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THE SOUTHERN PLANTER; 

©eboteti to Sericulture, &>ortfculture, nntr the ZJL>ousehol& 8rts. 



Agriculture is the nursing mother of the Arts. 

Xenophon. 



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



C. T. BOTTS «fc L. M. BURFOOT, Editors. 



Vol. II. 



RICHMOND, AUGUST, 1842. 



No. 8. 



For the Southern Planter. 

FOREST TREES. 

Messrs. Editors, — I have compiled for the 
Planter the following list of the principal trees 
which are to be found in that part of Virginia 
which lies immediately at the head of tide wa- 
ter, giving the botanical name of each in addi- 
tion to that by which it is commonly known, 
and making such remarks about the soil, and 
use of man}'-, as I have deemed pertinent. The 
difference between many of the varieties of the 
same tree are almost entirely botanical, and 
consequently but little known. The pine is a 
remarkable instance of this great similarity, and 
I have known a person who was particularly ob- 
servant of every thing that concerned timber and 
timber trees, who insisted that the old field pine 
was exactly the same tree with the yellow or heart 
pine, and that when time had thinned out these 
piny groves the trees would assume the stately 
form of what we call the sap pine, and would 
then by degrees be transmuted into a heart tree. 
Yet, because one has two leaves and the other 
three contained in a sheath, the botanists tell us 
that one is the pinus resinosa, the other the pinus 
tceda, and of course we, regarding science, must 
adopt their view of the subject. As to the pro- 
bable value that your readers may place on this 
communication you are the best judge, there- 
fore, I place it entirely at your disposal. 

1. The white oak, quercus alba, is found very 
generally through the forest without much re- 
gard to the nature of the soil, except, however, 
that it rarely grows on land that is very gravel- 
ly. It is far more valuable for timber than any 
tree which we possess. 

2. The red oak, quercus rubra, is a large tree, 
prefers a rather sandy or gravelly soil, and is by 
no means so valuable as the preceding. 

3. The scarlet oak, quercus coccinea, is very 
similar to the red oak and is generally confounded 
with it. Beside several slight botanical differ- 
ences, it produces a vast number of ink-balls and 
in autumn the leaves assume a bright scarlet 
hue. 

4. The black oak, quercus tinctora, is general 
in the forest. I do not believe that any great 
value can be attached to it as timber. 

5. Spanish oak, quercus falcata, grows on gra- 
velly forest land, and is of little value as timber, 
being generally much wind-shaken. 

Vol. 2—22 



6. Willow oak, quercus phellos, is a beautiful 
tree which delights in a low moist soil and is 
much esteemed by wheelwrights for its wood. 

7. The quercus humilis is a dwarf variety of 
the willow oak. 

8. Post oak, quercus obtusiloba, is found in the 
forest, generally, but I think prefers a rather 
gravelly soil. As its name denotes, it is valua- 
ble for posts, stakes for fences, &c. 

9. Overcup oak, quercus macrocarpa, is to be 
found on the banks of the rivers, but is not com- 
mon. It is a most splendid tree, and reaches a 
very great size, being the largest of the species. 

10. Chesnut oak, quercus montana, is of little 
value for timber. 

11. Black jack, quercus nigra, with us grows 
in barren slashy land. It is very sectional, (if I 
may use the expression) being found but rarely 
in some parts of the country, whilst in others it 
abounds — is a mark of poor land. 

12. Scrub oak, quercus catesbaei, generally puts 
up where the woods have suffered greatly from 
fire. 

13. Shrub oak. quercus ilicifolia, which differs 
considerably in appearance from the last, brings 
to a conclusion the list of oaks with which I 
am acquainted. If there are any more amongst 
us, they differ so slightly from some of these 
varieties that it would require the closest obser- 
vation to discover them. 

14. The yellow pine, pinus resinosa, is to be 
found scattered everywhere through our forests. 
It attains great size, and is of great value for 
plank and other kinds of timber. 

15. White spruce pine, pinus alba, is not abun- 
dant in this section of the country. Where it 
is plentiful it is very much esteemed for making 
charcoal. 

1 6. Hemlock tree, pinus canadensis, when seen 
here is found growing on the river cliffs. It is 
frequently, indeed commonly, but improperly 
called the yew. 

17. Old field or loblolly pine, pinus tceda, 

18. Grey or scrub pine, pinus banksiana, 

19. Broom pine, pinus palustris, are all three 
known under the general name old field pine, 
and are of very li tie value. 

20. White heart hickory, carya tomentosa, is, 
I think, the most valuable of the race of hicko- 
ries, on account of its great toughness. It pros- 
pers best in rich alluvial soils, but grows very 
well throughout the forest. 



170 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



21. Shagbark hickory, carya alba, is a large 
tree — is quite valuable and very common in our 
forests. 

22. Bitter nut, carya amara, is especially re- 
markable for its fruit, which has the thinnest 
imaginable shell which is filled with a kernel of 
the most tempting appearance but so bitter that 
it is utterly impossible to eat it. 



23. F 



lg nut, carya porcina, is very common in 



our forests. 

24. Shell bark hickory, carya sulcata. Al- 
though this tree is indigenous to this part of the 
State, yet it is so very rare that I have never 
met with a single specimen. From the descrip- 
tion that I have received of it I think that it is 
very much like the carya amara, but its nut is a 
delightful one. Hickory is (as every one knows) 
the best of all fuel. 

25. White elm, ulmus americana, grows na- 
turally on low and moist lands, but grows very 
well on high land when it is transplanted. As 
timber it is very well to use elm for sills that are 
to be constantly immersed in water ; for instance, 
as facings for mill dams, &c. 

26. River elm, ulmus memoralis, as its name 
denotes, is to be found on the banks of small 
rivers where its spreading and weeping boughs 
afford a delightful shade to the lounging piscator. 

27. Slippery elm, ulmus fulva, is by no means 
as common as the two preceding varieties. It 
is generally found about the banks of rivers and 
in uncleared low grounds, It is much esteemed 
for its mucilaginous inner bark which is consi- 
dered very efficacious in some affections of the 
throat and lungs. It may be very easily distin- 
guished by the great similarity of its bark to 
that of the ash, and by its twigs, which grow 
in rows on the branches exactly opposite to each 
other and nearly at right angles from the main 
branch. 

28. Whahoo elm, ulmus alata, is chiefly re- 
markable for the cork-like bark, similar to that 
on the Dutch elm, with which its branches are 
winged. 

29. Red maple, acer rubrum, is a very showy 
tree, both in the spring when its rich scarlet 
pendant seed-vessels adorn it and in the autumn 
w T hen its leaves assume a splendidly brilliant 
hue. 

30. White maple, acer dasycarpum, is very 
highly prized by cabinet-makers — it is suscepti- 
ble of a very high polish and is a most beautiful 
wood. 

Both of these varieties delight in moist and 
loamy soils. I have never seen any attempt 
made to introduce them into pleasure grounds, 
where they (particularly the first) would be ex- 
ceedingly ornamental, I have no doubt, how- 
ever, that it might be done with perfect success. 

31. Box elder, acer negundo, grows on the 
banks of the river. Its shape is symmetrical, 
the foliage dense and of a peculiar and pleasing 



hue, a yellowish green. It succeeds very w^ell 
when it is transplanted and is very ornamental. 
It attains a tolerably great size, but I rather 
think that the timber is of no value. 

32. Sweet gum, liquidambar styraciflua, com- 
monly grows in moist bottoms — it attains great 
size, but is almost entirely useless both for tim- 
ber and for fuel. 

33. Forest poplar, linodendron tulipifera, is one 
of the most magnificent of trees. Its superb 
size, its beautifully symmetrical form, its dense, 
rich and luxuriant foliage and the great beauty 
of its flowers when it is in bloom should render 
every one anxious to have it about his house, 
which he may do with but little care, for though 
a native of swamps and moist land, it grows 
perfectly readily on almost any soil to which it 
may be transplanted. The poplar has not only 
the recommendation of being beautiful but it is 
of great value, the plank made from it being 
equal to any for weatherboarding. 

(To be continued.) 



MILCH COWS. 
In a letter from a gentleman in Scotland to 
the Editors of the Albany Cultivator, the writer 
desires to correct a mistake which he says ex- 
ists in this country, viz : that the Durham short 
horn cattle are esteemed great milkers in Great 
Britain. We, he remarks, consider the superior 
excellence of high bred Durhams to rest upon 
their fine shape, great size, early maturity, and 
aptitude to fatten. We have no doubt that ex- 
actly the same state of things exists in Great 
Britain that obtains in this country, that is, there 
is a division in opinion, there as well as here, 
upon the merits and properties of this breed of 
cattle. We believe, too, that the two parties, 
both here and there, although apparently dia- 
metrically opposed, are both right. Those who 
contend for the great milking qualities of the 
Durhams are certainly right, if the possession 
of this property by very many of the individuals 
of the stock will justify them in the general as- 
sertion ; and the same remark may be made, 
with equal or greater force, of those who con- 
tend for the opposite quality of aptitude to fatten. 
The explanation of the apparent paradox lies in 
this ; the Durhams are a stock of cattle bred 
and crossed judiciously, with an eye to securing 
the valuable qualities of the animal. But the 
valuable qualities of horned cattle unlike any 
other quadruped are of two characters, general- 
ly supposed to be opposite and inconsistent in 
their nature ; they furnish a solid and fluid nu- 
triment to man. The shape and form which 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



171 



promises to afford the one to the greatest advan- 
tage, is very different from that which indicates 
the other ; but being nearly equal in value, the 
judicious breeder has retained either the one or 
the other, as he happened to meet with them. 
The consequence is that the present race, taking 
sometimes after one ancestor and sometimes af- 
ter another, sometimes displays the milking, and 
sometimes the fattening form. 'Tis true, that in 
the south of Britain, where this stock is chiefly 
raised, beef is more valued than milk, and, there- 
fore, we believe, that both there and here, the 
property of making the one, predominates over 
the tendency to yield the other, simply because 
this quality has been most, carefully cultivated. 
We know whole herds of this stock in this 
neighborhood, purchased chiefly for their sup- 
posed universal milking qualities, where not one 
individual in ten turns out a valuable milker. 

But the Durham is unquestionably a highly 
artificial stock, requiring a continuance of the 
high keep and generous care that have been so 
instrumental in bringing them to their present 
state of perfection. We believe that there are 
several breeds much better adapted to the scanty 
herbage of Eastern Virginia, and we concur 
fully with the writer, to whom we have alluded 
above, in his national predilection for the Ayr- 
shires. He says: " The Ayrshires are a dimi- 
nutive variety of Short Horns. They are in 
great repute as milkers, and are fast spreading 
over these islands. They are in every sense 
' the poor man's cow.' They thrive and give a 
good portion of milk upon very short commons, 
where larger breeds would starve. There are 
also high breds or well breds among the Ayr- 
shires, as in the Durhams, and with similar qua- 
lifications, with the exception of size." 



For the Southern Planter. 
RIVER MUD. 

Messrs. Editors, — Some time last year I pro- 
mised a gentleman who was travelling with me 
on the canal packet to give him the result of an 
experiment I was making with river mud as a 
manure. As other persons may likewise be 
pleased to hear how it succeeded, I have con- 
cluded to give the information through the South- 
em Planter. 

I selected the poorest part of my low grounds, 
near the river, for a tobacco lot ; a part of this 
lot I manured with farm- pen manure, made dur- 
ing the winter; and the remainder with earth 
taken from near the margin of the river, which 
had been deposited in the course of a few years ; 



putting on about double the quantity. The to- 
bacco on the whole lot was very fine, nor was 
I able to decide which part was best. From 
this experiment I came to the conclusion, that 
double the quantity of rich deposite from James 
River was equal to coarse farm -pen manure. 

I have seen in your paper, objections to the 
practice of hauling leaves to the stables, farm- 
pens, &c.; and it is urged as the better plan to 
carry them on the land intended to be manured 
at once. To these objections I would say, that 
if oak and chesnut leaves are thus used, the 
first hard wind, will carry them back to the 
woods, or deposite them in the corners of the 
fences ; and when ploughed in immediately, 
which is the only method of saving them, ac- 
cording to my experience, but little benefit is de- 
rived ; whereas if used as litter in stables, farm- 
pens, &c. they not only benefit the stock, but 
are soon converted into fine manure, having ab- 
sorbed and being saturated with the strength of 
the dung and urine; and one load used in this 
manner I consider worth ten hauled from the 
woods and ploughed in. It may, however, be 
I urged, that the planter has not time to haul the 
1 leaves twice. I answer, that if a small force 
j be kept as improvers, he can always find time 
not only to litter his stables, farm-pens, and hog- 
j pens, (and the quantity of manure made by this 
; means during the year would surprise the inex- 
'■ perienced) but he may remove the rich earth 
from his' ditch banks, to his poorer lands. A 
■ force of this kind is always ready to assist in 
j times of pressure, such as planting tobacco, sav- 
j ing clover, harvesting wheat, &c. indeed, I con- 
! sider my improvers as the most profitable part of 
my laborers. 

