '- in tin

form in which it has | ground.

The ' ,:nnionia are immediately de-

' ; the ammonia is retain- ( ed, whilst the acid enters into combination with lime, magnesia, alkalies, or, in short, with any b fancc in immediate con-

tact and capable of combining with it.

The act; of b

two-fold nature. On the one hand, they enrich the soil with ammonia; on the other, | their aeid gives rise BO new compounds | which come iuto operation. The all and alkaline earths which combine with the acid acquire thereby solubility, and are more readily dm

through the soil. If the ground

r lime, (1 bases

are formed; but their influence, with the

| :iou of that of gyp-uni, on cert.tin cannot be estimated very high. The

I' sal-ammoniac, instead of sulph. I ammonia, gives rise to chloride of magnesium, and chloride of calcium, which act rather unfavourably than otherwise on vegetation. That salts of these bases are g rated by the action of soils on salt.- of ammonia, and that the new rt no particularly favourable influence on the inc. of produce, are facts on which no doubt can rest.

If, however, portions of the soil containing in some places phosphate of lime or of magnesia in the form of coarse grain, or powder, or bone earth, come in contact with

ammoniacal fluids, then there follows solution of these earthy phosphates, and their

qnent diffusion through the soil.

tnonia

in the rapidity of their decomposition in contact with soils ; but the comportment of soda salt- is quite different.

On -lowly filtering a .-'lution of nitrate of containing one-fifth per cent, of .-alt) through an equal volume of Bog

loam, half of the salt passes through unab-

I, whilst the other half is coin into nitrate of lime and nitrate of ma^ne-ia.

Under the same oiroumstaneet three-fourths

i>f a -olution of chloride of sodium remain ondeeompoM d.

If, therefore, a field is manured with nitrate Of ' , and tie

titrated with a dilute solution of f'nned by rain, a greet port! them will remain unchanged in the ground] and in

which, though in itself feebl crful by its eon tin nan

Like tli ' ammonia, or a v.

solution of carbonic acid produced by the

of organic matter in manui limi of tie ne in

contact with spots containing accumulatlbllf

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER

[July

of earthy phosphates not fixed by the soil, most beeoine saturated with these phosphates, and thus convert them into a condition in which they can be diffused through the ground. If the earthy phosphates, when thus diffused in solution, come in. contact with other portions of soil not yet saturated with these salts, those portions absorb and fix these earthy phosphates, and the chloride of sodium or nitrate of soda retains, a second time, or more frequently, the power of exercising the same solvent and distributing action over the earthy phosphates until the ultimate and complete conversion of the chloride and nitrate into a lime or magnesia Bait.

When we consider how much the fertilising effect of bone earth is increased by the greater solubility and capability of distribution in the soil communicated by the action of sulphuric acid, we cannot too highly estimate the significance of the properties, just described, of the salts of ammonia, chloride of sodium, and Chili saltpetre.

The most abundant application of earthy phosphates in coarse powder, can in its effects bear no comparison with a much smaller quantity which, in an infinite state of division, is dispersed through every portion of soil. A rootlet requires at the spot where it touches the soil a most minute amount of food ; but it is necessary to its functions and its very existence, that this minimum be found exactly at this spot. For if the food of plants be not soluble in water, then is any excess at any other spot as valueless to the function of nutrition of this rootlet as if it did not exist at all in the soil. Now, the salts of which we have been speaking, possess the property of conveying these elements of food from the spot in which they exist in superabundance to others in which there is a deficiency; and even though their elements contributed in no way directly to the process of nutrition, yet, these salts must nevertheless exercise a marked influence on the increase of produce.

When the sulphate of ammonia and Chili saltpetre have been completely transformed into lime and magnesia salts, and the chloride of sodium into chloride of calcium and chloride of magnesium, this action then ceases ; and a second dose of these salts is then necessary to reproduce the action.

]f the effect of the salts of amnionia depends on the ammonia, we can scarcely comprehend why, after a large application of

them, that portion which has not acted dur-j ing the first year should not in the second come into operation, since this latter portion ! is presented in the soil to plants in the same form as the portion which produced its effect during the first year.

Sulphate of ammonia produces on alkaline silicates a reaction similar to that on earthy phosphates If this salt, in very dilute solution, is brought in contact.with soil saturated with silicate of potash, and which does not give up a trace of its potash to I water alone, it instantly dissolves a certain quantity of this alkali, which may be easily detected by the ordinary re-agents.

It is evident that the agriculturist, by the proper application of the chemical action of common salt, Chili saltpetre and ammonia salts, accomplishes the same object as by the | mechanical operation of ploughing, and by the action of the atmosphere in fallow.

We should be committing an error, if, judging from similarity of solvent properties, we concluded that common salt must have the same effect as a corresponding quantity of nitrate of soda. We know that, as I a rule, in these cases, the common salt is j converted into chloride of calcium, and the ; Chili saltpetre into nitrate of lime ; and the ; experiments of Kuhlmann have taught us, | that chloride of calcium by itself is absolutely ineffective, or rather is hurtful in the cultivation of plants, whilst nitrate of lime contributes materially to the increase of a hay crop. Nitrate of soda, consequently, acts favour tbly in two ways; chloride of sodium only in one. Further, land plants can bear a considerable quantity of nitrates of soda in the soil, whilst chlorine compounds, beyond a certain very narrow limit, are decidedly hurtful.

We designate as manures all substances which increase the produce of our fields, without knowing whether many of these may not simply act, by rendering the food already existing in the soil more capable of absorption and assimilation. The simple fact of their favourable influence on vegetation, is not yet a proof that they have acted directly as food. We compare the work which the plough performs, to the mastication of food, for which nature has provided animals with a particular instrument; and, as may be seen from the experiments described above, many substances, such as common salt, nitrate of soda, and ammonia salts, independently of the action which is due to

-

THE SOUTHERN VLANTKU.

891

their own element*, play a peculiar part,

which 111;i\- lir compared to the digesting action of the stomach, ami in which they can

partly replace each other ; and inasmuch

then ;i» they prepare the fbod existing in the toil tor the process of nutrition, ami render it i' ore fit POT assimilation, they must i Farilv exert a powerful influence on the' growth of plants.

We can now understand why these salts szereise a favourable action in the onltiva-tion only on certain soils, ami why on a leeond or third application of them, the lame effect is only partially, or not at all reproduced.

An agriculturist in possession of fields containing ahu-.dance of phosphates, but unequally distributed through them, would, all other conditions the same, undoubtedly increase the activity of these phosphates and thereby augment the produce of his fields, if he possessed the means of withdrawing the basic phosphates from the soil and restoring them in the form of superphosphate. These means he actually employs, when he manures his fields with Chili saltpetre, ammonia salts, or chloride of sodium.

Fur (he Southern Planter.

Agricultural Geology. [Continued from the May number.')

BY PROF. J. L. CAMPBELL. It hat been already stated, that the stratified rocks of the earth have been classified by geologists into seTeral dis inet groups,

Sailed "Formations." ()f these we can give but a brief and very general view. Jf the reader could be favored with a view of the neat lithographic cut, forming the frontispiece of the work on Agriculture, from which the substance of this article is taken, it would greatly aid the memory in retaining 1 knowledge of the relative position, and of

the name- <-f the sewral formations. But, as the original figure it not within our r< at present', the ingenuity of the printer has

contrived the figure given htlow, which may

serve our present purpoi temporary

substitute. It is designed to represent an ideal section the earth 'a crust, made at soma

point Where all the formations are found. But the reader must beware of (ailing into the mistake of supposing that each OOS of these classes of rocks may be found everywhere, as a constituent of the earth's crust; or that any one of them ever enveloped the whole globe; or that one of them cannot occur without being accompanied by the others; or that, when found, they uniformly all succeed each other in the order here given.

By examining the surface of the earth, as rep r e s e nted by the top of the figure, it will be seen that one formation alone may give character to the rocks and soil for a distance of many miles together, as in the space between a and b, where the Tertiary formation (8) crops out from beneath the Drift (9). Again, the Primary Kocks (1), on the ten of the figure, may have been deposited over a very wide section of ocean-bottom ; a portion of them may have been subsequently elevated above the sea-level, and have again subsided at the period when the New-Red Sandstone (5) was being deposited. A second upheaval may have brought this formation above the water, where it remained until the Tertiary period (8) when sinking beneath the ocean, it formed the bed upon which this newest of the regularly stratified formations was deposited. Thus rocks widely separated in the regular series where all the formations are r ep res en ted, as on the right side of the figure, are brought, under some circumstances, into close poximity, as at c. Taking the stratified rocks in their ascending order, we shall give the most prominent characteristics of each formation.

1. Pri.nnry Strntiiu>u Rook; 2, S.lurian ; 3, Ol.l R.M Sandstone; 4, Carboniferous or ( 5, New Red Sandstone; 6, Oolitic n S, Tertiary; 9, Alluvi un an I Drift ;

10, An Uustrntified Masi of Ign

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

[July

(1). Primary Rock* These are the lowest in the series, and rest upon unstrati-fied masses beneath, as at (10). They consist chiefly of—(1) Gneiss, which has been heretofore described. (2) Mica-slate, composed mostly of quartz and mica, the latter being in such quantity and form as to give a slaty structure to the mass. (3) Talcose-slate, similar to the last, but having talc in the place of mica. The same rock often contains portions of both mica and feldspar. The suface of this slate has a glistening appearance and generally feels somewhat greasy when rubbed with the fingers, but not to the same degree as pure talc or soapstone. (4) Hornblende-slate t a compound mineral in which hornblende is mingled with quartz,, clay and feldspar. (5) Clay-slate, which has been described as a finely granular rock in thin layers. Its structure is frequently such in this formation, that it can be split into tiles for covering houses; and when dressed off and framed it forms the "slates" used in schools. (6) Sandstones of various shades of color abound amongst the primary rocks. (7) Limestones are very often found interstratified with the slates and sandstones of this formation. The Primary stratified rocks, are also called M Metamorphic Rocks," in reference to the changes of structure through which they have passed, under the influence of heat from the igneous rocks upon which they rest. The term " Hypozoic" is also applied to them, in allusion to their position in the geologic series being below all the rocks containing the relics of animal life. They contain no fossils.

We have an example of the class of rocks just described, covering a large part of the slope of country commencing on the eastern side of the Blue Ridge and extending nearly to the head of tide-water. Richmond, Petersburg and Fredericksburg, are each situated near the eastern margin of that section of the State, in which these strata are developed at the surface.

(2). The Silurian Formation lies next in order above the Primary. It has some subdivisions of which we shall take no notice. The rocks entering most largely into its structure are limestones in great abundance, several varieties of slate, sandstone* and conglomerates.

Fossil shells, coral and encrinites abound

Ome parts of this formation; but we

cannot enter into any description of these—

nor do they have any direct relation to agri-

culture, except so far as their presence in the rocks has had an influence upon the quality of soils.

The Silurian rocks are largely developed on the west side of the Blue Ridge, occupying the whole Valley from New York to Alabama, and embracing several mountain ridges and smaller valleys lying along the western margin of the great valley.

(3). The Old-Red Sandstone, or Devonian,!^, the next formation in regular order. It rests upon the upper part of the Silurian, and dips westward beneath the coal-bearing strata, which occupy so large a portion of Western Virginia. Sandstones, slates and conglomerates* are the prevailing rocks of this formation.

(4). The carboniferous formation lying above the Devonian, is distinguished chiefly by the immense beds of mineral coal found in it. The.coal is found in seams or strata of various degrees of thickness, with intervening stata of slates and sandstones. The lower part of this formation, in some places, contains large quantities of limestone extending beneath the coal, and cropping out, sometimes very largely, around the margins of the coal fields. The extensive limestone formation of Greenbrier county, running northward into Pocahontas, and southward, with varying width, entirely across Tennessee and into Alabama, is of the character just alluded to. On the western side of the same coal-field, this limestone is extensively developed in Tennessee and Kentucky.

(5). Passing still further upward through the series of fossilliferous rocks, we come next to the New-Red Sandstone, which, in some countries, forms the boundary of the Coal Formation above, as the Old Red forms its boundary below. It is a singular fact, however, that this class of rocks is not found covering any part of our great Western coal-fields. We shall not stop to trace out its subdivisions into Upper and Lower New-Red, Permian, &c. The following notice of the geographical distribution of this formation is from Prof. H. D. Rogers' outline of the " Geology of the U. S. and Br. America," published in Johnston's Physical Atlas: —"The largest belt of all, or that of the Middle and Southern States, stretches from the west bank of the Hudson River, where it is upon the level of the ocean, inland in a S. W. direction along the

* Conglomerates are rocks formed by rounded nobbles cemented firmly together, making very firm and strong masses.

THE SOUTH liK.N PLANTER

:;:.:;

". tide of the South mountain and Blue rtinsin breadth, and

ding in level, through the Slates of New dn.MV, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and

Virginia, to near the centre of the latter,

where il terminates.

u Another nanosv strip of tlie same rock

from a little north of the {toauokc

River BOUtD-westward almost to the Yadkin

in North Carolina; and between the main belt and this one, there occurs a small patch on the James River, in a position which indicates that originally they were all three connected." These rocks belong to that subdivision known under the name, "Tri-

(C). Oolite and Lias. —"In many of the rocks of this series, small calcareous globules are imbedded, which resemble the roe of a fish; and, hence, such a rook is called roe$tone f or oolite. But this structure extends through only a small part of this formation, and it occurs also in other rooks.

"The oolite series consists of inter-strati-; fied layers of clay, sandstone, marl, and , limestone. Tlie Upper portion, or that which ' is oolite proper, is divided into three BYStemsj or groups, called the upper; middle, and lower, separated by clay or marl deposits.

" In this country no genuine oolite has been found. But tlie remarkable coal-field

probably of the age of the oolite and lias, 1 wn by Prof. W. B. Rog " Lias is a rock usually of a bluetsh color, mmon clay; and it is, indeed, highly argillaceous, but at the same time generally Sflsa I SOUS. Bauds Of true argillaceous limestone do, i; ir in it, as well a.-of calcareous .-and. It has been usual to describe]

Bseauber i f the oolite si vies. But it

Is widely diffused, and very marked in its characters, and contains peculiar and very interesting organic remains/ 1 — Hitchcock.

.ml fish are abundant in this formation, but striking peculiarity '

ists in the number and the immense size of it-

(7). The Cbxtaczous Formation- takes

'no from the chalk (crsfo) in which it abounds in some countries, especially in

Europe. In this formation the <; . so successfully employed as a fertilizer in some | .,ur country, is found. ' I

sand is also found in the higher strata.

The Tertiary Formation is the highest division of tlie stratified rocks. The strata in it are generally more nearly hori-

zontal than in any of tl. formations.

of clay, li marl, and

sand, with occasional 1 BSUm and

lock-sail

Many of the fossils of this period are the remains of plants and animal- I

ssmbling those now living upon the earth.

But in the rocks ^\' lower formation! fossils indicate that our earth was formerly inhabited by beings differing widely any now known to man. Tin; most r< I able feature of the tertiary period, i-in the number and size of its mammalia.

The Tertiary rocks hi geologists into Eocene* Mcioccncj and PI

; the Eocene being the lowest in position. Nearly the whole tide-Water . of the United States, extending from Jersey to the Bio Grande, is covered with this formation. In the States lying along the Gulf of Mexico, this class of rocks extends, in some localities, inland considerably beyond the limits of tide-water. The western boundary of the Tertiary, in Virginia, may be nearly defined by a line passing through Fredericksburg, Richmond and Petersburg. This line extends a little west of Raleigh, X. C., to Columbia, S. C, and Augusta, Ga., would mark its western limit still further South.

(9). Alluvium and Drift. —Above all

ywbore, quantities of loose material, broken down and worn off from rocks of every kind, and scattered over the surface. When this material is carried by water, ami along the valleys and in the bottom.- of | and lakes, it forms what is called "Alluvium," and soils thus formed are aUuvial. The material of which they are formed, ' ally collected from a considerable var*. rocks, and hence they have all the mineral elements nSOOBSSiy to render them fertile.

In many pis currents of v.

accompanied most probably by masses of ice, have swept over extensive regions, carrying with them tlie abraded material from the various rocks, and hills, and mountains over which they have passed, and again depositing it, as a mixed mass "f Band and clay, full of pebbles and boulders of almost every conceivable size and shape. This constitutes the "Drift formation."

The Drift for. nt feature

in the geology of some of our

-, and ai my points in the

Northern and North-western I but it

rarely occurs farther south than the Ohio

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

[July

River, except as local drift. It differs, of little crystals of quartz are but slightly Course, from the rocks beneath; and fre-j modified, forming, when set free, sand of fertile soil, immediately over

quently gives a iertne

rocks which would have produced only a

barren desert.

(10). Beneath the stratified rocks, in many places rising up through and often over-lying them, we find tlie uust ratified rocks. These bear no marks of having

various degrees of fineness. From hilly lands the fine clay is gradually carried down into the low grounds, and a covering of sand, generally with clay beneath it, is left to form the poor, barren soils of the surrounding hills. But even where all the material of the granite is retained, the soil been deposited by water, but seem to be of is generally deficient in lime, magnesia, and volcanic origin. oxide of won.

The most prominent minerals which enter When granite contains hornblende * as it into the composition of these rocks are Feld-j often -does, this furnishes lime, magnesia, spar, Hornblende, Epidote, Quartz, and Sand iron, and such a soil is generally pro-Mica. These combining, give us Trap ! ductive. Or, if granite and trap rocks occur rocks, Granite (including Syenite), and • on the same hill, the soils from both mi

many less abundant varieties, of which we have not room to give a description.

Origin of Soils. —Whenever the rocks, whether stratified or unstratified, are long exposed to the influence of air, rain, and frost,

iay become mingled by the action of rain and frost, or by tillage, and thus form a better soil than either would form alone.

Trap rocks, being composed, as we have learned, of feldspar and hornblende, are or even of air and rain alone, they are. acted upon by air and water, both mechani-gradually broken down, as heretofore stated, j cally and chemically. The result is a finely into small fragments. These undergo many I divided soil, to which the feldspar fur-subdivisions, until the little separated par-jnishes an abundance of clay and potassa, tides of sand and clay, mingled with such! with some soda; while the hornblende organic matter as previously existed in the yields lime, magnesia, and oxide of iron rock, or has meanwhile been growing among abundantly; hence such soils are generally the fragments of its half-formed soil, become fertile. Some of the best soils of Eastern one mixed mass, and at the same time pass I Virginia are formed from Trap, through such chemical changes as adapt | The primary stratified rocks differ widely them to the great end for which they were!in composition and, as a consequence, give

designed.

The original quality of the soil must, then, be greatly dependent upon the character of the rocks out of which it has been formed. It is not difference in the mineral composition of rocks alone, that causes

a great variety of soil. We have a most extensive illustration of this in the greater part of the wide area, extending from the eastern side of the Blue Ridge, on the one hand, to the slope over which the rivers flowing into the Atlantic fall, before they

differences in the nature of soils; the organic,'reach tidewater, on the other; then, ex-fossil matter, deposited when the rocks were'tending northward, it becomes narrower as formed, seems often to have had a most 'it passes into Maryland, and extending striking influence. Any one may observe Southward into North and South Carolina

for himself, in traversing a hilly or mountain* -us region, how suddenly he sometimes passes from one quality of soil to another,

it spreads out to a still greater width than it has in Virginia. In this region there are some belts of fine soil, formed from rocks

even in the same field. And in unculti- composed largely of feldspar and horn-

vated lands, he may frequently meet not only with abrupt changes in the rocks and soil, but changes just as abrupt in the trees, shrubs, and weeds, which nature seems to have adapted to the varying quality of their mineral food.

Pure granitic soils contain the disintegrated particles of quartz, feldspar, and mica, from the granite rock. The feldspar is soon decomposed, by the action of carbonic acid, into carbonate of potash and fine clay. The

blende. There are other sections, in which the soils are composed of the ruins of gneiss and granite. These soils are sandy, and less valuable. Again, there are localities in which the soil has originated from rocks composed chiefly of quartz, with small quantities of mica or feldspar, or both. Such regions are hopelessly deficient in

* Granite, containing a considerable amount of hornblende, is culled "syenite."

most important elements of mineral m irl) all the compact lira

f<

considerable amount of these itupuriti a,

The Great Valley of Virginia ft a., ex ^i« some contain not more than

ample of rtie Silurian formation. Tho -•'""——'•"«■ ol time; and man; of

,. ,, ,,. .,• , i , , tin: beds <>| calcareous shale have but a

11 slope of tin* I »Iu«" Indue belon

(I,,-. The rocks here, and on tho sSurs, ""."J 11 'l» : '»»".v "< <•''• carbonate, combiMj

ifcndont some , ietanco into " uh • "W 'l" : '"" ; "■■*

., ,. , ,, i . ,11.1 ,i not only disintegrate more rupidly, but also

tin- val i v. are chiefly slate :tn« 1 hard sand . ' : . .

,■ i, i • i leave a umcli arger amount ol iv-idu iry

I hese form light, unproductive soils: ,. , ... . J

, , ,, i , matter than any of tin more solid i<»ck.s.

uml where tin- rocka are haul sandstones, .. * „ . , . , ,

• I i , r • Hence we centrally find them underlying they d sin slowly, break oil m i ' ■ i

nta under the influence of de !£ U,1 V 0, *7:

■ i i -i he soils resulting from limestone Unna-

frost, and hum rough, unmanageable soils. . » .

scend into the open valley, we find *»"■■ ™- ^'"■™llj productive, and rem, k-

the formation consisting of a great variety * h *] we . U Bdt P t * d J * € *^ UT * '" Ff*

of limestones, with vast beds of interatratf ? iml P~>» c'ops, and also produce good to-

£ , i . i i ' ii . • • <• i Dacco. \\ here the ancient coral reels are

i. dates and shales, all containing lossil _ , , .. „ .. r

.i ii i i i» . ,i !•-.'♦• ioiind among the limestones ot this forma-

6hells and coral. 1>\ their disintegration, . , , ,. , , . ,. , .

■ rocka generally pive soils of fine J? 0 "' ,hl ' c,a 7 1 whl ? b *^ } *T! {iUr \ {W '\ r quality. In most partsof this valley, the rocks ?ecaj, as well an that formed from the ad-have been very much tilted and warbed at J*" 01 * h *}<*> ls "* In . '"V/"""' ,nalt,r ; J 1

the time of their upheaval, thus giving rise Wl . ! * 'be mineral elements required ID

to a peculiar and interesting variety ,f wils of the best quahty. 1 he author has

landscape. In many places we meet with \ Wk ' wA ; l,u ":° m \ ") *** l'^'T" 1 ^ q«fll-

abrupt precipices, such as arc common **« clay found ma qainyo coral me

along the banks of water-courses j in other »»estone, ;it ■ considerable distance> be-

place., we find deep gorges, like that spanned nemth *• suHi,( ' e . ot ( Ic ^ nnd ' " *"

by the Natural lir.dgc ; while the hss 8U b ropnose this ammonia to havebeen produced

|ime but no leas beautiful hills, with their ". the rock by the decay of the coral by

gently undulating slop,, and rounded tops. * h "* ,[ *;' s b ™ H U P; : \'" 1 ■ ,( ' n " J?™ '* b *

ire found to cover the greater part of the the clay after the rock has been disinte^a-

nrface throughout the' whole length and ^ ••* ,,as ^ ^ carbonate>ol lime dia-

Ith of this delightful section of our ■d^d «f »< ■•»* « ;i •**»* »»»»

B* , tion of the tenacity with which ammonia 18

held bj clay.

ntury after century lias passed The mountain ridges lying along, the

away, the solid rocks, U well ai the UtoTt wotern si.lc of the valley,' belong alto to

brittle shahs, have been gradually hioken vv ) iat p^ | iavr ( . a ll t .d the Silurian foT-

i into minute fragments by rain and m:i( j lin . lKre slate and samlstone prevail.

fr Bt, while the carbonic acid brought down xhe slate foroN a mi) capable of consi

by the rain-water has dissolved out much of blc ini]>n \niuiit ; hut the nndstOM is too the carbonate of lime, and left the clay to hard to form a soil suitable for tillage, ex-form soils varying in depth from less than (v}>t B | OB g x \w lower slopes of the r an inch to many feet. The depth of these :Ul d j M the falleyaj where the abrad d ma-clay deposits depends partly upon the steep terial 1 collecting for many centuries. ness of the land, but still more upon the When clay from one ridge is Can Structure ai d composition of the rock. If down by water, and mingled with the sand the surface is steep, the greater part of the brought down from some neighbouring liberated clay may have been washed down ridge, and deposited along the bank

into tome neighbouring valiey, forming streams, plant*, ineeeta, fresh-water s!

there i deep, rich soil, and leaving the e tc, being mingled with it, very ferf

rocky hill side almost naked. If the recks t( ,, n hmd. are Often formed, running in long were pure carbonate of lime, there could be narrow strips through ex-no residuum of elay and sand to produce almost barren mountains, soil; but the truth of the case is. that The SOikl of the Old B are

— ■ extremely variable in our country. ^ '

•Shale is a brittle, imperfect form of slate. | uiarl and limestone are found in this forma-

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

[July

tion, the soil is generally productive; but where the sandstones prevail, as they do extensively in the mountainous parts of Western Virginia, lying along the eastern side of the coal regions, the soil is generally poor.

