THE SOUTHERN PLANTER; 

Sebotefj to Agriculture, p>ovtfculturc, auK the ^ouseliolti Arts. 



Agriculture is the nursing mother of the Arts. 
, Xenophon. 



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



C. T. BOTTS <fe L. M. BURFOOT, Editors. 



Vol. III. 



RICHMOND, FEBRUARY, 1843. 



No. 2. 



TOBACCO. 

(Continued from page 4.) 
Of the Cutting, Curing and Housing. 

We have now arrived at the most difficult 
and critical stages of the whole process ; every 
operation from this time until the plant is cured, 
requiring great attention and care, as well as 
skill and nicety of judgment in the execution. 
And hence a great contrariety of practice in 
some of the minuiias prevails, according to the 
superior skill and ability of different planters. 

It is difficult to convey an idea of ripe tobacco 
by description. It can only be learned by ob- 
servation and experience. In general, its matu- 
rity is indicated by the top leaves of the plant 
turning down and often touching the ground, 
becoming curdled, with yellow spots interspersed 
on their surface, looking glossy and shining, 
with an entire loss of fur, a manifest increase of 
thickness in the substance of the leaves, which 
when pinched in a fold between the finger and 
thumb, will crack with ease. But the most ex- 
perienced planters acknowledge that they are 
more apt to err in cutting their tobacco too soon, 
than in deferring it too long. As a proof of 
this, take two plants growing side by side, of 
equal size and appearance in every respect, and 
both apparently ripe — cut one and weigh it both 
green and when cured : let the other stand a 
week longer, and when weighed like the first, 
the difference in favor of the latter will be as- 
tonishing. If it be asked, why we do not avail 
ourselves of the advantage to be derived from 
thus deferring the operation? It maybe an- 
swered, as I have before observed, that tobacco, 
while standing, is liable to be injured and de- 
stroyed by more accidents than any other plant, 
such a3 hail storms, heavy rains, high winds, 
the depredations of worms, the growth of suckers 
from the roof, which abstract greatly from the 
weight and thickness of the leaves, if suffered 
to grow, and which it is not always convenient 
to pull off. Besides this, the season of cutting 
tobacco is a very busy one to the planter, and 
too much work would accumulate on his hands 
by deferring it to the last moment. For these 
reasons it is considered most prudent to cull out 
the plants as soon as they will make good to- 
bacco ; in which case the loss in the aggregate 
amount of crop, i3 balanced by avoiding the 
Vol. III.— 4 



risk of accidents, and being able to bestow more 
care and attention to what remains. 

The cutters go over the ground by rows, each 
taking two at a time, and the plants they cut 
are laid in the intermediate row between them. 
This facilitates the picking up, as the cutting of 
four rows is thereby placed in one. The stalk 
of the plant to be cut is first split down with 
the knife about six inches, and after being cut 
off just below the bottom leaf, is inverted and 
laid upon the ground, to fall and become pliant 
for handling. The splitting of the stalk is im- 
portant, both for the convenience of hanging it 
on sticks and accellarating the cure of the plant. 
To those unused to the culture and management 
of tobacco, it will be almost incredible to learn 
how soon it will sun-burn, (as we call it,) afier 
being cut and turned over on the ground. This 
is effected by the hot rays of the sun, piercing 
and penetrating the tender parts of the leaves, 
and is manifested by the parts affected, turning 
white and soon becoming dry and crisp, and 
when cured, of a dark green color, without pos- 
sessing any of the strength or qualities of to- 
bacco. In very dry, hot weather, sun-burning 
often takes place before a large plant falls suffi- 
ciently to be handled without breaking off the 
leaves ; and for this reason the cutting in such 
weather should always be made early in the 
morning, and not proceed after ten o'clock. — 
Sometimes it is done in the evening when there 
is no prospect of rain, by which the packing up 
may be accomplished earlier the next morning, 
and with less risk of burning. As soon as the 
plants fall sufficiently to handle without breaking 
off the leaves, they are hand-fulled, (as we call 
it ;) that is, they are picked up, and three or four 
or five plants are laid together, with their tails 
from the sun, and the stalks inclined and some- 
what elevated against the sides of some of the 
hills. The pickers up, after going through this 
ground, return and turn over each handful, that 
both sides of the plants may receive the benefit 
of the sun, and not be burned, and this opera- 
tion is again repeated ; if by this time the to- 
bacco is not pliant enough to be put in shocks. 
This is putting an indefinite number of handfuls 
together, the stalks in an erect position, forming 
a sort of circle of any diameter, from two to six 
feet or more, at convenient distances in the field ; 
and these shocks should be immediately and 
effectually covered with green bushes or some- 



26 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



thing else, previously in place, for the purpose 
to exclude the rays of the sun. 

The next operation (after the heat of the sun 
has declined) is to remove the tobacco to the 
house or scaffold, and hang the plants on 
sticks four and a half feet long, and about one 
inch square. The common pine affords the 
best timber for this purpose, which will rive 
straight and with ease. From ten to twelve 
plants, according to size, may be hung on each 
stick, the width of two fingers to be left between 
each plant. The scaffolds are raised four or 
five feet from the ground, and the poles to re- 
ceive the sticks are placed four feet apart, and 
are made to range east and west, so that the 
sticks will be north and south, to give both sides 
an equal benefit from the sun. The tobacco is 
commonly removed from the field to the house 
or scaffold upon the shoulders of the laborers, 
carefully put on and taken off to avoid bruising ; 
but if the distance is great, carts are used, 
greater care being necessary to avoid bruising. 
This is considered so important that some judi- 
cious planters make temporary scaffolds in the 
field, preferring the risk of injury from a smart 
rain, to that of bruising by moving far in a 
green state. 

There are two modes of curing tobacco. One 
in the house altogether by fare ; the other by the 
sun on scaffbrds. The first is esteemed the best 
and most effectual, but it is attended with great 
risk. Our houses are generally four-sided pens, 
twenty feet square, built of round poles, and 
about twelve feet pitch. The joists are placed 
four feet apart, the rafters immediately over 
them, having beams corresponding with the 
joists, three feet perpendicular from each other, 
so as to afford ranges or tiers for the tobacco up 
to the crown ; and the same tiers are fixed be- 
low the joists and at the same distance by ex- 
tending poles across the house between the logs 
of the pen. The house is covered tightly with 
pine boards, and if it is intended to cure by fire, 
the openings between the logs should be closed 
to prevent the escape of heat. Such a sized 
house will cure from two to three thousand 
weight, according to the quality of the tobacco. 
If it be decided to cure by fire, the tobacco is 
carried immediately from the field to the house, 
hung on sticks as before described, and these 
sticks crowded as close together on the tiers as 
they can possibly be, so as to exclude all air 
from the tobacco. It remains in this situation 
until the leaves of the plants become yellow or 
of the color of hickory leaves just before they 
fall. This will generally happen in four or five 
days, when the sticks must be spread and placed 
at their proper distances apart in the house. — 
About six or seven inches is the proper distance, 
or any other that will prevent the plants on dif- 
ferent sticks touching each other. A moderate 
heat which is gradually increased to a very 



strong one, is then applied, by making different 
ranges of fires throughout the house — and that 
wood is preferred and sought for, which will 
make the greatest heat with the least blaze and 
smoke. The fires must be continually kept up 
until the curing is effected, (say from four to six 
days,) when not only the leaves, but the whole 
stalk becomes dry ; and changes from a green 
or yellow, to a light brown color. 

If it is not to be cured by fire, the tobacco is 
brought to the scaffold and hung, and the sticks 
are crowded in the same way on the scaffold, 
until the same yellow color is imparted to the 
leaves, and some planters are so particular as to 
covertheir scaffolds with green bushesduring this 
crowded state, to prevent sun-burning. When 
the proper time arrives, which is indicated by 
the yellow color of the leaves, the sticks are 
thinned and placed at such a distance as to ad- 
mit the influence of the sun and air, and if the 
weather is warm and fair, in five or six days 
the curing will be so far effected as to justify 
the removal of the lobacco into the house, when 
it must be properly and finally arranged, and 
the cure will be gradually accomplished by time 
and season. But if damp, hot weather super- 
venes, it will be necessary, both in this and in 
the case of tobacco already cured by fire, to 
make moderate fires under each, whenever it 
comes in very high order. In such weather 
and in such order, tobacco is liable to contract a 
mould about the stems, which can only be pre- 
vented by keeping it dry by fires. This mould 
injures both the quality and appearance greatly, 
and cannot be easily rubbed off. Great atten- 
tion is therefore necessary to prevent it by these 
occasional firings, until regular cool weather sets 
in, after which there is no danger. From the 
vicissitudes of our climate for some years past, 
and other causes, it happens commonly that 
some portion of our tobacco is not mature, and 
is left until we are compelled to cut it by the 
approach of frost. Such plants, even if fully 
ripe, seldom cure of a good color or quality for 
want of proper seasons. And here we may 
venture a general remark ; which is, that tobac- 
co cut early and fully ripe, will cure well and 
be of good quality under the most unfavorable 
circumstances, while that which comes late into 
the house, is difficult to cure and of inferior 
grade. After the housing of tobacco is all ac- 
complished, and cool weather begins, the house 
should be closed with green bushes or fence 
rails set up on end, close around on the outside 
of the house, to exclude damp air, and beating 
rains, which generate mould, &c. 
(To be continued.) 



CLAY LANDS, 
Mr. Allen, of the "American Agriculturist," 
in giving some directions for the management 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



27 



of stiff clays, recommends as the most effectual 
mode of improvement and the most desirable 
where circumstances will justify the expense, 
the ir orporation of a sufficient quantity of sand. 
Thorough under-draining is next advised if the 
cost can be incurred. At any rate, he advises 
where the natural fail of the land does not af- 
ford sufficient' declivity to carry off the surface 
water, the making of beds ten or twenty feet 
wide with furrows leading into a common ditch 
with sufficient fall. He adds, 

"Another mode of improvement, which to a 
certain extent is within every farmer's reach, 
and as one of the legitimate objects of every 
good farmer's system, is to add large quantities 
of coarse, unfermented manure, and all his un- 
decayed vegetables ; which may be done on a 
large scale, by turning in matured crops pro- 
duced upon the land. There is no danger of 
putting on too much manure of this kind, if bu- 
ried sufficiently deep, in proportion to the quan- 
tity used. And there is as little danger of suf- 
fering any loss of the manure. It will last till 
exhausted by the growth of vegetation. Nor 
will it bum the land, according to the common 
phrase, as an excess of manure does on light 
and sandy soils. It is not carried away by rains, 
or evaporated by heat; but like coin, securely 
hoarded in a strong box, it is safely retained till 
the owner's key is applied to unlock it. The 
mechanical, as well as chemical character of 
this soil, particularly adapts it to the preserva- 
tion of manures; for in addition to its strong 
chemical affinity for ammonia, which is the fer- 
tilizing principle in all soils, its mechanical struc- 
ture enables it to hold, beyond the possibility of 
escape, all the animal and vegetable substances 
buried beneath it." 