An experiment I made with ashes as a top 
dressing on grass, is perhaps worth giving to 
the public. Having made a large clearing dur- 
ing the winter of 1841, I had the ashes where 
the log heaps were burnt, as soon as they were 
cold, taken up and removed to a poor field which 
was sowed with clover and herdsgrass. and about 
twenty-five bushels per acre spread over a part 
of it. The grasses on this part of the field have 
taken well, and are quite luxuriant, considering 
how poor it was previous to this top dressing; 
whilst on the part on which no ashes were put, 
they have a much feebler appearance, and in 
many places died during the last summer, and 
galled spots now disfigure the field. 
Respectfully yours, 

Richard G. Morriss. 
Buckingham, June 25, 1S42. 



MANGE IN DOGS. 

Mr. R. G. Hill, of Caroline, called on us to 
say that he had resorted to the remedy recom- 
mended by Mr. Goode at page 168 of the first 



172 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



volume of the Planter to relieve a very valuable 
pointer of the mange and that, instead of cur- 
ing, it had killed him. The fatal effect Mr. Hill 
attributed to the ointment, as he feels satisfied 
that arsenic may be given to dogs in any quan- 
tity with impunity. 

Arsenic is undoubtedly innocuous to dogs, in 
general ; their exemption from its generally fatal 
effects, is supposed to be derived from a peculiar 
facility they possess of throwing it off the sto- 
mach, by vomiting. If any particular state of 
system weakens this power, the arsenic may 
be retained, and will certainly then go on with 
its work of destruction. 

We are inclined to think the dipping in a tan 
vat, recommended by Dr. Dupuy, is a better and 
safer remedy than Mr. Goode's. 



For the Southern Planter. 
MODE OF APPLYING MANURE. 

Messrs. Editors, — Of the various methods in 
which manure is applied to land, that of cover- 
ing it broadcast is generally esteemed the best, 
both for the growing crop, and the permanent 
improvement of the soil. But however heavily 
it may be put on in this way, there is alwa3's 
liability of an irregular crop being produced. 
Some spots in the same field require a good deal 
more manure than others. Some appropriate 
with more readiness the strength of the manure, 
and other parts will have less manure put on 
them, however particular a person may be in 
spreading it. The consequence is, that a very 
rich lot frequently does not produce such an 
average crop as the labor expended on it would 
seem to promise. 

I have for a few years past endeavored to re- 
medy this evil, by applying a hand full of well 
rotted manure to such plants as look puny and 
ill grown, about the period when the crop is 
generally hilled up for the first time. At this 
period, if not before, the field will readily exhibit 
this difference, and the additional labor of put- 
ting it on is not so great as would appear at first 
view. The manure may be hauled out to the 
most convenient spots on the edges of the field 
at any time during the spring, and the small 
hands with baskets, can soon put the manure 
around the bad looking plants just before the 
larger hands, while hilling it up. In fact it is 
somelimesapplied when the tobacco is wed down, 
and whether covered with dirt at that period or 
not, it is perhaps just as good a plan. The ef- 
fects of manure, thus applied, if the weather is 
seasonable, i3 truly astonishing. The plant be- 
gins at once to grow, and if the weather is not 
too dry, will soon be as good if not better than 



any other in the field. The advantages, there- 
fore, will at once appear. 

In order to obtain a very heavy crop of to- 
bacco from a piece of land, every plant must 
count for itself. If those few plants which grow 
off badly at first, were finally to come out, they 
could not attain to the weight, if they did to the 
size, of those around them. The larger plants 
shade them too much for the leaves to grow 
broad, or for the plant to be very heavy. I have 
never seen an irregular piece of tobacco turn out 
well in weight. 

Finally, Mr. Editor, allow me to congratulate 
you and the planters upon the increasing circu- 
lation of your valuable paper over our State. 
It is just such an one as our agricultural interest 
demands. The contributions are generally of a 
practical character, and no long philosophical 
theorizing pieces are admitted, to take up room, 
and to bother the plain planter. There is a 
spirit of improvement gradually extending itself 
over the State, and I doubt not that interested 
motives, as well as the force of circumstances, 
will push it forward, until we shall witness its 
effects to a greater or less extent into whatever 
part of Virginia we may travel. 

A Country Subscriber. 



GRUBS. 

From an old Virginia turfman, who is too 
modest to give his name to the public, we have 
derived the following statement. He says for 
the last nine or ten years he has been making 
use of the following remedy for grubs, with in- 
stantaneous and invariable success. 

Upon a piece of chalk, the size of a cubic 
inch, he pours a pint of moderately strong vine- 
gar; when the effervescence has ceased, he 
empties it into a bottle, and drenches the patient. 

We know no gentleman upon whose judg- 
ment or statement we would sooner rely than 
the one affording this recipe, and he esteems it 
so highly, that he called at our office, at some 
inconvenience, expressly that it might be given 
to the public. 



INFLAMMABLE GAS. 

The lightness of inflammable gas is well 
known : when bladders of any size are filled 
with it, they rise upwards and float in the air. 
Now it is a most curious fact, ascertained by 
Knight, that the fine dust, by means of which 
plants are impregnated one from another, is com- 
posed of very small globules filled with this 
gas — in a word, of small air-balloons. These 
globules thus float from the male plant through 
the air, and striking against plants of the other 
sex, are detained by a glutinous substance pre- 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



173 



pared on purpose to stop them, which no sooner 
moistens the globules than they explode, and 
their substance remains ; the gas, which enabled 
them to float, flying off. A provision of a very 
simple kind is also in some cases made to pre- 
vent the male and female blossoms of the same 
plant from uniting;; this being found to injure 
the breed of vegetables just as breeding 1 "in 
and in" spoils the race of animals. In this case, 
it is contrived that the dust shall be shed by the 
male blossom before the female of the same 
plant is ready to be affected by it ; so that the 
impregnation must be performed by the dust of 
some other plant, and in this way the breed be 
crossed. And the levity of the gas with which 
the globules are filled is most essential to the 
operation, as it conveys them to great distances. . 
A plantation of yew-trees has been known in ' 
this way to impregnate another several hundred 
yards distant. — Brougham. 



SOILING. 



A writer in the "American Farmer," compar- 
ing the advantages of soiling and grazing, makes ' 
the following remarks : 

"In grazing, an acre of good grass is con- 
sidered necessary to the support of each head of 
stock ; of ordinary grass one and a half, or two 
acres are not more than enough. In England, 
where the soiling system has been very gener- 
ally adopted, and carried on with care, according 
to Mr. Curwen's experience, three acres of grass 
cut and carried, supplied 30 milch-cows, with 28 
lbs. each, daily, during a period of 200 days. 
To have supplied a similar number of cows, 
with a like quantity for the same period, would 
in the usual way of management, have required I 
75 acres of land for its production. And to have ! 
grazed such a number of cows at liberty that 
length of time, must, it is obvious, have taken 
a very considerable number of acres. Again he 
says: 

" ' This vast produce from so small a piece of 
land, may at first appear very problematical ; 
but experience and good management will soon 
convince the dairyman that he may realize the 
advantage, great as it may appear. To enable 
the meadow to support this exhaustion from the 
scythe, it should be cleared at the end of every 
autumn, from all kinds of weeds and rubbish, 
and fresh grass-seeds of the best kinds, cast upon 
the bare places. A coat of good rotten manure, 
or ashes, should then be allowed, consisting of 
all that can be collected from the household, or 
procured elsewhere, mixed up and augmented 
with virgin earth.' 

" If we admit that the number of acres as- 
sumed by Mr. Curwen, three and a half to each 
cow, be too great, and take one, the minimum 
quantity named by us, as the proper one, then 



there will still be a saving of 27 acres of grass 
by the soiling over the depasturing system. And 
if we reserve this grass to be cut for hay, it will 
give a sufficient quantity to carry the cows 
through the winter, or foddering season ; so ihat, 
to this amount there will be a clear gain. Then 
let us add the immense quantity of manure, 
which will be accumulated in the soiling-yard, 
and we cannot hesitate a moment in coming to 
an opinion as to the relative merits of the two 
plans of feeding stock; for all will admit that 
summer-made manure is very far belter than 
that made in winter, as also that the most of 
the droppings in pastures is lost, by means of 
evaporation and rains, to all the available pur- 
poses of the farm, and no one will contend, that 
the cost of the price of half the labor of one 
hand, and that of a horse and cart during the 
time, should be considered to be of more value 
than the savings we have pointed out. Sup- 
pose that, in addition to the accumulation of 
manure from the droppings of the cattle, the 
yard be covered some nine or twelve inches deep 
with mould or other earth from the woods, or 
head lands, to act as absorbents of the cattle's 
stable — we say, suppose this be done, and we 
will venture the assertion, that every square foot 
of such mould or earth would be so saturated 
with the urine of the cows as to be equally as 
valuable as their droppings. Thus, then, in 
whatever light we may consider the subject, the 
advantages in favor of soiling are apparent to 
the judgment. 

"It may be urged against the soiling system 
that it would not afford the requisite exercise to 
the stock. We are free to admit that exercise, 
to a certain extent, is necessary to the health of 
the brute creature, but at the same time we are 
free to maintain, that all that is indispensably 
necessary to ensure health and comfort, may be 
obtained in a yard of a fourth of an acre in ex- 
tent, and we doubt much if regularly fed and 
watered therein at stated hours through the day, 
and salted semi-weekly, whether they would not 
maintain as much physical vigor thus confined, 
as they would roaming at large in a pasture of 
many acres. It is questionable with us also, 
whether they would not yield fully as much if 
not more milk and butter. At all events, the 
experiment is worthy of a trial, and we, there- 
fore, commend it to our readers' consideration." 



FARM ACCOUNTS. 
What would be thought of a merchant, who 
did not keep a set of books, and who, at the end 
of the year, could not tell whether a certain 
branch of his business had been productive or 
not ? And why is not a farmer as much inter- 
ested in the result of his operations, as a mer- 
chant ? The pettiest shop keeper must have a 



174 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



clerk to keep his books, with double entries, and 
yet the most extensive farmer, operating with 
thousands, keeps no record of his proceedings. 
The manufacturer opens an account with each 
department of his business, charging it with the 
stock employed, the expenses incurred, and cre- 
diting it with its products. At the end of the 
year, he sees at a glance whether it has been 
productive or not, and concludes to lop it off, or 
to extend it. So should the farmer open an ac- 
count with every crop he cultivates ; charge it 
with the outlajr, and credit with the proceeds. 
At the end of the year, he should take another 
account of the stock on hand, and he will see, 
at once, how he stands on the year's operation. 
If he is unable to keep so simple an account, 
he should employ a clerk ; (although he had 
better go to school himself,) he certainly needs 
his assistance as much as a merchant. But 
there is no difficulty about the matter, and ex- 
tracts from a farmer's books well kept, would 
form the most valuable contributions to an agri- 
cultural paper. 



be inclined to think highly of his plan, but we 
know some of our best farmers who disapprove 
of it. We should be glad to hear their objec- 
tions. 



For the Southern Planter. 
CORN RAKES. 

Messrs. Editors, — I desire to bring to the no- 
tice of 3'our corn planters an implement from 
which I have derived the greatest benefit in the 
cultivation of my crops. I allude to the com- 
mon hand rake. I am aware, sir, that it is not 
new, and that it has been tried and discarded by 
some ; but this I am sure has happened only 
where the experiment has not had a fair trial. 

Corn is frequently much infested with grass 
before it is large enough to be ploughed, espe- 
cially in a rainy season. Now, whilst it is so 
low that the plough would cover and smother 
it, I run a simple coulter on each side, as close 
as possible to the corn, then with fine rakes the 
hands proceed from one end of the row to the 
other, dragging out the loose grass, pulverising 
the clods, and freeing the corn. This operation 
is performed with great rapidity and the effect 
upon the crop is astonishing. By this means, 
I can work my corn two, and sometimes three 
or four, weeks before my neighbors ; and whilst 
their fields are full of grass, " waiting for a sea- 
son," mine are clean and fine, affording all the 
nutriment of the soil to the crop. I would not 
be deprived of the use of my rakes, one year, 
for five hundred dollars. 



Your obedient servant, 



E.G. 