In the Carboniferous or coal formation, many of the slates and sandstones form soils of no great value ; but belts of limestone and calcareous shale sometimes give corresponding belts of good soil. AVe find an interesting example of such limestone soils in the belt -which runs through Greenbrier and adjoining counties, and around the base of the coal-bearing strata in our great Western coal field. The accumulations of detritus in the valleys, and along the streams, also afford good soils. Where the slaty lands of this, or any other formation, lie in a horizontal position, they are impervious to water, and hence are cold and wet. These must generally be drained before they can be successfully cultivated.

What has been said of the influence of the various kinds of rock upon the soils overlying the formations already mentioned, will lead us to the general conclusion that the quality of the land upon all the higher formations, must be as variable as the character of the rocks themselves. The sandstones generally give light, infertile soils, while those produced slates and shales are better; and, when free from bituminous matter, and supplied with lime, are often very productive.

Virginia! brought

found. These nodules are scattered through the body of the marls, and through the sub soils of the fields far inland; and are col lected for sale to the manufacturers of super-phosphate of lime, and other artificial lnanurcs. ,, (Ag. Cliem. p. 94.) Similar black pebbles occur'in the Olive Earths j and Marls of the tertiary strata of Eastern! Virginia. Mr. Ruftin, the venerable and) distinguished President of the State Agricultural Society, first these to the notice of Prof. Gilham, of the Military Institute, by whom some specimens were analyzed. " After being crushed and thoroughly mixed, they were found to contain 56 per cent, of phosphate of lime !"— (Southern Planter, Dec. 1858.)

The experience of the agricultural world has established a conclusion of great practical importance in the selection of lands for tillage. It is this— that, among the upland soils, none are so uniform!}/ and permanently fertile, as those formed from calcareous rocks. And next to these, the soils from the lime-bearing trap-rocks and syenites occupy the first place. Alluvial and drift soils, of course, are exceptions.

STRUCTURE OF THE SOIL.

In examining any soil which has been left undisturbed to pass through its natural stages of formation, we find the surface portions differing considerably from those nearer the original rocks. They differ not simply in appearance, but also in composi-

Some of the formations have the elements tion > an <* consequently in fertility.

of their own improvement treasured up within themselves. A striking example of this is seen in the marl beds, so abundantly deposited in the tertiary strata lying along our eastern coast. Many farms in the tidewater sections of Virginia, Maryland, and other States, have been most successfully and profitably reclaimed from almost hopeless exhaustion, by the judicious application of these tertiary marls. Besides the marl proper, little mineral nodules of a dark colour are found in the same beds, or in contiguous deposits; and on being analyzed, they are found to contain a large per cent, of phosphate of lime. Prof. Johnston, of England, says: " This crag [a tertiary deposit] is chiefly interesting to the agriculturist from its containing hard, rounded, flinty nodules—often spoken of as coprolites —in which as much as 50 per cent, of

It is both interesting and instructive to trace out the various changes which have taken place, in reducing the original rocks of the earth to the condition of arable soil. Let us take, for example, a calcareous formation, made up of limestones and calcareous shales, which have just been upheaved by volcanic agency, and for the first time exposed to the disintegrating influence of the weather. The shales are rapidly crumbled down to the condition of clay, from which the rain gradually dissolves out much of the carbonate of lime, carrying it off to form "limestone springs." The more solid rocks are worn down more slowly, but not less surely, by the operation of the same causes. In this way a soil is gradually formed, supplied with all the mineral ingredients of the rocks. But such a soil, produced by such a process alone, would

phosphate of lime (bone earth) has been i still lack one important class of its elements

THE SOUTH BRN I'LANTi: II.

of fertility : it would still want tl matter which we .shall forming ni rtant offioea in 111<

If the n

.■ may ho already presenl ; hut the

to he collected from an-

The new soil is booh provi-

ded with the seeds of . . and

■nei of various kinds, from older landsj and IQoh of thtiii as find hero their I ; • mineral food, booh germinate, take lend oat their blades and I carbonic from the ail

drink in the I oi' nourishment from rain-water, her with ammonia and mineral matter. Many of the roots soon pel etrato the lower : 1 for many i'ect, whence they draw up mineral sul and send them

out in the sap, to be incorporated with the ■genie food from the air, in the body, and I thee, and leaves of the growing plants. As tl . and the leu.

trees fall and decay upon the surface, they leare a dark rich deposit of humu<, to serve as food for the same or other kinds of growth. In this way greet quantit; organic matter arc often accumulated, form* I with the clay a deep, rich vegetable mould.

The mineral matter which once fed the yed leaves and urass, has not only been

increased in quantity near the surface, but

has also been so elaborated in the plants

hicb it n ' now

in the best possible condition to afford nourishment to subsequent crops growing upon the same soil.

The portion of soil which has thus become enriched with or_ 1 mineral

I the M BUI is the part usually cultivated. The M soil" is the layer upon which tl soil rests. It generally has but litt.. ganie matter in it: and, in the maji i

fields in our Southern and Western S

it has never been di-

Oo rolling lands which have been long under cultivation, the BUrfnoCSOJl on different

> a of the same hill is generally more uniform in its character than the sub-coil;

becau>e the loose material on the surface becomes mingled, by the mechanical actios of the plow, rains, and frost; while the suh-soil, having been less frequently disturbed,

!V- in which it ori|

inatcd, and more m ailj,

The Poor Customer. ood lesson ii taught in the foil

sketch from the Boston < Hive Branch : u How much butt.

• One half pound, if you please."

'• And sugas '.'"

* Half a pound." -• And these orang

" I lalf a dozen, sir."

" Von go by the halves today. Well,

what speedy, ma'am, you're keep-

ing better customers waiting."

" Half a peck of Indian meal, and one fine Preach roll," said the woman ; but her lip quivered and she turned to wipe away a trickling tear.

T looked at her straw bonnet, all hn ' at her faded shawl, her thin, stooping form, her coarse garments, and 1 read poverty on nil—extreme poverty. And the j pinched features, the mournful, but once beautiful face, told me that luxuries were not fir her. A:i invalid looked out ' his narrow window, whose pale lips km the cool, fresh oranges, for whose comfort the tea and butter, and the line French roll were bought, with much sacrifice. And I saw him sip tlie tea, and lasts the dainty bread, and psaisc the flavour of the -butter, and turn with brighten;:, the golden fruit. And I heard him ask her, kneeling by the saeeky hearth, to taste them wnii him. Ai. set the broken

on the .-.;_.• to bake her I My :

-• Bl ami by. when I am hungry."

And " by and by," when the white lids

of the sufferer wars olosed in sleep, i

ver him with a blessing in her And .-he laid tl f the

feast carefully by, and eat her bread unmolested.

I Btarted from my reverie \ the grc hard upon me.

•• Y Oh, 1 wanted to tell him h

persecution, eentempt sa could not

dim the hearts of hue gold, purified by

many a trial, and that woman with ha lit-

ind holl ■ the sight of God than many a trumpet-tongn I ] . who gave that he might be

known of men.

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

[July

From the Scientific Artisan.

House Warming and Ventilation.

Those who have made experiments for the purpose of determining the quantity of pure air required per minute by each individual, vary in their conclusions. They publish from 3 to 10 cubic feet, but when physiological facts in relation to size of lungs, health of persons, and various circumstances are considered, we conceed the accuracy of either amount.

We learn by science that the laws of nature do not long permit the enjoyment of health where pure air is not; and also when health is lost there can be no possible recovery of it without the aid of pure air. When we breathe, although the air in the lungs is on one side of a membrane and the blood on the other, a reciprocal action takes place between them. The blood receives through the membrane oxygen from the air, and at the same time the air receives from the blood carbonic acid gas and watery vapor. The amount of oxygen and carbonic acid gas thus exchanged are said to be equal—that is, pure air taken into the lungs is expelled with about 85 per cent, carbonic acid gas and an equal amount of j oxygen has been taken from it b) the blood.

It appears that a middle sized man, aged about 38 years, and whose pulse is 70 on an average, gives off 302 cubic inches of carbonic acid gas from his lungs in 11 minutes, and supposing the production uniform for 24 hours, the total quantity in that period would be 39,534 cubic inches, (agreeing almost exactly with Dr. Thompson's estimate), weighing 18,683 grains, the carbonic acid in which is 5,363 grains, or rather more than 11 ounces Troy. The oxygen consumed in the same time will be equal in volume to the carbonic acid gas. See respiration under Physiology in the Encyclopaedia Brittanica.

It has been shown by experiment that pure air once breathed contains 85 per cent, of carbonic acid, and that the same air by continued respirations would not take more than 10 per cent. Hence the necessity in the preservation of health of breathing air but once as it enters and departs from a room. Proper ventilation permits the air to pass away after having been once breathed, for in respiration the air expelled from the lungs being warmed ascends and is not where it may be received by their next expansion. But if by insufficient ventilation

air is breathed more than once, it gives less oxygen to the blood and takes less carbonic acid and watery vapor trom it than is necessary for the preservation of health. The efficacious action of the blood ceases be* cause of the deleterious presence of car* bonic acid in the blood and in the air. Carbonic acid gas has a little more specific gravity than atmospheric air, but the difference is so slight that when in a current of air it is carried upward, or where there is no current it tends downward. When a multitude meet in a' room which has not been planned to admit fresh air, the carbonic acid gas descends to the floor and from thence it accumulates upward. When it enters the nostrils of the assembly the faces of all become pale, most of them think impatiently of the pleasure of breathing out-door air, and some, perhaps, faint. I am persuaded that the germs of painful sickness and early death are thus often fixed in the human system.

We reflect with astonishment upon the sad consequences of bad ventilation—the great loss of cheerfulness and success in the attainments of intellectual power. A healthy circulation of air is often disapproved by the untutored. As needful medicine which is unpleasant to the taker may be rejected, so a healthy circulation of air by a morbid sensibility may be prevented. Because of bad ventilation children in school may dread their task. For want of pure air perhaps thviir digestion is impeded. They then feel as if a heavy burden was upon them. If they try to learn they seldom succeed. If they succeed in committing a paragraph to memory it is soon forgotten. Being ignorant of themselves and the causes of their maladies, they judge themselves incapacitated for intellectual pursuits.

It is from the same cause, very frequently, that religious congregations have many members who spend in church an hour of sleepy thoughtlessness, and return home without being able to tell the points of the speaker's discourse, though they had been where one of the most instructive and interesting sermons was preached. It is doubtless because of bad ventilation that the power of the advocate of the gospel in the pulpit is much less than it otherwise would be. Houses of worship are mostly so constructed that the impure air is driven, by opening the door, upon the preacher. He, in the

T If E SOUTH K II X PL A NT BR.

art of speaking, inhales it more injuri-than others. As a victim be maj be narked for an early death, 'i he sympathy and defense which lie would have ii ■ wild l», a-t of the forest should assail bias in the {tn I pit does set appear- to defend him from the consequences of bad ventilation, which fact, ifl ■ proof of the absent knowledge in relation to the subject.

A Mi.» MANIC.

Buffalo,?*. Y., Mayo, L8G0.

From the Southern Rural Gentleman.

The Lord's Prayer.

We lay before onr readers the Lord's Prayer, beautifully paraphrased into an acrostic, by Thomas Sturtcvant, Jr., a soldier in the 26th regiment United States infantry.

Our Lord and King, who reign'st enthroned on

high, Father of light! mysterious Deity; Who art the gieat I AM, the last, the first, Art righteous, holy, merciful and ju.-t, la realm* of glory, scenes where angels sing, Heaven ifl the dwelling place of God our King, Hallowed thy name, which doth all names transcend. Be thou adored, onr great Almighty Friend, Thy glory shine* bey on I creation's .-pace, framed in the book of justice and of grace. Thy kingdom towers beyon I the starry skies; Kingdom satantic falls, but thine shall rise. Come let thine empire, O thou Holy one, Thy great everlasting Will he den ' U til God make known His will, His power dis-

play I Be it the work of mortals to obey! Done is the great, the wondrous work of lore,

On Calvary ORMfl He died, hut reign* ah

Karth bean the record in thy holy word,

As Heaven adores thy love, let earth, () Lord;

It shil idem in 111" eternal -kies.

Ii prai-ed ;n Heaven — for man die Saviour dies.

//* songs immortal angels laud Hi- name,

Heaven shouts with joy. an I saints his lo\

claim. Give us, O Lord, our food, nor cease no give Ls that food on which our souls may livp! This he our boon to-day. and days to come, Day without end in our eternal home; Our needy souls supply from day to day, Daily assist and aid us when we pray. Bread though we a.-k. yet. Lord thy bit

lend, And make us grateful when thy :id ;

Forgiv* our sins, which in destruction place E7fl the vile rebels of a rebel race, Our Indies, fruits ami tres| _ ve.

Debts which we ne'er can pay. or thou re As we, 0 Lord, our neighbor's faults We beg thou'dst blot ours from thy memory's

book. Forgive our enemies, extend thy grace. Our souls to save, e'en Adam's guilty race.

Debtor* to thee m gratitude and l(

And in thai duty paid by saints aba

I.e.id n- lo.in pin, and in ihy |fei

/ i from the rempter and his In lii-h \. Not in our own, but In his name who bled,

/'/ n 111 i 11 < • ii- our c\ cry lire.I.

Temptation'* fatal charms help us to .-him,

But may we conquer through thy conquering

Son! r US from all which can annoy / .s ill this world, and may our souls destroy.

from all enhrmities which men betide.

Evil and death, 0 turn our feel aside ;

For we are mortal worm-, and k leave to clay:

Thine 'tis to rule, and mortals to obey.

75 not thy mercy, Lord, forever free !

The whole creation knows no 6t)d but tie

Kingdom and empire in thy presence fall:

The King eternal reigRfl the King of all.

Power is with thee—to thee be ^lory given,

And be thy name adored hy earth and Heaven,

The praise of saints and angel? i> thy own :

Glory to thee, the everlasting One, Forever he thy triune name adored ; .linen! lb. sauna! blessed be the Lord!

Poverty Not So Great a Curse. If there is anything in the world that a youn^ man should be more thankful for than another, it is the poverty which necessitates his starting in life under very gn at disadvantages. Poverty is one of tin tests of human quality in existence. A triumph over it is like graduating with honor from West Point It demonstrates stuff and stamina. It is a certificate of worthy labor creditably performed. A yoottg man who cannot statu! the test is not worth anything. He can never rise above a drudge or a pauper. A yoang man alio cannot feel his will harden as the yoke of poverty M upon him, and his pluck rise with (Very difficulty poverty throws in his way, m iy as well retire info some corner and hide himself. Poverty saves a thousand times more men than it ruins; for it only ruins those who are not particularly worth caving, while it saves multitudes of those whom wealth would have ruined. If any young man who reads this is so unfortunate be rich, I giro him my pity. 1 pity you, my rich yonng friend, because you are in dattlfljer. Yea) lack one stimulus to . and excellence, which your poor comj. anion

You will be very apt, if have a soft spot in your head, to think yourself above him, and that sort of thing makes you mean, and injl 1. With full

pockets and full stomach, and fine linen ami broadcloth on your back, yow heart and soul plethoric, in the race of your life you

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

[July

will find yourself surpassed by all the poor boys around you before you know it.

No, my bo3 r , if you' are poor, thank God and take courage; for He intends to give you a chance to make something of yourself. If you had plenty of money, ten chances to one it would spoil you for all useful purposes. Do you lack education ? Have you been cut short in the text book ? Remember that education, like some other thing, does not consist in the multitude of things a man possesses. What can you do ? That is the question that settles the business for yt.u. Do you know your business ? Do you know men and how to deal with them? Has your mind, by any means whatsoever, received that discipline which gives to its action, power and faculty? If so, then you are more of a man and a thousand times better educated than the fellow who graduates from college with his brains full of stuff that he cannot apply to the practical business of life—stuff, the acquisition of which has been in no sense a disciplinary process as far as he is concerned. There are very few men in this world less than thirty years of age, unmarried, who can afford to be rich. One of the greatest benefits to be reaped from great financial disasters, is the saving a large crop of young men.— Timothy

TlTCOMB.

Light.

Light is essential to physical health and spiritual development. Many physicians and nurses fail (partially at least) in their ministrations to the sick. All persons should breathe pure air freely and be exposed to natural light, during the day, and this is especially true of feeble, unhealthy or sick persons ; and yet the rooms of these latter are too often darkened, and consequently the patient languishes for want of light. This may be illustrated by placing a plant in the cellar, or other dark place. How eagerly it will chase the struggling rays of the sun, that may chance to find access to the place, and it will soon become pale and sickly fur want of light and heat from his genial rays. We may have another evidence of the efficacy of the air and light upon our own systems, by going out in the morning before the sun has reached his meridian. We return with buoyant spirits and a healthy glow upon our cheeks; but otherwise, if we go forth into the evening air after sunset, there will be a heaviness

about the brain and a loss of vitality. Our physical systems draw refined electricity from the air filled with the sun's rays, giving us health and vigor of body and buoyancy of spirits; hence the necessity of having those rays emitted into the apartments of the sick.

Picked up Proverbs.

I send you a few proverbs, which I have picked up. I fancy they are all of the coinage of this century. Some I have seen in print, others I have heard.

" Fierce foes make firm friends."

u Half the glory crowns we see, are only gilded crowns of thorns."

" Trust not always to the brightest:

" Know the winter-moon's the lightest."

" God sometimes cut his flowers with a very rough knife."

" A first class youth brings a third class age."

" The wild oals of youth, change into the briers of manhood."

" Life is company, Death is solitude."

u Popularity is not love."

" The heart is often better than the head."

" Admiration without love, is sunshine without rain."

" Grey hairs are the frostwork of age."

" The skies won't go into mourning for our sorrows."

" The sad -colored cloak of silence often covers the spotted clothes of ignorance."

" Pleasant lies, once sown, come up prickles."— Rockingham Register.

Comforts for Cattle. —Reverend Sydney Smith, of England, was something of a farmer, and used to visit his cattle daily, and feed and pat them, until they knew his voice and welcomed his coming. He used to do all in his power to make them comfortable. He has been heard to say; " I am for all cheap luxuries, even for animals; now all animals have a passion for scratching their back-bones, they break down your gates and paling to effect this. Look ! this is my universal scratcher, a sharp edged pole, resting on a high and low post, adapted to every height, from a horse to a lamb. Even the Edinburgh Reviewer can take his turn ; you have no idea how popular it is. I have not had a gate broken since I put it up. I have it in all my fields."

THE SOUTHKKN PLANTER

mi

An Address

On the Opposi ' of Exhausting and

rtilizing System* of Agriculture, Read

fore tin South Carolina Institute, at

its Fourth Annual Fair t November \%th }

BY EDM1 KD itrrnx, i

[We omit tin' introductory part o( this ndtnir-inaiuly ■pplicablfl to the time. ■ ami cirouinstances of its delivery, but the ■ubject discussed i maral and perma-

Dent interest to all intelligent improvers of the soil. We, therefore, desire to rescue it from the ■ II to which it might be destined, if not committed to some more enduring form of publication than the fugitive pages of the merely occasional pamphlet iii which we find it.— Ed. Botrrazai 1'lantkh.]

The particular object of the address whirl) will now be road, is to exhibit in full, and place in contrast, the opposite results on a country an I people, of exhausting and im-provhuj systems of Agru ulture*

In every feeling and opinion there is no DOre true and zealous Southerner than myself. 1 have long studied the domestic life and institutions, and social and moral condition of the people of the slave-holding s, and in every important respect, 1 may truly say, that L concur with, approve, and sympathize with yourselves on these subjects. Yet it is my present design and business not to treat of our many points id'

perfect agreement of opinion, but of the few of difference; not to speak of your

laudable work.-, but your errors; ami to apply to the planters of South Carolina, cms,ue where deserved, as readily as I would applaud them in other respects, which have 00 relation to my present general su Even in the general system of southern mlture, in which there is so much to condemn. I cannot but admire the 61 and intelligent ised by the cultivators

to attain the object Usually sought—which is to draw from the land flic greatest immediate production ami profit If their ob-were instead, as it ought to be, the greatest continued products and profits, and that object wore pursued with as much ability, the people of South Carolina would soon stand in as exalted a position of agricultural success, as now and hereto!, i social and moral qualities, as men and citizens. Even for the few yean which have

1 ; :,<- I investigated and reported upon your abundant resources for fertilisation, and arged their use, if these ssean

been properly applied, already the

cultural production of half the amble lands

id" the State might have been increased full

fifty per cent. I may (hire to express this opinion, inasmuch BS en a newly pure! i

farm, 1 have myself more than tripled thai

amount of increase by the means recommended, and within the same short time since uttering the precepts for the like improvement here.

The great error of southern agriculture is the general practice of exhausting culture —the almost universal deterioration of the productive power of the soil—which power

is the main and essential foundation of all agricultural wealth. The merchant, or manufacturer, who was using (without re-placing) any part of his capital to swell his yearly income—or the ship-owner, who 084 d as profit all his receipts from ft eight, allowing nothing for repairs, or deterioration of capita]—would be accounted by all as in the sure road to bankruptcy. The joint-stock company that should (in good faith, as many have done by designed fraud.) annually pay out something of what ought to be il served fund, or of its actual capital, * so much to the dividends, would soon ; the point of being obliged to reduce the dividends below the original aair rate, and, in enough time, all the capital would be so absorb* d. Yet this unprofitable procedure,

which would be deemed the most in rvol-lous folly in regard to any other kind of capital invested, is precisely that which is

still generally pursued by the ouRivatt rs of

il in all the cotton producing States, and which prevailed as generally,and much

r in my own country, and which, ivni now, is more usual there than the op] course of fertilising Culture. The recuperative powers of nature are indeed continually operating, and to great effect, to repair the waste of fertility caused by the destructive industry of man, and but for this natural and imperfect remedy, all tl Southern States, and most of the Northern likewise, would be already barren deserts, in which agricultural labours would be hope-reward, and civilized men could i.ot

me not be understood as extending censure to all southern agriculture, and

charging this great defect as being univ.

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER

[July

It is truly very general—but there are numerous exceptions, of which it is not my purpose to treat. My present business is with the errors and defects of southern agriculture, and not with its points of admitted excellence—as, for example, the elaborate system of rice culture, and, for other tillage, the very general and commendable attention paid to the collection of materials for putrescent manures. Nothing has appeared to me more remarkable in the agriculture of this region, than the close neighbourhood, (often, indeed, seen on the same property,) of the best husbandry, in some respects, and almost the worst in most others.

The great error of exhausting the fertility of the soil is not peculiar to cotton culture, or to the Southern States It belongs, from necessity, to the agriculture of every newly settled country, and especially where the land before being brought under tillage, was in the forest state. When first settled upon, forest land costs almost nothing, and labour is scarce and dear. Even if labour is more abundant, it still will be long before enough land can be cleared to allow changes of culture and rest to the fields; and for some years after each new clearing, it would be even beneficial to continue the tillage of corn, tobacco or cotton, so as effectually to kill all remains of the forest growth. But as soon as enough land can be brought under culture, and has been put in clean condition, so as to allow space for change of crops and due respite from continued tillage, the previous exhausting course will no longer be best even for early profit. Even in a riew country, while land is yet fertile, it is cheaper to preserve that fertility from any exhaustion, than it is to reduce it considerably. And in an older agricultural country, like South Carolina, having abundant resources in marl and lime for improving fertility, it would be much cheaper, and more profitable, to improve an acre of before exhausted land, than it is to clear and bring under culture an acre of ordinary land from the forest state, allowing that both pieces are to be brought to the •Bime power and rate of production.

New settlers are not censurable for beginning this exhausting culture. But they and their successors are not the less con-demnable for continuing it after the circumstances which justified it have ceased. The svsicm was first begun in Eastern Virginia, because it was the first settled part of the

b culture, and impoverishment of being con-

present United States, and it continued to prevail almost universally, until since the course of my adult life began, and only has partially ceased since, because the country was nearly reduced to barrenness and the proprietors to ruin. From this erroneous policy, so long pursued in Virginia, and the manifest and well known disastrous results in the general and seemingly desperate sterility of the older settled portion of the State, the younger Southern States might have taken warning, and have learned to profit by the woful and costly experience of others. But it seems that every agricultural community must and will run the same race of exhaust in

land and its cultivators, befor vinced of the propriety of commencing an opposite course—after the best means and facilities for making that beneficial change have been greatly impaired by the lapse of time, and progress of waste of fertility—if, indeed, these means are not then irretrievably forfeited.

If, at this time, the work of improvement, with the aid of marl and lime, were properly begun and prosecuted, there would be found here incalulable advantages over those of the pioneers in the like work in Virginia. These advantages would be—first, a tenfold better supply of far richer and cheaper marl than is found in Virginia; second, much more remaining organic matter, or original fertility of the soil, as yet unexhausted; third, full information to be obtained of the operations and opinions of thousands of experienced and successful marlers to refer to, of which advantage there was almost nothing existing thirty years ago. In South Carolina more marling could now be done in a year, and in a proper manner, than was done in Virginia for the first twenty years ; and, though judging merely by analogy, I infer that the benefit would be fully as great in this region as in my own.

And now I will state, from unquestionable official documents, something of what has been effected in Virginia, not merely in cases of particular farms, and those entirely marled, which might show tripled or quadrupled products and market returns, and tenfold intrmxie value, compared to their former low condition, but cases showing the bearing of the comparatively few marled and limed farms on the aggregate assessed value of all the lands in lower Virginia, and upon the receipts of land tax from the same,

Til E SOUTB ERN PLANTER.