Mr. Allen recommends, and in this we know 
that he is correct, that clay lands should be 
ploughed for spring crops in the fall. He goes 
on to say, 

" If com or roots are required, the land should 
be half ploughed the previous fall ; that is, a 
space should be left unmolested, of the width of 
a furrow,on which the upturned furrow is thrown. 
By this operation a large dry surface is exposed 
to the salutary effects of air and moisture, heat 
and frost ; and it will be in the best possible con- 
dition for early tillage, and abundant crops. It 
will be mellow, friable, and comparatively dry, 
and by thorough cros3-ploughing, harrowing and 
rolling in the spring, it will be well fitted for the 
reception of the seed. 

" For winter wheat we do not think them 
suitable, unless prepared by thorough under- 
draining, aa the wheat i3 very generally winter- 



killed, or thrown out by the frost, or drowned 
by excessive rains, before the sun gets suffi- 
ciently high to protect it. But with the best 
varieties of spring wheat, it produces largely. 
For the production of rye, it is totally unsuited ; 
but of barley, oats, peas, grass and roots, when 
suitably prepared, no soil produces better crops. 
Their chief value, however, is for grass lands, 
and when properly put down in meadow, they 
ought never to be disturbed, as with good ma- 
nagement, they will be in a constantly improv- 
ing state, and afford the most profitable and re- 
munerating returns. But while in this condi- 
tion, no animals should ever be suffered to graze 
them, and especially while the ground is soft. 
Poaching is destruction to them, and no scarcity 
of other food will justify the farmer in driving 
his cattle upon his meadows while saturated 
with water. It is a common opinion by those 
unaccustomed to them that clay lands will not 
produce good clover; yet we have never seen 
better clover, or larger crops, than we have re- 
peatedly raised on them. 

" When required for roots, com, or other hoed 
crops, the soil should be well charged with ma- 
nure, and the most thorough tillage will be am- 
ply repaid. 'A little land well tilled,' has a pe- 
culiar signification when applied to this kind of 
soil. Plaster, (sulphate of lime,) has no appre- 
ciable effect on it when applied in small quanti- 
ties; and lime, (carbonate of lime,) has less 
than on any of the lighter soils. Ashes are va- 
luable on any land, and, we believe, under all 
circumstances ; yet we have repeatedly made 
the application of them on a very stiff clay, 
without deriving any immediate perceptible be- 
nefit. A longer time is required under certain 
circumstances, for them and other manures to 
act, but their action continues through a much 
longer period." 



From the American Agriculturist. 
PRACTICAL FARMING. 

Wheatsheaf Farm. — We recently made a 
visit to the farm of W. A. Seeley, Esq. of Staten 
Island. The buildings are in a style of entire 
plainness and simplicity, yet with perfect adap- 
tation to the object in view. A large and well 
constructed windmill, of the most substantial 
kind, occupies one of the group of farm build- 
ings, which is used during a great part of the 
year in grinding for this and the neighboring 
farms. But the peculiar merits of the out- 
buildings consist in the barns. There are two 
of them, of large size, and so constructed, as to 
afford the greatest quantity of available room. 
They are both built upon a side hill, thus en- 
abling the loaded hay and grain to be drawn in 
upon a level with the upper side, and the entire 
floor is appropriated to their occupancy, while 
at the same time that it affords a great abun- 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



dance of convenient room, saves the trouble o" 
pitching it high, and furnishes the fodder just 
where it is wanted to feed into the racks for the 
stock below. The underground room of one is 
divided into stalls for horses on either side through 
its entire range, one hundred and thirty feet, and 
a large gangway, accessible by folding doors at 
each end, runs through the centre, affording 
ample room for carts or wagons for the purpose 
of removing the manure. Water is admitted at 
one end through a si op-cock from a pond above, 
forming a reservoir from the drains. Commo- 
dious yards adjoining, afford space for exercising 
the animals. This barn is expressly designed 
for stabling supernumerary horses from this city 
through the winter, yet its construction admits 
of its being used to equal advantage for any 
other stock. The other barn being designed for 
cattle and sheep, is open on the south, and the 
other three sides are occupied with racks for the 
stock, which are divided, when necessary, by 
partitions and enclosures. 

But the particular advantage of these barns, 
consists in the admirable contrivance afforded 
for the accumulation and economical preserva- 
tion of the manure. Under shelter from the 
washing rains and exhausting sun, well mixed 
with earthy and vegetable matter, it is here re- 
tained till it can be advantageously applied to 
the land. Between, and contiguous to the barns, 
is a tank capable of holding twenty-five thou- 
sand gallons, which is the receptacle of those 
enriching liquids of the farm yard, without the 
retention and careful application of which, to 
the growing crops or stercorated heap, no farm- 
ing arrangement can be deemed complete. An 
outlet near the top conducts off the surplus liquid 
to a heap of compost, if it rises too high before 
required for use, by which it is absorbed. At 
all omer times the cistern is emptied by sheet 
iron buckets attached to a revolving iron chain, 
and propelled either by the windmill, or if ne- 
cessary, by horse-power, the shaft geering into 
either as required. 

No particle of animal or vegetable manure 
produced upon the farm is allowed to be wasted. 
All is preserved and added to the general stock 
of compost. The necessity of resoning to the 
cily for manure at a large expense, is here shown 
to be unnecessary, and those who at first jeered 
at this undertaking, are now wisely following 
the example. Since the full organization of the 
farm, there has never been less than two thou- 
sand loads of surplus manure ready for use. 

A small patch of the siiffest and most unpro- 
mising clay, from which, Mr. S. says, his first 
attempt for a crop of buckwheat, resulted in a 
growth of about six inches; by an addiiion of 
a coating of sand ploughed in, and a subsequent 
one harrowed over the surface; produced a most 
bountiful yield. It is thus the intelligent and 
observing book farmer avails himself of all the 



principles of science and the experience of 
others, in his practise, and the consequence is, 
he gets rich, while his equally industrious and 
economical, but ignorant neighbor continues 
poor. 

How many farmers in Virginia would find 
their advantage in selling two or three hundred 
acres of land, and applying the proceeds to the 
erection of such barns as these described by Mr. 
Allen. And the windmill, too, is no bad thing ; 
we have been wanting to ascertain the cost and 
character of this motive power. With the im- 
proved machinery of agriculture, a general de- 
mand for " power" has arisen amongst our cul- 
tivators. How valuable to one of our large 
farmers would be a power, with which he could 
shell and grind his corn, thresh his grain, and 
cut the straw. Indeed, the want of such a 
powerdeters mechanics from getting up many 
labor-saving machines, that cannot be used with- 
out it. As for horse-power, we have never seen 
any yet that was adapted to the farmer's pur- 
poses. In twelve months, they are generally 
so out of order, that if constructed for six horses, 
they require four at least to overcome the friction 
of the machine. Water and wind are the free 
gifts of nature, and require neither food nor 
clothing. To be sure, like other free agents, 
they are a little arbitrary in their operations, but 
we doubt not that many, who do not. might 
avail themselves of the one or the other to a 
considerable extent. We know but little about 
windmills, what improvements have been made 
of late, and should be glad to learn the cost of 
erection, the degree of skill required for manage- 
ment, &c. &c. 



OXFORD SAUSAGES. 

The following recipe for making the celebrated 
Oxford Sausages, so much desiderated by the 
lovers of good eating in England, is from a late 
English publication: 

Ingredients. — One pound and a half of pig 
meal cut from the griskins without any skin, 
and a half a pound of veal. One pound and a 
half of beef suet, the yolks and whiles of five 
eerirs. A dessert spoonful of sifted sage, after 
being well dried. Pepper and salt to taste. 

How to wake the above into Sausages. — Chop 
the meat into small pieces and then pound it to- 
gether in a marble rnortar till it is short and 
tender. 

Chop the suet very fine, and when ihe eggs 
are well beaten together, after the white specks 
are taken out, pour the liquid over the pounded 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



29 



meat and chopped suet, well kneading it together 
with a clean hand, throwing in the sifted sage, 
and pepper and salt from a coarsish pepper box 
durinr the operation, so as to let them impreg- 
nate tue whole mass without being predominant 
in any part of it. 

Press the whole when well mixed together 



into a wide mouthed jar, and keep it from the 
air in a cold place. 

Roll the sausages on a flour board and use 
very little grease in frying them, as they will be 
almost fat enough to fry themselves with the 
aid of a frying pan. 



PLOUGH CULTIVATOR 




The above is a perspective view of an imple- 
ment we saw at the North, which we heard 
very highly recommended for the cultivation of 
corn. The Editor of the "Central New York 
Farmer" says it is superseding the common corn 
cultivator wherever it is iniroduced, and gives 
the following description of it : 

"It is very simple in its construction, works 
freely in the soil and does the work much more 
thoroughly than the small teeth in common use. 

"There is little or no improvement in the 
frame except that it is shorter and higher than j 
the common one. 

" The improvement consists in the use of three 
teeth of about four times the size of those in 
use — with false points; the front tooth cuts and 
turns the furrow both ways ; the hind teeth each 
have a land side and false points — for the first 
time dressing of corn the two back teeth are set 
to turn the furrow inwards, that is from the corn, 
and at the second dressing, they are transposed 
so as to turn the furrow towards the corn." 

This cultivator i3 styled "Wood's patpnt." — 
We do not know in what the claim consisis, nor 
do we exactly see that there is novelty in the 
implement sufficient to sustain a patent. 



From the Genesee Farmer. 
NUTRITIVE Q.UALITIES OF CHARCOAL. 

Though the importance of mixing charcoal 
with the food of animals, particularly that of 
swine, has been generally acknowledged, and 
its benefits extensively tested, still it has been 
supposed that it only acted as a corrective to the 
acid tendency of food, and facilitated fattening 
by improving the health of the animal. Some 
experiments are, ; however, on record, which 
would seem to show that charcoal acts a more 
important part in the matter than has been usu- 
ally assigned to it. 