We know the writer of the above, and know 
that he has the reputation of a skilful, intelli- 
gent, practical farmer. Individually, we should 



IMPROVEMENTS IN BLACKSMITHING. 
Sawing heated iron or steel, is not known or 
thought of by blacksmiths ; and when several 
forks or branches are to be formed from one 
stock, even if the branches are required to re- 
main eventually, nearly in contact and parallel 
to each other, the usual method is to split the 
end of the iron with an awkward cold chissel, 
thereby deforming the edges of each branch ; 
on which account, the branches must be bent 
asunder for the purpose of hammering, squaring 
and shaping the edges of each ; after which 
they are brought together as well as may be, 
usually retaining a roughness of form, if not a 
deficiency of size and strength, near the junc- 
ture of the branches. Instead of this tedious 
process, the iron when heated may be put into 
a vise, and the end may be readily slit with a 
suitable saw, which would save much labor of 
hammering and filing. A saw for this purpose 
should be made thicker at the edge than at the 
back, and with uniform teeth about one-twelfth 
of an inch apart. The saw, when used, must 
be often dipped in water, to prevent its becoming 
too much heated. There is also a method of 
cutting or sawing hardened steel, which is not 
so generally known as it should be. A circular 
piece of common thin iron plate, or sheet iron, 
j being adjusted in a lathe, or by other means put 
into a violent rotary motion, it will readily cut 
off a file, a cutting tool, or a tempered steel 
spring, without drawing or reducing the temper. 
There is much mystery in the wonderful effect 
of this buz, and its cutting property is attributed 
to electricity. It answers a very convenient 
purpose, however, when the shape and form of 
I articles are required to be altered, without affect- 
I ing their temper. It furnishes a convenient 
method of cutting teeth to large saws, but is 
objectionable on account of the newly cut sur- 
faces being left so hard that they cannot be 
readily filed by a common file. Connected with 
the subject of " nrysterious effects," it may be 
stated that a bar of iron of almost any size, may 
be instantly sundered while hot, by the simple 
application of a piece of common roll-brimstone. 
A knowledge of this fact will be useful, when 
some piece of iron work is required to be severed, 
but which, as is sometimes the case, is so con- 
structed and situated that no ordinary chissel or 
cutting tool can be brought to apply. Holes 
may be perforated through bars or plates of 
heated iron, by the application of a pointed 
piece of brimstone, and that instantly. This 
phenomenon is curious, although it seldom af- 
fords much practical utility. — Mechanic. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



175 



SANDY SOILS. 

The Editor of the Massachusetts Ploughman 
being called on for his advice upon the treatment 
of sandy soils that will not hold manure, recom- 
mends the application of ten cords of clay, or 
five cords of leached ashes, to the acre ; the 
coating of clay, if it can be had conveniently, 
to be put on some time in autumn. But there 
is no crop he says so appropriate to light, sandy 
soils as buckwheat. 

"This is quite as sure a crop as any of the 
English grains, and our poorest lands will pro- 
duce it. In Virginia and in New York this 
grain succeeds well — even the worn out soils of 
the Ancient Dominion that will yield but five 
bushels of corn per acre will give double that 
quantity and value of buckwheat, and at less 
than half the expense. 

"This is a summer grain and it will not im- 
poverish a poor soil. But turning in one crop 
in June and sowing another on the furrow, to 
be harvested, a poor soil will improve from year 
to year, and twenty to thirty bushels may be 
counted on as an average yield. We have 
thousands of acres of such lands in Massachu- 
setts which now lie idle. Buckwheat usually 
commands $1 25 to $1 50 per bushel every 
spring though nobody is ready to buy it in au- 
tumn. But it may be used by every farmer at 
home, and a bushel of it is worth more for hogs 
and for hens than a bushel of corn. 

11 Buckwheat should be sown in the latter 
part of June ; some farmers sow as late as July 
4th. When a field is kept for the buckwheat 
the scattering seeds of the previous year will 
sometimes be sufficient without sowing any in 
June. One bushel per acre will be sufficient 
where no seed is in the ground ; half a bushel 
is the usual quantity in other cases. 

" The buckwheat may be saved for the grain, 
or it may be ploughed in when full in blossom 
to enrich the soil, and grass seed may be sown 
on the same ground in August, with or without 
other manure." 

Sorrel, he saj^s, never raises its head where 
Buckwheat is sown. If the land is naturally 
too light and porous for grass, keep it for Buck- 
wheat from year to year, and the sorrel will 
never be troublesome. This product will grow 
and spread sufficiently even on poor land to 
smother all other plants on sandy loams. 



For the Southern Planter. 
CORN. 

There is no one subject in agriculture that is 
more peculiarly interesting to us than the culti- 
vation of Indian corn. In the first place, it is 



the national crop; in the second, it bears with 
it a spice of romance, as being intimately con- 
nected with that race upon whom only the sa- 
cred hand of antiquity ha3 yet impressed the 
stamp of poetry in this new world ; but thirdly, 
and chiefly, because it is believed to be the most 
valuable vegetable growth, take it all in all, cul- 
tivated by the hand of man. I do not believe 
either that our savage predecessors, or our to- 
bacco making ancestors, ever brought the culti- 
vation of this noble, vegetable to perfection. I 
am very sure that the system of neither the one 
nor the other was of the character best adapted 
I to the present state of our soil. Neglected, as 
to a certain extent, this valuable crop now is, 
still, in point of profit, it need not shrink from a 
! comparison with either of its haughty rivals, 
| wheat, or tobacco. Facts and experience, wh ich 
settle the claims of high and low, will prove the 
corn growing to be as independent and prosper- 
ous as any other interest in the State. But it 
1 is my settled conviction, that a thorough exami- 
nation into its nature and character would m- 
1 duce an improvement in its cultivation, that 
| would place this vegetable of indigenous growth 
! upon a much more elevated position than it even 
| now occupies. It is very true that thousands 
' of intelligent farmers have been for hundreds of 
years cultivating this simple crop, and it would 
seem wonderful that there should be any thing 
! yet to learn about it ; but that no fixed princi- 
ples have been as yet established, is vouched by 
the fact that there are still as many opinions 
about the simplest points in its management, as 
there are different cultivators. That this variety 
of opinion exists, arises, I believe, from the fact 
that, until the late establishment of agricultural 
papers, men ploughed, sowed, and reaped, with- 
out thinking at all ; at any rate, without receiv- 
ing from each other the advantages of their 
mutual observations. Until within the last ten 
or twelve years, the darkness of the middle ages 
covered the agricultural history of America. 
Indeed, it was not until our exhausted soils 
forced us to bring mind to the assistance of mat- 
ter, that our farmers began to think at all, and 
it was not until the general establishment of a 
medium of communication, that any thing but 
the wildest guesses, founded upon the loosest 
facts, occupied the cultivators of the earih. — 
Mortifying as this picture of ignorance may be 
to many of your older readers, it is nevertheless 
true, and when they reflect, how they themselves 
were in former da} T s immersed, soul and body, 
in politics, they will be forced to concede that 
the science of agriculture found little space in 
the minds of their contemporaries. 

But, thanks to the good sense of our deep- 
thinking, practical people, as the stern necessity 
of an exhausted soil demanded a different course 
of conduct, they have lately begun to investi- 
gate the secrets of the great business in which 



176 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



they are employed, and hence it is, that, although 
we have been cultivating corn for hundreds of 
years, we are now just upon the threshold of 
discovery with respect to its nature and cha- 
racter. 

These remarks, which I hope, if not very 
flattering, will not prove very tedious, have been 
elicited by reading an excellent essay on the sub- 
ject in the " Southern Agriculturist" from the 
pen of Dr. L. R. Sams, of South Carolina. 

Dr. Sams, as the result of several investiga- 
tions upon the roots of corn, found them to con- 
sist chiefly of perpendicular roots, from which 
numerous smaller ones proceeded horizontally. 
The depth, number, and proportion, of the per- 
pendicular roots, the Doctor found to depend very 
much upon the nature of the soil in which they 
grew. In a very light, sandy soil, incumbent 
on a loose subsoil, he found an average of twen- 
ty-five perpendicular roots, from three and a half 
to four feet long. The size and extent of the 
lateral roots he found to be dependent upon the 
fertility and moisture of the surface soils. In a 
poor soil, of a dry season, they did not exceed 
two or three inches in length, while many were 
much shorter ; on the other hand, in a rich moist 
soil, these lateral roots were very much increased, 
not only in numbers, but in all their dimensions, 
a large proportion of them extending from one 
to two feet or more from the stalk. 

On a close, heavy soil, based on a stiff sub- 
soil, the perpendicular roots were found more 
numerous, but shorter, reaching an average 
depth of only two feet. The horizontal roots, 
though of smaller diameter than the perpendi- 
cular, were so much more developed than in the 
former case, especially when favored by a moist 
and mellow soil, as to traverse and occupy the 
entire intervals (a space of five feet) between 
the rows. 

The practical deductions that Dr. Sams draws 
from these facts, are, that if the soil is made 
rich and mellow to a considerable depth, the 
perpendicular roots will naturally penetrate to 
that depth, and as he found that the extension 
of the side roots along the surface was chiefly 
a substitute of nature for the obstruction of the 
perpendicular roots, he concludes, that whenever 
free passage is afforded the latter through rich 
ground, that this plant will be furnished by these 
means with food and moisture, even during a 
drought ; when the lateral or surface roots, that 
would otherwise supply their place, would be 
entirely parched and killed. Again, where a 
free descent is afforded through a mellow soil, 
the roots will be found almost wholly within a 
circle of two feet, of which the stalk is the cen- 
tre; consequently, present economy would re- 
commend the application of manure within that 
space. On the contrary, where, from the nature 
of the subsoil, the support is derived from the 
horizontal roots, the application of manure in 



the hill would fail to furnish the roots that had 
extended beyond its influence with their food at 
the most critical period of the plant, viz : the. 
filling of the ear. Firing, Dr. Sams considers, 
as nothing more than the failure of a supply of 
food and moisture to this most succulent and 
sappy of all the vegetable tribe ; and close plant- 
ing leads to this fatal consequence, only, because, 
in our usual mode of cultivation, the plant is 
dependent for a supply of food and moisture on 
its lateral roots, which can only find a sufficient 
supply for one stalk within a given space. 

One thing is certain, that very large crops 
can only be obtained by close planting, and it is 
a great desideratum to know how that can be 
effected without the danger of firing, that usu- 
ally attends it in this region. 

It is only by a strict examination into facts 
with all their attendant circumstances, such as 
the world is indebted to Dr. Sams for, that any 
correct or philosophical conclusions can be ar- 
rived at. He may possibly have erred in the 
inferences he has drawn, but the agricultural 
community are at least indebted to him for the 
communication of the interesting facts he has 
observed. 

Yours, with the best wishes for the success 
of your useful and practical paper, 

A Corn Grower. 



PLASTER. 

Mr. C. Robinson, in the Farmers' Gazette, 
adds his testimony to the value of Plaster. He 
thinks that doubts of its efficacy have arisen 
only from the use either of an inferior article, or 
of one badly ground — he asserts that it will be 
comparatively inoperative, unless ground as fine 
as flour. He particularly cautions farmers against 
the use of the coarse, gritty article that is gen- 
erally brought in casks from the State of Maine. 



For the Southern Planter. 

BLACK SHEEP. 

Messrs. Editors, — A neighbor selected a very 
likely young ram which he designed " turning 
out." and at shearing time made known such 
intention to his "headman," Peter. The shear- 
ing being over, Peter came to his master and 
said the lamb he had selected would not do to 
" turn out" unless he wished to have black sheep 
in his flock. How do you make that out, Pete % 
said his master ; the lamb is the whitest in the 
flock. That may be, replied Pete, but I tell 
you half his lambs will be black, for he has a 
black streak under his tongue. The master 
and myself in talking upon the subject came to 
the conclusion that a greater man than Pete 
had advanced the same opinion, and accordingly 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



177 



we picked up an old Virgil and commenced the 
search. After no little trouble, we found the fol- 
lowing:— (Geo. 3—387.) 

"Ilium autem, quamvis aries sit candidus ipse, 
Ni#ra subest uclo tantum cui lingua palato, 
Rejice, ne maculis infuscet vellera pullis, 
Nascentum." 

The English of which, I presume is, but, though 
the ram himself may be white, reject him, un- 
der whose moist palate there is a black tongue, 



that he may not darken the fleeces of the lambs 
with blackish spots. 

Whether Pete borrowed the idea from the 
" Mantuan Bard" or not is a matter of no con- 
sequence. The question for you, Mr. Botts, or 
some of your correspondents is — is the idea cor- 
rect. We have, you see, the opinion of a " book 
farmer" and a practical one — of an ancient and 
a modern — a great man and a little one. 

Nottoway. P. B. W. 



REVOLVING HORSE RAKE 




We here present our readers with a cut of the 
revolving rake so highly spoken of by Mr. Fon- 
taine, in the July number of the Planter. The 
rake is carried forward with one set of teeth in 
front, until they are filled ; the catches at the 
sides of the handles are then thrown op, and the 
points of the teeth in use directed to the ground. 
Of course the other set of teeth are drawn over, 
the rake revolving on the first set, which are 
thereby relieved ; the catches are again fastened, 
and the workman proceeds with his operation. 

This rake is highly esteemed to the North, 
and may be found in any agricultural store — 
price, from eight to ten dollars ; but no farmer 
ought to go off his own plantation to have it 
made. It is constructed almost entirely of wood, 
and may be made by the rudest carpenter. We 
Vol. 2-23 



have received the model, which will be exhibited 
to any gentleman wishing to see it. 



For the Southern Planter. 

PHILOSOPHY. 

What nonsense is daily put forth under color 
of this august name. The desire to explain 
every thing upon philosophical principles is the 
rage of the day. So far has this mania extended, 
that the universal solver of all difficulties hardly 
waits for the ascertainment of facts, but is 
equally ready to explain phenomena that do or 
do not exist. Nowheie is this feeling more pre- 
valent than amongst the contributors to agricul- 
tural papers. The desire to secure the title of 
philosopher, gives rise to a thousand theories for 
the support of which facts can be found, as 
plenty as blackberries. The simplest and most 



178 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



familiar occurrence is now a-days explained 
■upon scientific principles, and the poor farmer, 
who reads an agricultural paper, is lost in the 
mazes of metaphysics. 