403

although m>t one-twentieth part of the whole

tide water distrjol has vet been improved in

fertility, or is in the least degree better I and, I My, the meat remainder is much poorer) than when the marling of other lands first began to raise the general avers

;ed values throughout this whole district

It appears, from the latesl Btate ai men! of lands in Virginia, for 1850, that

the actual increase of value in the tidewater district only, >ii)ce 1888, the previous incut, was more than seventeen mil-of dollars. On this increase of valua-and at the same rate of taxation, there i^ more than SI7,000 increase of land tax alone accruing annually to the state treasury. It is obTlOUS tha f any increased value OT lands, caused by their increased production, would necessarily require an increase of labour and of farming stock, and would produce proportional increase of general wealth of the improvers, and would add other receipts from taxes in proportion—all serving still more to augment the public revenue.

The recent addition to the aggregate value of land- in Eastern Virginia, is admit-be the effect of agricultural improvements; and that more than all the nett in-■ is due to marling and liming only, Would be equally evident, if I could here adduce the proofs, as I have done elsewhere.* Further; though 1838 was the date of the carli. nent made after marling and

liming had begun to increase aggregate production and value of lands, it is an unquestionable fact that the general impoverish-

I twelv< and a quarter

'millions, or nearly one and a half millions

yearly.

Now, bear in mind that these .v.

results of the improving of all the tide-

region, nor all of its much smaller arable portion, but, probably, of not more than one-twenjieth of the cultivated land. All the remainder, if uncultivated, ifl stationary ; and if cultivated, is generally in a.

continued course of exhaustion ; and the small quantity of enriched land had first to make up for all defi< f the imj

ished, and lessenings ol production throughout the whole tide-water district, and after

all such deductions, still exhibited a clear

surplus of seventeen and a quarter millions

of increased aggregate value. Tl

us is

the

ment had been greater, and vab

much

lower, about 1828. And if this earlier time and __ i had been marked

by an assessment then made, the full in-i!uc of lands from that time, would have appeared at 1 0.00> in 1850,

;i and a quarter millions, counting from the already partially advance d improvement and enhanced valu< How< . my deductions and

• r nothing, there will .-till remain the proof, by official documents, of the actual increase of the value of lands in

* In a communication recently ma^lo to the Agricultor if Virgin in. on M 8ome

of the Results .«f the Improvement of land*. I>v Calcareous Manures, on Public Interests in Virginia, in the increase of Production, Population. ral Wealth and Revenue to the Treasory."

result of but the beginning, and a very recent beginning of measures for improvement, executed in every case, imperfectly, often injudiciously, and sometimes injuriously, altogether on less than one-twentieth of the space on which calcareous manures arc available. The great omitted space will

thereafter be fertilized in the same manner. Then the actual increase of value of lands,

■ founded on increased production, will be counted by hundreds'oi millions of dollars. And this anticipated enormous amount of fertility and capital to be created, might, have been even now in possession, if our improvements by calcareous manures had been begun tlfirty years earlier, instead of there having been continued through all that time, the progress of wasting and destroying the remaining powers of the soil. South Carolina began exhausting culture much later, and is now lull fifty years lees advanced towards the lowest depth of that descent which we had nearly completed. If that future of fifty years of continued exhaustion could now be cut off, and the improvement of lower South Carolina by calcareous manures could beat once begun aid continued, the loss of at least one hundred

millions of dollar.- of now remaining value would bo saved, and a gain of three hun-

iVom improvement won 1 reached SOOner by the same fifty \ This would be better, by all the great

value, than even the following out precisely the first sinking and now nt lower Virginia. In that culti-

vators waited until the fertility of the land hid SO nearly expired, that it was BU] ; to be in arttculo morii —at the la

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

[July

before the work of resuscitation was begun.

The comparative results of the opposite systems of improving and exhausting cultivation may be thus illustrated. Suppose a certain investment of capital will yield twenty per cent, of present annual interest, or nett products, and two persons invest equal amounts in the business. The more provident one draws and spends but fifteen per cent, annually of his income, and leaves the remaining five per cent, to accumulate and to be added to his interest bearing capital. The other proprietor draws each year, and spends all of the certain and annual average returns of his capital, and five per cent, more of the capital stock itself. He reasons (may I say it?) like many cotton planters, and infers that so small a detraction from his capital will do no harm, as he will have so much the more of quick returns for immediate use or re-investment. In less than twenty years, one of these individuals will have doubled his original capital, and also his twenty per cent, income, and the other will have exhausted his entire fund.

But it may be said, (as alleged in regard to the squanderers of fertility,) that as the latter person had received so much more of annual returns at first, he might have reinvested and thus have retained his overdraughts of annual products. If a planter —and, of course, his over-draughts had been from the fertility of his land—he might have bought another plantation, to work and to wear out in like manner. But even if so, wherein would be the gain ? He would have had the disadvantages of a change of investment, of removal, and making a new settlement.. But where one man would so save and re-invest his over-draughts from Ills capital, two others would use, or, perhaps, spend theirs, as if so much actual clear profit or permanent income. When the land is utterly worn out, and the total j capital of fertility wasted, (or the small remnant is incapable of paying the expenses of farther cultivation,) it will most generally be found that the channels into which the early full streams of income flowed, arc then as dry as the sources.

I do not mean that it necessarily follows that the planter who exhausts his land, also lessens his general wealth. Would that it were so. For, then, such certain and immediate retribution would speedily stop the whole course of wrong doing, and prevent all the consequent evils. It may be rarely,

and it might be never the case, that the exhauster of land becomes absolutely poorer during the operation. He will have helped to impoverish his country, and to ruin it finally, (by the same general policy being continued,) he will have destroyed as much of God's bounties as the wasted fertility, if remaining, would have supplied forever, and as many human beings as those supplies would have supported, will be prevented from existing. And yet the mighty destroyer may have increased his own wealth. Nevertheless, he does not escape his own, and even the largest share of the general loss he has caused. While thus destroying, say $20,000 worth of fertility, the planter, by the exercise of industry, economy and talent in other departments of his business, or from other resources, may have grown richer by $10,000. But if, as I believe is always true, it is as cheap and profitable to save as to waste fertility, in the whole term of culture, then the planter, in this case, might have gained in all $30,000 of capital, if he had saved, instead of wasting, the original productive power of his land.

Even if admitting the common fallacy which prevails in every newly settled country, that it is profitable to each individual cultivator to wear out his land, still, by his doing so, and all his fellow-proprietors doing the like, while each one might be adding to his individual wealth, the joint labours of all would be exhausting the common stock of wealth, and greatly impairing the common welfare and interest of all. The average life of a man is long enough to reduce the fertility of his cultivated land to one-half, or less. Thus, one generation of exhausting cultivators, if working together, would reduce their country to one-half of its former production, and, in proportion, would be reduced the general income, wealth and means of living, population and the products of taxation, and, in time, would as much decline the measure of moral, intellectual and social advantages, the political power and military strength of the commonwealth. The destructive operations of the exhausting cultivator have most important influence far beyond his own lands and his own personal interests. He reduces the wealth and population of his country and the world, and obstructs the progress and benefits of education, the social virtues, and even moral and religious culture. For upon the productions of the earth depends more

T II K SOUTH ERN PL A NT Kit.

- the in.; by the

people of any country, of those and all other blessings which a community can enjoy. There is, however, one very numerous class of exceptions to this general rule, which is, when an agricultural people, or interest, is tributary to some other people <>r interest, whether foreign or at home. Such exceptions are presented in different modes, by the agriculture of Cuba being tributary to

Spain, of many Other countries to their own despotic ami oppressive home governments; ami of the southern states of this confederacy, to greater or less extent, to different

pauper ami plundering interests of the northern states, which, through legislative enactments, have been mainly fostered and supported by levying tribute upon southern agriculture and industry.

The reaion why such woful results of impoverishment of lands, as have been stated, are BOt Been to follow the causes, and speedily, is that the causes are not all in action at once and in equal progress. The labours oi* exhausting culture, also, arc necessarily suspended, as each of the cultivators' fields ively worn out. And when tillage . and any space is thus left at rest, Nature immediately goes to work to recruit ami replace as much as possible oi' the wasted fertility, until another destroyer, after many years, shall return again to waste, and in much shorter time than before, the smaller stock of fertility so renewed. Thus, the whole territory so scourged, is not destroyed at one operation. But though these changes and partial recoveries are continually, to some extent, counteracting the labours for destruction, still the latter work is in general progress. It may require (as it did in my native region) more than two hundred from the first settlement, to reach the lowest degradation. But that final result is not th rtainly to be produced by the

continued action of the causes. I have wit-d at home, nearly the }t of de-

line. But I have also witnessed,subsequently, and over lar J, more than the complete resuscitation of the land, and great improvement in almost every respect, not only

to individual, but to public interests J not only

in regard to fertility and wealth, but also in mental, moral and so.-ial improvement.

Inasmuch as my remarks would seem to ascribe the most exhausting system of cultivation especially to the Blave-holding states, the enemies of the institution of

slavery might cite my opinions) if* without Kjplanation which will now be offered, as indicating that slave labour and exh ing tillage were necessarily connected as

Cause and effect. 1 readily admit that our slave labour has served greatly to facilitate OUT exhausting cultivation; but onh

cause it is a great facility—far superior to

any found in the non-slave holding itatd— for all agricultural operations. Of course,

if our operations are exhausting of fertility, then certainly our command of cheaper and more abundant labour enables US to do the work of exhaustion, as well as all other work, more rapidly and effectually. But if directed to improving, instead of destroying fertility, then this great and valuable aid of slave-labour will as much more advance improvement, as it has generally heretofore advanced exhaustion. The enunciation of this proposition is perhaps enough. But if any, from prejudice, should deny or doubt its truth, they may see the practical proofs on all the most improved and profitable farms of Lower and Middle Virginia. On the lands of our best improvers and farmers, such as Richard Sampson, Hill Carter, John A. Selden, William 15. Harrison, Willough-by Newton, and many others, slave-labour is used not only exclusively and in larger than usual proportion, (because more required on very productive land,) but is deemed indispensable to the greatest profits, and operating to produce more increase of fertility, and more agricultural profit, than [pan be exhibited from any purely agricultural labours and capital north of fid and Dixon's line.

There is another and stronger reason for the greater exhausting effects of Southern agriculture, and, therefore, of tiling-slave-labour. The great crops of all the slave-holding States, and especially of the I more Southern—corn, tobaOCO, and cotton |—are all ti! ed Crops. The frequent turning and loosening of the earth by the plow and hot—and far more, when continued without intermission year after year—advance the decomposition and waste of all organic matter, and expose the soil of all but the OlOSt level surfaces to destructive washing by rains—and rains the more heavy and destructive in power, in pr tion as approaching the South. The N rth-ern fanner is guarded from the worst of these results, not because 1 < c-la-

bour, but because his labour is so scarce

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

[July

and dear that he uses as little as possible for his purposes* Besides this consideration, his climate is more suitable to grass than to grain, and his other large crops are much more generally broad-cast than tilled. These are sufficient causes why, in general, the culture of land in the Northern States should be less exhausting than in the Southern, without detracting anything from the superior advantages which we of the South enjoy, in the use of African slave-labour.

At the risk of uttering what may be deemed trite or superfluous to many of those who now honour me by their attention I beg leave to state concisely, the fundamental laws, as I conceive them to be, of supply and exhaustion of fertilizing matters to soils, and aliment to plants.

All vegetable growth is supported, for a small part, by the alimentary principles in the soil, (or by what we understand as its fertility,) and partly, and for much the larger portion, by matters supplied, either directly or indirectly, from the atmosphere. More than nine-tenths usually of the substance of every plant is composed of the same four elements, three of which, oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon, compose the whole atmosphere. The fourth, hydrogen, is one of the constituent parts of water; and, also, as a part of the dissolved water, hydrogen is always present in the atmosphere, and in great quantity. Thus, all these principal elements of plants are superabundant, and always surrounding every growing plant; and from the atmosphere, (or through water in the soil,) very much the larger portion of these joint supplies is furnished to plants; and so it is of each particular element, except nitrogen; much the smallest ingredient, and yet the richest and most important of all organic manuring substances, and of all plants. This, for the greater part, if not all its small share in plants, it seems is not generally derived even partially from the air, though so abundant therein, but from the soil, or from organic manures given to the soil.

But though bountiful nature has offered these chief alimentary principles and ingredients of vegetable growth in as inexhaustible profusion as the atmosphere itself, which they compose, still their availability and beneficial use ior plants are limited, in some measure, to man's labours and care to secure their bent fits. Thus, for illustration, suppose the natural supplies of food for

plants furnished by the atmosphere to be three-fourths of all received, and that one-fourth only of the growth of any crop is derived from the soil and its fertility. Still, a strict proportion between the amount of. supplies from these two different sources, does not the less exist. If the cultivator'3 land, at any one time, from its natural or acquired fertility, affords to the growing crop alimentary principles of value, to be designated as five, there will be added thereto other alimentary parts, equal to fifteen in value, from the atmosphere. The crop will be made up of, and will contain, the whole twenty parts, of which five only were derived from, and served to reduce, by so much, the fertility of the soil. These proportions are stated merely for illustration, and, of course, are inaccurate. But the theory or principle is correct; and the law of fertilization and exhaustion, thence deduced, is as certainly sound.

Then, upon these premises, there is taken from the land, for the support of the crop, but one-fourth of the aliment derived from all sources for that purpose. And, if no other causes of destruction of fertility were in operation, one green or manuring crop, (wholly given to the land, and wholly used as manure,) would supply to the field as much of alimentary or fertilizing matter as would be drawn thence by three other crops, removed for consumption or sale. But in practice there are usually at work important agencies for destruction of fertility, besides the mere supply of aliment to growing crops. Such agencies are, the washing off of soluble parts, and even the soil itself, by heavy rains, the hastening of decomposition and waste of organic matter, by frequent tillage processes and changes of exposure—and plowing or other working of land when too wet, either from rain or want of drainage. Also, a cover of weeds left to rot on the surface, or any crop plowed under, green or dry, as manure, is subject to more or less waste of its alimentary principles, in the course of the ensuing de-| composition. Therefore it is nearer the ! facts, that two years' crops or culture, for | market or removal, would require one year's I growth of some manuring crop to replace 'and to maintain undiminished, or increasing, the productive power of the field. [The poorest and also the cheapest of such I manuring crops, will be the natural or |" volunteer" growth of weeds on land left

Til i: SOUTH GRN PL A NTBR.

407

uncultivated, and i 1 ; and the bcsl

dl will be furnUhcd in tie whole protest of a broad-oast sown and entire crop >ur own moat fertilising and valuable

Thus of each mannring crop, (aa of all otlu •: f the fertilising matter thus

given to the land, tlie cultivator has con-tribnted but five parts from the land, or its previous mannring, and the atmosphere

has supplied fifteen parts. [f, then, the cultivator by still more increasing his own contributions, will give ten parti of alimentary matter to the land and crop, there will be added thereto from the atmosphere in the same two-fold proportion, or thirty

. and the whole new productive power will be equal to forty. And if the soil is lifted by its natural constitution, or the ar-titieial change induced by calcareous applications, to fix and retain this double supply of organic matter, the land will not only be made, but will remain, as of much increased fertility, under the subsequent like course of receiving one year's product for manure, for every two other crops removed. But, on the other hand, if more exhausting culture had been allowed, instead of cither increased or maintained n—or if the crops take away more

'lie matter than nature's three-fold contributions will replace—then a downward

must begin, and will pn whether slowly or quickly, to extreme poverty of the land, its profitless cultivation, and final abandonment. In this, the more -", the cultivator's contributions of aliment, (obtained from the soil,) are reduced from the former value, designated as five, first to four, and next successively to three, two. and finally less than one ; and nature keeps equal pace in reducing her proportional supplies, from fifteen, first to twelve, and so on to cine and MX, and leSB than tin. induce-

ment is offered to enrich, rather than exhaust the soil. For whatever amount

of fertility the cultivator shall bestow, or

whatever abstraction from a previous rate of supply he shall make, either the train or the loss will be tripled in the account of supplies from the atmoe furnished or

withheld by nature.

In another and more practical point of view, the loss incurred by exhaustuij

ture, may be plainly exhibited. According

to my views, (elsewhere fully -oils

Buppc properlj as to

mineral ingredients, do QOl demand for the

maintaining and increasii

production, more than the resting or the growth of two years in (very five, mainly to

be left on the land as manure. TIicm

the proportions of the five-field rot;, now extensively used on the most improving parts of Virginia. And one of i

two years the field is glased, so that, parts of its growth of mass is consumed, imtcad of remaining on the field for manure. To meet the same demands, the more Southern planter might leave his field to he co\ | by its growth of weeds, or natural gr; one year, (and also to be grazed,) and a-broad-cast crop of pea-vines to be pi under in another for every three crop> of grain and cotton. Bui the ready answer to this, (and I have heard it many times,) is, " What! lose two crops in every five years ? I cannot afford to lose even one." It may be that the planter is so diligent and careful in collecting materials for pre-pared manure, that he can extend a thin and poor appjication, and in the drills only, over nearly half his cotton field; and perhaps he persuades himself that this application will obviate the necessity for reef and manuring crops to the land. The result will not fulfil this expectation. But even if it could, the manuring thus l diiectly by the labour of the planter, is more costly than if he would allow time and opportunity for nature to help to manure for him —whether alone, or Mill 1 if aided by preparing for and sowing the native pea, to the production of which your climate is so eminently f avoir All the accumulations of leaves raked frost i >r pine forest, with the. slight additional value which may be derived from the otherwise profitless maintenanc

cattle, will supply lets of food to plants,

and at greater cost, than would be furnish'

ed by an unmixed growth of peas, all left

manure.

The native or Southern pea, (as it ought

• In ominnnieaiion to ti

State Agrioultaral B ititled •

of ile> Theory and LaWfl of Rotal Crops, and tlieir practical application." I view* I iIi'imu especially applicable 'o ih< ricultnral condition of Sooth-Carolina, and of importance next to the main Subject of the present address.

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

[July

to bo called,) of such general and extensive culture in this and other Southern States, is the most valuable of manuring crops, and also offers great and peculiar advantages as a rotation crop. The seeds, (in common with other peas and beans,) are more nutritious as food, for man and beast, than any of the cereal grains. The other parts of the plant furnish the best and most palatable provender for beasts. The crop may be so well made, in your climate, as a secondary growth under corn, that it is never allowed to be a primary crop, or to have entire possession of the land. It will grow well broad-cast, and either in that way, and still better if tilled, is an admirable cleansing growth. It is even better than clover as a preparing and manuring crop for wheat. In one or other of the various modes in which the pea-crop may be produced, it may be made to suit well in a rotation with any other crops. Though for a long time I had believed in some of the great advantages of the pea crop, and had even commenced its culture as a manuring crop, and on a large scale, it was not until I afterwards saw. the culture, growth and uses in South-Carolina, that I learned to estimate its value properly, and perhaps more fully than is done by any who, in this State avail themselves so largely of some of its benefits. Since then, I have made the crop a most important member of my rotation ; and its culture, as a manuring crop has now become general in my neighbourhood, and is rapidly extending to more distant places. If all the advantages offered by this crop were fully appreciated and availed of, the possession of this plant in your climate would be one, of the greatest agricultural blessings of this and more Southern States. For my indi-j vidual share of this benefit, stinted as it is by our colder climate, I estimate it as add ing, at least, one thousand bushels of wheat annually to my crop.

(to be continued.)

It is better to love a person you cannot marry, than marry a person you cannot love. This is a short text for a long sermon, which human experience will continue to preach " until the last syllabic of recorded time."

Gleanings for the Curious.

KICKING THE BUCKET.

The tradition among the slang fraternity as to the origin of this phrase is, that " One Bolsover, having hung himself to a beam while standing on the bottom of a pail or bucket, kicked the vessel away in order to pry into futurity, and it was all over with him from that moment— Finis!"

BUMPER.

When the Roman Catholic religion was in the ascendant in England, the health of the Pope was usually drunk in a full glass immediately after dinner— an Ion pere : hencp the word " Bumper."

ROYAL SAYING.

It was Alphonsus, surnamed the Wise, King of Aragon, who used to say, " That among so many things as are by men possessed or pursued in the course of their lives, all the rest are baubles, besides old wood to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to converse with, and old books to read.

DUN.

This word, generally supposed to be derived from the French Donnez, owes its origin, according to the British Apollo of September, 1708, to one Joe Dun, a famous bailiff of Lincoln in the time of Henry VII. He is said to have been so extremely shrewd in the management of his rough business, and so dexterous in the collection of dues, that his name became proverbial; and whenever a man refused to pay his debts, it grew into a prevalent custom to say, " Why don't you Dun him ?"

Old English Christmas Pudding. — To make what is termed a pound pudding, take of raisins well stoned, currants thoroughly washed, one pound each, chop a pound of suet very finely and mix with them ; add a quarter of a pound of flour, or bread very finely crumbled, three ounces of sugar, one ounce of grated lemon peel, a blade of mace, half a small nutmeg, one tea-spoonful of ginger, half a dozen eggs well beaten; work it well together, put it into a cloth, tie it firmly, allow room to swell, and boil, not be suffered to stop boiling.— Ilarrisburfj Telegraph*

It is not always the raggedest man that If you wish to have fine stock, feed them is the shabbiest fellow. well.

i

Til i: SO IT II ERN PL A NTK R

Mistake of Young Men. [tit ■ great mistake Kato which many

ican youth fall, tlmt manual labour

aourable. To ! e a merchant, a

law\( r, i doctor, an engineer, a military or

r a shipmaster, is, in their ea-

. much more honourable than it ii to

I mechanic or farmer. It cannot Ik- de-

witli. A g od knowledge of the methods of husbandry can be easily acquired. The implements of labour arc a- l'«»«.«1 nnd cheap M <:in 1"' found the world ovi r. 'I Ik title of land is well secured ; the large mono pouch as some of the countries of tin < )1<1 World arc buitbened with, can m here. What greater encoui eourd

eicd that i other occupations require be isked by one who only desires to

rtion. The doctor is often quite as comfortably and indcj.cnd.ntly:'' The fcr-v when his day's work is dona, ss the arcr, that honest, goodly farmer, is one of farmer or blacksmith ean he, hut he is not tln> most independent men in the

half BO Mire of a quiet night's Bleep SI they World. He has the promise that seed time

. and we all know to what hardships en- |nd harvest will not mil. lie may always gine< PS are exposed, as well as persons who plow in hope, and reap with joy. To till

j the earth, then, is really an honourable We rigorous young men seek- calling.

fog phots sa clerks in stores. They all I Hut H docs not require that a man should . and generally expect, some favourable be enslaved to the plow, nor that he should tin.' in the affairs of life, which "will lead make companions of his sheen and i

on to fortune." Other men have BO- The shrewdest and most intelligent men, cumulated rast sums in buying and selling [who sit on our juries and help make our iiy not I ? is the language they laws, come from their farms and return to icly consider that hut a small them as soon as their duties terminate. ■umber of these who embark, ever com- The good sense, sobriety, contentment, replete their voyage. Where lil'ty succeed, duatry, and love of order which eharacter-

perhaps a hundred fail. j ize our American farmers, are among the

But an industrious, thrifty farmer, sel- most important safeguards of public p dom fails to secure for himself and family and prosperity.

f life. The skilful and practical mechanic, too. is generally sure of a deration lor his labour, and with common prudence lie c:m provide a eomne-the future. That a princely for-

Anu rican Banm r and- I

« • • • » The Law of Life. i-." bbj - Guyot, "a law of life

"There

and growth, which, if taken in its m< tune can he heaped up by the plow, the era! formula, in its rhythm, is applicable to jack-plane, or tie we do noteey; all that undergoes the j f develop-

ed that I is likely to ment.

acquire lame on a farm, as at the bar. u All life. BS we h:ive said, in its most

lint the history of the world will show, simple formula, may be defined in a mutual tlmt the men who 1. most for the exchange of refafiows.

welfare of tie d whoso memories' M An exchange auppoeea at least two ele-

are cherished with the . came ments, two bodies, two individuals, a duality

from the hard-working ranks. Princely and a difference, an equality between them, fortu ! than won, in virtue of which the exchange is estab-

and while the mod< ns of the lisl

mechanic supply all the comforts " There is, then, at the foundation of all of life, they are attended with few temp- the phenomena of life, a tations to luxury, or extravagance, and two or more individuals, calling out an still fewer ri.-ks I, lolly Of fraud of tion ami reaction of one upon another, the

Others. inc. --ant alternation of which OOTIBtitUt

There ean be no doubt that agricultural movement we call life, and which gires birth

employments are the moat natural to man, I to all the phenomena man-

and there is no country on the globe in ifeatation.

Which the facilities for pursuing these em- u Ld US endeavor, first, to detect this

ploy ments are so great as in the United in inorganic nata

States, requiring but a very small outlay of " The lamp that gives US li.L'ht, the money to obtain a respectable farm to begin that burns before our eyes, what else is it

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER

tJULY

than one of those phenomena of inorganic life, the result of the mutual and repeated action of two heterogeneous bodies upon each other? We have, on the one side, the hydrogen gas, conducted by the pipe, and brought into the presence of oxygen contained in the air. These are two bodies considered as simple, but having different properties. Place them in contact, under suitable conditions of temperature, and the mutual action immediately commences; they combine with an activity which becomes visible to the senses by the rapid development of heat and light; and in this continuous, vital movement, their differences are extinguished, or rather combine and harmonize in a new body, a product, the end of all this activity, in which the antagonism of the primitive elements has ceased. This new body is water; it is a liqnid, and no longer a gas ; it is a body, all the physical properties of which are different from those which compose it, which, as you know, play very different parts throughout nature. The same gas that serves to light us, contains also carbon; this also combines with oxygen to form a new body of carbonic acid gas, the properties of which are all special in it.