In 1793, a family being driven from New 
York by the fever, were absent six or eight 
weeks before it was deemed prudent to return. 
A number of fowls confined in a loft to the 
workshop of the house, were forgotten at the 
time of leaving, and as it was known that there 
was nothing provided for their subsistence, it 
was expected on the return that they would be 
found starved to death. To the astonishment 
of all, the fowls were found alive and fat, though 
there was nothing upon which they could have 
fed, except a quantity of charcoal and shavings, 
water beins: supplied from the grindstone trough. 

These facts comins: to ihe knowledge of a 
gentleman in New York, as we learn from the 



30 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



Recorder, he instituted the following experiment. 
He placed a turkey in a box or enclosure, four 
feet long, two feet wide, and three feet high, 
excluded light as much as could be done, and 
allowed a free circulation of air, and fed the tur- 
key with soft brick, broken fine, pounded char- 
coal, and six grains of corn per day. The box 
was kept locked. At the end of a month, the 
turkey was killed in the presence of several 
gentlemen, was large and heavy, and on being 
opened was found filled with fat. Nothing, on 
dissection, was found in the gizzard and entrails 
but charcoal and brick. Last winter the expe- 
riment was repeated, and with the same success. 

Several years since, in fitting out one of the 
Liverpool traders at New York, a pig on board 
was missing, and was supposed to have been lost. 
The cargo was taken on board, stowed, and 
the vessel sailed. It was now discovered that 
the pig was alive in the coal hole, but as he 
could not be got at readily, it was concluded to 
leave him to his fate. He remained in this re- 
treat until the passage was made, when his pig- 
ship was found to be not only alive and well, 
but materially improved in condition, though 
there was nothing, coal excepted, he could have 
swallowed. 

When it is remembered that wood, sugar, and 
several other substances, some of which are 
most nutritive, are compounded of nearly the 
same original elements, it would seem possible, 
by animal chemistry, to convert them to saving 
life; though all experiments with which wood 
or charcoal failed. The German chemists have 
converted wood into very palateable bread, by 
roasting and pulverizing; but calcination, it has 
been supposed, would destroy whatever powers 
of nutrition wood might originally contain. — 
The chemical action of vegetables seems to pro- 
duce the least effect on coal, and not the least 
particle of it has ever been found in the struc- 
ture of vegetables, though mixed with the earth 
and water in which plants were growing, in the 
form of the most impalpable powder. Whether 
animal chemistry is able to do what vegetable 
organization cannot, remains to be seen ; though 
if there is no mistake in the statements alluded 
to, it would seem probable that this intractable 
substance is, in some way, made subservient to 
the nutrition of animals. 



AMERICAN MEAT FOR THE ENGLISH 
MARKET. 

The liberality of the new English tariff is 
destined, probably, by unshackling the principles 
of trade, to work great mutual advantage to 
the producers of America and the consumers of 
England. Preparations are now being made to 
supply Great Britain with the surplus produce 
of the beef and pork of our bountiful land, and 



the time perhaps will shortly come, when man 
will cease to put asunder what nature has joined 
together ; when Europe and America will see 
how much it is to their mutual advantage to 
permit the extended production and free inter- 
change of those things to which they are re- 
spectively adapted by climate, soil, and peculiar 
circumstances ; all of which may indubitably 
be effected by simply leaving unshackled the 
common sense and keen self-interest of mankind. 

The " Cincinnati Gazette" says that one es- 
tablishment in that city is packing largely for 
the English market, under the superintendence 
of an experienced packer of Irish pork. The 
same house is also engaged in packing a large 
quantity of leaf lard of snowy whiteness in 
bladders to suit the fastidious taste of our new 
customer. 

The Irish pork and beef, which are unrivalled, 
are said to be cured in a manner very different 
from, and very superior to, our own. A parti- 
cular and complete description of the process, 
which is supposed to be invaluable to the meat 
curers of the United States, is promised in the 
same paper. 

This may be all very good, and we should 
never be too proud to learn, and we do know 
that John Bull has been turning up his nose 
lately at some of our beef and pork that has 
appeared in the English market, but we doubt 
if he has seen the best of it ; it may be because 
of our ignorance, but we are a little sceptical of 
finding any thing better than some hams and 
rounds of American curing of which it has been 
our fortune to partake. We should have liked 
especially to have brought to the notice of this 
imported packer an old shoulder, sent us as a 
Christmas gift by our friend, Mr. Edward Hill, 
of King William. We think he would have 
confessed it equal to any thing he ever saw on 
the other side of the water. 



From the South Western Farmer. 

THE APPLICATION OF HORSE-POWER TO 
MACHINERY. 

It is, I believe, thought by many that horse- 
power should be applied to mills, gins and other 
machinery in the same manner that it is applied 
to drawing ploughs and wheel carriages. This, 
I think, is not entirely correct ; but, that it should 
be applied to both by draught equally is very 
certain. Horses hitched to the plough, as most 
farmers know, perform their labor with the 
greatest ease when hitched low and short, so as 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



31 



to bear a part of the weight of the plough on 
their backs by means of the back band, thus 
very much lessening the friction of the plough 
on the bottom of the furrow. But this is not 
the ca'i-j when horses are made to draw at the 
lever of a gin or mill, where every pound ex- 
erted in any other than a horizontal direction is 
wholly lost ; for it is very evident that if the 
lever or sweep is very low, say one foot high 
only, and the chains hitched 3£ feet on the 
horse's shoulders, and say 7 feet from the lever, 
that about 5-22 of the force of the horse will be 
exerted in an upward direction, and thus nearly 
one-fourth of the power will be entirely lost. — 
Now, to make this plain to the mind of any 
one, suppose the power to be so applied as to 
pull upwards perpendicularly to the walk. We 
see the machine would not incline to move any 
way, (that is, if it is to be drawn by a horizon- 
tal lever;) but incline the direction of the draught 
down half way in the direction which the ma- 
chine is desired to be worked, that is, to an angle 
of 45 degrees with the horizon or walk, and we 
see that half the power applied will be lost only, 
while the remaining half will operate on the 
machine to be moved. 

Hence we may conclude, without the shadow 
of a doubt, that the nearer the direction of the 
daught approaches the level or plane in which 
the lever runs, the more effect the horses or 
power applied will have on the machine to be 
operated upon ; and it will be at its maximum 
or greatest when pulled in the same horizontal 
plane with the lever. 

Hence we see that horses should always be 
hitched to a lever at least as high as their shoul- 
der joint, care being taken to use a belly-band, 
to give the right bearing and direction of the 
chains on the collar and shoulders of the horse. 
And if any one should demur and say a horse 
pulls best when he has some weight on him, let 
such one put an extra weight on him, which 
would be the same to the horse and not diminish 
from but rather increase his power on the ma- 
chine ; but this of course I would not recom- 
mend only to those who cleave to old things 
simply because they are old, or because their 
fathers did so before them — not that I condemn 
old things which are true, for truth, we know, 
is ever the same. 

Remark, horses should be hitched as close to 
the lever a3 will allow the horse sufficient room 
to step, for every inch over this will be attended 
with evident loss ; for suppose hirn to be hitched 
by traces long enough to admit him to be on the 
opposite side of the walk, or nearly so, we see 
that instead of the traces pulling round the cir- 
cular walk, they would take a direction across 
it, and pull more or less against the end of the 
lever, and in a direction with its length. So, it 
is clear that the shorter practice will allow a 
horse to be hitched the better, and vice versa. 



The second error in use is making the circu- 
lar walk too small. A walk should never be 
less than twenty-five feet in diameter unless it 
be for a turning lathe or some very light ma- 
chinery, when it can possibly be avoided. Thir- 
ty-six feet diameter makes an excellent walk ; 
but the larger that practice will allow, the better, 
if it were fifty or sixty feet. But, making a 
just compromise between the greatest advantage 
to be gained from the proportion and dimensions 
of horse-propelled machinery and its expense, I 
think we may safely range from thirty to forty 
feet — forty feet diameter perhaps makes the very 
best walk. 

The nearer a horse pulls in a line at a right 
angle or in a tangent to the circumference of 
the circle described by the lever, the greater will 
be his power ; but the smaller the walk, the fur- 
ther he will be out of this line ; and the greater 
the walk, the nearer he will be to pulling in it. 
Hence, the greater the walk, the more power he 
can exert. 

This is a subject upon which we profess to 
have a little knowledge, and we do not hesitate 
fully to endorse the above clear and excellent 
remarks upon the construction of horse-powers. 
We would add that a very important rule in 
bevil gearing, and one that is too frequently ne- 
glected, is, that the horizontal shaft should be 
exactly level, and should be so situated, that, if 
extended, its centre would pass immediately 
through the centre of the upright shaft. From 
the fact of this shaft's being " out of true," we 
have frequently seen a power that required two 
horses to keep it in motion, consequently, when 
four were attached to it, only two were employed 
in working the machine ; the other two were in 
fact engaged in grinding against one another 
the cogs of the bevil wheels. 



DISTEMPER IN DOGS. 

We published in a late number a remedy for 
this disease, copied from the Southern Planter. 
We have often succeeded in curing the disease, 
by administering doses of salt as recommended 
therein ; we have, however, whenever we dis- 
covered a constipation of the bowels to super- 
vene, given every other day boluses of castile 
soap, with the very best effects. If castile soap 
cannot be had, brown soap will answer equally 
well, the object being action upon the intestinal 
viscera. In obstinate cases, where the discharge 
from the nostrils is obstructed, or the cough heavy 
and tight, we have always found the patient 
greatly relieved by introducing a seton in the 
loose skin just back of the head ; which opera- 
tion is performed by threading a coarse darning 



32 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



needle with a double thread of coarse yarn, and 
running it through the skin and confining it by 
a tie. The thread must be moved every morn- 
ing to keep up irritation, and encourage a dis- 
charge of the viscid matter, which should be 
daily washed off with a little warm water and 
soap. — American Fanner. 



CORN FOR HAY. 

We hope our planters will take measures, 
during the coming season, to make experiments 
from which we may obtain full and satisfactory 
reports of the value of this new and plausible 
mode of cultivating our old favorite. The di- 
rections are, to sow the corn broadcast, about 
four bushels to the acre, upon a rich well tilled 
lot — cover lightly with a small plough, and 
either use it green for soiling, or, what is proba- 
bly better, permit it to proceed to maturity until 
the years or nubbins get into the milky state, 
then cut and cure it as hay — pack it away with 
salt, and pass it all through the cutting box. 