These ideas have frequently occurred to me 
before, but they were impressed on my mind 
with more than usual force on reading a com- 
munication in the last Cabinet, upon the " Pres- 
sure of the atmosphere," signed by D. C. 

The amount of the article is, that D. C. re- 
commends all pedestrians to seek a rough, un- 
equal path instead of a smooth and level one, 
as he found by experience that his feet were 
blistered and his legs wearied much sooner on 
the latter than the former. Then D. C. proceeds 
to account for this fact, of course, in the most 
approved form ; he had read a dialogue between 
Frank and his father, in which Frank was in- 
formed that when two smooth and level surfaces 
were brought in contact, so as to exclude the 
air from between, the pressure of the atmosphere 
around them induced them to adhere, and made 
them difficult of separation. The philosophic 
mind of D. C. immediately came to the conclusion, 
that the bottom of his foot and the smooth path 
were two such surfaces, and it was very evident 
that for the last hour he had been raising a 
weight of fifteen pounds to the square inch upon 
his foot, which if it is as broad as it is flat, must 
have incommoded him exceedingly, beyond a 
doubt. To test his theory, he immediately tried 
a rougher path, and of course, the pressure of 
the atmosphere was counteracted by the air now 
admitted between his foot and the ground, and 
the wearied and laboring man found immediale 
relief from his heavy burden, and went on his 
way rejoicing. 

This foot of D. C.'s is only excelled by the 
traditional record of the lady, the hollow of 
whose foot made a hole in the ground. 

By such stuff are the readers of agricultural 
papers frequently gorged, until it is no wonder 
that they conceive a distaste to book farming 
and agricultural papers. But justice requires 
me to state that no paper is less liable to this 
charge, in the general, than the highly practical 
one in which this communication appears. It 
deserves all the commendation yon, Mr. Editor, 
have bestowed upon it, and I have only noticed 
the piece in the manner I have, to encourage 
you in the plan you have adopted of furnishing 
your readers with plain practical observations in 
the place of long, fine spun agricultural theories. 
Yours with respect, 

Anti Philosophy. 



COTTON. 
In a former number we adverted to the differ- 
ence of opinion that existed upon the prospect 
of the future cotton trade in America. Many 
fears are entertained, and expressed, that we are 



to be superseded in this important article of com- 
merce by the productsof other countries of greater 
supposed advantages. What seems a little ex- 
traovd naiy is that these fears are confined to the 
manufacturing interests, and do not extend at 
all to the planters of the South, who are so 
deeply interested in the subject. When we re- 
member that cotton alone has constituted in va- 
lue more than tuo-thirds of the exports of the 
domestic produce of the United States, this 
question becomes one of the greatest national 
importance, and of the most universal interest ; 
and we have adverted to it again, chiefly, for 
the purpose of laying before our readers the fol- 
lowing extracts from a speech of Mr. Calhoun's, 
in the Senate of the United States, which strikes 
us as aifording the soundest and most dispas- 
sionate view of the subject, which has yet been 
submitted to the public. After quoting the au- 
thority of an English paper to show, that the 
late attempts to extend the culture of cotton in 
India were likely to result in total failure, he 
proceeds to say, 

" In confirmation of the opinion of the writer 
of the article, that of intelligent individuals, well 
acquainted with the country, might be added, 
who speak with confidence that, taking price 
and quality into consideration, we have nothing 
serious to apprehend. We might, indeed, have 
something to fear during the continuance of the 
Chinese war. That country is the principal 
market for the cotton of Hindostan, and while 
it remains closed, the cotton intended for its mar- 
ket may be thrown in such quantities on the 
European, as may materially depress the price. 
But the present relation between Great Britain 
and China cannot long continue. It cannot be 
doubted that the former will at last succeed in 
opening the market of China to the commeice 
of the world, to a much greater extent than it 
has ever been heretofore — when, so far from 
competing with us, the cotton of Hindostan will 
not be sufficient to supply the demands of that 
great market. 

" But I am not ignorant, that w T e must rely 
for holding the cotton market on our superior 
skill, industry, and capacity for producing the 
article. Nearl} r , if not altogether, one-half of 
the solid contents of the globe is capable of pro- 
ducing cotton; and that too in the portion the 
most populous, and where labor is the cheapest. 
We may have rivals everywhere in a belt 70 
degrees at least, lying on each side of the equa- 
tor, and extending around the globe. Not only 
the for East, but all Western Asia, quite to the 
35th or even the 40th degree of latitude, a large 
portion of Europe, almost all Africa, and a large 
portion of this continent, may be said to be a 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



179 



cotton producing region. When the price of 
cotton rises high, a large portion of that im- 
mense region becomes our competitors in its pro- 
duction, which invariably results in a great fall 
of price, when a struggle follows for the market. 
In that struggle, we have ever heretofore suc- 
ceeded, and 1 have no fear, with fair play on 
the part of our own government, we will con- 
tinue to be successful against the world. We 
have the elements of success within us. A fa- 
vorable soil and climate, a plentj' of cheap land, 
held in fee simple, without rent, tithe, or poor 
rates. But above all, we have a cheap and 
efficient body of Liborers, the best fed, clothed, 
trained, and provided for, of any in the whole 
cotton growing region, for whose labor we have 
paid in advance. I say paid for in advance, 
for our property in our slaves, is but wages pur- 
chased in advance, including the support and sup- 
plies of the laborers, which is usually very liberal. 
With these advantages we may bid defiance to 
Hindoo or Egyptian labor, at its two or three 
cents a day. Ours being already paid for, is, 
as far as the question of competition is concerned, 
still cheaper, to say nothing of its superior effi- 
ciency, its better and more skilful direction un- 
der the immediate eye of intelligent proprietors, 
of cheap, unincumbered land, favorable soil and 
climate, and greater facility and cheapness of 
transportation to the great markets of the world. 
But this is not all. We have another and great 
advantage. There is not a people on earth who 
can so well bear the curtailing of profits, as the 
Southern planters, when out of debt. A plan- 
tation is a little community of itself, which, 
when hard pressed, can furnish within itself al- 
most all of its supplies. Ours is a fine provision 
country, and, when needs be, can furnish most 
of its supplies of food and clothing from its own 
resources. In prosperous times, when the price 
of our staples is high, our labor is almost ex- 
clusively directed to their production, and then 
we freely and liberally part w r ith their proceeds 
in exchange for horses, mules, cattle, hogs, and 
provisions of all description from the West, and 
clothing and all the products of the arts with 
the North and East ; but when prices fall, and 
pressure comes, we gradually retire on our own 
means, and draw our own supplies from within. 
11 With these great advantages, it is not won- 
derful, that in all the great struggles that we 
have had for the cotton market, (they have been 
many and great,) we have ever come off suc- 
cessful. It is incident to that great staple arti- 
cle, cotton, the first in the whole circle of com- 
merce, to be subject to extraordinary vibrations 
of price from the causes to which I have al- 
luded. At one time prices are high, and profit 
great, and at another low, and the profits small. 
It can be permanently cultivated only by those 
wh can best go through these great vibrations." 



For the Southern Planter. 

"WHAT DO YOU GAIN BY SUBSCRIBING 
TO AGRICULTURAL PAPEST' 

Messrs. Editors, — I was permitted a short 
time since, to listen to an interesting discussion 
of the question which heads this article. A 
servant having entered the room with a bundle 
of newspapers, the political ones were devoured 
with greediness. What periodical is that? was 
asked, after a while, by one of the party, at the 
same time pointing to a very neat little publica- 
tion that till now had lain unnoticed on the table. 
The " Planter," was the reply. This led to the 
following conversation : 

Copt. A. What Mr. B. do you gain by sub- 
scribing to agricultural papers 1 You seem not 
to have any cows that will yield eight gallons 
of milk per day. 

B. No, I have not; and indeed, under present 
circumstances I am pretty well satisfied if two 
of mine yield that quantity. 

A. Then why waste your money in subscrib- 
ing for, and your time in reading such papers? 
None of your hogs that I have seen, seem likely 
to weigh 365 lbs. at twelve months old. 

B. True, I have none that will reach that 
notch — yet I believe others have had such, and 
moreover that you and I may have such if we 
will but take the necessary puins. 

A. Certainly, if we will but send to Mr. A. B. 
Allen, of New York, for a $500 boar and a 
couple of $200 sows — then feed them and their 
offspring during the summer on cream and 
peaches, in the winter on plum puddings and — 

B. And without all that trouble and expanse, 
neighbor A. The truth is, my fiiend, }'ou seem 
to have formed a very erroneous opinion of agri- 
cultural papers. Were you to read them atten- 
tively, you would be better able to select the in- 
formation best suited to your particular situation. 

A. Well, neighbor B. you have been a con- 
stant reader of them for eight or ten years, sup- 
pose you sum up in as few words as possible 
the actual amount of benefit you have received 
from them. 

B. Why, sir, the age of miracles has long 
since passed by, and of course you do not ex- 
pect any have been wrought by me. But as 
you desire it you shall be gratified, if not im- 
proved. In the first place, from them I imbibed 
a desire for improvement. Every man who re- 
flects at all, is convinced that the system of 
farming in Virginia needs a material change. 
It will not do to pursue " the old track" any 
farther. To say that our fathers did well (which 
is not true of all of them) is no evidence that 
we must likewise do well. Some admit these 
facts but break forth with the doleful exclama- 
tion, " we can't help ourselves." From the ex- 
perience of others, as detailed in agricultural 
papers, we are convinced that industrious, sys- 



ISO 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



tematic farmers are successful ones. It is the 
province of these papers to point out the proper 
systems — to detail the results of unsuccessful 
as well as successful experiments — to disclose 
useful discoveries — to collect, embody and send 
forth the experience of others for the benefit of 
such farmers as you and myself. They serve 
as monitors to remind the farmer of his various 
duties — to excite him to continued and increased 
activity. The farmer's life is a varied one, yet 
he too has to spend some dull, monotonous mo- 
ments. How are these beguiled, yea how pro- 
fitably spent, if we but have these unobtrusive 
visitors, whose voice is soft, whose conversation 
instructive, whose morals are pure, whose cen- 
sures breathe only the spirit of friendly admoni- 
tion. Let these continue (and I hope they will) 
to be the principles on which agricultural pe- 
riodicals are conducted and they will not shortly 
be considered the least of Heaven's choicest 
blessings. 

At this point dinner was announced — serious 
reflections seemed to be passing through the 
mind of Captain A. — nor shall the conversation 
be soon forgotten by 

An Observer. 



COAL ASHES. 

In a late number of the Farmers' Register 
there appears an excellent article from the pen 
of the Rev. Jesse H. Turner, " giving his expe- 
rience" in renovating poor land. The scene of 
Mr. Turner's operations lies within two miles of 
the city of Richmond, which has enabled him 
to make the most liberal use of manure. He 
found his grounds a worn out waste, and he has 
converted them into a beautiful and productive 
farm. The finest crop of oats we have seen 
this year has been grown on one of his fields. 
Mr. Turner's success only proves what industry, 
perseverance, and judgment may effect, even 
under the most discouraging circumstances. — 
The character of his soil was, we believe, ori- 
ginally of the most u promising kind, aban- 
doned by its former proprietor as almost worth- 
less, and prized at all, only, on account of its 
contiguity to the city. Much of it was a low 
slash of pipe clay, generally considered the most 
worthless of soils — yet, this has been converted 
into a very productive and extremely profitable 
meadow. At what expense this has been ef- 
fected, we do not know. We presume that to 
improve such land, under ordinary circumstances, 
would, like the Indian's gun, cost more than it 
would come to ; but Mr. Turner has availed 
himself of his propinquity to the sources of im- 



provement, with, we doubt not, great judgment 
and profit, and the high state of improvement 
exhibited on his farm, puts to shame many, who, 
with equal opportunities and better soil, are not 
reaping half his crops. 

Great quantities of coal are consumed in this 
city, and we remember when piles of coal ashes 
encumbered the lots of our citizens, reckoned a 
nuisance, to be removed only at considerable ex- 
pense. Mr. Turner claims to have been the first 
to establish the character of this article as an 
improver of the soil. He first applied the coal 
ashes only to his white livery flats, from which, 
he says, he, the very next season, reaped as 
luxuriant a crop of grass as he ever saw grow 
on the rich bottoms of the upper country. En- 
couraged by his success, he next applied them 
to his light, high land with equal effect. He 
says: 

" On a part of a field which I cultivated in 
corn I applied putrescent manures ; on another 
part, lying along the side of it, I applied coal 
ashes. The season, especially the latter part of 
it, was rather a bad one for com. About the 
time of earing, it was attacked with a drought 
from which the crop suffered severely. But I 
could but notice the striking difference in the 
two portions of the field. Where the manure 
was applied the blades fired, and the product 
was indifferent ; whereas, where the ashes was 
put, the corn maintained a vigorous green, even 
to the lowest blade, and the crop was a heavy 
one. 