" Each of these new products may, in turn, enter into relations of exchange with others, and pass as an elementary body into a new combination, the result of which will be a body composed of four simple elements, but endowed, as such, with entirely different qualities, belonging to it alone. It may, in turn, become one of the elements composing a multitude of bodies; and it is thus that the sixty elements our chemical means have not enabled us to decompose, which chemists call simple bodies, supply nature with materia Is sufficient ior the immeasurable variety of all the compound bodies that exist.

" What do we see, finally, in all this physical and chemical process ? A primitive difference between two substances, an action and reaction of one upon the other, and their combination in a new body, which may, in its turn perforin the same part." * * *

" Without coming into combination, a difference between two bodies excites none the ;i vital movement. Place near each other a plate of zinc and a plate of copper; these two enter immediately into an interchange of positive and negative electricity, and give birth to these powerful electrical and magnetic currents which modern industry puts to such admirable use. I say, further, place

side by side two plates of the same metal, but unequally heated, and there is established between them an interchange of temperature, and of electrical currents of the same nature. Thus every where a simple difference, be it of matter, be it of condition, be it of position, excites a manifestation of vital forces, a mutual exchange between the bodies, each giving to the other what the other does not possess. To multiply these differences, to increase their variety, is to render the actions and reactions more frequent, is to extend and to intensify life.

" But let us pass to organized nature. It would be easy to demonstrate that the law we have just recognized is also that which governs the growth of the vegetable; but I would rather trace it in the animal world, wherein it is expressed still more clearly.

" Let us see, first, how nature proceeds in the formation of the organic individual, the animal. No one has shown this better than my. learned friend,* whom I need not name in this place. Thanks to him, these facts have become familiar, I shall need only to recall them to mind.

" I begin with the animal considered in itself as an individual. In a liquid animal matter, without precise form, homogeneous, at least in appearance, a mass is outlined which takes determinate contours, and is distinguished from the rest; it is the egg. Soon, in the interior of the egg, the elements separate, diverging tendencies are established ; the matter accumulates and concentrates itself upon certain points; these accumulations assume more distinct forms and more specific characters; we see organs traced, a head, an eye, a heart, an alimentary canal. But this diversification docs not go on indefinitely. Under the influence of a special force, all these diverse tendencies are drawn together towards a single end ; these distinct organs are united and coordinated in one whole, and perform their functions in the interest and for the service of the individual commanding them.

"What, then, has been the course pursued here by nature ?

" The point of departure is a unit, but a homogeneous unit, without internal differences ; a chaotic unit, if I may venture to say so; for what is a chaos but this absence of organization in amass, all the parts of which arc alike ?

Professor Agazziz.

<r,o.]

THE so IT II BRN 1'LA NTER.

411

"T1 lj it U

liahrnonl of dii forma

ami functions their Bpecial charac

u Tlu' end ; it m ■ new unit, th or harmonic unit, if you please; for all the iodividnaJ organs are not fortuitously aasem-bled, l)ii hare each of them their plan and iona marked out. The totality of these •volu !inarily called i

nt.

■ 7/v rsi/lrtifi't/i ; it M tlie variety of Organs ami of functions.

What, then, is the condition of i greater amount <>i' life, of i richer life, of a oomple-

rowth for the animal? Is it not the multiplicity ind the variety of the special

-.which are so many different means

by the individual may place himself in; relation with the external world, may receive! the most varied impressions from it ; ami. so 1

ak. may taste it in all its forms, and

may act upon it in turn? "What an im-;

pease distance between the life of the po-|

which is only a digestive tube, and

that of the superior animals; above all, ofi man, endowed with so many ezquisi

for whom tire world of mtfure, as well as the

w<»rld of ideas, is open on all sides, awaking

and drawing forth in ■ thousand various

.ill the living forces wherewith

flowed hi u And what we here say of Organic individuals—is it not t individuals, and particularly of human

Is it evident that the same law of develop-1

pent is applicable to them? Here, again, hoim j iniformity, is the elemen-

tary Btate,—th fcy, va-

riety of elements, which call for and multiply exchanges ; and almost infinite sj>. r,',ii;. motion of the functions corresponding to the various talent ry man by

Providence, and onl halo action and

lit to light by the I I wants of a

complicated as ours,—these have, in all times, been ii ! state

arrived it a high degree of improvement

u Could we. indeed, conceive the possibility rjfthii multitude of industrial talents thai have their birth in the wants of luxury, and are revealed l>y the thousand elegant nothings displayed in our drawing-r among the Indians of the Rocky Mo ntaios, sheltered by the few 1.ranches which form

their wretched huts? The Commercial life, which tity of fi-

liations of the globe—is it possible among aj

people Whose ambition is limited t.» hitting in the neighbouring wild the animal t! to furnish food for the day ? Could w<

the wonder.- of architecture unfolded among a people who have no public cd but the overhanging foliage of their foi • Had Raphael been horn among th. m, « giv< ii his admiral to the world '! And the prei treasure - of intelligence and of lofty thou oontained in our libraries,—where i they be, if human the simplicity a raise philosophy has called

the simplicity of nature, but in reality the mOSl Opposed to the line nature of man ?

u No, it is the exchange of products by the

Commerce of the world, that makes the material life and prosperity of the nations. It is the exchange of thoughts, by the pen ami by speech, that sets in motion th or intelligence. It is the interchange of the

sentiments and affections, that make- the moral life and secures the happiness of man. " Thus, all life is mutual,—is exchange. Tn individuals, as well as in societies, that which excites life, that which is the condition of life, is difference. The pi development is diversity ; the end 18 the Jmr-monpout tnu'ti/ allowing all differences, all individuals to exist,but coordinating and subjecting them to a superior aim.

ery individual, nee rily forms a part of a organism than

out of which we can not conceive its (nee, and in which it ha I -part

By performing these functions, it to the higl e of perfection its

own nature is capable of attaining. Unhappy he who isolates himself, and rei'u enter into those relations of intercourse with others which BSSUTe to him superior hie. lie deprives himself voluntarily of tlit* nutritive sap intended to </wc him vigor, and, branch torn from the vine, dries up and perishes in his egoism.

"A I ii Order, all is harmony in tin* uni-kUSe the whole universe is a thought of (iod ; and \i combination of

organi h of which i» only an in'

part of one still more BttbHmC Grod alone contains them all, without making a part of any.

" Tay all necessary regard to filial and fraternal duties, so that aipor" *ance to the various relations of life."

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

[Jul?

Humane Treatment of the Horse. "A merciful man is merciful to his becut. n

The above proverb is worthy the attention of ail who own or use a horse; and more particularly during inclement seasons of the year.

It is said that in no country, according to the population, arc the r e as many horses as in the United States; and we may add, that in no other country on the face of the earth, is that animal so badly used as here.

The cause of this bad treatment is mainly owing to the fact, that the American people have less sympathy for the sufferings of the brute creation than those of other countries. Even the sufferings of our fellow men excite far less pity in the breasts of Americans, than is manifested by the citizens of foreign countries. So great are the abuses of horses in our cities, that the authorities of New York, Boston, P iladelphia, and other large places, are almost daily arraigning cartmen and cabmen, and fining them for cruelties that they practice on their overtasked horses.

So insensible are the public to such barbarities, «that a man may be seen to knock down his horse, out of sheer anger towards his poor brute; because, perhaps, he is unable to perform impossibilities, and scarcely the least notice is taken of the act, unless it be a low jeer, or " horse laugh" at the sufferings of the prostrate beast. Scarcely ever do we hear a rebuke given to such wretches, unless it be so weak as to fail to convey any merited reproof.

These things augur a seared, blunted, and brutalized state of the human mind, which is to be found in a lamentable degree in the people of the United States. Stage drivers have but a faint sympathy for the sufferings of horses under their charge, and generally the only care that is taken of them is caused from a desire to retain their situations, rather than from any innate feelings of pity for the overworked animals in their charge.

The same may be said of hired farm hands, with occasional exceptions; and when a fanner finds that he has a man in his employ devoid of all kindness for the domestic animals which he is required to feed or drive, he had better say to him, "John, we'll settle to-day, and you can find employ elsewhere." It is dangerous to have such a man upon the farm, and the sooner he is got rid of the better.

The half civilized Arab is a model of kindness to his horse, in comparison with the

deeds of the unfeeling human brutes of tin western hemisphere. He admits his favorite mare to all the rights and privileges oi the social circle. The Russian serf makes! a companion of his horse, and talks to him! with gentleness, as though he were possess-

ed of

powers. The wanderin<

Tartar, though scarcely half-civilized, instructs his horse with more care than he teaches his children, while in enlightened, christianized America, the horse is abused,) and made to perform much more labor than can be done, without endangering his health' and shortening his life many years.

It is a cruel neglect of horses during cold, stormy weather, to leave them standing, tied! in front of some stone wall or house, with no; blankets to protect them, while their owners) are sitting unfeelingly by a good fire, for] hours at a time, without a thought on the! uncomfortable condition of their beasts,] which stand shivering in the wind or storm.

In other cases, horses are driven into town| —Jehu-like—and tied to posts, with, perhaps, their feet in cold water, and after shiv-l ering for hours, are driven home again, and left in their stables without any attentionj being paid to them that their condition de-;| mands.

It is said that our horses are short lived ;j but is it any wonder that they are so ? Is it not rather a wonder that they live as long as they do, considering the usage that many receive ?

The horse has a similar constitution to man. He will take cold by exposure as man does, and he w r ill be subject to disease, produced by exposure, in a like manner. How important, then, it is that we should look well to his condition while in the harness, as well as when in the stable, that he may avoid contracting diseases which may render him ' unsound for life, and also impair his ability in a great degree, to perform the amount of labour that he could do, if he were sound. Southern- Rural Gentleman.

Yellow Wash, —As the time for whitewashing draws near, I would recommend the following for rooms that are not intended to be papered, viz :—Prepare whitewash in the usual way, as for whitewashing; then take horse-radish leaves, as soon as they are grown enough, boil them as if for greens, pour the juice into the whitewash, and you have a beautiful bright yellow.—A. Will-son, Marccllus, N. Y., I860.— Neio Yorker.

: ;

Til K SO ITU KKN PL A \ ILK.

Perseverance.

Tip i who [a difficulties, with the firm determination to c |<u r them, in spite of the barriers

which oppose id pr og ress). We

pould ■' lebrated

. when be broadly asserted that • man might do any thin:: he chose, because God lii I livetj bin arms long enough, If lie

would but take the trouble to extend them ; but we do nmst emphatically say that su

ret to the grasp of meet men than is illy supposed, Indeed, obetaolee are bur the dykes which prevent the mire water of knowledge from towing fori time—thai pquiring mind, like ■ sinuous river swells, ami presses against the obstructing barrier • i) it ami the wide sea of intellect, h<>ur after hour, day after day it inor< and fed and swollen by numerous tributary

streams, it at length bwi p the now

Aeble but once formidable impediment, and ■joicitiLc in its self-aoquired Btrength, sweeps

Onward in triumph. The mind of man was never intended by its «rreat Creator to be in-

1 Inward ! is the cry of everj

Alas! there are some who, thinking them-

'int' fools ; they travel onward,

but like B wanderer in a dark morass, see only

flitting ami uncertain lights which lure them

on to perilous paths. There are others who

scorning false gleams seek for the true ray-

—men who lift their eyes from earth and

overlooking the glow-worm behold the stars of Hope and Truth shining in the clear ^ky ;

Ihicfa IS to I their daily paths in full

Insurance that the seeds th< s the^rj

travel along life's highway will spring up]

and bear fruit They faint not, nor fall by the way; and though torn by thorns and ivc the reward of Heir patient endurance and unremitted perseverance—Success.— /»'■ dford S( ntincl.

in tWO

a similar manner >>\ . r 11 The operation ghould be i • i n dry

settled weath. r. 'I be SOap and alum I ally deOOm] in in-

soluble varnish which the rain !«* uual penetrate, and this

thus said to be effectually removed. Another method was some time since described

by the way, the pre\ LOU I the

ttoyal Institute 01 Architects. 1

of sulphurizing oil as a varnish or paint,

is .-aid to improve the color of brick ami

stone, as well as preserve them. I.

pared by subjecting eight parte of hi

oil ami one part of sulphur to a temperature

of 27s n in an iron vessel. It is.said to keep

our both air and moisture, and pn vent de-of soot and dirt, when applied with a brush to the surface oi* abuildiug of briok or stone, or even of woodwork.— J. Builder. •

;;:;:

Protection of Brickwork. uetration of moisture through tin 1 f brickwork may be obviated by following Billiple remedy : Three quarters ^A' a pound of mottled

'.Ion of boiling Water, and the hot solution spread steadily with a flat brush over the outer >uria

ickwork, taking care that il lather; this is to be allowed to dry for twenty-four hours, when a solution foi of a quarter of a pound of alum, dissolved

From die Horticulturist, Love of Nature—Birds—The Chick-a-Dee.

BY C. N. I'.F. Ml. NT.

It is impossible that we should lie other than an admirer of Nature. In all our solitary rambles, whether upon the wild and lonely hill-side, or in the heart of the ; ral valley; at the edge of the minor-like lake, the bank of the babbling brook, Off along the border of the mountain rivulet — our eye is always tilled with beautiful and

picturesque objects. Our ear sot n be. familiar with tin 1 tight carol of every bird

which inhabits the thicket or the forest ; ami

our eye is .-old made acquainted with the whole lovely family of flowers, which enamel

irth, and enrich the air with their perfume. There is not a wild flower that nods

to us from the top of the verdant bank, or ice, or a bird that

salates as with its voluble overture from its

leafy dome, tl and

call by name.

We have ever been loVCTS of 1. ;?.;>, the

They have ever bjb*

I t.» us ali; or ami pure for this

I. In our • Might that it was wrong to harm some kinds of birds ; bu( class that i oribed as doing injo

the fanner, (while they were innocent!;, ployed in seeking their daily food,) and he

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER,

[July

that killed the most was the best fellow. For many years past we have supposed that the birds were rapidly decreasing, for their numbers in the fields and groves were few. A few years ago we moved on to Springside, our present habitation, where the cottage is surrounded with beautiful trees, and we soon found the birds made it their home, as they arrived from their southern journey. They were not allowed to be disturbed, and they built their nests and reared their young in the immediate vicinity of the cottage. In the month of June more than twenty varieties of birds made their homes on the premises, to whose songs we could listen in the lawn and surrounding fields. No birds are allowed to be killed on the place, not even

putation can be made of the insects which. birds devour.

" Birds are the best of scavengers, the nimblest hunters and adroitest butchers. They have no Grahamite scruples to agitate this worm and bug-loving tribe. They do not show their teeth to prove that they were ever designed for meat. They eat what they like, wipe their mouth on a limb, return thanks in a song, and wing their way to a quiet nook to dose or meditate, snug from the hawk that sails about in the air above. To be sure, birds, like men, have a relish for variety. They are the best of pomol.ogists. We charge every man and boy with positive cruelty and dishonesty who drives the birds from the garden in fruit time. On investitive saucy and impudent Cherry-bird that | gation it has been discovered that they never

steals our fruit, or the Sparrow that robs us of our strawberries; the consequence

is,

their nu •Treat

mbers have greatly increased.

disturb sound cherries, and none but those that have worms in them." (?) We say, therefore, spare the birth, and they will destroy 'eat the birds kindly, and they will be- j millions of your worst enemies—the worms, come almost domesticated—follow the plowj We are not writing the history of birds; and pick up every straggling worm or grub we are not writing-methodically; we aim at that is turned up from his dark dwelling.— no order. Ours is the humble task of re-For doing so they deserve well of the farm- cording a few observations called forth by er, and no honest man will cheat them out of the phases of the months; we may therefore their part of the crop, much less kill them be pardoned for introducing the little birds, for trying to get it. I our favorites, whtfse visits to our section ap-

There is no reason to believe, that al . I**r to be irregular ,...,, tliouah most birds live on a variety of food, I Look U P I,,to tbat b ™ n f whose beaut f vet each particular species of birds has a \ mm ^ ^eeps to and .ro, responsn-e to

sreater partiality or fondness for some par-! eTer * bl 5 atl J lnK r ?f I t,, ?* , " i , See { outhat ;■• i I- j i? - ( ,-i nV- i merry, lively little (Jhick-a-dee, hopping

ticular kinds ot insects or reptiles. This j , r'r» / , ± -, , • .<? *A ° A „' Ma i at * p u* i * i about from branch to branch in the ecstasy

evinces a plan. Many species of birds fol1 ,, . ,. , , . L \ J .

i • •]■ , r r i. J r r • t <? ot loyous freedom—now pecking pert y at

low civilization, lhe same may be said of x , *M , , .. , \. ,, & . t J

- „ i i • i o • . i i . . t jthe dun-colored cuticle oi the tree; now

several kinds ot insects; or, at least, they I . . , . .. , , , ;

m «n;, Kr „„;!«,. :* : a tt .i* 7 : seizing coyly in its beak some grub or ap-

multiilly under its influence. Hence the ,., o° */ \ • ■, x1 ...p , ,-\ i- i, V i,„ m • - i . i ,i i hide: Most varied are the attitudes which

birds follow, in order to reduce the number i a1 . . r

*e ;„c««*o rru' „i n ■ , ? r 4.1 they now assume ; not an instant of repose

ot insects, ihis also evinces a plan. Let , J ± , , ; ,, . ,a

__ it,, . 1 i v xt 1 do they know; restless, creeping, calling,

us then study and observe. No man can'

study *' Nature's works and ways," wi

becoming wiser and better

1 can -i , i '. -i

1 I pendent, but ever in progress, advancing

Birds," says an elegant writer, " are the

with the cautious watcher. Beautiful birds are the Chiek-a-dees, whose actions we now stop for a moment to contemplate, and who

best of entomologists. No ornithologist ever are now displaying their characteristic rest hunted specimen birds with more industry j lessness and vivacity in rose bush and fruit and perseverance than is exhibited by birds tree, to obtain a supply of hibernating in-thcmsclvcs in their researches. They dis-j sects. Most graceful and easy are their ac-port in the air, pene'rate every nook and tions. Hovering on the wing, ever and corner of thicket, hedge and shrubbery; j anon lightly darting away and as lightly re-they search the bark, pierce the dead wood, j turning.

glean the surface of the soil, watch for the Oh! it is not the deed of a noble heart spade-trench, and follow the plowman after. which can ruthlessly slaughter the little worms and larva). A single bird in one sea- ( feathered songsters of our lawns and groves son destroys millions of insects for its own —those brilliant Psalmists of Nature, who food and for that of its own nest. No com- are ever reiterating their jubilant songs of

Til E SOUTH E RN PLA NTER.

. nnd thanksgiving and loVe-meledioUS waited like in-

senae to da npon tin* rammer lephjrt, and, ig unward and upward through the grand old woods, are caught aii'l re-echoed with new power and new beauty,and varying ; by myriad tuneful choristers, until the

air .-.■, ma filled with the very easenee of bar-asony, ami the embowered branches of the reading trees are oonyerted into a grand orchestral temple.

We 1 »ve little birds. We delight, when

Suffering, and care, and sorrow have left their impress upon our mind, or some dark shadow ut' Evil or Spirit of (Jloom has crossed the brightest path of life, dimningonr faculties,

Dying our perception of enjoyment,and filling uur very soul with the impn

Melancholy, to stroll into the woods, leaving the artificial world behind us, turning our backs upon our fellow-men, and abutting ourselves up in a dose communion with tlie mysteries, and wonders, and beauties of Nature.

i rom the ll<,mc Journal,

N. P. Willis' Visit to tbe Watch Factory of the American Watch Company.

*****

Novelties in mechanism having always most interesting to me—seeming as it

. supernatural and sudden apparitions

of things hitherto deemed impossible—I acidly an invitation to go where I Made by machinery.

How a watch should be made at all, is mystery enoughj but that this ultimatum of human ingenuity in hand-labour should be

reduced to mechanism, as thai a hundred

watches can be made with the thought and labour hitherto cxpci.dul upon one, was a marvel worth making sure of having on this planet— being very likely to ! |ropped stitch" (like an antediluvian It si art) in a world to come. 1: there-

fore, at some scientific party in the Even-our next plain t, the

whether I hare bet d to Waltham, I am hsppy to have it to ssv that I \ the Watch Fact, ry, there, in one of the last years sf my previous I may

add : ut which there

is likely to be a rietercai curiosity, 1 think.) I TOOT Lanks comes (rem tin

|

From Boston to TValthaui, by railroad, is

but the taking of I I few inn

and our guide, Mr. Robbil of the

Company of Proprietors, to whose com ooj faith and persevering make \.

much ol* tin' bi the etitei

is attributed,) soon opened the door I

Si the shop of the 'rime smiths. '11,'

our party were brother artificers, Mr. Stuart, Mr. Til ton, and myself, being " manufacturers of public opinion," and the fourth

was a lady of an unsympathetic ;

Miss Booth, the lady-historian of the "City of New York." To the worth-whilf-ative-of so intelligent a group of companions, I owed the obliging particularity with which the riddles of mechanism were un-\ ravelled to us.

It is a curious necessity of a watch factory that it should form a part of a beautiful landscape—a secluded place, a moist Soil, or the bank of a river, being requisite 116 its Operations. The original sit- ol' Hie I factory at Uoxbury, was abandoned, because 'the light and diisty character of the soil and the degree to which the atmosphere was charged with dust by the winds and the industrial movements of the neighbourhood, interfered with the nicety of the work. Hence was chosen the present beautiful hillside on a bend of the Charles river, where the hundred or two of male and female operatives,as they sit at their bei regulating the different movements of the machinery, can look out of the widows before them, upon bits of river scenery that would enchant an artist.

It is another poetic peculiarity i^ watchmaking, at Waltham, at least, that the more delicate fingering of woman is found to work best at it. Of the large numl.tr

of persons employed in the factory, more than half, if 1 observed rightly, wet

she sisterhood left idle by the sewing machine —a hsppy compensatksj of Jr. \i-dence ! Gradually, in this way, probably, the in-door employment of all trades and that do not require masculine ;h. will be given over to v.. man. r J he Watch Factor} is of brick, two sto-ries in height, and i a quadn

lar court, and, along the laced

inner and outer windows, stand the workbenches at which are seated the pi of operatives —each of tin'one hundred and twenty parts of the Watch rcquii

manufacture, ami adjustment What impressed me particularly, as I walked

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

[July

trough these long galleries of seated and patient artificers, was the exceeding delicacy and minuteness of it all—the inevitable machinery accomplishing, with such powerful exactness, the almost invisible wonders of transformation and construction, and human aid seeming only needed to supply the material and measure the work, with movements of hand scarce perceptible. The successions of minute instruments were like ranges of little fairies, each weaving its cobweb miracles, under a careful sentinel's superintending eye. It is the novelty of the YYalthain Factory that this is so—machinery doing the hundred little dexterities which have hitherto been done only by the variable hand of the workman. With the machinery once regulated, therefore, any number of watches of the same size and pattern arc made with invariable exactness—all equally sure to keep time, wlrereas, formerly, each watch was only a probability by itself.

The minuteness of very essential parts of the watch astonishes the visitor. A small heap of grains was shown to us, looking like iron-filings, or grains of pepper from a pepper-caster—apparently the mere dust of the machine which turned them out—and these, when examined with a microscope, were seen to be perfect screws, each to be driven to its place with a screw-driver. It is one of the Waltham statistics which is worth remembering, that " a single pound of steel, costing but fifty cents, is thus manufactured into one hundred thousand screws which are worth eleven hundred dollars."

The poetic part of a watch, of course, is what the truth in a woman's heart has been so often compared to—the jew r cl upon which all its movements are pivoted, and which knows no wearing away or variation—and to see these precious truth-jewels and their adjustment was one of my main points of curiosity. The aid of the microscope was again to be called in, to see these—the precious stones, as we first saw them in the glass phial, resembling grains of brilliant sand. They are rubies, sapphires or chrysolites, inferior only to the diamond in hardness and to be drilled by the diamond's point into pivoted rclidnces. The process is thus described in the article to which I am indebted for my statistics:

u The jewels are first drilled with a diamond; and then opened out with diamond-

dust, on a soft hair-like iron wire, their • perforations having certain microscopic differences. In like manner the pivots of steel that are to run in these jewels, without wearing out in the least, must be exquisitely polished. Ry this operation their size is slightly reduced. The jewels and pivots,-after being thus finished, are classified by means of a gauge, so delicately graduated as to detect a difference of the ten thousandth part of an inch! the jewels are" classified by means of the pivots, the jewels and pivots of the same number fitting each other exactly. The sizes of the several pivots and jewels in each watch are carefully recorded under its number, so that if any one of either should fail in any part of the world, by sending the number of the watch to Waltham, the part desired may be readily and cheaply replaced with unerring certainty."

Of this, and all the other operations, too minute for detailed description—the first cutting of the stamps and dies from sheets of brass, hardened and forming the barrels and chambers, coiling and fastening the main springs, gearing wheels and cutting their teeth, shaping of pinions and axles, cutting of escape-wheels, burning and marking the porcelain dials, ai;d final putting together and adjusting of the various parts—the superintendent, Mr. Denison, discoursed to us most interestingly. I could not but think, as I listened to this philosopher of mechanic art, telling us these beautiful secrets with his concentrativeness of voice and eye, and his brief expressive language, how much better it was than the "seeing of a play," or the reading of a novel. My two hours, of following him and listening to his "discourse with illustrations" were like the passing of a dream.