For turning in as a green crop, it is said to 
be superior to any thing known to our climate 
and soil. 



From the Farmers' Gazette. 
STABLES— LITTER, &c. 

Mr. Editor, — The chief business of the far- 
mer, through the long winter months now at 
hand, will be the care and attention of his stock ; 
and we hope that every careful and judicious 
farmer will have provided himself with conve- 
nient sheds and stables, for the comfort and 
health of his animals through the cold winter 
months. "A merciful man is merciful to his 
beasts," and any farmer who will neglect and 
starve his animals at this season, is not worthy 
the name of a farmer. 

Stalls for cattle should be kept warm, and 
well ventilated, and should be cleaned every 
morning after the cattle are turned out. Another 
important point is, to have your stalls well lit- 
tered with straw, cut from three to four inches 
in length ; and as rye straw is mostly used by 
us for litter, in Connecticut, — we hope that no 
farmer, after trial, will think of littering his sta- 
bles with long straw, without being cut up. 

When a large quantity of straw is thrown 
into the hog pen, to be mixed with rich loam, or 
muck, it should be cut up, and then the swine 
will work the whole mass together, and in the 
spring you can fork it out easy, without pulling, 
or tearing, as is the case when whole straw is 
put in. 

Last winter, being short for straw, we went 
to the woods, and carted home leaves with which 



we littered our stables. It made a soft bed for 
our cattle to lie upon, and when thrown out, it 
made good manure for any kind of crop. 

It is a good plan, where manure is thrown out 
into a heap, to spread it about the yard ; as 
when it is left in a heap till spring, it is apt to 
heat and mould, — and this is the case in parti- 
cular with horse manure. 

Every farmer knows, that manure kept under 
shelter, is worth about double that which is left 
out, to be washed by the rains, and undergo the 
action of freezing and thawing. This being 
the case, it will be well in constructing barns, 
either to have a barn cellar for the manure, or 
where this is not convenient, let the stables be 
made wide enough, to throw the manure back 
in a space, of sufficient width to back in a cart, 
and carry out the manure in the spring. 

The practice of stacking out hay about the 
farm, has justly been condemned by all good 
farmers. It is calculated, in stacking out hay, 
to be fed to cattle, from a quarter, to a third of 
the hay is wasted, and besides that, the loss of 
manure, the leanness and suffering of the cattle, 
from cold and exposure, and the time spent in 
foddering them, makes it all a bad business from 
beginning to end. We will suppose a farmer, 
in a cold winter's morning, after a driving snow 
storm, to set out for a distant stack on his farm, to 
fodderhiscattle,andafter beating hisway through 
the snow for half an hour, he at last arrives 
at the hay stack. But what a picture presents 
itself, there stand his cattle, by the side of a rail 
fence, their only shelter, with their hind feet 
drawn up so near their fore ones, that they can 
stand on the bigness of a shingle, shivering and 
shaking with cold. If this will not stir up the 
feelings of a man, then I know not what will, 
especially if he be a man of nervous tempera- 
ment. If any reader of the Gazette should be 
in this predicament, the present winter, we hope 
they will make up their minds, that before an- 
other winter comes, they will provide good sheds 
and stables for all their stock. 

If you are under the necessity of stacking 
out part of your hay ; then bring it up and stack 
it around 3'our barn-yard, where you can take it 
to your cattle in their sheds and stables. But 
what is better than all, provide yourself with 
extra barnroom and stabling for all your hay 
and cattle. It will pay you ten per cent, on the 
capital laid out, in the saving of hay, and ma- 
nure, and the comfort, good order, and health of 
your animals. 

And now, brother farmers, as the year is about 
drawing to a close, let us not forget to return 
our sincere thanks to the great Giver of all good, 
from whence all our blessings come; lhat he 
has not only spared our unprofitable lives,but that 
He has crowned our labors wiih success ; that 
He has filled our barns, and store houses, with 
plenty of food for both man and beast, and that 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



33 



He has brought peace, comfort, and happiness to 
our houses and our firesides. 

Yours, &c. L. Durand. 

Derby, Dec. 27, 1842. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 
In the renewal of subscriptions we have re- 
ceived a great many accompanying remarks 
and criticisms upon the conduct and manage- 
ment of the paper. These we were much 
pleased to obtain ; first, because they were in 
the highest degree friendly and laudatory, and 
secondly, because they afforded us some index 
of the public taste to which it is our business to 
cater. However variant and discordant might 
be the advice thus gratuitously bestowed upon 
us, the general tenor of these communications 
confirmed us in the popularity of the principle 
upon which the Planter was founded, viz : that 
the farmer wants a paper in which he may find 
a short, clear, and condensed description of the 
practical discoveries and improvements in his 
profession. Circumstances of a character which 
no one but an Editor can appreciate, have forced 
us, sometimes, to admit disquisitions of a gen- 
eral and theoretical nature, against our better 
judgment, and universally, we believe, to the 
dissatisfaction of our readers. Now in com- 
mencing the third volume, we take the liberty 
of saying to our correspondents, to whom we 
lie under a load of obligations, that we desire 
to confine our disquisitions to short statements 
of practical facts. Not that we mean to depre- 
ciate the value of scientific essays and theoreti- 
cal discussions ; they are excellent in their place, 
but our paper is not the place for them. Our 
little sheet can be filled with what we conceive 
to be more to the taste, aye, and if you will, 
more to the advantage of the every day farmer. 
Whenever scientific investigations have resulted 
in the establishment of well settled practical 
principles we shall be most happy to receive 
and report thern to our readers. We moreover 
wish it to be distinctly understood, that we 
claim, and intend to exercise over our communi- 
cations, the most despotic power, condensing, 
erasing, extracting, &c. &c. at our sovereign 
will and pleasure ; and those who are not will- 
ing to subject their contributions to this arbitrary 
arrangement, had better seek some other chan- 
nel of communication. We do not know that 
we 3hall exactly adopt the advice of a correspond- 
ent, who recommends us to insert no piece longer 
Vol. III.— 5 



than his hand, of which, by the bye, he did not 
send the measurement, but we are determined 
to act upon the knowledge we have acquired, 
that pieces to be read must be as short as their 
nature will admit. The very great trouble and 
labor incident to this plan of condensation, we 
are willing and ready to incur. 



RECIPE FOR MAKING GOOD BREAD. 

James Roche, long celebrated in Baltimore, 
as a baker of excellent bread, having retired 
from business, has furnished the Baltimore Ame- 
rican with the following recipe for making good 
bread, with a request that it should be published 
for the information of the public : 

" Take an earthen vessel, larger at the top 
than the bottom, and in it put one pint of milk- 
warm water, one and a half pounds of flour, 
and half a pint of malt yeast ; mix them well 
together, and set it away, (in winter it should 
be in a warm place,) until it rises and falls again, 
which will be in from three to five hours, (it 
may be set at night if wanted in the morning ;) 
then put two large spoonfuls of salt into two 
quarts of water, and mix it well with the above 
rising; then put in about nine pounds of flour 
and work your dough well, and set it by until 
it becomes light 1 Then make it out in loaves. 
New flour requires one-fourth more salt than old 
and dry flour. The water also should be tem- 
pered according to the weather ; in spring and 
fall it should only be milk- warm ; in hot weather, 
cold ; and in winter, warm." 



FOOT-ROT IN SHEEP. 

Mr. R. North, Jr. in a note to the Editors of 
the Cultivator, says, after trying several recipes 
for the foot-rot in sheep, which he had seen re- 
commended in their paper, to very little or no 
purpose, he discovered by mere accident a cheap 
and sure cure, without much trouble or injury 
to the sheep, viz : " take a k\v bushels of lime, 
and put it near some place over which the sheep 
have to pass, say the bars ; and as it is natural 
for sheep to jump, take notice where they alight, 
and place the lime there, about three inches 
deep. This did effectually cure my flock in 
about one week. The lime should be fresh and 
slacked, and not less than three inches deep ; if 
deeper, it might take the hair off the leg above 
the hoof." 



GRAIN FOR SEED. 

The late Professor Sprengel, of Germany, 

is said to have remarked that his best seed wheat 

grew on some of his most inferior land, and that 

it was by no means the best for making bread. 



34 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



This circumstance lead to some investigations 
which resulted in the discovery, that an excess 
of gluten, which gives value 10 the grain for 
manufacturing purposes, prevents the conversion 
of the starch into sugar, so necessary for the 
nourishment of the plant in germination. Limed 
lands produce good grain for seed, but if too 
highly manured, although the corn or wheat 
may be more abundant, and better for food, it 
will produce a less vigorous plant than seed 
grown upon poor land. Sandy soils in general, 
says the Professor, do not furnish good seed 
grain, inasmuch as such grain is deficient in 
certain substances, as lime, magnesia, &c. essen- 
tial, na}', indispensable, to the perfect develop- 
ment of the germ. 



CULTIVATION OP CORN. 

We are pleased to lay before our readers the 
remarks of Mr. Young in regard to the cultiva- 
tion of corn, and we are happy to find that he 
intends to say something more on the general 
management of his farm. Our readers may re- 
member the short account we gave some time 
ago of a conversation we held with him, wherein 
we stated that he had produced one hundred and 
ninety-five bushels of corn to the acre, and that his 
crop in the dryest seasons does not fall short of 
one hundred bushels to the acre. We have no he- 
sitation in saying that his mode of cultivation 
comes nearer to the perfect one than any yet 
published. He has produced larger crops than 
any one else; and his mode admits of cultiva- 
tion of a larger number of acres to the hand. — 
He will give us, we hope, in his next, an ac- 
count of his system of manuring and putting 
his land down in grass. 

To the Editors of the Louisville Journal. 