" There is also another circumstance which 
highly recommends the coal ashes as a ma- 
nure, and that is, that they are not only speedy, 
but permanent in their effects. How long they 
will last, and still manifest their efficacy, I can- 
not tell. I can point to places on my farm which 
were enriched by them ten years ago, and these 
places are rich still. Every time I plough I 
bring up portions of these ashes, and they ap- 
pear as fresh as they were when first applied. 
Whether they have the faculty of fixing other 
manures in the soil, I cannot tell, but this I 
know that they have the wonderful faculty of 
fixing themselves. From the fact of their ex- 
ceedingly slow decomposition, one would sup- 
pose that they had but little, if any efficacy. 
But when I see those places on which they have 
been deposited, closely covered with a strong 
turf, I must conclude that there is a powerful 
| influence at work, though I cannot understand 
j the mode of its operation." 

The chief value of this article, however, Mr. 
Turner conceives to consist in its action as a top 
dressing on the grasses. Used in this way, he 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



181 



says, it uniformly acts like a charm. He then 
remarks : 

" There is, however, one great drawback to 
the value of this article, and that is its great 
weight. When sobbed by the rains of winter, 
(and most of it is in this condition,) 12 bushels 
is a good load for an ordinary team. Indeed my 
mules often suffer very much under their task 
of three loads per day to the distance of about 
three miles. Upon the whole, I am so tho- 
roughly convinced of the enriching qualities of 
coal ashes, that could I find a bed of them on 
my farm, I should (eel myself amply compen- 
sated for the want of the richest marl." 

We are inclined to believe that the chief va- 
lue of the article is derived from this very ab- 
sorbent power of which Mr. Turner complains. 
Coal ashes upon analysis yield a small portion 
of sulphate of lime, (gypsum) charcoal, and lime; 
the proportions of the first and last are too small 
to be very active, and it is the chaicoal, probably, 
which, by its great absorbent power, enables the 
ashes to hold in readiness for future use the va- 
luable gases as they are disengaged from the 
decomposing manures. 

We should not omit to mention, that, upon 
the land where the ashes were found so benefi- 
cial, heavy applications of putrescent manures 
had been previously made. 



For the Southern Planter. 
VIRGINIA REAPER. 
Big Lick , Roanoke. July 13, 1S42. 
Messrs. Editors, — I have been surprised that 
the " Virginia Reaper," invented by Cyrus H. 
M'Cormick, of Rockbridge, has not received 
some notice in our agricultural papers. I am 
satisfied that it is one of the most important im- 
plements which has been presented to the agri- 
culturist for many years. I understand it has 
been patented since 1833, but the patentee, with 
a most commendable patience and prudence, de- 
termined not to hazard the reputation of his in- 
vention by supplying the public demand, till he 
had scrutinized, tested, and perfected it by se- 
veral years of private experience. After eight 
or nine years of careful observation, he again 
appears before the public, prepared to guarantee 
with confidence the performance of his reaper. 
I and others embraced the first opportunity of 
supplying ourselves, and have used them as far 
as was practicable in our late wheat harvest. 
So far as I have any knowledge of the opinions 
of those who have purchased them, or of those 
who have witnessed their performance, there is 
an unanimous concurrence in the belief that the 



machine is fully equal to every thing said of it 
in its advertisement. 

I have tested it satisfactorily in every grade 
and condition of wheat ; in that which was very 
light, as well as that, which would have yielded, 
but for the rust, from thirty to forty bushels pel 
acre; in that which was erect and in that which 
was tangled and fallen, and found it to operate, 
in every instance, with surprising nearness and 
efficienc^y, scarcely leaving a head and but slight- 
ly influenced in the number of acres cut in a 
given time by the condition of the grain. It 
was found to cut tangled and fallen grain where 
ever it was not too flat to be reached by the 
sickle as well as that which was standing. — 
The neatness and completeness with which the 
crop is saved is scarcely conceivable to one who 
has not witnessed its work. Those most wed- 
ded to the cradle, admit that the reaper will save 
on an average at least one bushel more to the 
acre in standing wheat than the best cradling, 
whilst in tangled grain the saving would be 
augmented to double, treble, or even quadruple 
that amount. So that the machine, which costs 
only an hundred dollars, will pay for itself in 
cutting an ordinary crop. 

The machine too is simple and substantial ; 
of course, not liable to get out of order, and 
when from casualty deranged or broken, easily 
rectified or repaired by an ordinary mechanic. 
It will cut with facility fifteen acres per day, 
and when pushed, at least twenty. Two hands 
attend it with ease as rider and raker, relieving 
each other regularly, and five or six will bind 
the grain with more ease than they would bind 
the same quantity of grain after cradlers tmd 
rakers, as the machine leaves it slraight and 
in piles large enough for several sheaves. It is 
fully equal to five choice cradlers, who would 
require five rakers and five binders to follow 
them, making fifteen in all. Thus, you see 
there is a saving of the labor of eight hands in 
every day's cutting of the reaper. It performs 
equally well on rolling and undulating as level 
land and by taking sleep hills obliquely, so as to 
graduate the ascent, the difficult}' with them 
will be in a great degree obviated. 

I refer you to the advertisement, of Mr. M'Cor- 
mick in the Enquirer of October or November, 
1841, for a minute and satisfactory description 
of the machine, and would suggest the proprie- 
ty of your appending it as a note 10 this letter, 
for the satisfaction of your readers. I will 
merely add, in closing this communication, ihe 
testimony of a lowland farmer, who has had 
three of the machines in operation this summer. 

Mr. Corbin Braxton, in a transcript wiih 
which I have been provided, says, " I have had 
three of Mr. C. H. M'Cormick's Patent Reapers 
at work this harvest under my immediate ob- 
servation ; one on the farm on which I reside, 
and two others on farms under my management, 



182 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



and take pleasure in slating, that the operation 
of all has been fully equal to my expecta- 
tions; and indeed rather exceeded it, as indeed 
that of all others who witnessed the operation 
of the machine. Mr. M'Cormick's advertise- 
ment, is fully sustained. It will certainly cut 
from fifteen to twenty acres per day, if well at- 
tended to, and leaves not a straw that can be 
brought in contact with the cutter. It has been 
worked this harvest under every disadvantage 
which it was possible almost to bring to bear 
against it, in consequence of the unprecedented 
weather we have had. It will cut any wheat 
that, is not loo low for the reel and teeth lo reach 
it. It does not appear to me to be as liable to 
get out of order as a common cradle, and I should 
think it would be very durable. The Reaper 
has cut all descriptions of wheat, green, ripe, 
rusted as badly as wheat could have it, lying 
and standing. And I have no hesitation in say- 
ing, that I believe it one of the most important 
agricultural improvements of the day, and think 
that every farmer cutting fifty acres of wheat 
would find it to his advantage to have one. 
No weather has prevented the Reaper from 
working, except when the ground was so soft 
as to mire the wheels. 

Signed, Corbin Braxton. 
Chericoke, June 28, 1842." 

T send you this hurried letter in the hope that 
it will be sufficient to awaken public attention 
to this important, invention of a native citizen 
and be the means of introducing speedily an 
implement which will promote the prosperity o r 
agriculture and at the same time be a source of 
emolument to the individual to whose genius 
and industry we are so much indebted. 
Yours, respectfully, 

W. M Peyton. 

We published a notice of this implement, at 
page 217 of our first volume, and shall be very 
happy to afford the worthy inventor any farther 
facility in extending a knowledge of the merits 
of his machine. 



| Texas is the same grass known in Europe as 
| the llolcus Lanatus; but by whatever name it 
may be called, I esteem it a valuable grass and 
j worthy the attention of farmers. It is not infe- 
rior to the orchard grass for grazing, and yields 
ja better hay ; it is a belter grazing grass than 
i the timothy, and equally good for hay — and 
; preferable to the herds-grass for either hay or 
: grazing. This grass produces seed in greater 
abundance than either of the above mentioned 
grasses, and succeeds well on lands suited to the 
production of either of them. I prefer seeding 
: this grass with clover to those other grasses. 
lit ripens two weeks before tin othy, and a few 
days later than the orchard grass. In saving 
the seed I cut it above the tops of the clover 
; with the cradle, and then cut what remains with 
the clover for hay. 

Respectfully yours, 

William D. Meriwether. 

Captain Meriwether has been kind enough to 
leave a bundle of the seed of this grass at our 
' office for distribution. 



For the Southern Planter. 
MUSGIUITE GRASS. 

Albemarle, July 16, 1842. 
Messrs. Editors. — Since I sent you the sample 
of grass noticed in your July number, I have 
received information by a gentleman fiom South 
Carolina, a near neighbor of Col. Wade Hamp- 
ton's, that the Musquite grass of Texas is in eve- 
ry respect similar to the grass which I cultivate. 
He also brought some of the seed from Mr. 
Hampton's. The same grass is likewise found 
in this county, growing on a farm formerly oc- 
cupied by a son of the late James Maury, Con- 
sul at Liverpool. It now appears from the in- 
formation obtained, that the Musquite grass of 



For the Southern Planter. 
DOG TRAP, 

Messrs. Editors, — 1 have long esteemed my 
sheep the most convenient and profitable stock 
I raise, and should have greatly inci eased my 
flock but for the annoyance to which I am sub- 
jected, in common with my neighbors, from the 
dogs that surround us. Having heard of a trap 
for catching these thievish and murderous scoun- 
drels, I have resorted to it with great success, 
and strongly recommend it to the consideration 
of my fellow-sufferers. I simply make a pen 
of fence rails, in an exposed situation, five or six 
feet high, narrowing it in towards the top like 
a partridge trap. A hole of two feet square is 
| left open on the top, and the trap is baited wiih a 
j quarter of unskinned lamb, or if necessary, a 
living animal is used as the lure to this insidious 
snare. The dog finds no difficulty in mounting 
the trap from the outside, and pouncing on his 
victim through the hole in the top, but when he 
has indulged his barbarous appetite, and desires 
to return, he finds the difference between a con- 
cavity ami a convexity, and for the light he thus 
obtains in natural philosophy, he pays the for- 
feit of his life next morning. 

My success on several occasions has induced 
one or two of my neighbors to resort to the same 
remedy, which has been equally efficient with 
them. 

Your obedient servant, 

James River. 



SOILING. 
It seems that Mr. J. Jenkins, in the neighbor- 
hood of Philadelphia, was known to have insti- 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



183 



tuted some careful experiments upon the subject 
of soiling, and being called on by a correspond- 
ent of i he " Farmers' Cabinet," he gives the fol- 
lowing as the result of an experiment for three 
months on twenty-one head of cattle: 

"On the whole, it convinced me that 'Van- 
thace' is right in stating that a piece of grass 
requisite for pasturing one animal, is by soiling 
capable of sustaining four, if economy be used 
in feeding. Although my cattle did not get j 
completely fat in their stands, they appeared to 
me in general to be more comfortable than after- 
wards on pasture — always shaded from the hot : 
suns and unannoyed by flies, fed at regular in- 
tervals to the full, just room enough between for 
rumination and digestion; they would testify 
their satisfaction by chewing the cud, lying on 
their full stomachs, while the sun beamed or the I 
rains descended without, and by returning most- ' 
ly from the water-trough direct to their stands 
without coercion or invitation. I calculated that 
the manure at one dollar per load paid for the 
labor of attendance, and as an offset against the 
prolongation of fattening, if indeed they could 
have been finished earlier on pasture alone, which 
the quality of the cattle and their age leads me 
to doubt, I mowed and put away in my barn at 
least fifteen tons of good hay more than could : 
have been done had they been all the time on 
pasture. I 

"Although convinced of the superior economy 
of this mode of feeding, I have not ascertained 
whether cows will milk as well, or beef cattle 
feed as fast by it, as on pasture — where cattle 
are to be kept rather than fatted hastily, I have 
no doubt of its superiority. J. Jenkins. 

West Whiteland, 3d mo. 25tk, 1842." 



MANUFACTURING MANURE. 
Mr. M. G. Bommer has taken out a patent 
for a process by which fermentation is quickly 
produced in a mass of vegetable matter. A 
fortnight is the extent of time required lo con- 
vert a pile of green vegetable matter into a heap 
of the very best manure. Mr. Bommer proposes 
to sell the right of using this process to indivi- 
dual farmers, and publishes several certificates 
to prove its efficacy. We are not informed, 
however, of the cost of the process, upon which, 
we imagine, its utility will be found to depend. 



For the Southern Planter. 

ROTATION OF CROPS, TOBACCO, RUST. 

In the very excellent report, of the Powhatan 
Agricultural Society upon the subject of wheat, 
I would just offer one reason, and that an ex- 



cellent one in my opinion, why we should adopt, 
when practicable, the five field rotation ae therein 
mentioned, viz: corn, oats, clover, wheat, clover, 
which is, thai that rotation, when properly ma- 
naged, will supersede the necessity of ever sow- 
ing clover seed on the same land more than once. 
"When we take into consideration the expense 
of buying clover seed, when extensively used, 
and the trouble of sowing, &c. the above plan, 
in these hard times, when economy ought and 
must be the order of the day, should attract 
some attention. No doubt this consideration 
had its due weight in the adoption of the sys- 
tem, but its not being mentioned in the report, I 
am induced to send this little scrip on the sub- 
ject. 1 would say that the clover fields should 
not be grazed except perhaps from the time of 
hauling in the wheat till winter, and not then, 
when the land is wet. 