* * * * * *

N. P. W.

Cure for Founder. —A speedy, safe, and certain remedy for founder in the feet of horses, is contributed to the Cotton Planter, by a writer who testifies to its value. lie says: "Clean out the frog of the foot; let it be well cleansed by scraping off all the dirt. Raise the foot so as to be level—pour spirits of turpentine, a sufficient quantity, so as not to run over the hoof; then set the turpentine on fire ; and let it be entirely consumed."

Til i: BOUTB ERN PLANTER.

417

YIKUINIA STATE AGRHTLTIRAL SOCIETY'S EIGHTH

and tin:

CENTRAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF VIRGINIA'S THIRD

ANNUAL EXHIBITIONS UNITED,

AND TO BI HELD AT THE

HERMITAGE FAIR GROUNDS, RICHMOND,

OCTOBER 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th, and 27th, 1860.

Schedule of Premiums,

ESSAl

WRITTEN

TIOXS.

Class 1.

COMMIXICA-

1. For the best Essay on the practical management of ■ form of not less than

o(K) acres, devoted to the cultivation of com and wheat as staple crops. The D sary farm buildings to be described j the r division of the farm into fields; the in teams and farm hands net-

;.!tivation ; the rotation of crops' led; the artificial grasses cultivated; 1 the green crops plowed in for manure; the quantity and kinds of stock which may he illy and profitably kept upon it; and all other matters deemed necessary by the writer Stable and economical management distinct!;. r pre-

paration of land for Corn and wheat, the times in the opinion of the writer for Wanting and sowin b, the me-

thod | n the ms

i . and fodder of

rn, and in harvesting, preserving and hing the wheat crop, and preparing it for market—

A Gold Medal of the value of S100

u 2.

2. For the I ultivation and n i, including the preparation of the plant-bed, and the rear-

iult of plants; the preparation and manuring oi^ the land ; the number and | I construction of tobacco barns; the mode of taring, assorting, ordering, and pming for

market; and the force to every thousand hills nccess-ary to cultivate the crop si; fully—

A Gold Medal of the value of

Class 3.

8, For the largest product per acre, of com, wheat, Irish potato b potatoes,

and turnips on one farm, provided that not less than 10 adjoining acres be cultivated in wheat, and 10 adjoining acres in corn, and not less than one entire acre in each of the other crops. Specimens of the crops to be exhibited with a written description of the mode of cultivation, and the force employed— A Silver Cornucopia of the value of J

1. For the best Essay on Manuref

dadiog lime, and the mode and time of applying them, with a statement of the quantity proj er to 1 plied p< r ai re, for each of the several crops embraced in the rota-P the principal Staple or farm cr<'i is. t of Silv

Class 5. For the 1" ptcd

to Virginia, with a statement of the i mode ring the land; the tin

ig ; and the oiiantity "I ' n to

the acre. Also, the manner of curing crop.

\ Silver Bowl, of the value of

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

[July

Class 6.

6. Best Essay on Swine, including a short history of the most approved breeds or varieties, and the beat mode of breeding, rearing and fattening them.

A Silver Waiter, "of the value of $50

Class 7.

7. For the best Essay on Cattle and Sheep, and their breeds or varieties, including the principles of breeding and the best mode of rearing and fattening thera.

A Silver Pitcher, of the value of $50 • —

Class 8.

8. For the best Essay on Poultry, their varieties, and the most profitable mode of rearing them, distinguishing the game fowls and their treatment from others, and stating the comparative value of each bird.

A Silver Basket, of the value of $20

Class 9.

9. For the best Essay on Fruit Trees, describing the varieties best adapted to Virginia; the most desirable kinds to constitute an orchard; the time and mode of grafting, budding and planting, and the pruning and after cultivation.

A Silver Goblet, of the value of $20

Judges:

N. Frances Cabell, Nelson. Wei. B. Harrison, Prince George. John R. Bryan, Gloucester. John C. Rutherford, Goochland. J. Roy Baylor, Caroline. Julian C. Ruffin, Prince George.

Class 10.

10. For the best experiments with Peruvian Guano, and other mixed or manipulated' Guanos, or other artificial fertilizers, for three consecutive years, both in Autumn and Spring crop>s, report? of results to be made at each annual Fair, and the premiums, $500 for the former, and $250 for the Inter, to be awarded at the Fair of 1863.

CATTLE DEPARTMENT.

Class 11.— Durham Bulls of Native Stock.

11. Best Bull 3 years old or upwards, $75

12. Second best, 35

13. Best Bull 2 years old and under three, 35

14. Second best, 15

15. Best Bull 1 year old and under two, 20

16. Second best, 10

Class 12.— Durham Cows and Heifers of Native Stock.

17. Best Cow 3 years old or upwards, $40

18. Second best, 20

19. Best Cow or Heifer 2 years old and under 3,

20. Second best,

21. Best Heifer 1 year old and under 2,

22. Second best,

20 10

15

Class 13.— Hereford Bulls of Native Stock.

23. Best Bull 3 years old or over, $75

24. Second best, 35

25. Best Bull 2 years old and under three, 35

26. Second best, 15

27. Best Bull 1 year old and under 2, 20

28. Second best, 10

Specifications and Committee to be announced in the next, or August number of the Southern Planter.

Class 14.— Hereford Coics and Heifers of Native Stock.

29. Best Cow 3 years old or upwards, $40

30. Second best, 20

31. Best Cow or Heifer 2 years old and under 3, 20

32. Second best, 10

33. Best Heifer 1 year old and under 2, 15

34. Second best, 8

J^* Best Imported Durhams and Here-fords same premiums as the above, but the Imported breeds shall compete only in their own class, and must be superior to the natives of the same breeds to be entitled to receive a premium.

fl^T No second premiums to be awarded to imported stock. Judges :

Wm. B. Preston, Montgomery.

Thomas L. Parish, Albemarle-

J. A. Carter, Prince William.

Dr. W. T. Walker, Goochland,

Geo. M. Green, Fauquier,

Til K SOUTH ERN PLANTER.

: Bull 8 3

ad under

three,

K> Bull 1 yen old and under

two,

40. Second best, 10

11'.. — D( fNar

tic

41. B Id or over,

20 48. Best Oow or Heifer 2 years old

and Mder :;. W

4 \. Beeond I 10

11 titer 1 year old and un-ier2, l.">

46. Beeond best, 8

J®"- Beet Imported Devons same premiums as tlie. above, but the Imported breed shall compete only in its own class, and must iperiOT to the Datives of the same breed to be entitled to receive a premium.

fjfc nd 2>r: mtums to br awarded

(■> imported ttock.

Judy

James Newman, Orange.

Dr. John 11. v Llbcmarle.

Rt bert L Wright, Londonn. u Wickham, Henrico.

S. T. Stuart, Fairfax.

f&'" I'm t I I.

minmi a- the above, but the Imported i

shall COmpeU only in . and

must be superior to the nativ NfflC

; to ho intitl. d in r. ceiye a premium

1-. X<> si,-mid j.ri i/iiums t'> be awarded

to imported ttoek.

Jud'j

John Willis, ()rai

Ah x. S. .Jonrs, Warren^ N. ('. L. Brace, Orange.

Chesley Kinney, Au-usta.

L. B. McClintic, Greenbrier.

19.—Ald*rnty Hulls of Natwt Stock.

69. Beal Bull 8 yean old or upwards,

60. Beeond I 20

61. Beat Bull 2 years old and u>:

three, 26

tiii. Second

10

17.— Ai,r.<hir.

47. oldorupw

Bull 2 years old and u: three,

50. Second 1 l.">

f»l. Beet J5ii 11 1 year old and under

68. Best Bull 1 year old and under two, 15

64. Second best, 8

two,

-Vcondbcst,

1<»

Class 18.— Ay

Native Stock.

53. Morupw

54. Second b

r or Heifer 2 years old

and under 3, 20

56. Second best, 10

57. Inst Heifer 1 year old and under 2, 15

58. Second best, 8

Class 20.— Aiderney Gjics and Heifers of Native Sunk.

65. Best, Cow 8 years old or upwards, 61). Second best, 10

<>7. Beet Cow or Heifer 2 years old and under 8. ] 5

68. Second b<

69. Best Heifer 1 vear old and under 2, 8

7th Second b 5

1GCJX~ Best Imported Aldemeyi same premiums as the above, but the Imported breed

shall compete only with its own elass, and must he superior to the natives o\' the breed to be entitled to receive a premium.

JJ6T" A r o teeond prt mnam to be turn.

William Allen, Surry.

Efowle, Alexandria. Edmund Berkeley, Prince William.

Dr, EL II. Stuart, Kin- I

Thomas S. Pleasants, Henrico.

- 21.— Grade Com and 11

71. Best Cow 3 years old or upwards, $20

72. Second I 10

73. Best Oow 2 years old u»d under

three,

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

[July

U^.This class includes the native stock or crosses of any of the foregoing breeds with native stock.

Judges :

John A. "Washington, Fauquier. Dr. P. B. Pendleton, Louisa. Chas. H. Rhodes, Chesterfield. Edward Sydnor, Hanover. John Gr. Jefferson, Amelia.

Class 22.— Dairy Cows.

75. Best Cow for the dairy, 40

76. Second best, 20

fi^ 11 Satisfactory proof of the quantity of milk given for two weeks previous to exhibition, and the quantity of butter made from a given quantity of her milk, will be required.

Judges :

Wm. B. Sydnor, Hanover. Hugh A. Watt, Henrico. Wm. H. Brander, Chesterfield. J. R. G-ates, Powhatan. Thomas P. Mitchell, Bedford.

Class 23.—Yoked Working Oxen.

To be truly working oxen, in working condition, their qualities to be tested in any manner the Judges may prescribe.

77. Best Pair 4 years old or upwards, $40

78. Second best, 20

79. Best Pair 2 years old and under four, 20

80. Second best, 10

81. Best Driver, (servants'premium) 5

Judges:

S. W. Ficklen, Albemarle. William D. Blanton, Cumberland. Col. John F. Wiley, Amelia. John L. Nicholas, Buckingham. Edmund T. Morris, Caroline.

FAT STOCK. Class 24'.— Fat Bullocks.

82. Best pair 5 years old or over, $50

83. Best pair 3 years old and under five, 50

84. Best single fat bullock of any age, 30

Class 25.— Fat Cows and Heifers.

86. Best single fat Cow 5 years old

or over, $30

87. Best single fat Cow or Heifer 3 years old and under 5, 20

Ji^T Fat Cattle exhibited for premiums must have been owned twelve months by the exhibitor.

Class 26.— -Fat Sheep. .

88. Best pen fat Sheep, 4 or more, $20

89. Second best, 10

90. For the best slaughtered Mutton, 10

91. Second best, 5

10

Class 27.— Fat Hogs.

92. Best pen fat Hogs, 4 or more,

93. Second best, Judges :

Philip B. Jones, Orange. 4 William Wayne, Henrico. George Howard, Richmond. John Lindsey, Richmond. James Bowen, Albemarle.

HORSE AND MULE DEPARTMENT.

Class 28.— Thorough-bred Stallions and Colts.

94. Best Stallion 4 years old or upwards, $100

95. Second best, 50

96. Best entire Colt 3 years old

and under 4, 50

97. Second best, 25

98. Best entire Colt 2 years old

and under 3, 30

99. Second best, 15

100. Best entire Colt 1 year old

ider 2, 101. Second best,

20 10

102. Best entire Colt under 1 year old, 10

Class 29.— Thorough-bred Mares and FUlies.

103. Best Brood Mare 4 years

old or upwards, $50

104. Second best, 25

105. Best Filly 3 years old and under 4, 30

106. Second best, 15

107. Best Filly 2 years old and under 3, ' 20

Til E SOUTH MUX I'LA XTKK.

421

10

109. Besl fillj 1 year old and under 2, 16

110. Second 1 10

111. Best Filly under 1 year old, ■ 10

SjfiT No premium to be awarded to an unsound animal in the above olaSB. Judg<

Judge Win. W. Crump, Kichmond.

Col. Wm. Townes, Mecklenburg.

George Booker, Hampton.

Jefferson Peyton, Amelia.

T. J. Deane, Richmond.

Clasi 80.— Roadster StaUions and Colts.

Adapted to Quirk Light Drawjht.

112. Best Stallion 4 years old or upwards, 8100

11::. Second best, 50

11 \. Besl entire Colt 3 years old and under 4, 50

1 15. Second 1 2-3

116. Best entire Colt *2 years old

and under 3, 30

117. Second best, 15

118. Best entire Colt 1 year old

and under 2, 20

119. Second best, 10

120. Best entire Colt under 1 year

old, 10

Class 31.— Roadster Maret and FiUi Adapted to Quick Light Draught.

121. Best Brood Mare 4 years old or o\•-

122. Second best, 25 12:1. Beet Filly 3 years old and

under 4, 30

124. Sea nd 1 15

125. Best Filly 2 years old and uinltT ."», 2(»

12ii. Second 1 10

127. Beet Filly 1 year old and under 2, 15

L28. Second ' 10

120. Best Filly under 1 year old, 10 J&^Form and action to be considered as well as speed. No premium to be awarded to an unsound animal in the above class. Judge* :

F>. W. llaxall, Charles City. Wm. H. Clarke. Halifax. Robert Carter, Fauquier. AVm. Berkely, Loudoun. Gray Boulwarc, Caroline.

Class 32.— Roadster StaUions and < Adapted to Quick Coach Draught.

180. Best Stallion 4 years old or

upwards, $100

181. Second best, 60

Y-Yl. Best entire Colt .'J years old and under 4, 50

!•'):;. Second best, 25

L34. Best entire Colt 2 years old and under 3, 30

135J Second bi 1

B)»). Best entire Colt 1 year old and under 2, 20

137. Second best, 10

138. Best entire Colt under 1 year

old,

10

Class 33.— Roadster Mores and Fidos. —

Adapted to Quick Coach Draught.

139. Best Brood Mare 4 years old

or over, $50

140. Second best,

141. Best Filly 3 years old and under 4, 30

142. Second best, 15

143. Best Filly 2 years old and under 3, 20

144. Second best, 10

145. Best Filly 1 year old and under 2. 15

1 10. Second best, 10

147. Best Filly under 1 year old, lo

8^,Form and action to be considered more than speed. No premium to be awarded Is SI unsound animal in this el

Judges :

J. W. Ware, Clarke. Thomas Branch, Petersburg. Bnrwell Whiting, Clarke.

B. W. L. Blanton, Prince Edward. Major T. Doswell, Hanover.

ddle StaUions and Cbfts.— Adapted to tJi>: Riding Horse*.

1 18. Best Stallion 4 years old or

$100 L49. Second 1

150. Best entire Colt 3 years old

and under 4, 5 I

151. Second 1 27) 1 ">2. Best entire Colt 2 years old

and under 3,

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

[July

153. Second best,

154. Best entire Colt 1 year old and under 2,

155. Second best,

156. Best entire Colt under 1 year old,

20 10

10

Class 35.— Saddle Mares and Fillies. — Adapted to the breeding of improved Riding Horses.

157. Best Brood Mare 4 years old

or over, $50

158. Second best, 25

159. Best Filly 3 years old and under 4, 30

160. Second best, 15

161. Best Filly ^ years old and under 3, ' 20

162. Second best, 10

163. Best Filly 1 year old and under 2, 15

164. Second best, 10

165. Best Filly under 1 year old, 10

g^^No premium to be awarded in this class to an unsound animal.

Judges: ?

John A. Selden, Charles City. Sam'l B. Finley, Augusta. Dr. Cochran, Loudoun. Albert Aiken, Henrico. Nathaniel Burwell, Clarke.

Class 36.— Heavy Draught Stallions and Colts.

166. Best Stallion 4 years old or over,

167. Second best,

168. Best entire .Colt 3 years old and under 4,

169. Second best,

170. Best entire Colt 2 years old and under 3,

171. Second best,

172. Best entire Colt 1 year old and under 2,

173. Best entire Colt under 1 year old,

$50 25

30 15

20 10

10

Class 37.— Heavy Draught Mares and

Fillies.

174. Best Brood Mare 4 years old

or over, $25

175. Second best, 15

176. Best Filly 3 years old and under 4,

177. Second best,

178. Best Filly 2 years old and under 3,

179. Second best,

180. Best Filly 1 year old and under 2,

181. Best Filly under 1 year old,

B^^No premium to be awarded i class to an unsound animal. Judges:

John M. Harrison, Loudoun.

G-eorge W. Mo wry, Augusta.

Wm, C. Scott, Powhatan.

Sam'l C. Ludington, Greenbrier.

John F. Lewis, Rockingham.

$20 10

15^

8

8 5

this

Class 38.— Trials of Speed.

182. Stallion in harness, 4 years old or over, for best time, not exceeding 3 minutes, first premium of

183. Second premium, do. do.

184. Entire Colt, 3 years old and under 4 years old, for best time, not exceeding 3m. 30sec, first premium,

185. Second premium, do. do.

186. Mare or gelding in harness, 4 years old or over, for best time, not exceeding 2m. 50sec, first premium,

187. Second premium,

188. Mare or gelding, 3 years old and under 4, for best time, not exceeding 3m. 15sec, first premium,

189. Second premium, do. do.

$100 50

75 40

100

50

75 40

o premium to be awarded in this class to any unsound animal. Judges:

Ths. W. Doswell, Hanover.

Dr. Richard Woods, Goochland.

Thomas Bruce, Halifax.

Dr. Prosser Tabb, Gloucester.

Dr. Wm. P. Braxton, King William.

Class 39.— Matched Horses in Harness — accustomed to be used together as such in pairs, for Quick Light Draught.

190. Best pair Mares or Geldings, $50

Class 40.— Matched Horses in Harness — accustomed to be used together as such in pairs, for Quick Coach Draught.

191. Best pair Mares or Geldings, $50

Tii E s out in: R x planter.

( !lasa 11.— Horn i inula- the Saddle.

192. ln-st Marc or Gelding, $40

1!'.'). Second I ■

Form and action to be considered.

2(1

Class 42.— Iniiirs and Hbrtemantkip.

1 '■!. Beet Ponj ridden by a lad under 14 years of age, the horsemanship also to be considered, $20

196. Second I 10

Judy l :

Col. Philip St. Geo. Cocke, Powhatan. .lames M. M< rson, Goochland. Joseph 11. Anderson, Richmond. Coi W. B. Baskervill, Mecklenburg. David Chalmers, Halifax.

Class 43.— Mules and Jacks.

196: Rest Jack, 197. Second best, •linnet, 199. Second best,

$50 25 30 15

Class 45.— Exported Fine Wool Merinot,

213. Best Ram,

214. Rest Ewe,

JST" Imported Sheep not allowed to compete with natives, and must be superior to the native to entitle them to receive a premium.

Igk.The premiums to be awarded to none but the finest quality of .lacks and Jennets, as above classified.

200. Rest pair Mules, owned and worked by the exhibitor 1 year preceding their exhibition, 25

201. JJrst team of Mules, four or more, to be owned and worked as above, 40

202. Best Mule Colt 8 years old, foaled in Virginia, 15

SOS. Beat Mule Colt 2 years old, foaled in Virginia, 15

304. Beat Hade Colt 1 year old, foaled in Virginia, 10

206. Rest Mule Colt, a suckling, foaled in Virginia, 5

Judg

Angnstoi II. Di ew ij, Chesterfield. Sharpe Carter. NottOWl William Smith, Henri* Samuel Mc< I :irlotte.

Francis B. Whiting, Clarke.

Class 4G.— Fine )Vool Grades, including crosses of the above clot

215. Rest pen of Ewes, 3 in number, $30 210. Second.best, 15 217. Rest peu of Ewe-Lambs, 10

Judges :

Keith Marshall, Alexandria. G W. C. Whiting, White Sul. Springs. J. G. Raylor, Prince George. Raleigh Colston, Albemarle, William Garth, Albemarle.

SHEEP DEPARTMENT.

Class 44.— F Stock,

including pure bred Spanish, >'< French and Silesian Merino*.

206. Rest Ram,

207. Second best, 10

Class 47.— Middle Wools of purebred Native Stuck, including Sou (ft J>< ford Downt and Other purt brads of Middle Wooh.

218. Rest Ram,

219. Second best, 10

220. Rest pen of Ram-Lambs, 4

in number, 15

221. Rest pen of Ewes, 3 in number, 30

222. Second 1 15 22:;. Beat pen of Ewe-Lambs, 4

in number,

221. Second be'st,

16

10

Class 48.— Imported Middle WopU, including thi ai

.'ini, 220. B M Ewe,

f-'->" Imported not allowed to compete with natives, but must be Miperior to I to obtain a premium.

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

[July

Class 49.— Middle Wool Grades.

227. Best pen of Ewes, 3 in number, $30

228. Second best, 15 229/ Pest pen of Ewe-Lambs, 4

uber.

10

Dr. R. C. Mason, Fairfax.

Burr Noland, Loudoun.

Dr. John B. Harvie, Powhatan.

Edward Cunningham, Powhatan.

Gen. M. W. Ransome, Garysburg, N. C.

Class 50.— Long Wools of Native Stock, 'including Bakewell or Leicester, Cotsicold or new Oxfordshire and Lincoln.

230. Best Ram, 230. Second best,

232. Best pen of Ram-Lambs, 4 in number,

233. Best pen of Ewes, 3 in number,

234. Second best,

225. Best pen Ewe-Lambs, 4 in number,

236. Second best,

$20 10

15

30 15

15

10

Class 51.— Imported Long Wools, including the above varieties.

237. Best Ram,

238. Best Ewe,

$30 30

Imported not allowed to compete with natives, and must be superior to them to entitle them to receive a premium.

Class 52.— Long Wool Grades, including crosses of the above breeds with Natives.

239. Best pen of Ewes, 3 in number,

240. Second best,

241. Best pen of Ewe-Lambs, 4 in number,

Judges :

Col. E. Fontaine, Hanover. Dr. W. L. Wight, Goochland. James B. Newman, Orange. John A. Scott, Prince Edward. F. P. Wood, Prince Edward.

$30 15

10

Class 54.— Small Breeds : including Neapolitan, Suffolk, Sussex, Essex, Berkshire, Chinese and improved Hampshire.

252. Best Boar two years old or upwards,

253. Second best,

254. Best Boar 1 year old and under 2,

255. Second best,

256. Best Breeding-Sow 2 years old or over,

257. Second best,

258. Best Breeding-Sow 1 year old and under 2,

259. Second best,

260. Best Sow and pigs,

261. Second best,

$20 15

15

10

20 15

15 10 20 10

Judges:

Wm. M. Tate, Augusta.

E. C. Jordan, Jordan's Springs.

James M. Sublctt, Powhatan.

Col. E. H. Herbert, Princess Anne.

Thomas L. Dicken, Henrico.

POULTRY DEPARTMENT.

Class 55.— Gallinaceous Fowls.

Til B SOUTH Kl!\ 1'LA NT Kit.

268. Beat pairBlaci Bamburghs

269. Best pair Dominiq

270. Bent pair Silver Polanda,

271. Beat pair Golden Polanda,

272. Beat pair White Crested Polanda,

27o. Host pair White Bantuma,

27 1. Beat pair Black Bantunis,

275. Best pair Mongrels,

27<J. Beat pair Capons,

Class 56.—-ZHldfcs.

277. Beat pair Aylesbury,

_7 S . Best pair -lava,

279. Beat pair Muscovy,

2180. Beat pair Poland,

281. Best pair Rouen,

282. Beat pair Mongrel,

Class 57.— Geese.

283. Best pair African, 28 I. Beat pair Bremen,

; pair Hong Kong,

286. Best pair Mongrel,

287. Best pair Wild,

Class 58.— Turkeys.

288. Best pair Domestic, Best pair White,

s

5 5

5

ID 5 5 5

Class 59.— Guinea Fowls, l\a Fowls, &

0. Best pair Guinea fowls,

291. Beat pair Pea Fowls,

292. Best pair Pheasants, 193. Best collection of Pigeons,

Judy-

Dr. Erasmus Powell, Richmond. Chaatain White, Hanover. Richard Powell, Goochland.

Win. H. Bagley, Lunenburg.

J. MoL. Anderson, Caroline.

DEPARTMENT OF FARM AND GAR-DEX PRODUCTION

Class 60.— Tobat

294. Best Shipping Leaf growth of 1859, 850

Manufacturing Leaf growth of 18S 50

296. Best Fancy Wrapper Leaf

growth of 1859,

50

J8*ay To In !• I by samples of the

erop in whole and prised in I860.

The same premium a are off) red for the Fair of 1S01 on Tobacco of the growth of 1860.

j;- To he represented by of the

crop, in whole, prized in 1861, drawn and sealed hy the Inspectors of the Ware-house where the same shall have been inspected.

Judges :

John F. Wren, Henrico. John Jones, Richmond. Samuel Hardgrove, Richmond. James II. Grant, Richmond.

E. O. Nolting, Richmond.

Class Gl.— Manufactured Tobacco.

297. Best specimen for general home consumption, 830

Judges :

David W. Burton, Lynchburg. Dr. George P. Ilolman, Fluvanna. John D. Hobson, Goochland. Benjamin C. Gray, Richmond. John W. Atkinson, Richmond.

low Corn,

The grain to be a fair sample of the crop of the Exhibitor.

Judge* :

Ro. B. Somcrville, Richmond. I>. S. Delaplane, Henrico. A.8S M. Janney, Richmond. Francis B. Hart, Richmond. Alex. Garrett, Richmond.