Ceylon, Jessamine Co., Ky., April 26, 1842. 
Perceiving in your paper a call upon me as 
to my method of farming, and more particularly 
as to my method of cultivating corn, I hasten 
to comply. Your recollection of our conversa- 
tion upon the subject of fanning is good, though 
not entirely correct. As corn has been my sta- 
ple, I begin with that first. My universal rule 
is to plough my corn land the fall preceding the 
spring when I plant As early in the spring as 
possible, I cross-plough as deep as circumstances 
will permit. As soon as the ground is cross- 
ploughed, I commence checking off the first 
way with my large ploughs, and the second 
with my small ones — the checks three feet by 
three. This being completed, I commence plant- 
ing the way it was first checked, thereby making 
the checks diagonally straight ; the advantage 
of which is, that the corn can be ploughed 



equally well Loth waj's — a circumstance j'ou 
rarely observe even among our best farmers. — 
With this portion of my crop planted, I proceed 
to the next, and so on throughout inj' crop. 
You here perceive, the advantage of this system 
of planting is, that the first field planted will be 
in condition to work by the time the last is 
planted. My planting season is from the 2Qth to 
the 25th of March — a rule to lohich I adhere with 
scrupulous exactness ; planting from eight to twelve 
grains in each hill, covering the same from, four to 
six inches deep — I greatly prefer the latter depth ; 
and, in this particular, I take more pride and 
more pains than any other farmer in Kentucky. 
I hold it as my ruling principle, that the product of 
the corn crop depends very much on its being pro- 
perly covered, and much on its being properly 
ploughed the- first time. So soon as my corn is 
up of sufficient height, of which any farmer can 
judge, I start the large harrow directly over the 
rows; allowing a horse to walk each side, har- 
rowing the way it was planted. On land pre- 
pared as above, and harrowed as directed, the 
hoeing part will be so completely peiformed by 
this process that it will satisfy the most scepti- 
cal. Allowing the corn thus harrowed tore- 
main a few days, 1 start my small ploughs u ith 
the bar next the corn ; and, so nicely will this 
be done, that, when a row is thus ploughed, so 
completely will the intermediate spaces, hill, &c. 
be lapped in by the loose dirt occasioned by this 
system of close ploughing, as to render other 
work useless at the present. JVoio for the thin- 
ning part, for I profess to knoio nothing about re- 
planting. I thin to four stalks in a hill. This 
process may now be easily performed; taking 
advantage of the close ploughing, the portion 
to be pulled up yields very kindly at this parti- 
cular stage. The second ploughing is performed 
with the mouldboard next to the corn. Fo rapid 
has been the growth of the corn from the first 
to the second ploughing", that it is peiformed 
with perfect ease. In this stage I consider my 
crop safe. My general rule is never to plough 
corn more than four times, and harrow once. — 
My practice is to put a field in corn two successive 
years, and then grass it, and let it lie eight years — 
a rule from which I never deviate. I do con- 
tend that the labor bestowed upon a sod field to 
put it in a stale of thorough cultivation does not 
meet with a fair equivalent from one crop. T 
presume no farmer will doubt when I say the 
second year's crop from sod land is as good as 
the first — I say better, with not more than half 
the amount of labor. The best system of farm- 
ing is to produce the gteatest amount of profit 
from the smallest amount of labor. 

J" lay it down as an axiom incontrovertible, in the 
cultivation of corn, that whenever a large crop has 
been raised, it was the result of close and early 
planting, and I defy proof to the contrary. I 
propose, to all tenacious gentlemen-farmers and 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



35 



d Uien ascertain how man}' hills there is in a 
3(Sr sixteen hills square, which is the usual 



01 hers, whose curiosity leads ihem to try figures ; 
they will not lie. I plant my corn three feet by 
three, four stalks in a hill, allowing but one ear 
to the stalk, and one hundred ears 10 the bushel 
and ■' 
sho< 

custom of putting it up. There will then be 
from fifteen to sixteen shocks to the acre — query, 
how much to the shock 1 My present crop bids 
fair to outstrip any preceding one. It was planted 
on the 20th of March. I am ploughing and 
thinning the first planting. More of this anon. 
Walter C. Young. 



POTATOES. 

M. Bellairy Aubert, of France, states, as the 
result of experiments continued during three 
seasons, that abundant crops of potatoes may 
be grown in poor claj'ey soils, by simply strew- 
ing the sets plentifully with rye-chaff previous 
to covering them with earth at planting. 

Professor Voelker, of Erfwet, covers his po- 
tato sets with a layer of lanners' spent bark, 
two or three inches thick, before turning a fur- 
row over them. He says he thus provides a 
loose spungy bed for the young tubers ; prevents 
weeds from springing up and growing in imme- 
diate contact with the plants; and secures an 
abundant supply of moisture during the season, 
if but one soaking rain occur after planting — 
as the spent bark, covered by the surface soil, 
will retain water during the most protracted 
drought. — Genesee Farmer. 

We knew a gentleman once, who planted his 
potato sets upon the surface of hard, well tram- 
pled ground, and covered them over with wheat 
straw, about twelve inches deep. His crops 
were excellent, and besides saving the labor of 
cultivation, he enjoyed the advantage of being 
able to feel for and pluck the full grown pota- 
toes, leaving the young tubers to come to ma- 
turity. 



VALUE OF URINE AS MANURE. 
Experiments of C. Alexander. 

The following extract transferred from the 
Farmers' Magazine to that spirited and valuable 
agricultural work, Young's Letters of Agricola, 
i3 so important and instructive that 1 subjoin it: 

"This intelligent firmer, Charles Alexander, 
near Peebles, Scotland, had long been impressed 
with the great importance of the urine of cattle 
as a manure ; and he set about to discover, by 
a long and well conducted series of experiments, 
the best, method of collecting and applying it. 
He began by digging a pit contiguous to the 
feeding-stall, but distinct altogether from that 



which was appropriated for the reception of the 
dung. The dimensions of this pit, according 
to his own account, were 36 feet square, and 4 
feet deep, surrounded on all sides by a wall ; 
and the solid contents were 1 92 yards. Having 
selected the nearest spot where he could find 
loamy earth, and this he always took from the 
surface of some field under cultivation, he pro- 
ceeded to fill it; and found that, with three men 
and two horses, he could easily accomplish 28 
cubic yards per day ; and the whole expense of 
transporting the earth did not exceed £41 16s. 
When the work was complete, he levelled the 
surface of the heap, in a line with the mouth of 
the sewer, which conducted the urine from the 
interior of the building, on purpose that it might 
be distributed with regularity, and might saturate 
the whole from top to bottom. The quantity 
conve3'ed to it, he estimates at about 800 gallons ; 
but as this calculation was founded partly on 
conjecture, for he measured not the liquor, it will 
be belter and more instructive to furnish the 
data, that are certain and incontrovertible. — 
The urine was supplied by 14 cattle, weighing 
about 24 stone each, and kept there for five 
months on fodder and turnips. The contents of 
the pit produced 288 loads, allowing 2 cubic 
yards to be taken out in three carts ; and he 
spread 40 of these on each acre, so that this 
urine in five months, and from fourteen cattle, 
produced a compost sufficient for the fertilization 
of seven acres of land. He states further, that 
he had tried this experiment for ten years, and 
had indiscriminately used in the same field either 
the rotted cow dung, or the saturated earth ; and 
in all the stages of the crop, he had never been 
able to discover any perceptible difference. But 
what is still more wonderful, he found that his 
compost lasted in its effects as many years a3 
his best putrescent manure; and he therefore 
boldly avers, that a load of each is of equiva- 
lent value. 

" Conclusions of vast importance are deduci- 
ble from this statement ; and I cannot resist the 
feeling, of placing ihem in a strong and advan- 
tageous light. They speak a volume of in- 
struction ; and if we are willing to learn, they 
must lead to a very material alteration in the 
construction of our barns. It appears, then, that 
in five months, each cow discharges urine which, 
when absorbed by loam, furnishes manure of the 
richest quality, and most durable effects, for half 
an acre of ground. The dung-pit, which con- 
tained all the excrernentitious matter of the 14 
cattle, as well as the litter employed in bedding 
them, and which was kept separate for the pur- 
pose of experiment, only furnished during the 
same period 240 loads, and these, at the same 
rate, could only manure six acres. The aggre- 
gate value of the urine therefore, when com- 
pared with that of the dung, was in the ratio of 
seven to six ; so that we are borne out by these 



36 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



premises in this extraordinary inference, that the 
putrescible liquor which in this province, and 
under the management of our farmers, is wasted 
and annihilated as far as regards any useful 
purpose, is intrinsically worth more than the 
dung, as an efficacious and permanent dressing : 



and if we take into consideration, that this latter 
manure is not treated with any skill and judg- 
ment, it will not seem surprising, that the cul- 
ture of white crops has never been carried here 
to any extent, since we have despised and ne- 
glected the only means of creating them." 



CORN FORK 




The importance of the crop and the appro- 
priateness of the season, will excuse our "going 
it strong" in the present number upon the sub- 
ject of CORN. 

Mr. Augustus Shriver made a report to the 
American Farmer, last fall, of a crop of eighty- 
five bushels of corn to the acre. This the Edi- 
tor seems to consider a very astonishing yield 
for any land in the State of Maryland, and con- 
ceiving that it could be effected only by extra- 
ordinary management, calls on Mr. Shriver for 
his mode of cultivation. To this call Mr. Shri- 
ver responds as follows : 

'Now to the mode of cultivation I have 
adopted for several years with the most satisfac- 
tory results. I ploughed the field, which is a 
light gravelly limestone soil, being a tough blue 
grass and clover sward, about the first of last 
November, to the depth of nine inches; harrowed 
it the 6th of April, lengthwise the furrow ; the 
ground being at that time remarkably light and 
mellow. Manured it with fresh barn-yard ma- 
nure, at the rate of fifteen five-horse wagon loads 
per acre. I spread and plough in my manure 
immediately after the wagon. The manure was 
turned under but about two inches deep. I like 
to keep it as near the surface as possible, so that 
it is out of the reach of absorption from the rays 



of the sun. Harrowed the ground lightly with 
the ploughing, and laid off the rows five feet 
distant, running the rows north and south. I 
had boys to drop, and I directed them to drop it 
a good step, (about twenty-six inches,) and from 
five to seven grains in a hill. This may seem 
close ; but if you take into consideration the 
width of the rows, the distance between four 
hills will be something upwards of ten square 
feet. I am convinced that if corn has a free 
circulation of air one way, it can be planted al- 
most as thick as it can stand the other. I did 
not harrow the field in question, which I always 
had done, heretofore, as soon as the corn is up, 
and plaster. The season being so wet at the 
time, I did not like to work it ; when the ground 
was sufficiently dry the plants were too high for 
a large harrow to pass over them, and having 
but a poor opinion of the one-horse harrow, I 
treated my crop as follows : 

"1. Cultivated it June 1st and 2d, merely 
setting up what corn was covered, going three 
times in each row. 

" 2. June 7th and Sth, cultivated it as before, 
thinning it down to four stalks, and if a hill had 
less, left enough stalks around it to make up 
the deficiency. Gave it a thorough hoeing, that 
is, chopped away the old hill and gave it fresh 
ground, cutting up every spear of grass. 