The clover should be sufficientlj r ripe when 
fallowed for wheat; and when ploughed for 
corn, the operation should be well performed and 
the crop cultivated without turning the clover 
up again. The succeeding spring the land 
should be ploughed the same depth and the oats 
raked in and the clover will be thick enough. 
The decayed vegetable matter thus brought on 
the surface will be an excellent top dressing for 
the oats and clover. 

Thus much for the wheat. Now a word or 
two on the tobacco report, which is worthy the 
attentive consideration of the tobacco grower. 
" The first operation is the hanging upon sticks — 
that each plant be placed perpendicularly on 
them, &c." without mentioning what holds the 
sticks in a horizontal position. 1 imagine it 
was not deemed necessary to enter into particu- 
lars so minute. Some few planters have per- 
mitted two hands to take hold each end of the 
stick, and when the plant was cut it was put 
on by the cutter without its ever touching the 
ground. One might suppose that some plan of 
the kind was the one indicated in the report le- 
ferred to. With plenty of hands and time too, 
the plan would then be objectionable. But as 
all saving of time and labor is economy, I think 
some other plan should be .adopted, lo the entire 
exclusion of the above, if any person should 
now practice it. The carrying it to the scaffolds 
on the shoulders of the hands is also objection- 
able, as the most careful hand will bruise it to 
some extent. 

As good a plan as any, is, to let the cutter be 
followed, when the tobacco becomes sufficiently 
willed, by others, with sticks in the arms of 
some one or two little boys, and each stick as 
needed, stuck into a tobacco hill at an angle of 
about forty-five degrees, the end in ihe ground 
always towards the sun, and the plains carefully 
put on ; the first, next the hill, and so on, in 
number according to the size of the plants. 

The buts pointing towards the sun, the to- 



184 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



bacco will not be likely to scald. Oiher hands 
can be carrying it to the scaffold, which should 
be convenient. A strong laborer will carry a 
stick in each hand, holding them sufficiently 
hig-h — or he can carry four slicks, two on each 
shoulder, by slipping the tobacco to each end of 
the stick, being a much greater quantity than 
could be conveniently carried if not on sticks. 
This may be thought by many to be a small 
matter, and so perhaps it is, but as "time 13 mo- 
ney" it should be expended in small matters as 
well as great with strict regard to economy. It 
is important, for the farmer particularly, to strike 
always at the right time and place, and never, 
where it can as well be avoided. If the tobacco 
be put in piles or heaps, and forks or other 
uprights, for the sticks to rest on, it. would take 
as long to heap it as to put it on the sticks in 
the way, I mention which can be done with 
less handling, and of course a saving of labor. 



I just wish in my plain farmer-like style to ex- 
press my preferences in the matters referred to. 

I will conclude with a few observations upon 
the cause of rust in wheat. It is generally sup- 
posed, I believe, that warm damp weather, creat- 
ing a great flow of sap causes the rust. If such' 
weather causes more sap, the same kind of wea- 
ther gives the grain greater maturative powers. 
I, therefore, am of opinion that unless this free 
and abundant, flow of sap is suddenly checked by 
cool weather, we should never see rust on wheat. 
The cause, I believe, is, therefore, beyond our 
control, — but as forward wheat is less subject to 
it than late, we could, to some extent, avoid it 
by early sowing and on highly improved land, 
which would cause it to ripen some six or eight 
days earlier than that sown late and on land not 
so well improved. 

W. W. Hancock. 

Chesterfield, July 19, 1842. 



CHESTERFIELD. 




J. B. Gray recently sent to this city to be sold, 
the splendid boar whose portrait stands at the 
head of this article — as soon as I heard that 
there was such a hog here for sale I went to see 
him, out of mere idle curiosity, believing that I 
had one at home (Hector, which by the way is 
a very fine animal,) as good as the stranger, I 
was about to visit ; but I was surprised and as- 
tonished when I saw him, to observe how infi- 
nitely superior he was to any boar of any breed 
I had ever seen ; and determined to have him 
at any price — and the very lowest 1 could get 
named for him, after several days bargaining, 
was eighty-five dollars. Chesterfield stood, when 
I bought him at two years old, at the middle of 
the back 2 feet 9 inches high — measured 4 feet 



llj inches around the heart — and 5 feet 1 inch 
from behind the ears to the root of the tail — he 
was bred by John Lossing and sired by the im- 
ported boar Reading, (the finest hog ever brought 
to America,) out of the sow, Superior; from 
which sow the finest Berkshi es in this country 
have sprung. He is now at my farm, near 
Manchester, and will be permitted to serve sows 
for $5 — no charge for board. Reading, the sire 
of Chesterfield, measured, at three years old, at 
the middle of the back 2 feet 10£ inches, girth \ 
behind the shoulder 5 feet 2£ inches, length from 
behind the ears to the root of tail 5 feet \\1 
inches — he was sold by J. Lossing to Mr. Beach, 
of Ohio, for $200 cash — and when carried to 
the West he served 72 sows at $10 a piece, the 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



185 



first season, besides attending to 30 for his own- 
ers, and is now acknowledged to be ihe finest 
hog in all the West. I promise that at the next 
fair of the Henrico Agricultural Society, Ches- 
terfield shall out measure Reading; and would 
take the prize from him were they side by side. 
I would engage a few pair of pigs by him 
out of my two big sows, deliverable this fall if 
early application be made. 

Address L. M. Burfoot, 

Southern Planter, 
Richmond, Va. 



For the Southern Planter. 
FENCING. 

Messrs. Editors, — Is there no ground for hope 
thai the law respecting fences may be changed. 
The present law is exceedingly onerous. I have 
650 acres of land which require about six miles 
of fence five feet high, although I have not half 
a mile of cross fencing, and I am satisfied that I 
could save one-fourth of the labor on my plan- 
tation beside the destruction, wear and tear of 
my oxen in frozen weather and the warm wea- 
ther in spring, and their feed, (which the best 
farmers will tell you must consist in part of corn,) 
if I were not obliged to protect my crop against 
my neighbor's stock as well as my own. This, 
I assure you, sir, falls very heavily upon the 
farmer, more especially if he be a laboring man, 
having no negroes of his own, or if he has to 
hire a part. or all the labor of his plantation. 

I will not weary you with my awkward mode 
of reasoning, but leave it to you, who not only 
know the evils but know how to tell of them, 
to urge upon our legislators the necessity of a 
change, at least in the eastern part of Virginia. 
Yours, &c. M. 

We are well aware of the great desire of 
many of our readers for the passage of a stock 
law. Amongst the most strenuous advocates of 
a regulation by which every man would be com- 
pelled to keep his stock on his own premises, is 
our respected friend Parson Turner. Great as 
the advantages would be to many, there is too 
much open land, which affords fine summer 
grazing, even in Eastern Virginia, to make such 
a law by any means desirable to a majoiity. 
The few who suffer must, therefore, patiently 
bear this, as they do many other particular evils, 
for the sake of the common good, and resign to 
jposterity, the advantages of a denser population. 



BARLEY. 
Having received no assistance from our cor- 
respondents, and being little acquainted with the 
Vol. 2-24 



subject practically, we looked up our exchange 
papers and standard agricultural works to enable 
us to comply with ihe request of our Loudoun 
correspondent. We found that the treatises in 
American papers were hardly more than extracts 
from Loudoun's Encyclopedia of Agriculture, 
than which, by the bye, no higher authority is 
known in this country or in England. We, 
therefore, give the following condensed summary 
of what we have met with, taken chiefly from 
the work just, alluded to. 

The best soil for barley is a light, rich, loam, 
finely pulverised. It will not grow well on very 
sandy or soft soils, or on stiff clays, such as are 
most suitable for wheat; the ground should be 
well pulverised by repeated ploughing and har- 
rowing, and if preceded by turnips or peas, (but 
not by wheat or oats) and the ground well ma- 
nured for the turnips, so much the better. Ma- 
nure can seldom be given with advantage to a 
crop that occupies the ground so short a time as 
barley, and, therefore, it is generally sown on 
land which has been enriched for a preceding 
crop. It delights much in a warm and dry cli- 
mate. From the middle to the last of April is 
the best season for sowing, much, however, de- 
pending on the state of the season ; when the 
spring opens early and warm, the middle of 
April is soon enough ; if the season is cold and 
backward, the first of May is sufficiently early. 
On rich land, in England, two bushels per acre 
is sown, and more recommended on thin land ; 
but we would always recommend thick seeding 
on rich land, whilst poor land should be sown 
more sparingly; the practice of the best farmers 
in Virginia bears us out in this opinion. Brown 
recommends that the seeds be steeped from 18 
to 24 hours in pure water, previous to sowing; 
allowance being made at the time of sowing for 
the swelling of the grain in the steep. In Eng- 
land, it is sometimes sown in drills, and ploughed 
and hoed, but we would not advise this meihod 
of cultivation in this country. The crop is ripe 
and ready for the cradle when the Red Roan, as 
the farmers term it, meaning a reddish color on 
the ear, is gone off, or when the ears droop and 



fall, as it were, double a: 



;ainst the straw, and 



the stalks have lost their verdure. 

In harvesting barley more care is requisite than 
in any grain crops, even in the best of seasons ; 
and in wet seasons, it is found extremely difficult 
to save it. 

Owing to the brittleness of the straw, after it 



186 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



has reached a certain period, it must be cut down, 
as, when it. is suffered to stand longer, much 
loss is sustained by the breaking off of the 
heads ; on that account, it is cut at a time when 
the grain is soft, and the straw retains a great 
proportion of its natural juices, and consequent- 
ly, requires a long tim j in the field, before either 
the grain is hardened, or the straw sufficiently 
dry ; when put into the stack sooner, it is apt 
to heat, and much loss is sustained. The gen- 
eral product is from twenty to thiriy bushels in 
England, and in some cases, as many as seventy- 
five bushels per acre have been obtained. The 
straw is of little value, being used only as litter. 
Smut is the only disease to which the crop seems 
to be liable, 



For the Southern Planter. 
CALIFORNIA WHEAT. 

Goochland. July, 1842. 

Messrs. Editors, — I have of late seen many 
notices of the California wheat [Tnticum Com- 
positum) in the Enquirer and other political pa- 
pers, in all of which it is spoken of most favor- 
ably, but especially does the Editor of the En- 
quirer give it his commendation, speaking of it 
as likely to produce the greatest improvement in 
the state of our agriculture that has been brought 
aboi.it for many } T ears. Now, gentlemen, lest 
these laudatory notices, so well calculated to 
humbug the people generally, sh< uld induce 
farmers to buy this wheat with a view of sow- 
ing a part of their land in it, I will, through 
your most valuable periodical, make public an 
experiment which I nave recently made with 
this California wheat. 

Being fond of making experiments with dif- 
ferent kinds of grain and plants for my own be- 
nefit and amusement, I last fall procured a few 
heads of this wheat and sowed it in drills upon 
a piece of land that is quite rich ; the grams 
sown were small, shrivelled, and indifferent, but 
came up well, and grew off prettily. They 
headed rather later than other wheat sown about 
the same time, and were consequently just in 
the way of the rust, which, however, did not 
injure the appearance of the straw as much as 
is generally the case in such a spell of weather 
as the wheat has this year been subjected to. 
The straw is short and would not be sufficiently 
large to sustain the weight of the head, if it 
were well filled, which, however, is not the case, 
for the grain is short, chaffy, shrivelled, and pos- 
sessed of but little farinaceous matter. The re- 
sult, of my experiment has fully convinced me 
of the utter worthlessness of this wheat, in this 
country, whatever may be its value in a warmer 
and more genial climate. 



That you may satisfy yourselves of the cor- 
rectness of my conclusions, I will, by the first 
opportunity that offers, send you a few heads, 
splendid indeed in their external appearance, but 
having their inside hollow and full of emptiness. 
By examining ihem, you must with me anive 
at the conclusion that it is entirely vain ever to 
hope for any good results from a grain so per- 
fectly indifferent as that of the California wheat. 

Wheaton. 



For the Southern Planter. 

Charlottesville, Ju'y 13, 1842. 

Messrs. Editors, — Your June number, page 
129, contains an extract from an address deli- 
vered before the Pee Dee Agricultural Society 
of South Carolina, showing the immense advan- 
tage of turning in green crops. It is there stated 
"that the land manured by turning in a crop of 
peas, (cow peas) yielded fifteen bushels of ^ heat 
to the acre ; whilst that on which nothing but 
the natural growth of weeds and grass had been 
turned in with the seed, yielded only one bushel." 
Now, Messrs. Editors, can it be believed that a 
crop of peas could produce such a state of fer- 
tility as the above and more farmers not know 
it? especially, as many are willing to give a 
dollar a load for manure. I observed last year 
in passing through Goochland, that Mr. Samp- 
son had a field sown down in peas, I suppose, 
for the purpose of turning in as manure. I 
should think it would be very acceptable to your 
readers generally if he, or any other person, 
could give us some information on which we 
could certainly calculate as where and at what 
price the pea can be bought, when it is sown, 
and how many to an acre. 