I 03.— Othrr Staph Product

307. Best bag of Cotton exhibited bv the grower, $40

8. Beat live gallons of Sorguin Molasses, 10

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

[July

309. Best barrel of Sorgum Sugar, 10

310. Best collection of Seeds raised by exhibitor, ■ 10

311. Best barrel of Rice raised

by exhibitor, 5

312. Best fifty pounds dressed Flax, 5

313. Best fifty pounds dew-rotted Hemp, 5

314. Best fifty pounds water-rotted Hemp, %

315. Best fleece of Fine Wool of Virginia growth, 5

316. Best fleece of Middle Wool

of Virginia, growth, 5

317. Best fleece of Long Wool of Virginia growth, 5

Judges :

Miles C. Seldon, Powhatan. J. B. McPhail, Charlotte. Abner Hllliard, Henrico. Granville J. Kelley, Culpeper. Rev. George G. Exall, Henrico.

Class 64.— Beverages.

318. Best specimen of domestic Wine, from a vintage of not less

than 100 gallons, $20

319. Second best, 15

320. Best specimen of domestic Wine other than grape, 10

321. Best barrel of Cider, 15

Judges :

Win. M. Harrison, Richmond. Rob. M. Burton, "

Wm. II. Haxall, O. Cranz, "

Dr. Monroe Banister, Amelia.

Class 65.— Fruits and Fruit Trees. — All raised by the Exhibitor on this side of the Potomac, and suitable for Southern Cultivation.

322. Best and largest variety of Apples, each labelled with its name, $20

323. Best and largest variety of Pears, each labelled, 15

324. Best and largest variety of choice fruits of different kinds, each labelled with its name, 10

325. Best and largest collection of Apple Trees, 10

326. Best and largest collection of IVar Trees, 10

327. Best and largest collection of Peach Trees, 10

328. Best specimen of Fig Trees, 5

329. Best, collection of Grape vines, 5

330. Best collection of Strawberry vines, 3

331. Best collection of Raspberry plants, 3

332. Best bushel of dried Apples cured by the exhibitor, 3

333. Best specimen of dried Peaches cured by the exhibitor, 3

334. Best and largest collection of native Grapes, 10

835. Second best, 5

336. Best collection of Foreign Grapes, 10

337. Second best, 5

Judges :

Dr. Wm. H. Jones, Mecklenburg. James Ayres, Petersburg. Randolph Harrison, Goochland. James C. Luck, Caroline. Wirt Robinson, Richmond.

HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT.

Class 66.— Flowers.

338. Best and largest collection of

349. Best and largest collection of hardy flowering Shrubs,

Judges :

G. A. Myers, Richmond. Thomas T. Giles, Richmond. Hubert P. Lefebvre, Richmond. John F. Whitfield, Powhatan. Robert L. Lancaster, Henrico.

tii i: SOUTH i: R x i' i, a \t i: r.

-t ami largest assortment of table regetablea, f&Q

1. Beat half down Ion.

L'

2, Bi si half doseu headi of cab-

2

353. Best half dozen Cauliflower, 2

^r half doiefl Brooi 2

-

Plants, L'

857. Baal peek of Ooi

-t half dosen Parsnips, 2

• bunch of Celery,

• bunch oi 5 M bushel of Erish Potal 5 j| bushel of Bi

S Beai acre of Erish Potato

i 15

rtitieil by two neighbours. Jmlj

John Page, Hanover. EL < I. i onstall, Henrico.

Thomas II. Ellis, Jlichliioiid.

Thoa. B. Bis

Charles Palmer,

DOMESTIC DEPARTMENT.

ii of fresh Iiut-;h;in 1" pound $l\">

1.)

than 6 months old of

1.") than 20 }mn 10

ml best, 5

JST" TI I of making and pr<

ing the B . id in

writing by the exhibitor.

.John B. Foung, I!o;: '

Edward < >■ \ terficld.

Alex. Garrett, Richmond.

J. Marshall Mc( 'no, A Logan Waller, Richmond.

■Hi'i'S and I farm.

, crimen of Honey not less than ten pounds, |0

1"

8

I

i ii the

'>. Ue.-t Ham ( -uivd l»y exhibitor, ;i7 1. Beeovd

nan^With respeei to the premium

y, the kiml of Hivo nsed, and

management of the bees must be stated in

writing, and also that the II taken

without di

iron I lams exhihit< d inn ed and the mode of Curing them m\ stated in writing.

.Juthj> |

Daniel B. Gardner, Henrico.

Win. (). WinatOO, Hanover. A. I). Harris, Louisa.

C. B. Look, Richmond.

L. If. Burfoot, Chesterfield.

Class 70.— Dometiic .'.'

:)7"). for the best and largest variety of Woolen < loods manufactured in Virginia, each specimen to he labeled with a descriptive commercial

name and the wholesale prion, a premium of $100

o7»*>. For the best and largest variety of Woolen Goods manufactured in any other slave Slate, if of equal or superior quality to those maim: tured in Virginia, bo Be labeled after

ime mair: a premium of .".0

7. for tl. i f Ne-

gro Clothing manufactured in Virginia, regard being t ad to quality and cheapness at wholesale pri o77 | Best ami . iriety of

ip Shoes ■*)77 and cheapest Wool

;> ami cheapest Negro

10 Judg

Horace I-. K- nt, Richmond.

Samu. 1 Putn

Thos. II. Pri »

E B. lienthy. «

William Breeden, u

Samuel M. Price, ■

71.— J i ■ re*.

I Quilt, $5

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

[July

380. Best Counterpane,

381. Second best,

382. Best pair home-made Blankets,

383. Best home-made Carpet,

384. Best home-made hearth Rug,

385. Best home-made Curtains, 385. Second best,

387. Best piece, not less than 7 yards, Negro Shirking, home-made,

Best fine long Yarn Hose, Best fine long Cotton Hose, Best Silk Hose of home-made

Best five pounds of Maple

388. 389. 390.

silk, 391.

Sugar,

392. Best home-made family bread,

393. Best home-made pound Cake,

394. Best home-made Sponge Cake,

395. Best and largest variety of home-made Pickle,

396. Best and largest variety of home-made preserves,

397. Best and largest variety of home-made Fruit Jelley,

398. Best five pounds of home-made Soap, the process of making to be described in writing by exhibitor, Judges :

John Stewart, Henrico.

Dr. Wrn. J. Cheatham, Amelia.

Walter D. Blair, Richmond.

James Vest, Louisa.

T. M. Ambler, Fauquier.

Class 72.— Ladies Ornamental and Work.

Fancy

399. dery,

400.

401. Work,

402.

403. Work,

404.

405. Work,

400.

407. Work,

408.

409.

410.

411.

Best specimen of Embroi-

Second best,

Best specimen of Worsted

Second best,

Best specimen of Crochet

Second best, Best specimen of Shell

Second best,

Best specimen of Leather

Second best,

Best specimen of Knitling,

Second best,

Best specimen of Netting,

412. Second best,

413. Best specimen of Needle Work,

"414. Second best,

415. Best made Shirt,

416. Second best,

417. Most extensive variety of useful, ornamental and fancy work, not excluding articles which may have had premiums awarded them under the above specifications a premium of

810

Judges :

A Committee of Ladies to be announced at the Fair.

Class 73.— Servants* Premiums.

419. Best dozen assorted Baskets made of Virginia grown materials, $5

420. Best set Plantation Hampers and Baskets, of not less than three

in number of each, f>

421. Best straw Hat, 5

422. Best shuck horse Collars, 5

423. Best straw Chair, 5 424. Best door Mats, 5

Judges :

Albert Morris, Henrico. T. M. Leitch, Buchingham. Wm. B. Ross, Culpeper, John W. Wilson, Cumberland. Plummer Hobson, Goochland.

MECHANICAL DEPARTMENT.

AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY AND IMPLEMENTS.

Remarks and Special Rules in relation to Machinery, Implements and other productions of Mechanic Art.

All machines, implements, or other products of mechanical art, must be exhibited by or for their respective makers or inventors or improvers, to or for whom only, premiums for such articles must be awarded. Persons who hold such articles by purchase, or as matters of traffic, will have no claim to a premium.

Every machine or implement offered for premium, must be designated by the offerer by its cbmmercial name, or otherwise, such other concise description be given as will serve to identify it to-future purchasers; and also the then selling price of the article must be stated and marked on the labels

»]

TIM' THERN m.a

and in tb miam! irticl

The j u»l _rm. r vain.' must.

have <Iuo i .iinl dura-1 bility of :inv machine or implement, as well'

Us to its i ration while in rder.

— Plough

$10

426. B< plough, ^ 10

427. Best 1 horse plough, 5

428. I! 5

429. Beet subsoil plou 5 180. Best new ground or coulter

jlouji, 5

431. Beet hillside plough,

432. Beet water-furrow plough, 5

lough for digging potatoes, . 10

434 draining instrumen

Other than the drain plough, 10

435. Best cultivator for oorn and tobacco, 5

48ti. Best cultivator for 2 horses, 5

Jud'j

l)r. Joseph M. Sheppard, Henrico. Charles L. Christian, Buckingham. Wm. Kenton, Jr., Loudoun. Strother Jones, Clarke. John A. Pickett, Goochland.

75.— Dr . dec.

487. Bed Broad-Casting Machine for sowing grain 810

Drill with guano attachiw 40

4:50. Beet Corn Planter with gua-no attaeliii 10

4 0>. Beet implement for

and e rn, at or

innn the bust till-

• with or without guano, 15

441. Best L t d

20

442. Best Turnip Drill, 8

Judges :

Gen'l Win. ]]. Taliafen ater.

Richard Thornton, Cumberland. John x . Buckingham.

II. (J. Richardson, r'armville. Hubert M. Taylor, Henrico.

( 76.—v Wag

443. l>est Wtgoo for farm net

embn tod valuable im-

provement that shall It <h-

thv nf a premium, $20

111. Best Horse Cart, eml new improvement v,

miuui, 10

'. I Jest Ox Cart, with h

to

44< ; . B •: body or ladd

for hauling wheal in the sheaf, or hay or straw; niay be exhibited ly model, ■>

447. Best and most numerous collection of saddles, bridles, coli.. hemes, harness, A:*-., 26

44s. Best and most numerous assortment of Virginia dressed skins and leather, 25

Judge* :

Dr. Wiley J, Eppes, Buckingham.

Col. V. Parrish, Cumbrrland.

Bev. Jesse B. Armestead, Cumberland. Charles Friend, Prinee George. John \\\ Cardwell, Richmond.

Class 77.— Farm Gate, Horse P<< Thresk\

440. Best Farm Gate, including binge and fastening, A:c, may be exhibited by model, $10

4 ."><». Beet Sweep Horse power,

451. Best Threshing Machine. 80

452. l>(<r Machine for threshing, cleansing, separating, and bagging

wheat at one operation, f>0

Judg

Dr. ' Newman, Orange.

Dr. Robert Henderson, Cumberland. Charles 1'. Monoore, Culpe] Wm. Hooker, Buckingham.

James M. WttlooX, Charles City.

CllSS IS.—Straw and I I/H&,

Oorn S/n/i-rs.

468. Best Hay or 8traw Cutter, 810

454. Beet Corn Shell 10

••">. Best Grist Mill for hoT power, 10

456. Best Hominy Mill,

4.~>7. Beit Saw Mill for farm use, 10

458. Best Root Cutter,

459. l>est Steam toiler for conking food for stock, 10

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER

[July

Judges :

E. G. Booth, Nottoway. t)r. W. R. Macon, New Kent. Dr. John E. Friend, Henrico. George Watt, Richmond! Garland Hanes, Henrico.

Class 79.— Hay Press, Fan Mill, &c.

460. Best Hay Press, $15

401. Best Fan Mill, 10

462. Best Stump Machine, 10

463. Best Steel Spade Fork. 5

464. Best Horse Rake for hay, 5

465. Best Gleaner, 5

Judges :

Richard S. Ellis, Buckingham. Ambrose Ford, Cumberland. Win. A. Perkins, Cumberland. George W. Pettit, Fluvanna. Henry Webb, New Kent.

Class 80.— Machines and Implements.

466. For the most extensive and valuable collection of useful machines and implements exhibited and made at any one Factory in Virginia, whether including subjects for other premiums or not, a premium of $50

Judges :

Dr. Wm. P. Moseley, Buckingham.

John Rowlett, Petersburg.

Thos. F. Nelson, Nelson.

John Haw, Hanover.

George Nicholas, Buckingham.

Class 81.— Carriages and other Vehicles.

467. Best and most numerous collection and variety of vehicles, made

in Virginia, $50

468. Best two horse family Carriage, made in Virginia, 25

Judges :

James Gait, Fluvanna. B. W. Haxall, Richmond. G-. Z. Miles, Hanover. George M. Savage, Henrico. John Allan, Goochland.

Class 82.— Miscellaneous.

469. Best Pump adapted to deep wells,

$10

470. Best lifting and forcing

15

pump,

471. Best Churn, embracing some new improvement deemed worthy of

a premium, 10

472. Best Sewing Machine for general use, 15

473. Best Flour Barrels, certified to be a fair sample of 100; made

and delivered by the exhibitor, 10

474. Best and most numerous collection of useful articles of Cooper's ware, 15

475. Best and most numerous collection of useful articles of Willow ware, manufactured in Virginia, 10

Judges:

N. C. Crenshaw, Hanover. Edward Steger, Buckingham. R. W. Haylor, Jefferson. W. F. G. Garrett, Henrico John Gannaway, Buckingham.

Class 83.— Agricultural Steam Engine, Steam Plough and Steam Saw Mill.

476. Best Steam Engine applicable to agricultural purposes generally

as a substitute for horse power, $100

477. Best Steam Plough well adapted to tillage purposes, as a substitute for horse power, 300

478. Best Steam Saw Mill, 50

Richard Irby, Nottoway. Thomas Samson, Richmond. J. F. Barnes, Richmond. Charles Campbell, Richmond. Uriah Wells, Petersburg.

Class 84.— Reaping and Mowing Machines-

479. Best Reaping Machine, $50

480. Best Rake and Reel for combination with Reaper, 20

Judges :

Hill Carter, Charles City. Wm. B. Tomlin, King William. George Hocker, Buckingham. John Seddon, Stafford. Edmund Ruffin, Jr., Pr. George.

Class 85. — Farm Dwelling, &c.

481. Best design of Farm Dwell-

Tfi E SOUT ii i:i;n P Li

big, out hou -11«1

groun

Prof 'I'. H. William-',,

II,.' i\o. Henrico.

1k.pI V. WatkinB. Halifax. Dr. Charles C. Cocke, Fluvanna.

('lass 66.— Mmerah <>/ Virginia.

Collection and largest fariety of specimens of Virginia mineral-, S30

Judy Prof. S. Maupin, T*ni\ Va.

Prof. .). L. Campbell, Wash. College. Prof R. -1. Morrison, Wflr. ft M. Col. Prof D. bee Powell, Richmond. Prof. Win. Gilliam, Va. Mil. Institute.

Class 87.— Truth <</ Fbugkt and Plough-img Mutch.

Plough, as shown by work, §20

484. Beat three or four horse plough, as shown by work, 80

! 9^ All questions as to the class of plou-hs on trial to be decided by the Judg

485. Best ploughman with horses, 10 Second b

■\*~. Best pkmghmaa with sfc 10

488. Beoood best, 5

JbsT* It is left to the discretion of the hcther or not to make two <i of premiums, one for white and anoint black ploughmen.

Hon'l Wm. C. Hiv larle.

Richard 11. Morris, Richmond. B. J. Barbour, < Grange.

Win. Michaux, Powhatan. Nath'l P. Bowe, Henrico.

— Premiums by Individual di

489. A company otlemen propose to rati iption a

sum of money to bo given as f: and second premiums to the two most successful competitors in a Hurdle race:

• imium, |di of th i inscribed.

2d Pretuiui the am i-ibcd.

Judg

Col. Thos. J". Randolph, Albemarle. Thomas S. Watson, Lot] H. C. Watkins, Chesterfield.

Idinz li. Douthat, Charles City. Dr. J. Kayo, Westmoreland.

Economy of Agriculture. There is no subject less Qoden

more generally mistaken than this; nor any more essential to the prosperity of agriculture. Sufficient to afford matter foe an entire treatise, it cannot be embraced in • short

chapter. ]>ut a short chapter may put minds upon the track, able to unfold its involutions with every branch of agriculture, and more especially to disclose its vulu •.

Diminutions of comfoi Kuries and

expenses, are too often mistaken for the means of producing the ends they obstruct ; and the rapacity which starves, frequently res the just retribution of a disappointment, begotten by a vicious mode of avoiding it. From the master down to the meanest utensil, the best capacity for fulfilling the contemplated ends, is invariably the

economy; and the same reasoning [which demonstrates the bad economy of a shattered loom, will demonstrate the bad I economy of a shattrcd constitution, or an imperfect state of body. The cottagers who inflict upon themselves and their families the discomforts of cold houses, bad bedding, and insufficient clothing, to acquire wealth, destroy the vigour both of mind and boo ,

ry for obtaining the contemplated end, at which, of COUTSS they never arrive. The

r who BtS labourers, i- a still

greater sufferer. Be loses she pr '-.'■ produced by health, strength and alacrity; and suffers the losses Caused, by e. i

lad dejection. In like manner, the more perfect, the D '.table are

working animals and implements, and i saying by which the capacity of eitb fulfil its de>tiny in the best manie diminished, terminates with certainty in and not aofrequ Even the manuring is vastly affected by the plight of animals by which it is aided. A pinching, miserly system of agriculture may indeed keep a farmer out prison, but it will never lodge him in a

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER

[July

palace. Great profits depend on great improvements of the soil, and great improvements can never be made by penurious efforts. The discrimination between useful and productive, and useless and barren expenses, contains the agricultural secret for acquiring happiness and wealth. A good farmer will sow the first with an open hand, and eradicate every seed of the other.

Liberality constitutes the economy of agriculture, and perhaps it is the solitary human occupation, to which the adage, " the more we give, the more we shall receive/' can be justly applied. Liberality to the earth in manuring and culture is the fountain of its bounty to us. ' Liberality to labourers and working animals is the fountain of their profit. Liberality to domestic brutes is the fountain of manure. The good work of a strong team causes a profit beyond the bad work of a weak one, after deducting the additional expense of feeding it; and it saves moreover half the labour of a driver, sunk in following a bad one. Liberality in w r arm houses, produces health, strength and comfort; preserves the lives of a multitude of domestic animals; causes all animals to thrive on less food, and secures from damage all kinds of crops. And liberality in the utensils of husbandry, saves labour to a vast extent, by providing the proper tools for doing the work both well and expeditiously.— Farmers Journal.

From the Working Farmer.

Fruit Culture.

Messrs. Editors :—Plant-lice, in some sections of the country, have caused an in-mense destruction of apple trees; especially in Michigan; also within the past twenty years the orange trees of Florida have suffered immensely by their ravages. If they are not the same that infest the apple trees, they are very similar in all respects.— Where these insects abound, the smooth portions of the bark of the body and limbs of the trees are more or less covered with small, muscle-shaped shells. Those formed last year, now contain from 30 to 40 eggs, each of a white color, and when examined by the aid of a microscope, they are found to be in shape nearly like those of snakes. The insects usually hatch from the 25th of May to the 10th of June, varying perhaps, a few days from the above dates, according to the lateness or earlincss of the season.

They soon disperse, fixing themselves upon the smooth bark, appearing as very minute white specks, scarcely perceptible to the naked eye. While the insects are in this tender state, is the proper time to destroy them, for if left for a week, each insect forms a new shell under which it deposits^ its eggs for the next year's crop, and it is hard removing these shells, when thus glued to the trees. Thoroughly washing and scrubbing the branches of the trees with soap-suds, applied with a stiff brush or woolen rag, will pretty effectually destroy all young and tender bark-lice. The injury done to the trees by these minute insects, is caused by their sucking the sap from the trees. " Various remedies have been tried in Florida, .to arrest their progress, and lessen the injury done to the orange trees, such as fumigating the trees with tobacco smoke, covering them with soap, lime, potash, sulphur, shellac, glue and other viscid and tenacious substances, mixed with clay, quicklime, salt, &c; but all have failed, partially or entirely, and it appears not to be in the power of man to prevent the ravages of these insignificant and insidious destroyers." Another destructive scourge of the apple, cherry, and some other trees, is the common caterpillar; but it is unnecessary here to describe to the farmer, or orchardist, this caterpillar, his color or habits, because they have been too long and too well known to every observing person to need particular description. As is generally known, the eggs for this year's crop were fastened about the ends of many of the limbs of the tree by a kind of water-proof varnish, for which the caterpillars have an excellent recipe. By carefully examining the ends of the limbs of the apple and cherry trees, between this and the bursting of the leaves many, of these deposits of eggs can be found and readily destroyed. Each of these "varnished bracelets" contains from three to four hundred eggs, which hatch out about the time of the unfolding of the leaf. They immediately commence the formation of a little angular web or tent, between the forks of the branches, a little below the cluster of eggs. The sooner the nests and their occupants are destroyed, after this, the better. Various methods are practiced to rid the trees of these u useless intruders," sueh as burning the nests with lighted torches, scrubbing; them with soap suds,

&c. ; &c.

The best thing; I have used in

THE SOUTHERN PLANTFU.

adding trees of these disgustiny; IBM the spiral «>r Piokeriog brush, feed to the

f a light, straight pole. By thrusting

into the nests in the morning, before the

illars have them, (they usually remain

test till about nine o'elork) they can readily wound around tin? brush, ioh they ire easily removed and • the toot. A few times passing orchard during one week. »ods are hatched, making a tion of the brush, will effec-! ij>, and leave none for seed.

u I and perseverance in the

brush, will in time, save the o acres of orchard, hun-

dreds an abundance of mor-

tificatioi intment, besides re-

warding ight of the verdant

foliage, si, and rich fruits of

his orchard j .oper season."

The spiral ash can be had at the agricultural warehouses for a shilling or two each, and with careful usage they will last a lifetime. In the absence of the spiral brush, the head of a last year's mullen stalk tied to a pole, answers as a tolerable substitute for the wire and bristles.

The August caterpillar lias increased in this section of the country in a .wonderful ratio, within the past five years. Probably the easiest and most effectual way of destroying them would be to apply the lighted tctreh, upon the first discovery of their nests. These caterpillars attack a great variety of trees, presenting a most disgusting right

Another late caterpillar seems to be largely on the increase ; they are very voracious, eating the entire crop except the main ribs. these generally congregate in masses upon the same limb, and make a clean sweep as far as they go. When found upon a small limb, perhaps the better way would be to cut or saw it off, and crush the depredators beneath the foot. They can be jarred off.

All the above-named insects subsist upon the sap, or the leaves of the apple tree, and frequently they are in such numb* to seriously injure the growth of the tree, and nearly, or quite, ruin trie fruit crop.

The borer, in some sections of the country, is committing sad havoc with the apple orchards and nurseries. Dr. Fitch, of New York, stated in one of his recent lectures at New Haven, that the cure or remedy is found in a liberal application of soap to the 28

body of the tree. l>r. F. uses common soap, and applies it liberally in the :i.\ the lower limbs, and on the trunk, lie applies the soap about the fast of June, and after rains for a few It is well

to apply it liberally where the large limbs start out, as Bght rains wash it down the trunks of the trees. If the above is a protection against the ravages of the borer, it is an important discovery, and should be universally practiced by the owners of apple trees. It probably will not destroy the worms when once beneath the bark of a tree, but the remedy comists in making the tree so offensive to the " winged parent" of the borer, that it will not make use of the soaped tree as a place of deposit for its eggs. But aside from its use as a preventive against the borer, the soap will be a profitable application to the tree. Perhaps whale-oil-soap may be equally good; if so, in many places it can be more readily obtained than soft soap. Levi Bartlett.

Warner, N. II., 1860. [Boston Cultivator.

We would suggest in relation to the above, that the soda wash we have so often recommended, (made by heating sal soda red hot, and then dissolving one pound of the caustic soda in a gallon of water,) would be far superior for ridding trees of insects, to any solution of potash, or of soap. The potash, if sufficiently strong to decompose the cocoons and ova of insects, will also injure the coating of the bark of the tree, so as to render it a ready prey, later in the season, for insects of other kinds, while the whale-oil-soap, as usually manufactured, containing an excess of resin, will leave this resin on the surface of the tree filling the pores, and thus preventing them from exercising their excretory functions. Not so with the soda wash ; it will not injure any live plant, but will decompose readily all those parts which have lost their vitality.

The scaly insect is readily removed from the surface of the pear tree, by a single washing with a saturated solution of caustic soda, while the bark itself is left entirely uninjured.—[Er>.

A noble person needs but a plain garment to set it off; a beautiful picture, but a simple frame ; a great thought is best dressed in the simplest language. But all these need a spirit of understanding to be appreciated.

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

[July

From the United States' Economist.

Steam Ships between New Orleans and Liverpool.

The South is earnestly bestiring itself to establish a regular line of cominunicatioft with Europe. The prospectus is out of a new line of steamers, six in number, to run regularly between New Orleans and Liverpool, touching at an Irish port, and probably also calling at Havana. The Company is entitled the "British and American Southern Steamship Company," and is to commence operations with a capital of

just now in such a position that she can afford to be liberal. Her trade is annually increasing to an immense extent, and she might lose even a very large slice of her present commerce and feel it but very little.. She is becoming very powerful too as a com-, mercial rival ; and it may be well for our Southern enterprisers to remember that she will considerably annoy them by her unconquerable competition.

$1,000,000,

twenty thousand' shares,

which are to be taken up equally in England and America. The vessels are to be first class propellers, constructed capable of making the passage within twenty-five days.