"3. Ploughed it with shovel ploughs June 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



37 



13th, 14th, 15th, going four times in each row, 
throwing the ground well up to the corn. Hav- 
ing given it a good hoeing before, it was quite 
clean, and might have done without it this time. 
However, I made my hands follow the ploughs 
and le^yl off around and between the hills. 

" 4th, and last time, I used a large iron fork 
with three prongs, about fourteen inches long, 
attached to a shovel plough. I prefer this im- 
plement to the cultivator for the last working, 
as it cultivates the ground deeper, and can be 
run nearer the corn without injury. 

" The last working I consider of the most 
importance ; by leaving the surface level and 
well pulverized, you insure to the roots every 
advantage in searching out for nourishment. — 
Nothing, in my opinion, is so much calculated 
to check the growth of corn as leaving deep 
furrows in the rows. We all know that the 
roots of corn extend for many feet around the 
hill, and also that their depth in the soil is regu- 
lated by the season. Knowing this to be the 
fact, how can it be otherwise when a root comes 
in contact with a deep furrow, than that it has 
to turn down into the cold uncultivated ground, 
and as a natural consequence, the stalk becomes 
sickly and decrepit. I have often been surprised 
that intelligent fanners should continue to have 
their fields gutted, by having so many ditches 
running through them, extracting the substance 
from the soil, when a moment's reflection would 
have convinced them of the absurdity of the 
system. 

" One great advantage of the mode which I 
have adopted, is, that the manure is applied in 
the spring, while it is yet warm, and contains 
all the gases and salts ; a great part of which 
it loses by remaining in the yard subject to the 
absorption of the atmosphere, not to mention the 
great loss sustained by the heavy spring and 
summer showers. Whether manure loses as 
much by being applied in the spring to corn, as 
it does by remaining in the yard till fall, is, in 
my opinion, a very doubtful point. I believe it 
is a general opinion that corn does not require 
the same kind, or at least does not extract that 
portion of the manure which is more particu- 
larly adapted to wheat ; hence I have concluded, 
that taking a crop of corn does not impair its 
capabilities for producing a crop of wheat ; but, 
the contrary, prepares it for wheat by having it 
fully incorporated with the soil." 

In a subsequent number, Mr. Shriver gives a 
drawing (of which our engraving is a copy) 
and the following description of the fork alluded 
to above : 

"Fig. 1, represents a front view of the fork 
itself, which is made of iron 3 inches by \ inch ; 
the teeth should be 14 inches long, and the whole 
fork 16 inches broad. The middle prong must 



be made very strong when it is attached to the 
leg. 

" Fig. 2, is the plough with the fork appended 
to it. It is attached to the plough by ten screws, 
the same as a shovel. In rocky ground there 
is great strain on the outside prongs occasionally, 
and to obviate this difficulty I had them secured 
by half inch rods, screwed to the outer prongs 
four inches from the upper corner, and secured to 
the beam by staples. The points of the prongs 
are made in the shape of cultivator teeth. If 
you think this implement worthy of notice in 
your valuable paper, you are at liberty to use it 
in any manner you please. 

Yours truly, Augs. Shriver." 



STAYS. 
McPherson, in his work on China, after de- 
scribing the singular and unnatural process to 
which the foot of the Chinese lady is subjected, 
sarcastically remarks, "It would be as difficult 
to account for the origin of this barbarous prac- 
tice of the Chinese, as for that of squeezing the 
waists of English women out of all natural 
shape by stays, or flattening the heads among 
the natives on the Columbia." We hardly 
think it fair to place the three in the same cate- 
gory, for whilst the civilized habit of lacing is 
equally ridiculous, it is much more injurious to 
the health, than the other two. 



For the Southern Planter. 
RTJTA BAGA. 

Messrs. Editors, — In my communication on 
the culture of the white carrot, I promised to 
give you my method of cultivating, and the pro- 
duct of my field of Ruta Bagas. 

The piece you saw when at my farm, "con- 
tained about three and a half acres, and had 
lain in pasture a number of years ; it was care- 
fully turned over in the fall of 1840 ; and in the 
spring following, cross-ploughed and harrowed, 
and laid out in furrows two and a half feet apart, 
and planted with potatoes. The knolls, which 
incline more to sand, were manured with horn- 
shavings and hogs' bristles, one handful to each 
set. Twelve rows through the middle were 
manured with salt mackerel, which were spoiled, 
half a fish to every set. It was an unfavorable 
season for potatoes, a severe drought in the sum- 
mer having injured their growth. The rows 
manured with the salt fish, I noticed, stood the 
drought much better than any other part of the 
field ; vines large and of a dark healthy color, 
when the others were brown and shrivelled, and 
on digging we found them of a large and even 
size, and of excellent quality, and the yield far 
better than any other part of the field. 



38 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



Last winter, I purchased twenty-six two-horse 
loads of the refuse of a glue factory, consisting of 
lime, bones, woo), hair, and pieces of pelt, some 
of which had lain for two or three j'ears. To 
twenty loads of this I added forty loads of yard 
manure, and had it well mixed. In the spring 
it was ploughed seven inches deep, and left until 
the middle of June, when the manure was hauled 
on and evenly spread, which covered all except 
about three-quarters of an acre, on which was 
put six loads of the factory refuse, without any 
yard manure. The piece was then ploughed 
and harrowed, thoroughly mixing the soil and 
manure. It was then thrown into ridges twenty- 
seven inches apart, the same as for the carrots; 
tops flattened with the roller, and seed deposited 
with the drill, (Bemenl's,) on the 18th of June. 

On that part of the field where the yard ma- 
nure was applied, the plants made their appear- 
ance on the fourth day after sowing, while on 
that part where the refuse of the glue factory 
was put, they showed very few plants until the 
tenth day, and then the}' were sickly in appear- 
ance, and grew so tardily that the flea devoured 
them about as fast as they made their appear- 
ance. In fact, we were obliged to transplant to 
fill up vacancies, on the whole three-quarters of 
an acre — showing most conclusively the ruta 
bagas require a quick and active manure to give 
them an earl}' start, to get them out of the way 
of their greatest enemy, the turnip flea or beetle. 

On the 18th of July, the cultivator was run 
between the rows, and they were thinned with 
the hoe in the same manner as the carrots, leav- 
ing the plants from eight to ten inches apart in 
the drills. In August, the cultivator was again 
run through them, and they were hoed at inter- 
vals when convenient. Nothing more was done 
to them until we commenced pulling in Novem- 
ber. The crop measured 2,355 bushels. I will 
here remark, that when the salt fish was used 
the year previous, it was strikingly visible, at 
some distance; the tops being of a darker hue, 
hiirher, and more vigorous, and they continued 
so through the summer, and on raising we found 
them thicker and longer in the neck and smaller 
in the bulb, showing that salt will increase the 
top at the expense of the bottom. 

The greater part of the crop was stowed in a 
cellar — the remainder was put in heaps, in the 
field, fur feeding my ewes when they have lambs 
in the spring. The heaps are made in the fol- 
lowing manner, which I never knew to fail, 
when they were properly attended to. A trench 
six feet wide, of any length required, and one 
fool deep, is dug in a dry situation, generally on 
a knoll; the roots are thrown into this trench 
and piled up in the form of a roof. A coat of 
straight straw of from ei^ht to ten inches in 
thickness, is put on in such a position as to con- 
duct the water off, if any should reach it. Earth 
is now thrown on by digging a trench around 



the heap, beginning at the bottom and going 
around until the whole is covered. The earth 
will press the straw, which prevents its running 
through to the roots. A coat of ten to twelve 
inches, in this climate is sufficient for our com- 
mon winters. The trench will prevent the wa- 
ter from getting into the heap. There is more 
danger of getting the covering too thick than 
too thin. I have suffered more from heat than 
frost. After the earth is all put on, it should be 
carefully clapped down with the spade, to make 
it more effectually shed the rains. After a few 
days I take a crowbar and thrust it in the lop 
along the ridge down into the heap, no matter 
if it breaks some of the roots, and open holes 
about three feet apart, to let the gas or vapor 
off, which is generated by a partial fermentation. 
A flat stone, raised a little, on one edge set up an 
inch or two, or a wisp of straw may be put into 
the holes to prevent the rain from getting in, 
which completes the work for the winter. 

With me the ruta baga is a valuable crop. — ■ 
They afford the greatest quantity of food, for my 
stock, from an acre, while they seem to exhaust 
the land less and leave it in the best possible 
condition for a succeeding crop. It is too rich 
for oats, but well calculated for barley, and clo- 
ver seed always "takes" well, sown with it. I 
feed them to my cattle, sheep, hogs, (boi'ed,) 
and occasionally to my horses. For calves, the 
first winter, they are very valuable, keeping 
their bowels open and loose ; they will grow and 
thrive without running too much to fat; their 
coats smooth and gloss}', and continue to grow 
through the winter, and "go to grass" in fine 
condition, by which thoy gain at least six months 
in their growth over those wintered in the loo 
common and ordinary way. Heifers wintered 
in the above manner will answer to come in at 
two years old. 1 have one now in my yard that 
will not be two }'ears old until January next ; 
she had a calf last March, and has been milked 
ever since, and I cannot perceive that her growth 
has been retarded in consequence, and she is now 
as large as common three year olds. 

C. N. Bement. 

There is a simplicity, perspicuity, minuteness, 
and exactness in Mr. Bement's reports of agri- 
cultural experiments, worthy the imitation of all 
those who would assist in the collection and 
dissemination of agricultural facts. 



PEACHES AND GRAPES. 

Great difficulty has been experienced in this 
region, in raising peaches and giapes. We 
were informed by a gentleman who lately visited 
New Haven, Connecticut, that a plan has been 
adopted there, which secures to them an abun- 
dant supply of peaches and grapes. The plan 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



39 



is to place a barrel round ihe tree or vine in ihe 
winter, and fill it with snow well pressed down, 
and leave it until the whole has melted away. 
The tree and the grape vine are thus prevented 
from putting- forth early, and escape the early 
frosts, \«|iich in this region, is a matter of great 
difficulty. It is certainly worthy of an experi- 
ment. The notices in our paper, of the delicious 
peaches raised at Utica this season, encourage 
us to hope, that we may yet have an abundance 
of this choice fruit. — Massachusetts Ploughman. 



For the Southern Planter. 
VALUE OF SEASONING FIRE-WOOD, &c. 
We make the following extract from a letter 
received from Mr. George W. Craven, of Al- 
bemarle. We shall be very happy to have a 
description of his tobacco fixtures, which we 
doubt not would be highly interesting and in- 
structive to a large class of our readers. 