1 hope you will not let this subject rest until 
there be elicited enough to satis r y every mind 
that green crops are the shortest and surest way 
of improving our poor lands. Can any of your 
readers give us their experience as to the fertil- 
izing qualities of buckwheat? I understand 
it is extensively used in Rockingham as a pre- 
paration for wheat. J. Fife. 

We think with our correspondent that the 
subject of turning in green crops is entitled to 
the fullest consideration, and we shall be much 
pleased to see it amply discussed. 



AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY. 
Messrs. J. W. Randolph & Co. have laid upon 
our table a little work, entitled "A Popular Trea- 
tise on Agricultural Chemistry for the Use of 
the Practical Faimer." The author, Mr. Chas. 
Square} 7 , an Englishman, without pretending to 
any discoveries of his own, has attempted to 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



187 



free, as far as possible, from technical terms the 
received theories of Liebig and others upon the 
chemical action of agricultural agents. That 
many of these theories, concocted by the philo- 
sopher in his closet, are destined to fall before 
the superior knowledge of the practical farmer, 
we do not doubt. The philosopher must ex- 
change his laboratory for the open field, with all 
its varieties of chemical agents, subject to all 
the influences of the various revolutions of the 
season, before he can with certainty establish a 
system for regulating the growth of plants in 
the open air. Still something has been, and 
more will yet be effected, by the labors of mighty 
minds devoted to scientific pursuits, and if they 
have not attained all that a generous zeal in the 
cause to which they are devoted, induces them 
to flatter themselves with having obtained, they 
have probably arrived at many important con- 
clusions, that the observations of practical men 
will hereafter confirm. At any rate, their pre- 
tensions are of such a character as to make a 
knowledge of their theories deeply interesting to 
every individual who has an opportunity of test- 
ing them ; nowhere can the man without a 
knowledge of technical terms obtain this infor- 
mation so well as from the work of Mr. Squa- 
rey ; and if in the endeavor to use language in- 
telligible to all, he has been less full and explicit 
to the initiated, the difficulty rests rather in the 
nature of his task than in any want of skill in 
the execution. We would recommend this little 
work, the price of which is only seventy-five cents, 
to the consideration of every farmer in America. 



For the Southern Planter. 
BRIERS. 

Messrs. Editors, — In the July number of the 
Southern Planter is published a letter from Wm. 
IVJassie, Esq. of Nekon county, in which he 
asks for information in regard to the destruction 
of briers. The following plan I have found to 
succeed : Mow and grub a field in the month of 
August, cultivate it in corn the next year — graze 
it until the succeeding summer, then fallow and 
sow it in wheat — after which use it as a pasture 
for sheep and cattle. This system if persevered 
in and applied to all the fields in rotation will 
clean and improve the land, prepare it for clover, 
and cause it to produce more abundant crops of 
grain. 

As you have published much about the hog, 
its various species, nature and qualities, permit 
me to state a fact (probably not generally known) 
that different breeds of hogs will not amalgamate. 



I have known a sow of our common stock to 
have pigs by an improved boar, some of which 
partook of the nature of the father and others 
of the moiher, as different in appearance and 
size as were the boar and sow, and none showed 
a m'xturc of blood. Cases of the kind I have 
frequently observed; such ma}' not always be 
the result of crossing, yet I believe farmers should 
have but one sort, and that the best, which is 
generally admitted to be the Berkshire. 

FAuquur. 
July 18, 1842. 



RURAL REPOSITORY. 
"We have received a beautiful little sheet with 
the above title, printed at Hudson, N. Y. at fifty 
cenls par annum, with a request that we would 
notice and exchange — with the last we promptly 
and gladly complied ; but we have hitherto for- 
borne, as a general rule, any particular notice of 
our exchanges, although many of them were 
entitled to such compliment at our hands, on 
more accounts than one. But wheie it was in- 
vidious to make distinctions, where delicacy for- 
bade our being candid, w r e determined to be si- 
lent. Our extracts are the best test of our esti- 
mate of the merits of our cotemporaries. This, 
however, we promise, when we meet with an 
agricultural paper, that is not worth ten times 
the price of subscription, we will notice it. 



ASPARAGUS. 

From the British Gardener's Chronicle, it ap~ 
pears, that this vegetable obtains a size and fla- 
vor in the north of Spain unknown to any other 
part of the world. The Editor asserts that there 
is only one variety of the plant, and that the 
difference in individuals is entirely owing to the 
difference in cultivation. In country gardens, 
he says, it is small, green, and strong — in the 
London market it is long, white, hard, rnd 
tough — to the eye attractive enough, but to the 
taste more like bleached timber than an esculent. 
Indeed, we have never been able to comprehend 
why, in this our age of improvement, some in- 
genious turner has not produced imitation sticks, 
which might be tipped with half an inch of 
eatable asparagus, and thus spare the necessity 
of cooking four-fifths of the stuff that is brought 
to a London t <ble. 

Captain Churchbill, of the Royal Marines, 
spent some time at Gnipuscoa, p iticuLrly re- 
markable for the flavor of its asparagus, which 
measures from three to six inches in circumfer* 



188 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



ence: the following he states as the mode of 
cultivation by which this degree of perfection is 
obtained : 

"Asparagus is a plant found naturally on the 
beach of various parts of the coast of Europe, 
where it is covered by the drifting sand, and 
watered by salt water at high tides. Sand and 
salt water occasionally may, therefore, be re- 
garded as indispensible conditions for maintain- 
ing it in health. How seldom is this thought 
of! It, however, explains in part the excellence 
of St. Sebastian asparagus. 

"It seems that at the mouth of the Urnmea 
is a narrow slip of land, about three feet above 
high-water mark, consisting of alluvial soil and 
the wearing away of sandstone hills, at whose 
foot it is placed. This is the asparagus ground 
of St. Sebastian. Beds are formed five feet 
wide, without any previous preparation except 
digging and raking. In March the seed is sow r n 
in two drills, about two inches deep, and eigh- 
teen inches from the alleys, thus leaving a space 
of two feet between the drills. The rows run 
invariably east and west — doubtless in order 
that the plants may shade the ground during the 
heats of summer. When the seedlings are 
about six inches high, they are thinned to some- 
thing more than a foot apart, Water is con- 
ducted once a day among the alleys and over 
the beds, so as to give the seedling an abundant 
and constant supply of fluid during the season 
of their growth. This is the cultivation during 
the first year. 

11 The second year, in the month of March, 
the beds are covered with three or four inches 
of fresh night-soil from the reservoirs of the 
town; it remains on them during the succeed- 
ing autumn ; the operation of irrigation being 
continued as during the first season. This ex- 
cessive stimulus, and the abundant room the 
plants have to grow in, must necessarily make 
them extremely vigorous, and prepare them for 
the production of gigantic sprouts. 

"In the third spring, the asparagus is fit to 
cut. Doubtless all its energies are developed 
by the digging in of the manure in the autumn 
of the second year; and when it does begin to 
sprout, it finds its roots in contact with a soil of 
inexhaustible fertility. Previously, however, to 
the cutting, each bed is covered in the course of 
March very lightly with dead leaves, to the 
depth of about eight inches; and the cutting 
does not commence till the plants peep through 
this covering, when it is carefully removed from 
the stems, in order that the finest only may be 
cut, which are rendered white by their leafy co- 
vering, and succulent by the excessive richness 
of the soil. 

"In the autumn of the third year, after the 
first cutting, the leaves are removed, and the 
beds again dressed with fresh night-soil as be- 



fore ; and these operations are repeated year after 
year. In addition to this, the beds are half un- 
der salt water annually at spring tides. 

"Let any one compare the mode of culture 
with ours, and there will be no room for won- 
dering at the difference in the result. The 
Spaniards use a light sandy soil ; we are con- 
tent with any thing short of clay. They iiri- 
gate ; we trust to our rainy climate. They 
know the value of salt water to a sea coast 
plant ; we take no means to imitate nature in 
this respect. They dress their beds with the 
most powerful of all manures ; we are contented 
with the black residuum of a cucumber frame, 
which is comparatively a caput mortuum. Fi- 
nally, they throw leaves lightly over their beds, 
by which means they expose the 3 ; oung sprouts 
to the least amount of resistance, and force them 
onward by the warmth collected from the sun 
by such beds of leaves ; we, on the other hand, 
compel the asparagus to struggle through solid 
earth, capable in the smallest possible degree of 
absorbing warmth during the day — bin, on the 
other hand, ready to part with its heat again at 
night to the greatest possible amount. 

"Can any one wonder, then, at the poor re- 
sults obtained by our manner of cultivation ? — 
or that some gardener should now and then as- 
tonish his neighbors by producing asparagus 
which we call giant, but which at St. Sebastian 
would be called second rate T 

To the market gardener asparagus is proba- 
bly the most profitable vegetable he raises, and 
he may well afford to incur a little additional 
pains or expense, which will enable him to 
bring a superior article into the market. 



POTATOES. 

Potatoes require a loamy soil ; one abounding 
in vegetable matter, and moist rather than dry. 
Gen. Barnum, who has raised greater crops of 
potatoes than perhaps any other man in the 
United States, attributes much of his success to 
his not disturbing the plants in hilling after the 
rootlets for the tubers begin to form ; his method 
of performing that operation being to bring rich 
earth in a horse cart, the wheels of which pass 
between the rows, and from this dropping a 
shovel full upon each hill. This furnishes a bed 
of rich fresh earth for the tubers, and avoids all 
interference with the roots. 



MEANS OF RENEWING POOR LANDS. 

It is a well established fact, that any lot of 
poor land may be enriched to almost any extent 
by planting it from year to year with sweet po- 
tatoes and turning in the whole crop of vines 
every autumn. Let our planters try the experi- 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



189 



merit and satisfy themselves. Select a piece of 
your old fiehls and be willing to incur the trivial 
expense of seed and planting. How soon can 
you reclaim all your old pine fields which now 
make such an unsightly appearance among our 
best plantations. — Warren (JV. C.) Reporter. 

The readers of the first volume of the Planter 
will remember the extraordinary fertilizing- pro- 
perties attributed to potato vines by Mr. Joseph 
Bernard ; several individuals of the greatest re- 
spectability have since that time confirmed his 
views to the fullest extent. 



The following is a good thing. Every un- 
saleable article of vegetable growth should be 
carefully collected, and made to minister to the 
growth of that which affords nutriment to 
man or beast. We should prefer using it 
though as a cover, first, instead of turning it in 
at once. 

GREEN CROPS FOR TURNING DOWN. 

We hear much of sowing crops for the pur- 
pose of ploughing them down while green. Did 
it ever occur to the minds of our farmers how 
many and what heavy " green crops" may be 



cut from their rushy bottoms, their ditches, their 
wood ; but above all, from the margins of their 
rivers and creeks; and which, if buried in the 
bottom of their furrows, would ferment and be- 
come as valuable manure as any that could be 
grown for the purpose at the expense of plough- 
ing and sowing, and which would enable them 
to mow these for their cattle, and thus obtain 
from them an addition to their cattle keep, in- 
stead of robbing them of so many acres of fod- 
der? There is upon record an account of an 
experiment on growing potatoes, where it was 
found that a single cabbage-leaf laid on every 
set of the potatoes while planting, produced as 
large a crop as was taken from the rows dressed 
with stable manure. Then what would be the 
result of a thick covering of water-lilies, reeds, 
or the rushes and weeds fiom our boggy bottoms? 

Exchange paper. 



RECIPE TO CORN BEEF. 
Put into a cask twelve quarts of salt, twelve 
gallons of water, and one pound of saltpetre: 
stir it until all is dissolved — salt your meat well 
in a separate tub, let it stand ten days, then put 
it in the brine with a large stone on it to keep 
it under. The brine will keep three or four 
months. 



For the Southern Planter. 