It is gratifying to witness the quickening of Southern commercial enterprise, of which this undertaking and the formation of the Belgian Direct Trading Company are substantial evidences j and, in the present case, the prospects of success are as encouraging as the spirit ( of enterprise is commendable. If the Southern States have had a danger, it has been in their confining themselves tco exclusively to the developing of the resources of their soil, whilst purely commercial enterprises have been neglected.

This movement will tend undoubtedly to the diversion of a portion of the Southern trade of this city, and those who feel the consequences, will, of course, be no friends to the new enterprise. Such regrets, however, are quite unavailing. If the merchants of New Orleans find it to their interest to transact their business directly with Europe they will unquestionably do so, and it is an unwise and selfish policy that would wish to see business take any other course. The true interest of the country lays in each section managing its own affairs in a manner most conducive to its own prosperity. If New Orleans thinks she can advance her interests better by trading on her own account, why who would not say let her dissolve the partnership now existing between her and New York. We shall be exceedingly sorry to lose a customer so wealthy and prompt;* but if it should prove that we must do so, we shall not.turn cross and slight her praiseworthy efforts at independence, but wish her goodie and good luck, and turn our attention to the cultivation of

For the Southern Planter.

Best Shape for a Maul—How to Feed and Train Work Oxen—Recommendation of a New Ground Coalter—Reply to M\ C. Crenshaw, Esq.

Lexington, Va., June 4th, 1860.

Editor of the Southern Planter:

Thinking the following facts, accumulated in between thirty and forty years experience as a farmer, may be of service to the public, I give them to you to dispose of as you may think proper.

1st. With a maul, shaped as a mallet, a man can maul one fourth more rails than with the straight maul in ordinary use.

2nd. Work 'oxen should be fed exclusively on the offal of the farm, such as corn stalks, shucks and wheat straw. If suffered to taste better food, they will not eat enough of the coarse food to keep them in working order. Great pains should be taken *in breaking them—to walk briskly and to trot with the empty cart, in going for a return load, by which much time is saved, and a much greater amount of work performed by the team. They should also be carefully trained to obey the word of command. I ihave seen a team of oxen so trained that the driver could pass them through a gate as far as they could hear his voice, without touching a post; and he could, by word of command, make them move in a complete circle. This team would trot with an empty cart, nearly as fast as horses, and would thus perform more work in a day than two teams broke in the usual way. Oxen broke and fed in the way recommended, are of more value on a farm, than either horses or mules, as they cost nothing to keep them, which more than compensates for the difference in the amount of work performed by well broke oxen and horses, or mules.

3rd. I would direct public notice also to

some new source of demand. New York is an instrument used in Eastern Virginia,

THE SOUTH BRN PLANTER.

AVi

1 the Dew ground ooalter. It is of a square bar of iron, about an inch wide, and fifteen inches in length, with a coalter bill, and strongly braced to the beam behind with an iron brace. It ihonld be worked with oxen, as horses are apt to fret at the sudden jerks and stoppages they encounter in breaking up new ground. It will tear up and break all the smaller roots, and the ploughman should have a hatchet with him. to cut the larger roots. By the f this plough, I have known 70 acres of new ground got in and cultivated in a i, where the same force could not have got in and cultivated more than ten or fifteen acres, by the old method of grubbing and hoeing. The implement is also used to open the beds for planting corn, by attaching two short mould boards to it. I have also known it used to run in the water fur-in corn fields in dry seasons with good effect.

RClTiY TO MR. CRENSHAW.

In the Whig of the 1st of June, I notice a letter communicated by you to the editors, from N. C. Crenshaw. Esq., in which he appears to have been led into a fatal error, by information derived, as he says, from an iienced farmer. This farmer informs him, that although unripe wheat may be safely put up wet, the same is not true with regard to ripe wheat. Now I can affirm from well tested experiment, that el the reverse is true, "fis true, that in both tflderable beat is generated from the wet straw, which dries both straw and grain; but with regard to the ripe wheat both straw and grain arc preserved, and the former, with so little injury, that horses ami cattle feed freely on it. I have had, I admit, no experience in putting up green wheat wet. but from what we know with regard to stacking green hay, we may safely Conclude that where ripe wheat would dry, without injury to the grain, or material injury to the straw, green wheat put up wet, would be apt to rot and result in a total 1 i j.re-

nounce, with perfect certainty, that ripe wheat may be put up wet without dan. either grain or straw, which I am persuaded cannot be affirmed with regard to green wheat, tested by actual experiment, which is the only evidence worthy of consideration, on all subjects. One well at periment is much more to be relied on than the most plausible theorv.

WM. GARNETT.

P. B.—Cn a tommunication to the Whig I have corrected the error in which Mr. Crenshaw Beems to have been

W. G.

Fur tltc tihuthern Planter.

Jl hi 5th, I-Dear Sir: —In your last number of the Planter "A Friend" wishes to know the. name and description of a bug or insect that propagates the vermin on his young fruit trees. He does not say what kind of they arc, but I presume them to be | trees, as 1 have seen the insect he describes on my own, but have never known thi attack the apple tree. I cannot tell him the name or give him a descri ption of the insect that produces the little bugs, but I think I can tell him something of more importance in regard to them, that is, a t dy or how to destroy them. I have tried it On my own trees, and have seen it tried (on my recommendation) by some of my neighbours with entire success. It is to sprinkle some amber (water in which tobacco has been steeped) on the trees, and sprinkle some fresh slacked lime on them while wet with the amber. If he should not succeed in destroying them the first time, t again, and I am sure he will not be troubled with them again that season. The lime probably would answer without the amber. ISome of my neigh 1 they hav

stroyed them with lime alone, put on \ the trees were wet.

TSYl.Y.W

New Ventilator.

A correspondent of the New York Tribune proposes a plan for ventilating rooms warmed

res, which is as follows: Apply a cal pipe to the frunt of the chimney, into which the lower end should enter befow the stove-pipe, and the upper end approach within a few inches of the ceiling. In its open .1 air from the top of the room re down and into the chimney to till a partial vaccuurn occasioned by the draft from the

stove-pipe above. By applying a damper to

; e, its capacity may he ftdjui sired.— Annual of Scienlu

Respect your whole kindred, so that you may display genuine harmony.

He parteular in habits of economy, in order to be careful in the expenditure of money.

436

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER

[July

for the Southern Planter.

What Alderman Mechi says about Fattening Cattle on "Boards" instead of Bedding.

Experience has shown that in order to succeed in farming, we must produce a much larger quantity of meat on our farms than at present, and at less cost. In order to do this advantageously, it becomes necessary to consume a large portion of the straw of the farm, cut into chaff, and cooked with meal or ground oil-cake. We are thus deprived of the usual cattle bedding, and must find a substitute for the straw thus fed. The difficult question in agriculture is, how to get the best return for your straw, your root and your green crops. My own' practice has convinced mc that this can best be done, by consuming much of the straw whilst feeding the root and green crops. This cannot be effected without steaming or cooking the straw, cut up, of course, into fine chaff and mixed with other materials, and given warm to the animals. The feeding of the straw crop being thus indispensable to profit, how shall we dispense with it for bedding ? My practice is to keep my animals on boards. Having practiced the system rather extensively, I will communicate to you the details of it; observing, that although attended as every system must be with certain disadvantages, the balance of benefit is sufficiently considerable to induce me to continue and extend it. The quantity of stock I now have on boards is : lambs, 100; sheep, 50 ; calves, 60; bullocks, 30; cows, 10;. pigs, 200. I arranged the floors of my stalls as follows : I may say that the bars or planks may be either of straight yellow deals, or of straight-grained hard woods. The latter are to be preferred for heavy animals, as they wear off the edges of the deals. The floors are set over pits from two to four feet deep. It is necessary, occasionally, to level the manure to prevent its touching the boards, as it would soften them and cause them to break.

Dimensions of the Planlcs of the Floors. Inches Inches Space thick. wide. between. Inches. For Bullocks, 3 4 1$

" Sheep,. l£ 3 ]£

" Pi^s, l£ 3 \\

ii Small pigs and

lambs, 1$ 3 1

" Calves, 2 3 If

The area allowed for each animal and its feeding apparatus is, in my practice as follows, (though Mr. "Worms uses boxes 8 feet by 9 feet for a pair of bullocks, weighing when fat 40 to 50 score) :

Areas allowed each Animal in superficial feet.

Small sheep, 8 square feeU

Large do 10 "

Small bullocks 30 to '40 "

Large do , 50 to 60 "

Small pigs, 6 to 8 "

Large do 9 to 11 "

I should say that we never sweep the floor; but the animals are perfectly clean. Of course the manure is taken from under the boards direct to the field, without the intervenient expense of double carting, shooting, or turning over of a dung-heap. The effect on the crop is unmistakable. One man on my farm feeds and entirely attends to 250 pigs. It would require two men on the old straw-bed system. Our pigs are never cramped now. Formerly, they used to be, owing to the manure heating under them, and the cold giving those parts rheumatism.

One stout lad, at 3s. 6d. per week, will feed and attend to 30 bullocks; another attends to 60 growing calves. Before I leave the boarded floors, I must jconfess that I never like the look of those animals so well on them as I do on a little mountain of clean straw, or a nice .green pasture. But this is not a question of fancy, but profit, and I am quite sure that the system is very advantageous. It is true we like a soft bed, and so do the animals; but our medical advisers recommend hard ones.

As soon as the bullocks are transferred to these floors, they seem quite astounded; their performance is pitiable and ludicrous. The sense of danger and insecurity is very apparent, and they seem afraid to move. Still their appetite does not fail them. All their excrement, solid as well as liquid, passes readily through the openings into the receptacle below. But will they lie down ? Certainly not. For twenty-four hours they resolutely maintain this standing, with rare exceptions. I then spread a light forkful or net-work of straw under them, and in a few minutes they are all comfortably at rest. The straw soon works through the openings, and now they repose comfortably on the bare boards.

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

4:;:

The bulloeks on these open floors arc cleaner than those on the straw, although Che former are never swept. The heavy pressure forces the liquid to the surface through the layers of straw in the latter, and keeps the animals wet. When the open boards are first tried, there is nothing pleasing to the grazier's eye, especially when compared with the unlimited supply of the ordinary straw sheds. The edges of the boards are new and sharp, and the frequent lifting of the foot indicates fear and discomfort. In lying down and rising up, the sharp edges probably give pain/ but in two or three weeks all this passes off, the edges get smooth, and you will find your animals lying in various and easy positions.

I attach great importance to these open floors; they will enable us to keep almost any quantity of stock. The manure requires no turning or fermenting; there is no expense of littering or frequent removal, and no loss of ammonia by fermentation. The comfort is great in every respect. Some of my pigs and sheep have been six weeks over my liquid manure-tank without the slightest symptom of ill health, although I feared it when I made the trial. Gypsum is strown on the boards every morning. Burned earth is an essential auxiliarily to boarded floors. About a peck of gypsum to ten bullocks is enough, sprinkled every morning on the boards is highly necessary and beneficial. Every manger should have a large lump of rock salt, and a water-trough always supplied'; the animals will not drink more than what is proper. The same remark applies to pigs and sheep.

There is a very powerful development of the muscles on boards—so much so, that in fattening pigs, not bred on the boards, I have known some of them to get capped hocks. It is surprising how quickly you may fatten young pigs on these boards. They find it inconvenient to run about, and so divide their time between eating and sleeping—a most agreeable operation for the account-book.

There can be no doubt the animals are perfectly healthy on these floors. Considering the confinement and heat, this rather surprises me, especially with the pigs fed entirely on meal; for the effluvia from under them certainly is powerful enough to discolour the paint.

Another question connected with the

boards system is the fly question. Where you have a plenty of food, warmth and stock, you will have abundance of flii^. My bullocks could never lie down in the day time, owing to their attacks ; and, of course, the continued lifting of their prevented fattening. By darkening the feeding-houses, I entirely removed this nuisance, and had the gratification of putting my animals in a most profitable state of repose; for if ^m have ten millions of flies, not one will Bite in the dark.

Mr. Mechi said at Hadleigh, u He had all his animals on boards, and was extending the operation; and he assured the society they would succeed, as he had done, in making better manure, more manure, and more meat, by having their animals on boards, instead' of putting them on straw and removing that straw after it had been worked into muck, and turning it over and re-carting it after it had lost many of its soluble properties. Instead of that, let them take the pure excrement from the animals*, carry it on the soil, and plow it in, and he was sure their crops eo treated would exceed those grown with the primest guano. He should naturally be asked, what he did with his straw? He replied, "Eat it," that was, he let the cattle eat it, and he could keep four times as much stock. He could assure them, that if they increased their stock in proportion, taking care to add something better to the straw, they would get more manure, of a better quality, and grow more grain. He thought, also, that they did not manage their cattle well; that was, that they did not administer their food in the best mode. He was convinced that one-half the food administered in the usual way, passed through the animal undigested. This led to tire consideration whether it would pay farmers to administer a smaller amount of food perfectly available to the stomach of the animal. He must think they were making a great mistake in giving so much food to their animals, or so great waste. A bullock would not put on more than two pounds of meat per day, probably not more than one, and the average, very likely, would not be more than one and a half; a stone per week, 10 lbs., would be lOd. a day. If they gave that animal 2s. worth of food, which was often done, he could not pay for it. He might make manure in return for his food, but it was impossible that he could pay for more thau a

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

[July

given quantity. He repeated that his animals were all on boards. He assured them that the animals neither required grooming nor bedding, and it was one of the beauties of this principle, that they might have a thousand bullocks, hogs, or sheep on boards, and they would require neither sweeping, littering, or attending to in any way beyond Ihe mere act of feeding them; yet they would be as clean as possible, and fit for a lady's drawing-room. He was- often asked by those who came to look at his animals, —bullocks, pigs and sheep,—" How often do you sweep the floor V " Not at all; they sweep it themselves." He assured them, that by the addition of a little gypsum on the boards, the ammonia was perfectly fixed, there was no disagreeable smell at all, and the manure was taken away at intervals, just as it might be wanted.

The Sun.

" The sun, the great awakener of* life' the king of nature, shoots his burning rays every day athwart the face of the waters. He causes the invisible vapours to rise, which, lighter than the air itself, unceasingly tend to soar into the atmosphere, filling it and constituting within it another aqueous atmosphere. In their ascending movement, they encounter the colder layers of the higher regions of the atmosphere which perform the part of coolers. They are condensed in vesicles, that become visible under the form of clouds and fogs Then, borne along by the winds, whether invisible still, or in the state of clouds, they spread themselves over the continents, and fall in abundant rains upon the ground which they fertilize. All the portion of the' atmospheric waters not expended for the benefit of the plants and of the animals, nor carried off anew into the atmosphere by evaporation, returns by the springs and rivers to the ocean whence it came. ,;

order

Instruct the rising generation, in to check evil habits and practices.

Put down false speaking and accusation, so that you may protect and rescue the honest and innocent.

Set the highest estimate possible on academical learning, so that you may advance the scholar.

%\t jiffuijwn planter.

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA.

A Holiday Trip among the Farmers.

We have lately had the pleasure of visiting some very kind friends of the " Southern Planter," in the counties of Albemarle, Augusta and Rockbridge j and* as we shall ever look back to this visit as a season of unalloyed happiness to us, we propose to speak of what we saw as the means of letting our friends there know that we have not forgotten them, and of communicating " the News" of that fine agricultural region of our State, to the readers of the Planter everywhere.

We had a regular holiday, and felt inclined to make the most of it, as it has been a long, long time, since we enjoyed a similar benefit, and if inclination alone had been consulted, we should scarcely have set out for home, until we had "no where else to go to." Here it is all work, and every day in the week is so much alike, that it would be a difficult matter to tell Saturday from Monday, except that on the former there is more work to do than usual, and it does not so often rain as it used, to do when we were a schoolboy. We were very much gratified at the kindness we received, which was of that cordial, unselfish sort that one may expect from the farmers of Virginia wk-enever he enters their abodes. We were told that we should do as we pleased, and we cannot help saying, " sub rosa," that we at once communicated this fact to our "better half," as affording her a hint of the existence of a species of restraint which would frequently be salutary to our dispositions.

Of course it pleased us to see all the horses, cows, sheep, hogs, crops, &c, that we possibly could, for we cannot help being particularly interested in all of these things.

We visited first, Mr. S. W. Ficldin near Charlottesville, who is well known to the readers of the Planter, as au enthusiastic admirer and breeder of fine horses and cattle. We found his

Til B SOUTH BEN V L A NT BR.

;ul;il animal> ; among

them bis tine Morgan stallion "Black Hawk''— a horse of groat powatr and speed, combined

with beauty—a splendid " Ahdallah" marc—a filly by "old Ml;' ' ami a lo1 pf heauti-

nil colts oi' Morgan, ami " Cleveland Bay" blood.

Aiikiiij! the cattle we noticed a \v,y large ami

handsome Durham Bull. Some Short Hum Cows which Mr. F. brought from Kentucky feast year, and several handsome Devons. We alto noticed some tine "Chester" pig* These were

all line of their class, but no better than -his large, powerful, riding horse, which for strength, appearance and excellence of gaits, we have rarely seen equalled.

After a ride to Monticello, and the University of Virginia, both of which are objects of deep interest to us, we .took the Cars for Ivy Depot, and made our way to the hospitable mansion of Dr. John R. Woods, who is also a public spirited breeder of fine stock. We spent several most delightful days with the Dr., who has a beautiful and highly cultivated farm. We employed our time in looking at the various fine specimens of blooded stock—fields of luxuriant orchard grass and clover, and in talking on agricultural matters generally.

Dr. Woods has imported from England a no* ble specimen of the Cleveland Bays—a Stallion, rightly named "Symmetry," five years old this spring. We saw him soon after his arrival in this country last fall, and were amazed to find him so much grown and improved since that time. He is very large, notwithstanding which, he has a ver; I stylish carriage,

and is one of the smoothest and mos*t rapid walkers, we have ever seen. We hope the Dr. will have him trained to harness, for we should from the action displayed in his walk, that he would become a fine trotter with proper handling. We found in the pastures some very fine Brood mares with Colts—the get of Mr. R. H. Dulany's imported Cleveland "Scriving-ton,"' and to HarelQck," (imported by Dr. Woods, and since sold to some gentlemen in the South) —a large flock of sheep, pure Costwolds. and South Downs crossed with Cotswold. Thte was the finest flock of Sheep we ever saw ; among them was an imported Cotswold Ram, of such size that we had the curiosity to measure him, and found his length from the top of his eyes, to the root of his tail to be four feet ten inches— his girth behind the shoulders, four feet six inches, and his width across the shoulders twenty

inches. His wool had been closely sheared, so

that tl Bmenl given above, i-. tb

■

ored, w« suppi tot infei toi to him.

\\\ I ■ . \.

Tobacco grounds foT this y

so thoroughly pulverized and manured, tl.

UO longer wondered irlnj it \v;is that the- ipiality of his last . ood.

This neighbornood is a particularly successful Tobacco growing section, lying on Ivy Creek ; the soil a rich ehoeolate clay, retentive of ures, and well adapted to all of our staple On every farm, we saw line held- of grass, and we thought it a shame that Virginia should bring from the North, her supplies of hay, when she can grow it of much better quality, than that furnished by the North. The wheat <yop if a perfectly disheartening failure throughout this region, as it is also in most of our State, and this has so often been the case of late years, that we believe the best thing the farmers of the limestone region could do, would be to raise hay in its stead. We have recently seen Baled hay, raised in Orange county, sold in this market at $1 45 per hundred pounds, and in less than twenty-four hours after its arrival. Would it not pay the farmers of Albemarle, Augusta and Rockbridge, to raise hay instead of Wheat ? We think it would. Near Ivy Depot are the farms of the Messrs. Garth, Gilmer, Southall, Noland, Colston, McGee, and others, all of them first rate lands, and if Tobacco was raised as a general thing all over the State, as it is among 111 - -tlemen of Ivy Creek neighbourhood, we don't think "EzekieFs Haw Restorative'could save us from becoming a bald headed set, i. e. if trouble produces baldness and it is as troublesome a crop there, as it is in Henrico. We saw on one farm, a "Tobacco patch' 1 of sixty " or thereab< I

The more if the country, the m.

were pleased, and the more we felt it to be excusable for FtryaaaeM to be proud of the Old Dominion—having within her own booh

element riiy and greai

We proved to our heartfelt satisfaction 'he j of her claim to unlimited hospitality, ami kindness to the stranger within her gates.

The various Colleges and Schools of this charming section of the State, are in a very flourishing condition. The "chairs"' being til! the University of *~irginia. the Virginia Military Institute and Washington College, by men of tab

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER

[July

ent, energy, and administrative ability, it is now well known that those persons who bear off their Diplomas from these Institutions, are not the recipients of mere " empty honors," but only wear the laurels they have fairly won.

The "Military Institute" should be ever fostered and cherished by the State, since our young men are there furnished with a thorough education for the mind, and the body comes in for a course of training well adapted to promote the health and strength of the " Cadet," and to make him useful to the Commonwealth whenever she wants him for her defence.

Applications are pouring in from all quarters for admission into the Corps of Cadets; and it has become necessary to enlarge the buildings and accommodations. We were very glad to hear from Col. Smith, and Major Gilham that a gentleman of another State, had generously added Ten Thousand Dollars to Col. Cocke's gift of Twenty Thousand to the "Institute"—in order that her boundaries may be enlarged in proportion to her usefulness. The same gentleman now offers if Virginia citizens will give a similar sum, to increase his donation by ten thousand dollars more. We hope sincerely that Virginia " will cover his pile" and " go" many thousands " better."

In conclusion, we beg permission to offer to all the good friends we met in our trip, our heartfelt thanks for their kindness to us. We shall be glad to repay them " in kind," as far as we can, and whenever they will afford us the opportunity. May prosperity and happiness ever attend them.

The Crenshaw Wcfolen Company.

A Woolen Company under the" above title has been incorporated, with a capital stock of $130,-000 and located in the City of Richmond.

The Corporators are Messrs. Frank G. Ruffln, Lewis D. Crenshaw, Purcell, Ladd & Co., Crenshaw & Co., Mitchell & Tyler, Joseph Brummel, George D. Fisher, John H. Montague, John Cur-rie, Jr., Joseph F. Powell, Goddin & Apperson, Smith & Harwood and John Waterhouse,—an association of gentlemen whose integrity of character, loyalty to the South, and zealous devotion to the interests of Virginia, afford a certain guaranty that the enterprise they have undertaken, for her liberation from humiliating vassalage and dependence upon the North, will not only be conducted upon patriotic principles, but with an enlarged liberality^ which will commend their establishment to public confidence, and with such intelligence, perseverance, and

economy as must result in the successful achiev meat of the objects of the association. In proof of what we have said, let us advert to the organization of the company, that it may be seen what a high order of business capacity and commercial and general intelligence has been put in" requisition for the administration and direction of the affairs of the company.

The following gentlemen have been elected to the offices they respectively fill:

Lewis D. Crenshaw, President.

Wellington Goddin, "]

P. W. Harwood, f ., ,-.. .

John H. Montague, f other ^ rectors '

Samuel P. Mitchell, J

Crenshaw & Co., General Agents for the purchase of wool and for selling the manufactures of the company and

John Waterhouse, Superintendent.

Mr. Waterhouse, has given practical proof of his fitness for the post which has beed assigned him. He had the charge of the Woolen Mill which was burnt here in 1853, for a year or two previous to that event, and had succeeded by his good management in getting it in a condition for successful and profitable operation when the fire occurred.

The Company will use the Crenshaw flour mills, replacing the milling apparatus which has been removed, by the most approved machinery for the manufacture of woolen fabrics, adapted to Southern trade.

Operations will be commenced early in July with the manufacture of nearly every description of woolen goods that are wanted in Virginia and the South, from the best coarse cloth for negro clothing to the finest fabrics for gentlemen's wear.

The general agents will purchase all kinds of wool from the coarsest grades, up to the finest saxony. We are informed, they have already purchased over 50,000 lbs. of Virginia wool, and wish to get their whole supply of her native growth if practicable. They will pay "outside prices" for their raw material and will sell their goods at fair rates, that is, " upon the live and let live principle." They expect to use in the next twelve months 200,000 lbs. of wool, and if their efforts shall be met by a correlative movement on the part of the merchants and consumers of Virginia, who have committed, themselves to the policy of protecting home industry and direct foreign trade, the company will so add to their machinery as to increase their consumption of wool to 300,000 pounds per annum. It ie needless to add anything more, and yet we

Til I SOUTH BBN PL A NTK11.

441

the Pi Slper-

intend* in and Corporators m sueh

nmple assurance ol 111«- most satisfactory ami

faithful fulfilment of the obligations they have

D their relation t.» the South and t<» I the company the manifestation on the part of Virginia at least, a full sonse of re-a in her relation to them.

Hogs—Different Breeds.

Our opinion has lately been so often asked in relation to the breeds of twine best adapted to ants of the farmer, that we have-concluded iWM through the columns of the " Planter," and thereby avoid the necessity of writing many letters. A good judge of swine, said in a letter published sometime ago in one of our agricultural exchnnges, that the best form a bog could have to indicate a profitable carcass, would " closely resemble a round log, with four pin* stuck in it to rcpreo en t the lege, with a small head and tail added to it."' This would undoubtedly prove a good model, and might boast of ps good hams as some of the "hickory bams" of which everybody has heard that have occasionally " been sent down South " in company with " wooden nutmegs " and saw-dust cayenne pepper.

The right kind of a hog for anybody to raise is one having a small head, a long round body, short legs, wide across tho shoulders, deep through tho chest, with a full round ham and broad back. It is important to avoid in Breeding Sows a very dished face, (which makes the and countenance look very much like that of the bull dog.) as they are when thus marked, almost invariably bad nurses and deficient in instinct.