" Perhaps, gentlemen, I can throw out a useful 
bint (whilst I sit by a cheerful seasoned wood 
fire,) on the importance, comfort, and saving of 
labor by having seasoned wood instead of gieen. 
In the first place, it does not require more than 
half the labor to load and unload, and half the 
l.ibor to haul, which is no small consideration. 
And then half the quantity of seasoned wood 
makes as good a lire; for two or three, sticks of 
seasoned wood makes a good fire, and you get 
the benefit of the whole of it, as none goes off 
in smoke to make foul chimneys. For smoke 
is nothing more nor less than unconsurned fuel. 
Therefore, I would advise all farmers to cut their 
fuel the winter before it is used ; split it and set 
it up. If for market, no one that considers com- 
fort and economy will object to it because it is 
seasoned. Jt is a fact, that any wood, when 
seasoned, makes a good fire, whereas, there are 
many kinds of green wood that make an into- 
lerable one. For instance, pine wood green will 
scarcely burn at all — when seasoned, it makes 
a respectable fire. All kinds of timber are better 
for being seasoned. If farmers would cut and 
split their stakes there would be no need of burn- 
ing. Fencing and hauling is more expeditiously 
done when the rails are seasoned. I consider 
one of the greatest secrets in farming is a judi- 
cious saving and application of labor in the va- 
rious operations of the farm. For labor saved 
is money made. I have spent some fifty dollars 
in ihe last twelve months (as hard as the times 
are) in labor-saving machines, and consider the 
money not badly spent. In the first place, it 
occurred to roe that a great savimr of lime and 
labor might be made in the tedious process of 
shelling corn by hand. I therefore had a ma- 
chine made with no extra work but a whirl for 
the machine band to run on, cost, $12 50. I 



can in ten minutes detach my machine (thresh- 
ing box) and attach my corn sheller, and in a 
day, I can shell corn sufficient to last man and 
beast for a month or more, with but two horses 
and two men and a boy to chive. I also had a 
straw cutter mode with the same extra work, a 
whirl, cost $25, which I can attach to the same 
machine in five minutes, and cut straw enough 
in one rainy day to last several weeks fur some 
twelve head of horses, and as many cattle. So 
you see it is not only a saving of labor but you 
do it all in bad weather with but few hands. — 
And then when the weather is fair, I have no 
hindrance of this kind to delay my work, but 
go right ahead, from morning until night, and 
no slopping to shell corn and cut feed. I cut 
up every thing for my horses (or rather I make 
them do it) and I never allow a ear of corn to 
go in their troughs until it is ground and mixed 
with some kind of cut straw or chaff. In the 
winter months, I have my servants' breakfast 
prepared for lhem while they are feeding, so 
that they do not go to work before sun-up in 
cold weather, which I consider a saving of time, 
for thej' cannot do much in cold weather before 
breakfast. 

" I have been at considerable expense in the 
last year in constructing buildings and other 
fixtures for the more convenient management of 
the tobacco crop, and 1 flatter myself that I 
have, in a measure, succeeded, which if you 
consider of sufficient interest, I would furnish 
3'ou with, together with the process of managing 
this troublesome but profitable crop, 
your sincere well-wisher, 

George W. Craven." 



DRIVING CATTLE. 

I have often witnessed the infliction of cruel- 
ties on dumb beasts accused of sullenness, by 
persons attempting to lead or drive an animal 
alone. This subject was brought to my mind 
so forcibly a few days since, by a neighbor send- 
ing a boy to lead a heifer a distance of several 
mile?, by a rope attached to her horns and nose, 
that I determined to write a line upen it. The 
restiveness of cattle in such cases is caused by 
skin ishness. The remedy is simple and effi- 
cient. Fasien a board before the face, in the 
usual manner of blinding breach) - caltle, and 
the wildest cow or heifer may be led or driven 
with perfect ease. — Maine Cultivator. 



OUR CLIMATE. 
A Mr. Locke, who is highly spoken of as a 
gentleman of undoubted scientific attainments, 
has been delivering a series of lectures at the 
North, to establish a doctrine which he has been 
for some time promulgating. His theory is, that 



40 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



the climate of every country is constantly and 
regularly changing from its greatest degree of 
cold, to its greatest degree of heat, and then, 
from heat to cold again. Each progression, Mr. 
Locke conceives, occupies about 333 years, and 
our own climate, since the year 1791, the period 
of maximum cold, has been gradually getting 
milder, whilst during the same time, the climate 
of Europe has been undergoing an opposite 
change ; thus, Mr. Locke asserts, that the United 
States will soon possess, as he declares they for- 
merly did, the verdure of the vine clad hills of 
France, whilst France will again be bound in 
the icy chains of ancient Gaul. This variation 
in climate, Mr. Locke thinks, is attributable to 
the same cause that produces the variation in 
the magnetic needle. 

The fact of regular and gradual variation in 
climate, for which Mr. Locke attempts to ac- 
count, is said to be fully established by a refer- 
ence to history. 



SCOURS IN CALVES. 



We have never found any remedy for the 
scours preferable to boiled skimmed milk. This 
should be given warm, and it is more safe than 
poisons of any kind. 



TO PROTECT FRUIT FROM LATE SPRING 
FROST. 

The following article appeared in the "Ame- 
rican Farmer" last spring, and attracted our at- 
tention on account of its novelty and ingenuity. 
Since that period, we have seen a gentleman 
who assured us he had tried the preventive re- 
commended with the most entire success. It is 
at least curious, and for the preservation of the 
fruit of a particular and favorite tree, might be 
esteemed useful. 

" Many expedients have been resorted to for 
the protection of fruit from the blighting influ- 
ence of late frosts. Throwing a sheet over 
the tree, hanging iron upon it, kindling a fire 
under it, &c. have each been found to have a 
beneficial influence, but none have been more 
efficient than the experiment which I am about 
to describe. 

" My friend, Major Ruff, who is a virtuoso, 
lately informed me that many years ago he saw 
it stated in a French paper that by throwing a 
hempen rope over the top of a fruit tree, when 
in bloom or near the time of blooming, and by 
letting its lower end touch the ground, the tree 
would thus be protected from the influence of 



frost. This I thought quite rational and phi- 
losophic, I accordingly made the experiment. — 
To prove more fully the modus operandi I took 
two dishes half filled with water, and set them 
a few feet distant, under the tree, on the night 
before an expected frost, the tree being nearly 
in full bloom. Throwing the rope over the top 
of the tree I let the other end hang in the water 
of one of the dishes — the event proved the cor- 
rectness of the theory. There was a hard frost 
on the morning of the 27th instant and the dish 
into which the rope was deposited, contained ice 
of the thickness of a dollar, while that in the 
other dish was scarcely of the thickness of paper. 

" The philosophy of the above experiment is 
this: the rope, which was previously wetted, 
was a conductor of heat ; the air, and of course 
the limbs of the tree, became colder in the night 
than the earth — the rope conducted the heat 
from the earth to the tree, thus keeping up an 
equilibrium and preserving the tree from frost. 

"As far as my observation extends, the critical 
time for fruit is long before it is in blossom ; but 
it is nevertheless true, that severe and protracted 
cold at that time, or even later, will destroy the 
fruit. This was the case last year. The fruit 
was killed by severe frost after it had been 
formed. 

" There is not in my mind a doubt that by 
attaching a rope to each tree of choice fruit, and 
thus letting it permanently remain through the 
winter and spring, that the fruit would be se- 
cured from the effects of frost. 

" To the incredulous and the supercilious, who 
balance their grist all their lives with a big 
stone — who, sufficiently wise, despise knowledge 
and instruction, the above may appear unworthy 
their attention. Let such be informed that it is 
not less philosophic than lightning rods attached 
to buildings to protect them from the influence 
of electricity — let them be informed that 

"There are more things in heaven and earth 
Than their philosophy has ever dreamed of." 

W. L. Horton." 

Woodlawn, Hartford Co., March 29, 1842. 



TO MAKE PERMANENT MARKING INK. 

Take six and a quarter cents worth of lunar 
caustic, and, having put it in an ounce vial filled 
with vinegar, cork it tight and hang it in the 
sun. In a couple of days it will be fit for use. 

To make the preparation for the above, take 
a lump of pearlash the size of a chesnut and 
dissolve it in a gill of rainwater. 

The part of the muslin which is to be written 
upon is to be wet with the preparation, and dried 
and glazed with a warm flatiron : immediately 
after which it is ready for marking. 

A little vinegar in which a rusty nail has re- 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



41 



mained for a few days, makes a mark on linen 
which is not easily obliterated — forming what 
is commonly called iron-mould. 

Louisville Journal. 



- 4 

CORN. 

A writer in the New Genesee Farmer states, 
that, " when David Thomas travelled through 
Indiana in 1818, he visited a prairie near Vin- 
cennes, on which a luxuriant crop of Indian 
corn had grown for more than sixty years in 
succession, without the aid of any kind of ma- 
nure." The writer suggests that this continued 
product was probably owing to the existence of 
some mineral substance in the soil, and seems to 
think a similar effect could be produced by a 
continued and bountiful supply of wood ashes. 

We know that the greatest product of corn 
we ever saw, we obtained from a square in a 
garden, by planting three feet every way, four 
stalks to the hill, and making free use of wood 
ashes, which we imagined might counteract the 
tendency to "fire." The season, however, was 
not a dry one, but still we always thought the 
corn was much greener, and fresher, and fuller, 
than it would have been, under the same plant- 
ing, without the ashes. 



BRINE. 



One of our citizens, a grocer, informs us that 
he has for a few years past been in the habit of 
emptying the brine from his pork and fish bar- 
rels on his asparagus bed ; and he thinks none 
of his neighbors have better asparagus than he. 
The effect of the brine is entirely to destroy the 
weeds, while it makes his plants much more 
thrifty. And why is not this reasonable ? As- 
paragus is known to be a marine plant, and is 
found in abundance in many places along the 
shore of the ocean. — Ed. Farmers' Gazette. 



For the Southern Planter. 
IMPROVEMENT OF VIRGINIA. 