WROUGHT IRON RAKE 




Messrs. Editors, — Several of us in this county 
and the adjoining ones, have in use a three-tooth 
iron rake with which we are pleased. By whom 
invented I know not, but believe a Mr. Marshall, 
of Amelia, is entitled to that honor. I have 
used no other for nine years and am better pleased 
with them in 1842 than I was in 1833. I will 
attempt to give you an idea of them, and if I 
succeed, you and I together may impart the 



same to others. Bar iron l£ inches square is the 
size. Of this cut three pieces, each 3 feet long. 
The smith will then form a tooth of one end of 
each piece, just as common rake teeth are formed, 
and bend them down 14 inches long— he will 
raise the other end of one of the pieces a little 
like the beam of a wooden rake and punch the 
hole for the clivis. This piece constitutes the 
beam and front tooth. The ends of the other 



190 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



two pieces be will form into the shape of a 
wedge, and inclining the one to the left and the 
other to the right, will fit them to the sides of 
the beam. These give you the side pieces and 
back teeih, and must be fastened to the beam 
with two screws and laps, one of which will 
likewise pass through and confine the lower 
ends of the handles. The back teeih should be 
14 inches apart. The handles must be made 
of good timber, and will be supported by two 



which I will here detail. As fast as he drove 
the nail.-:, he merely bent the points down to the 
hoof, without, as is customary, twisting them off 
with the pincers; these he then drove hcme l 
clinching them against a heavy pair of pinceis, 
which were not made very sharp ; and after this 
had been very carefully done, he twisted off each 
nail as close as possible to the hoof; the pincers 
being dull, the nail would hold, so as to get a 
perfect twist round before it separated. These 



rods of iron a half inch in diameter, fastened to I twists were then beaten close into the hoof and 
the side pieces. The rake when completed filed smooth, but not deep, or wiih the view to 
weighs about fifty pounds, and is "the very best rasp off the twist of the nail. "Oh ho!" said 
article" that I have met with for working corn I, "I have learnt a lesson in horse-shoeing." 
and getting in small grain Its durability and " Yes," said he, " and a valuable one ; if I were 
the difficulty of breaking it are matters worthy i ever to lose a single shoe in a long day's hunt, 
of some consideration. I should have to shut up my shop ; my business 

The beam and front tooih with the side pieces ' is to shoe the horses belonging to the hunt, and 
and back teeih are to be tapered and inclined | the loss of a shoe would be the probable ruin of 
from an inch back of the holes, the one to the a horse worth, perhaps, a thousand pounds; but 
right and the other to the left. The angle of I never am fearful of such an accident." "Sim- 
inclination will be determined by the distance ply, because you drive home and clinch ihe nails 
required between the back teeth, and maybe before you twist ihem off," said I — "Yes," re- 
made greater or less by a blow of the sledge' plied he, "by which I secure a rivet, as well as 
hammer. a clinch." The thing was as clear as the light 

The engraving represents the entire rake, of day, and I have several times endeavored to 
wanting nothing but, a good ploughman, a good j make our shoeing-smiths understand it, but ihey 
horse, rich land, ami a propitious season, to make cannot see the advantage it would be to thcm- 



a good crop. 

Your friend, 
Nutloivay, July, 1842. 



Ph. B. White. 



From the Farmers' Cabinet. 
SHOEING THE HORSE. 



J\Ir. Editor, — The remark of your correspond- 
ent at page 3 18 of your number for May, " That 
many of us transpose ihe order of our labors," drawn out of the hoof, and he will soon perceive 



selves, and guess, therefore, it would never do in 
these parts; but if my brother farmers cannot 
see how it works with half an eye, and have 
not the resolution to get it put into practice, ihey 
ought to see the shoes drop from the feet of their 
horses daily, as I was once accustomed to do. 
Now, let any one take up an old horse-shoe at 
at &r\y of the smiths' shops on the road, and 
examine the clinch of the nails which have 



reminds me of a mode adopted in the shoeing 
of the horse, which I once witnessed, and which 
is, I believe, of importance sufficient to deserve 
notice in the pages of your valuable and very 
interesting work. It occurred at the town of 
Croydon, near London, which is known as the 
centre of the stag-hunt, so well attended by the 
whole country around, and especially by the 
high-bred bloods of London : and where may be 
seen a. field of the best horses in the whole 
world — many of them worth their five or seven 
thousand dollars. 

As I once passed through this town, one of 
my horses' shoes became loose, and I went to 
the shop of a smith named Lovelace, to get it 
fastened; the shoe was nearly new, and had 
become loose in consequence of the nails 
having drawn out of ihe hoof, although ihey 
had been clinched in the manner universally 
practised. The smith remarked that all the 
other shoes were loose, and would soon dropoff, 
when I requested him to lake them off and re- 
place them; an I then did 1 perceive the differ- 
ent mode which he adopted for fixing them, 



how the thing operates. In short, if the nails 
are driven home before twisting off, and ihe rivet 
formed by the twist be not afterwards removed 
by the rasp, I should be glad to be told Low the 
shoe is to come off at all, unless by first cutting 
out the twist. 1 am, sir, a constant reader of 
the Cabinet, and one who has benefitted many 
dollars by the various hints which have been 
given in its pages. J. S. 

Amongst which, perhaps, no one has appeared 
of more value to our practical readers than that 
here presented. Wi'J our correspondent accept 
thanks for his very interesting "hint," which is 
given in the true spirit of reciprocity. — Ed. 

The readers of the first volume of the Planter 
will remember that the same valuable hint is 
given, in effect, in the communication of our 
correspondent H. T. as is here afforded upon ihe 
more imposing authority of the smith of the 
Croydon hunt, in England. The article is wor- 
thy the attention of every man who rides or 
drives a horse. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



191 



THE DOLLAR FARMER. 

We have just received the first number of a 
neatly printed sheet, issued from the office of the 
Louisville Journal, called the Dollar Farmer. 
We have not had time to inspect the contents, 
but will take the responsibility of recommending 
it upon the faith we have in its celebrated Edi- 
tor. Mr. Prentice's judgment is not inferior to 
his wit, and we know no information more va- 
luable to the farmer of the South than that we 
have been accustomed to find under the agricul- 
tural head of the Louisville Weekly Journal. 

The Farmer consists of sixteen quarto pnges, 
and is published monthly at one dollar per annum. 



an engraving. It would he an advantage to 
breeders to know something of him, and for one, 
I should be very glad to see it.* 
Respectfully yours, 

Wm, H. Richardson. 

* The above was received just as our last form 
was preparing for the press. Gen. Richardson will 
be pleased to see that his wish has l.een anticipated 
in trie fine engraving of the splendid honr, Ciikster- 
fikld, which, at the request of several others, we 
have obtained for this number of the 1 lanter. 

We have had no opportunity of communicating 
with Col. Burfoot since the receipt of Gen. Richard- 
son's note, tut wi 1 take the responsibility of promis- 
ing him an answer from our friend in our next. 

C. T. B. 



BULL FOR SALE. 
We have for sale a very fine young bull of 
the Holstein and Alderney breed. He is two 
and a half years old, and probably of the finest 
milking stock in America, tie was bred within 
a few miles of the city, and is, therefore, tho- 
roughly acclimated. The owner having no fur- 
ther use for him, a great bargain may be had, 
if early application is made (post paid) to the 
Editors of the Planter. 



For the Southern Planter. 

Having been absent from the first until the 
16th of this month, your July number contain- 
ing the proposal of Col. L. M. Burfoot, dated 
28ih April, has just come to my hands. 

At this lime I have no pigs, and expect none 
(except some litters of Berkshires in October) 
until March. I will then submit to the test pro- 
posed by Col. B.— a pair of Mr. Dicken's white 
hogs, either to be fed in the way proposed, or to 
be turned out upon the ordinary farm keep; at 
the expiration of the stipulated time, both pair 
to be the property of him whose pigs shall weigh 
most. Or, as I am not prepared for stye- feeding 
and have no time to attend to it, I will deliver 
to Col. B. himself, a pair to be fed with his own 
by him. I know that the experiment, would be 
fairly and impartially made, and believe from 
his greater experience it would be more reliable 
than if made where less care, and accuracy as 
to the food consumed, was observed. 

Iu these days of puffs and portraits, Col. Bur- 
foot might well have availed himself of so fair 
an opportunity to say something more of his 
own stock of Berkshires, particularly of the very 
superior male lately purchased by him at a high 
price, and to give your readers a history of his 
"birth, parentage and education." This being 
the finest hog of any breed that I have ever 
seen, I think a part of your columns could not 
be better occupied than by a full account, with 






COMMUNICATIONS. 
We have, over and over again, declared our 
convictions that a mine of exhaustless agricul- 
tural information lay hidden in the breasts of the 
farmers of Virginia. The variety of original 
and valuable matter furnished by correspondents 
in our last and present numbers, goes far to jus- 
j lify the assertion ; all we ask is, that our friends 
I will not relax in their exertions to render the 
! Planter, what we know they are capable of 
making it, one of the most popular vehicles of 
practical agricultural information to be found in 
the Union It must be apparent to all, that on 
the original communications of practical farmers 
the chief merit of such a work as ours must 
mainly depend. It cannot be expected of us, 
however great our zeal, however earnestly we 
strive to increase our practical knowledge of the 
art, that, unassisted and alone, we can give to 
our readers the best and most practical advice 
on all the different branches of business apper- 
taining to the varied, and ever changing, but 
still delightful, profession of the husbandman. 
We believe there is no one who has devoted 
himself diligently to the practice of farming, 
that has not made some observation that would 
be new, interesting, and beneficial to thousands 
of others. It is the want of this free interchange 
of mutual observations, this facility of swapping 
ideas, that has so much retarded the progress of 
agriculture ; and it was to afford an additional 



192 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



facility to the South, at a cheap rate, for this 
mutual intercommunication, that the Planter 
was established. Without aid or encourage- 
ment, indeed contrary to the advice of many, 
we commenced this work ; by dint of persever- 
ance and industry, we have succeeded notwith- 
standing the obstacles of the "times," in estab- 
lishing the pecuniary profits of the paper upon 
a footing, at least, to secure its permanency, and 
we have enlisted in its favor, and brought to its 
aid, as our readers will perceive, some of the 
ablest farmers and clearest writers in Virginia : 
but we would have every subscriber a corres- 
pondent — why not ? a generous mind loves not 
to receive without making a return : when a 
subscriber sends us a dollar he pays us well and 
fairly for our labor, but it still leaves him largely 
indebted to those friends, who generously devote 
much of their time to give to others the benefit 
of their experience — let no man say I have no- 
thing to tell — 1 cannot write — all we ask is a 
plain, unvarnished statement of facts — let others, 
in return for what they afford you, have the be- 
nefit of your observations ; for any ornaments 
of style that you may think needful, draw upon 
us at pleasure ; we feel fully competent to sup- 
ply all that are required by the pure and simple 
taste of our agricultural readers. We say then 
to one and all, observe closely, watch narrowly, 
and report freely to the Planter, which has al- 
ready a more extended circulation than any 
other agricultural paper in Virginia. To this 
we trust to make our paper a source of delight 
and amusement to its readers, and to prove to 
the world, that our dear old native State, calum- 
niated as she is, stands unrivalled in the know- 
ledge and the practice too of the noble art of 
agriculture. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 

We thank Dr. H., of P. G., to whom we are 
under more than one obligation, for his interest- 
ing communication; it will appear in our next. 
He must not be surprised, however, to find us 
exercising our ruthless and despotic power in 
razeeing and condensing the article, to suit the 
peculiar character of our work. 

Various other communications have been re- 
ceived, which we have not yet had time to ex- 
amine, but which shall be treated wiih attention, 
and for which we feel ourselves indebted to the 
writers, even should they prove unavailable to 
us. 



CONTENTS OF NO. VIII. 

Forest Trees — A list and description of those in 
the tide water district of Virginia, p. 169. 

Milch Cows — Durhams and Ayrshires, p. 170. 

River Mud — Its value as manure, p. 171. 

Mange — Result of a trial of Mr. Goode's reme- 
dy, p. 171. 

Manure — How to be managed so as to produce 
an equal crop, p. 172. 

Grubs — To cure, p. 172. 

Impregnation of Plants — The mode explained, 
p. 173. 

Soiling — Its advantages, p. 173. 

Accounts — Every farmer should keep regular 
accounts with all his different products, p. 173. 

Rakes — To be used in the cultivation of corn, 
p. 174. 

Blacksrniihing — Secrets in, p. 174. 

Sandy Soils — Proper treatment of, p. 175. 

Corn — Result of Dr. Sams' investigations, p. 
175. 

Plaster — Should be finely ground, p. 176. 

Black Sheep — Consequences of a black streak 
under the tongue, p. 176. 

Rake — The revolving rake described, w T ith a 
cut, p. 177. 

Philosophy — Complaint of the abuse of the term, 
p. 177. 

Cotton — Mr. Calhoun's opinion of, p. 178. 

Agricultural Papers — Advantages of, p. 179. 

Coal Ashes — Their value as an improver, p. 180. 

Reaping Machine — M'Cormick's recommended, 
p. 181. 

Grass — Additional information from Capt. Meri- 
wether, p. 182. 

Sheep — A trap to catch sheep-killing dogs, p. 182. 

Soiling — Result of Mr. Jenkins's experiments, 
p. 182. 

Manure — Mr. Bommer's mode of manufactur- 
ing, p. 183. 

Tobacco — Directions for handling, p. 183. 

Rust in Wheat — The cause of, p. 1S4. 

Chesterfield — Description of Col. Burfoot's boar, 
with a cut, p. 184. 

Fencing — Propriety of confining stock by law, 
p. 185. 

Barley — Directions for cultivation, p. 185. 

Green Crops — True mode of improving, p. 186. 

Agricultural Che?nistry — Practical treatise on, p. 
186. 

California Wheat — Humbug, p. 1S6. 

Rural Repository — Noticed, p. IS7. 

Asparagus — Culture of, p 1S7. 

Briers — To remove, p. 187. 

Potatoes — Proper soil for, p. 188. 

Poor Lands — To renovate, p. 188. 

Beef — Recipe for coining, p. 189. 

Rake — Of wrought iron, p. 189. 

Horse Shoeing — Article on, p. 190. 

Challenge — Col. Burfoot's accepted, p. 191. 

Dollar Farmer — New work noticed, p. 191.