There are several breeds of "improved hogs," all of which are good, when carefully bred ; i. e., when only the best of the pigs in a litter are turned out for breeders. Any breed will rapidly deteriorate if cave is not taken in selecting" L) .

The Chester County Hog is the favorite breed of all those who desire great size.

They are unequalled, we think, for producing large meat (" middlings" particularly) fur farm laborors; but they are not well suited for "family bacon." The only objection we have to them is, that the sows are white, and generally too large. This, hewever, is regarded by many only as a matter of taste, for white bogs are usually more popular than black.

We pi for black hogs, only b< y are

not at all liable • bile white

will have it, unless very great care is tal. D1 it. As a mere item of I.canty, a white or *■; color is certainly desirable ; but the blackest hog is usually black only through the scarf skin, which polls off when loaldetl. W« h

suffering with mange, nor

r owned a white one that failed to have it. For this reason our individual preference into the '■ Improved Berkshire, the Skinner or Neapolitan, and the Essex ores

The Sujfolks are beautiful animals, of handsome proportions, with a great tendency to take on fat—very thin hair, and a scarf skin so delicate as to be easily peeled oil' by the sun. For our own use we would prefer any of the other breeds named.

The Black Berkshire, when well bred, we regard as the mott beautiful of all hogs, and it must have been one of this breed who formed the subject of the old song, "There was a lady loved a swine,'' &c.

We have heard butchers object to them as opening badly when slaughtered, and that the intestinal fat had a peculiar blue color. Of the truth of the assertion we know nothing. They are easily fattened, and are quiet and thrifty in certain habits. This may be true of all the improved breeds, except the C^hcster —of which, the thorough-bred are unquestionably the bent

The "Skinner . mv common in the

vicinity of Richmond some twelve or lifteeu years ago, but have almost entirely dieappc They were, in fact, the Neapolitan, and took their m Virginia and Maryland from the late John S. Skinner, who first introduced them, and who was a lir>t rate judge as well as an ardent admirer of every kind of blooded stock.

The Essex have sprung from a cross of the iitan with the : -hire, it is said.

They have inherited the thin hair and coal black skin of the Neapolitan, and by judicious breed-Lined foin the mder n ami ham. with eiariicr maturity. V-garil them as chiefly valuable for crossing with larger and coarser-boned stock, and have found the cross with the Chesters a good one, while one or two crosses, which we have tried with the .ire, disappointed us—the produce having as a general thing the characteristic marks of

without any increase of size. The Suffolk and Essex hogs are perhaps smaller than any other of the improved

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

[July

breeds ; but always weigh well in proportion to bulk of carcass, as they are very compact.

The Irish Grazier is a good hog, but so scarce as to make it hardly worth while to mention them.

The Improved Hampshire is a finely formed hog. The only objection xve could urge against them is, that they are so often white. Whenever we have seen a black or spotted one we have admired it greatly. Mr. Peyton Johnston of this city imported in 1856 some of this stock from the Duke of Buford's estate, Gloucester, England. The breed is a compound of the Essex, the Chinese, the Neapolitan and the improved Berkshire races, the large old English Hampshire being the foundation upon which the improved Hampshire was based. To those who, like ourselves, object to white hogs, we may say, by the way, that Mr. Johnston has now some dark spotted sows, which are beauties. One of them,— Princess by name,—-we particularly remember as the winner of a good many premiums, and as looking like just what a hog ought to be.

It is better to raise hogs of a good breed, if you raise them at all, than to be bothered with the mean, roguish, old fashioned "alligator" and "land-pike," unless like an old acquaintance of ours, you are fond of fresh meat. He used to say that he liked the "Possum-faced" breed of hogs better than any other, because he was fond of fresh meat, and cou kl swear that they were one-half face and the other half legs at the time they were put up to fatten, so that every ounce of flesh on their bodies at "killing-time" was of recent manufacture, and exactly suited his taste.

In raising swine—-we repeat it—-the breeders should be selected of good form, no matter by what name they may be distinguished, and the best and only such of every litter of pigs should be "turned out" for that purpose.

To those who believe that "the breed is all in the corn crib," we would say, try a fair experiment with a "possum face" and one of any of the "improved breeds," both to be fed with the same kind and quantity of grain or slop, and see for yourselves what the result will be. We say in advance, "blood will tell."

Our friend, Gray Boulware, of Bowling Green, Caroline county, will please accept our thanks for a very fine Berkshire pig, which has just arrived. She does credit to her family, all of whom boast of a long line of ancestors of high blood.

Underdraining.

The principles of philosophy upon which the advocates of this system of agricultural improvement base their theory are too well established, both by scientific deductions and practical demonstration, to require further discussion.—% Whilst, however, the most incredulous are indisposed to acknowledge the ameliorating influences which underdraining has upon the soil, and the benefits which the growing crops derive therefrom, yet its general adoption as a part and parcel of our system of farming depends in a great measure upon the progress of invention in developing some mode by which the labor of underdraining will be expedited, and cheapened. This, like every other step in the onward march of agricultural improvement, is in advance of the age, and must await a like progress in the mechanical arts to render its application practicable. The cost of under-draining deters many who are convinced of its beneficial effects from attempting it, even on a small scale, and much valuable land in our State is, from this fact, permitted to lie out as reservoirs of stagnant water, and homes for frogs and reptiles, that, under the ameliorating system of drainage, would become the most valuable meadow and pasture land.

The beneficial influence of drainage is not confined only to low, wet, or marshy lands, but similar advantage (although not to so great an extent) results from the thorough underdraining of apparently high, dry land, particularly where the character of the soil is of a stiff', cloggy texture, and consequently very retentive of water. With the present facilities, however, of under-draining, but few persons are willing to incur the heavy expense of underdraining, except where it is indispensable for the reclamation of swampy or marsh lands. As a system for the improvement of lands, and the augmentation of crops, we cannot hope for its general introduction and appreciation until the cost can, by mechanical operation, be brought within the means of the farmer of limited capital. That this may and will be done we have no doubt* The mole-plan is an approximation that savors of final success,.although now subject to objections. A late invention, for which a patent has been granted to the inventor, Mr. F.B. Scott, of Buffalo, claims the attention of the public, and if it is all that the patentee claims for it, surely we may congratulate the agricultural world upon a triumph of mechanics in the saving of labor, as important in its results to the amelioration of

T'l i: SOUTH ERN P lanti: n.

M3

H lit of iu produ

the propelling power of • nitting the Interchai

rnoilit

utility in iu lication, we can only

I llowing 11

: I ulv Enquirer," which we

transfer to our column*, thai our readers may their own estimate of its peculiar virtues.

c.

scott's automaton excavator.

This is BU invention for which a patent has been grnnt r. B. 8 of this city, and

which deserves more than a passing notice. "M . v ,tt ha- now on exhibition, at his shop. :".I Main stre< working model,

beautifully finished, which better illustrates the Ition than any description which could be

n a paper. We were much interested in

our examination of it, and are happy to find that .• ring such flattering testimonials

from so many men whose judgment stands high in the community.

\V thin the last few years, much attention is

beginning to be paid to the System of thorough

ige, as a in oniplishing the most

remarkable results in the improvement of farm

The ^rcat difficulty in the way of its

general adoption is. its being so expensive an

taking, although when once accomplished, it proves a very profitable investment. Anything which tends to reduce the cost of thorough drainage will tend to its more rapid introdue-

also, the more there is done, the more the ill be redi l example: drain tile,

which are now furnished at ten dollars thousand, can. when the demai: - more

at, be as easily sold f»r i\\c. If. in the m equal saving could be e; in cutting the trenches tor receiving the tile, which is now done by manual labor, the draining would be reduced nearly one half. Mr. Scott claims that, by his machine, this can be accomplished; and he certainly is sustained by the opinio;; of the best practical and

scientific men in the city.

In describing the advantages of the machine, we will let Mr. Scott speak for himself:

"There :i s, rotated on a wheel

which makes ta minute. If

spade should cut at an edrance of half an inch, it woidd give six inches advance at a revolution, which, at the rate of tv utions per minute, would give six feet advai. minir at hour, or nearly 220 rods per •' id one-third for stoppage', and

50 rods per day, with a two-l: and three men; which,if it were four (betdeep, would take from thirty to forty men to :• plish in the same time by manual labor. The machine is adapted to work in the moel

every part being made to clean itself. It brings up the earth, and. by a simple process, carries it oil" and deposits it on one side. It cuts

the whole depth ' >ing over tin- ground'

i 'Mr wheel

without throwing any part out of.gear. 1

OUt a trench for puttil

removing one-half the quantity of earth i

sary by manual labor. I: i that

striking large stones will not br<

the machinery, and ii sen dig out the smaller

It admits of being built light and , hie, and at tin- tame time p great

power. It i- simple in m< construction. I ide to move itself from one Iocs

another, without any additional power. It admits of being Worked by manual labor, like a

i. or calori can be adapted to pi hing, and.

to cutting sewers for city dm ■gulated 00 determine

the inclination or fall which shall be given to the trench below."

Mr. Scott has forwsurded drawings ami specifications to have it pate n ted m Europe.

Error Corrected.

To the Editor of the Southern Planter:

In looking over the May number of the Planter, my attention was attracted by the heading

-A Valuable Table," on page 284, in which the linear dimension! m measures are put

down in figures. As your intention v. course, to give information, I take the liberty to say that they'are all incorrect, except t!, and 5th—the barrel and the gallon. The Ith lie proper dimensions df B "half bushel," and not of a M peck."

The others are entirely wrong.

SUBSCRIBER.

//me. LSI

Remarks BY the EdROB. —We are much indebted liber'" for the above communication, calling our attention to the palpable errors contained in the short article, entitll Valuable Table, ' transferred to our page.- (with, out the lea ) from one of our exchanges.

In regard to the half bushel and peck, wo '. ttle doubt but that the original con. tained corr <>f both, and t!.

close « ^raph in relation to the peck

misapplied to that the half

bushej, and the balance of it omitted by some printer, through whose hands it ha

g of our i apply the sen i

mode of expunction to the Srti

eferred to 1 i't the

following corrected copy, with lb -tored

to the place it ought to have occupied in that article, whl pi M WiW l>e found valuable

to many of them ."

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER

[July

\%

A VALUABLE TA.BLE.

[Corrected from May number, page 284.]

A box 24 inches by 16 inches square, 28 inches deep, will contain a barrel—five bushels.

A box 24 inches by 16 inches square, 14 inches deep, will contain half a barrel.

A box 24 inches by 16 inches square, 5.6 inches deep, will contain a bushel.

A box 12 inches by 11.2 inches square, 8 inches deep, will contain half a bushel.

A box 12 inches by 11.2 inches square, 4 inches deep, will contain a peck.

A box 8 inches by 8 inches square, 4.2 inches deep, will contain a gallon.

A box 4 inches by 8 inches square, 3.9 inches deep, will contain, within a small fraction, half a gallon.

A box 4 inches by 4 inches square, 4.2 inches deep, will contain one quart.

Dr. John N. Powell's Farm.

In the latter part of May, shortly after our June number had gone to press, which accounts for the late appearance of this notice, we spent an afternoon, with a few friends who accompanied us, at the hospitable mansion of Dr. John N. Powell, six or eight miles from this city. We there saw, in the order and arrangement of his farm, very much to excite in us the most favorable impression of his judicious and skillful management. The doctor has a compact and picturesque farm of more than seven hundred acres, bordering the Chickahominy, including rather over one-fourth part of rich bottom land of that famous river, and with the exception of a field in front of his dwelling, which is level enough to have required, in his judgment, the ditches which traverse it, the balance, highland, consisting of graceful undulations and gradual and lengthened slopes, affording ample natural channels for its drainage, with very few, if any, exceptional cases of exposure to the too precipitous discharge of surface water, and consequent detrition of the soil. We saw neither gall nor gulley to mar the beauty of the landscape; and if the doctor found such on his entering into possession of the premises, we can well imagine that he lost no time in burying the loathsome spectacle out of sight.

The soil of the upland is of a stiff, tenacious clay, but not without a sufficiency of sand, suitably to adapt it to wheat. It was, as we suppose, naturally infertile, and hard to cultivate, but if such was the case, its present improved condition on'y affords the higher testimonial of the skillful administration of the proprietor, who

has successfully conquered all these natural disadvantages, and removed them out of the way. The chief element of this improvement is the farm-pen, where no means^are neglected for producing and preserving the largest amount of putrescent manures, which the careful hus^ bandry of all the resources of the farm will allow.

The stables, cow-sheds, straw-racks, corn-house, barn, &c, and the construction and inclo-sure of the stock-yard, are all models of their kind, and we recommend them to the imitation of his neighbors. The crop of wheat, of which he sowed about two hundred bushels, and put it in with Bickford and Huffman's drill, a part with entire success upon pea-fallow, was magnificent; it was just then fully headed, and promised an average yield of from 20 to 25 bushels per acre. The best portion of this wheat (for fine as it all was, it admitted of degrees of comparison) was a new white variety, bearing the name of '' Bowers," which we thought could not fall much short of 30 bushels to the acre.

After viewing the outbuildings, crops, &o without having seen the doctor's fine stock and splendid clover fields, which were too distaat for present inspection, but the quality of which we could not undervalue, for—reasoning a posteriori —from effect to cause—the abundant speci. mens of the finest butter and richest milk and cream which fell under our observation, could be ascribed to nothing short of the existence of fine cattle and rich and abundant clover pastures. Returning from this general review, which we were reluctantly compelled to do, by the wane of day, we passed through his flourishing and exuberant strawberry beds, which had yielded their fifty and sixty quarts per day, (of the finest descriptions, for we know not how long,) and there were gathered and ready for market next morning about the same number of like measure.

During the balance of the time allotted to our very pleasant and instructive visit, we regaled ourselves at the social board, loaded with the choicest of creature comforts, where we had reason to know that the skill and housewifery of our obliging hostess would suffer no disparagement by comparison with the good management displayed by our gentlemanly and courteous host, in the successful administration of his department.

We crave pardon for the freedom with which we have written. The fact is, we saw so much to approve and commend that we could not

Til B BOUTH i:k\ PLANTER

445

withhold th" htl and if

we have I 11 r fnem!

which his modesty would have coin inn

shrink. ifrieultuieJ

irnood timt the lighi of In- example should

e hidden under n bmlnd, for wn hold

it to be u law of Dhrine eueetmonl that no man

livelh unto him.»elf. hut If houinl to c- mtribute

nf hii knowledge an I

of all with whom he sustains the relation of

Leiahbor.

When to Harvest, and how to Shock Wheat.

T late for its appearance in the Juno number, the following communication was received pom X. C. Crenshaw, Eeq.j ami that the sug-na which it contains might bo published in time for this year's harve.-t, we availed OUT* of the kindness of the Editor of the to lay them before the public through the medium of that paper. The communication is mm copied from the Whig, as we deem it worthy of permanent record in the pages of urual for future reference. As Mr. Gar-nett thinks an experienced farmer has led Mr. .Crenshaw into what he considers a fatal error in regard to the greater safety of shocking, unripe than fully ripe wheat, when wet, we publish in this number a communication from Mr. ling his views on the subject. This communication is preceded by valuable suggestions by him on other

lbbery Hill, Hanover. Friend Williams :

In ootnpiiance with my promise, I send

the following statement: Bome years ago, I hired a man to cut wheat iction. 1 disci him. As ho left the held where the hands were at work, he passed through a Onece of wheat that was just in the d and, being an-

gry at being discharged, cut a row through the field. The seasen was a wet one, and tl attacked the field. When we came to r I found the row he cut and left on the ground, died, plump wheat, while all around it

IS time back I saw a recommendation in the Planter from Garuett, to p ro cee d to cut

and shock wheat in wet weather. As an experiment, I cut ;i I thirteen shocks of wheat, that was barely ripe, in a drizzling rain. Some days after, the weather became t\

d and dried ten of the shocks, fearing to risk so much. 1 found them keeping well. The

remaining three sbooks eared and kept as well

a- any lUOOkl I put up that s>-a

I mentioned this circumstance '■> an ol I experienced farmer, who inform it the

Wheal kepi beoeOSC it had not fully matured

ami dried when cut. That when wheal became fully nid dry, it eould not be put up wet with.»ut spoiling, as it WOOid tainly heat nnd sprout, lb- further Said that In?

it and shocked green wheal that cured

well without being, opened*

Last harvest, I cut and put up a lh< wheat in a very green State, which cured well ;

Sin Was plump and line. Having I that seed wheat should always be allowed 10

thoroughly ripeji before being cut, I kept that

shock and sowed it to itself; it came up as well, and is now looking as well «s the 1 my wheat, on the same quality of land. 1 I

I Delude, l.-t. That it i-* be.-t to cut wheat that is likely to have the rust as soon as it is in

the dough state; 2d« That it Is not sale to cut

and shock wheat fully matured except when dry.

I do not wish any farmer to do more the pres-•nt season than make experiments to test the truth of the above conclusions. Respectfully,

N. C. CRENSHAW.

Bell Haven,

Acoomac Co., Va., June 1st, 1860.

Editor of the Southern Planter, Richmond:

Gent. —Have you any information why Cabbages have the Big Root, and if so, what is the CaUse, and what the remedy ! I have a square in my garden that bad the Big Ro il las! in the early Cabbages, which I removed and then SOI out others for the fall which had no I >t. This spring I find iir the -ame square Big Root, and no Big Root in the next square

adjoining, all manured alike, plants out of the

same bed, from ' planted out at

■lie time, mid worked alike. Please let me hear from you on the subject. Yours truly,

A. J. Ward, I\ M.

remarks by tub kdit.-r. We referred*Mr. Ward's inquiry to Mr-Rcn-M of our Baoet intelligent and experienced gardeners, whoes observation has impressed

him with the opinion, that tho " Big R owing to the existence of sourness in the soil. He has heard it said that this has happen light, dry soft, but no such case ba9 come under ■tion. Ws hare seen the same d berry plant, ami as in every instance it was developed in wet soil, we had come to the conclusion at which Mr. Rennie had arrived in relation to the Cabbage. Lime and drainage

THE S0UTHE11N PLANTER.

[July

ire in our opinion the true remedy; but the Application of the lime without drainage would probably avail nothing.

Mediterranean Wheat.

Having heard that Mr. Peyton Johnston had a very fine field of Mediterranean wheat which we intended to have visited before harvest, but were disappointed, we applied to him for a memorandum of particulars respecting it, in response to which he has furnished the following statement:

" Field No. 1.—The grain was sown last Octo-tober, on ground that had been in potatoes. It was worked with a double plow, then harrowed, when guano at the rate of 100 lbs. to the acre was scattered over and plowed in crosswise with a single plow. The usual quantity of Mediterranean wheat was then sown broadcast, and the land dragged and rolled.

" Field No. 2, was in turnips last fall. It had been well manured for that crop. On my way to the Central Agricultural Fair last October, I observed that Mr. Bowe had sown wheat in the spaces between his turnip crop, which induced me to have the cultivator run between the rows of mine. I then had the wheat sown and dragged in with a single-horse harrow. This was done the first week in November. The wheat grew well, and looked as if sown by a drill machine. Both fields were grazed by the cows when the ground was hard, up to the 1st April, when they were again rolled. No. 2 being the best land, has the finest crop, the avarage yield is pronounced to be by judges about thirty bushels to the acre. The seed sown was from the produce of one bushel, had of Mr. David Landreth, of Philadelphia, in 1858. The grain was imported that summer for him from Triest, and sold at $5 per bushel. The head is large and well filled with piuinp grains; the yield of straw is not much.

" A sample of the seed can be seen at the Planter's Office, or at 115 Main street.

"June 22d, 1860. P. Johnston."

Acknowledgments.

We omitted in our last to include in our notice of Mr. C. L. Flint's treatise on cattle, his able and extended report, as secretary, to the Massa. chusetts board of agriculture, and to tender him our thanks for a number of copies, (which we have distributed among our friends,) of his admirable, illustrated tract on the cultivation of the grasses. We intended also to have acknowledged thankfully the receipt from C. L Bartlett, Esq., of Boston, of a copy of his pamphlet on the history • economy, as a manure ; and modes of applying Peruvian Guano on the farm and the garden, and copies of his republication of the above tract on the Grasses.

Agents for this Journal.

Mr. A. T. MOOKLAR is our Agent for th counties of Essex, King William, Caroline, King j and Queen and the lower part of Hanover, viz Hanover C. H. and Old Church post offices.

Mr. EDGAR BURROUGHS, for Princess Anne county.

Mr. ISAAC IRVINE HITE, traveling agent has bills against subscribers in the counties of Orange, Nelson, Amherst, Albemarle, Spotsyl vania, Stafford, King George, Louisa and Fluvanna.

Mr. J NO. P. JOHNSTON is our agent at Danville.

Mr. W. L. SMITH has, at present, bills against subscribers in the counties of Amelia, Powhatan and Chesterfield.

Mr. GEO. C. REID is agent for Norfolk county and vicinity.

Mr. T. B. MONTAGUE is agent for Gloucester county.

"Hospital for Slaves."

Drs. Hancock, Peachy and Luckett, Proprietors For rates of charge for Board and Treatment see our advertising sheet.

We call attention to this new establishment, j| where sick negroes are provided with comforta ble quarters, proper diet, nurses and medica treatment. The physicians are all well known here. Dr. Hancock is an old and valued frien of ours; and we are very sure that the hospita and its in-mates will be thoroughly and properl attended to.

The California Culturist.

A monthly of 48. large octavo pages. W. Wadsworth, Secretary of the California Horti cultural Society, editor and proprietor. Town* and Bacon, printers, San Francisco.

It contains a variety of useful and interesting! articles on agriculture, horticulture, &c, and iri its mechanical execution is a model of artistic taste and beauty.

Mr. J. J. Hite's Land Agency.

We desire to call attention to Mr. J. J. Hite's Land Agency advertisement. Mr. Hite has the advantage of an extensive acquaintance in his section of the State, and his business qualifications ensure a faithful discharge of all duties entrusted to him.

'

THE S(H'Til KRX PL A NTER.

Patent Well Curb. We parahaMd oi II. ll. Bmi loring

the bi « ' ,!,,r ;i ]

coTitris . I - W'. l; (' n\" : i ';. lor DM M ns it was set ever the mouth of the well.

We found it very useful and oonvenieal then,

nml it is doing . NT.

Mr. Smith has since Improved tlio apnaratio, \dt it much Stronger, and affixed a

••brake" 10 it, Which prevents the DUoket from running down the well if the haiulle should accidentally slip from the grasp of the pi drawing water.

This is to excellent contrivance, we think, and we wonld advise cnir country friend-amine it, If they should want anything of the

kind.

«■••»»

rV. S. II. Baylor's farm, M vertising sheet for terms, \c.

This farm is situated in a rapidly improving country, near navigable water and the Kiver Rail]

Cattle's Tongues—Curry Combs. *

The tongue of a cow or ox is suggestive. It is armed with a compact bed of spitfes, very rough to the touch, and adapted to a varic: . With this pliable member,

'it draws grass beneath the teeth for cropping, and all Other articles of food when

It comes in play in reach!; into the limbs of trees for foliage or fruit, or in reaching over walls and U I forbidden

IB disturbing the hairnnd skin on all parts of the body within reach, and the iriac ble parts of the head are curried by mutual accommodation. No Bight is more common

ound the root- of the hair, np the i

it is in

tongue dors this partially, bul 1 and

ourry-comb do it -till better. Thi performed for the horse quite regularly, cause he is more frequently exhibited in the

nee of his owner, and the oleanli of the carriage, and of the clothes of the

family, depend somewhat open the condition Of the skin of the horse. J Jut the ox, the cow, and the young animals, are sadly looted. It is not nnfrequently, that a yoke

of oxen will come out of the stal le in the Spring, with a thick plaster of filth upon

their hams, tho accumulation of a whole Winter—a disgrace to humanity, and to the

good husbandry of the owner.

All these animals manifest their pleasure at the use (A^ the card and curry-comb upon their skins, and after a little practice, the young stock will come as regularly for their carding, as for their food. it is an excellent method to tame heifers that are to bear their first calves in the Spring. They become accustomed to the handling of man, and submit to the first milking without much resistance. It is equally good for steers that are soon to be brought under the yoke. They become so gentle under gentle treatment, that they are easily broken to the yoke, and mak> tractable team,

than »by the ordinary process. The card is a much better persuader, than the ox whip. This is excellent but I, and

they should be taught to keep the card moving.— Am* rican Ag rit uk m it t.

Spayed Cows. A writer in the American Stock Journal

- that Mr. I'add, Veterinary Surg

in a herd of cattle than this reciprocal toilet h^ successfully performed the above 0] of the tongue. Here is nature's hint for ti()M u| [„ for] milk, without |

the Use of the card and curry-comb. 'J he.-e through the iter.

tools are especially called lor in Winter, when cattle a: with their.

u I ' •• to witne

operation on I: E. R.

heads confined, so that they can not use Anderson, Eeq. w ; rial of

their tongu -kin.

It is said by olo , that a good

currying, brushing and rubbing down once a day, is equal to a feed of oats for a horse.

eiu r ht cows spa

ry that he has determined I

other animals from time to time, M they come into full milking, to the BSJ

rexthiama; lonhtJ mmii unt ii his entire herd, of some fifty

that it greatly promotes the comfort and i K . a ,p j,

health of It removes

all tilth from the skin, which is apt to accumulate in stab! _ is attended to daily

'• Put away all strange notions, in order ry the prof The skin is constantly throw- tion that is correct and upright"