The lands of Virginia are slowly improving, 
but this snail's trot does not suit me, who am 
restless in disposition, and earnestly desirous of 
seeing again ere I die, this my own, my native 
land, the first in the Union. Can it not be done 
in twenty-five years? Fis on the lubbard who 
says it cannot, and I hope to live yet twenty-five 
years, and fie on him who i3 not willing and 
ready to assist in making the effort." Consider- 
ing land and climate, Virginia was once equal 
to any part of the Union, and if I live and re- 
tain rny senses yet twenty-five years, that por- 
Vol. III. — 6 



tion which I claim as my own, although a few 
years past it was generally barren, galled and 
gullied, shall be more productive than when first 
reclaimed from nature. Now, reader, are you 
satisfied to lie down and jingle your dollars, 
which your children may spend in a few months, 
or are you desirous of giving them rich lands 
instead of rich purses ? If you are for the first, 
I have nothing more to do with you, but if for 
the last, then am I ready to go hand in hand 
with you in the attempt ; and without the effort 
nothing can be done. Indeed, my worthy fel- 
low, let me tell you that for several years I have 
been making some experiments in the way of 
improving my lands, and these having generally 
been to my satisfaction, I am emboldened to pro- 
ceed on a larger scale. 

What then is the first thing to be done ? — 
Read. What second? Reflect. What third? 
Act. By reading, we acquire that knowledge 
which others possess, without which we would 
be but as savages ; by reflection, we are quali- 
fied to judge of true or false positions, and to 
act ; and by judicious action, we prosper. Im- 
provement, is my motto, and I contend that lack 
of improvement, is, as it were, standing still, 
and standing still is equivalent to doing nothing. 
We read in the sacred Book " that he who does 
not provide for his own household is worse than 
an infidel?" Now what kind of provision is 
this spoken of ? Is it money? Certainly not. 
Is it bread ? Surely it is — and I would ask any 
one how bread can be provided from poor land ? 
" Oh, but," says one, " when my land has be- 
come poor, I will move to the West." And 
when you have made that poor, where then ? — 
to the moon, I suppose. But reader I beg your 
pardon, for my object is not to quarrel with you, 
but to convince you that the true and proper 
policy is, to improve the soil and the mind, and 
let the dollars be the last thing to be estimated. 
The dollars are merely representatives of things, 
and if you have the things themselves what do 
you want with the representatives? ' Only give 
me a plenty of rich land, whereon I can grow 
enough to eat, and enough to wear, and you 
may have all the dollars, and welcome. And 
how doubly delightful the employment of im- 
proving the soil and the mind ; for be it remem- 
bered, that whilst improving the soil, the mind 
is improved also, and thus they act and react on 
each other, till, — I had like to have said, perfec- 
tion is attained. 

As I have so highly recommended reading, 
perhaps one may ask, what books and periodi- 
cals? Liebig's Agricultural Chemistry is first 
in the list, then I suppose you take the " South- 
ern Planter," to which you may add as many 
as you like. 

I verily believe from what I have seen and 
learned, that the mulatto soils, and ferruginous 
earths, of any color whatever, of Virginia, are 



42 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



as susceptible of improvement as any land on 
the face of the earth. I verily believe that there 
are natural deposites of manure in Virginia fully 
sufficient to make all the arable lands in the 
State rich ; and I verily believe that the time 
will come, sooner or later, when Virginia will 
be the Eden of North America. Marl, lime, 
gypsum, charcoal, rotten wood, ashes, and other 
matters of minor importance must do all for the 
agriculture of Virginia, that could be desired. 

I had often thought of trying charcoal on my 
land, but neglected it till I read Liebig's Agri- 
cultural Chemistry. I am now engaged in burn- 
ing coal, and shall burn one thousand or more 
bushels this winter, which will be pounded fine 
and spread on clayey land, at the rate of about 
two hundred bushels the acre. 1 have no pine, 
which Liebig says is best, therefore, I burn 
chesnut, which with me is abundant, and if my 
first experiment proves satisfactory, I intend 
hereafter to burn several thousand bushels, an- 
nually. The burned earth, and offal coal about 
the pits, are both moved so soon as cool, and 
spread on the land. See Liebig's Agricultural 
Chemistry, third edition, page 79, SO, 104, 207, 
250, 365. 

I lately informed the Editors of the Southern 
Planter, that I intended to use charcoal in con- 
nection with animal flesh, but whereas the coal 
would have a tendency to stay the putrefaction 
of the flesh, I have not used it ; but made the 
layers, rotten wood, flesh, ashes, earth, rotten 
wood, &c. The flesh lately used is six sheep, 
killed to keep them from dying; and to-day, I 
had about four hundred pounds of the offal of 
wool from a carding machine, spread in the 
stead of flesh ; which I have no doubt is fully 
equal in virtue to the carcass of a dead horse; 
and we are informed that such a carcass is suf- 
ficient to decompose twenty tons of peat earth, 
and transfer it into the most enriching manure. 
See L. A. C. page 259. 

Za. Drummond. 

Jlmherst, Dec. 20, 1842. 

In this communication breathes the true spirit 
of agricultural improvement. From what we 
have learned of him, we have formed a very 
high estimate of the vigor, zeal, and energy of 
Mr. Drummond, and, if ever the opportunity 
offers, we shall be most happy to make the per- 
sonal acquaintance of a gentleman, to whom 
the agricultural community in general, and we 
in particular, stand so largely indebted. 



For the Southern Planter. 
FOUNDER. 



Messrs. Editors, — I latety had occasion to try 
a recipe published in your valuable periodical, 



with the most complete success. Not long since, 
my barouche horse being badly foundered, I had 
holes dug in the ground, nearly knee deep, and 
filled with water; the water was then heated 
with hot stones, and the horse lead into it, where 
he was kept for two or three hours. At the 
same time, I had him well bathed up to his 
shoulders and hips with hot water, and then 
rubbed dry. On the second morning, he started 
on a journey of two hundred miles, which he 
performed without any apparent inconvenience 
at all. 

Your obedient servant, 

W. H. Dupuy. 
Calebs, Pittsylvania. 

If we can procure any more of the grass 
roots referred to in the first part of Mr. Dupuy's 
letter, we will forward them with pleasure. 



For the Southern Planter. 

Messrs. Editors, — I am a reader of the South- 
ern Planter, and am often amused, and I hope 
much benefitted, by many very interesting com- 
munications, and though I do not know that my 
opinion is worth anything, yet I think it is due 
to you to say I think it a most interesting and 
valuable periodical, especially to such persons 
as will be judicious in their selection of subjects 
for experiments, taking care not to make them 
upon too large a scale. I am not much in the 
habit of newspaper writing, and am no farmer 
or planter, and hardly anj' thing else, yet will I 
try, in my plain manner, to state some facts, of 
which I have become possessed from many 
years' experience and close observation, in refer- 
ence to feeding or managing stock hogs; I 
mean such as range in the forest or large pas- 
tures. It is a very common practice with many 
persons to call their hogs up in the morning, by 
or before day, and give them a small allowance, 
depending upon their rooting or grazing for the 
balance of their support. Some give another 
allowance at night. The best plan is, to give 
the entire allowance at night. When called up 
early, (especially in cold weather) before they 
otherwise would stir, they become chilled and 
receiving a small allowance, it staj's the appe- 
tite or cravings of nature, and they return again 
to their beds, or seek some sunny spot and lie 
down, where thejr often remain (hog-like with- 
out thought) until ten, twelve, and sometimes 
three o'clock in the day ; they then have but 
little time to seek a supply of food by grazing 
or rooting; when night comes on, they again 
lie down hungry, empty and cold, and are climb- 
ing upon each other and squealing during the 
night, without rest, and if by chance there be 
any small ones in the number, their complaints 
(if they happen to be at bottom) are disregarded 
and they fare badly. If not called up in the 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



43 



morning, they take their naturai rest ; then urged 
out by hunger as soon as the sun is up, they 
travel and labor hard all day, taking a much 
wider range, and as they are formed for rooting, 
perhaps roots may act as a medicine for them, 
as I ILve never known wild or forest hogs die 
by eating mushrooms. By night, they are pret- 
ty well supplied ; then being called up and re- 
ceiving their allowance, in addition, they lie 
down contented, and lying together and still, 
sleep warm, aided by the additional warmth 
naturally derived from food. It is well known, 
hogs fatten best when still, and in warm weather. 
It is my opinion, that one ear of corn, each, to 
hogsat night, witha tolerable chance to range the 
forest or graze in pasture, is equal to two in the 
morning, or one at night and one in the morn- 
ing. Such has been my experience for nearly 
forty years, and I have often imparted it to my 
acquaintances, who have adopted the plan, much 
to their advantage, as many have told me. Hogs 
raised about a mill, should be treated in the same 
way, saving all the sweepings until night, and 
they will go off in the morning and cease to be 
troublesome. I think it injudicious to raise any 
pigs that come between 1st September and 1st 
March. I know it is said hogs fed at night are 
more apt to ramble and be lost. That is a mis- 
take ; be punctual to your hogs and they will 
meet you at the time to receive their allowance, 
and if it is given at night, they will sleep near 
where they are fed ; if fed in the morning, after 
taking their morning's nap, they ramble until 
night overtakes them, and having no inducement 
to return, they lie down to rest, and in the morn- 
ing, are out of hearing, being too cold to rise 
early ; if they return at all, it is after the time of 
feeding, and they perhaps miss their allowance, 

W. TlMBERLAKE, 

Family Mills, Albemarle, Bee. 21, 1842. 

We understand that Mr. Timberlake is an old 
miller, of great experience and reputation for his 
management of hogs. 



BEESWAX. 

The neatest way, says the Farmers' Cabinet, 
to separate beeswax from the comb, is, to tie it 
up in a linen or woollen cloth or bag with a 
pebble or two to keep it from floating ; place it 
in a kettle of cold water, which hang over the 
fire; as the water beats, the wax melts and 
rises to the surface, while all the impurities re- 
main in the ba<r. 



For the Southern Planter. 
DURHAM CATTLE AND BERKSHIRE PIGS. 

Messrs. Editors, — If in thi3 age of improve- 
ment in stock and all the apparatus of farming 
it be not absurd to revert to the virtues of stock 



of the olden time, I should like to call up the 
memory of "Bergami" that justice may be done 
his family, and that his descendants wherever 
found may be properly appreciated. " Bergami" 
was a Teeswater bull, sent to Virginia by John 
S. Skinner, Esq. about the year 1823, when your 
correspondent was a little boy. The late Henry 
S. Turner, Esq. of Jefferson county, purchased 
him and bred from him for a number of years 
upon selected cows from the South Branch, by 
which he greatly improved his breed of cattle 
in the requisites of that valuable race. "Ber- 
gami" subsequently came to this county, where 
he sojourned for a few years, dispensing his fa- 
vors most liberally amongst our cow-pens, and 
was a few years ago, when advanced in life, 
carried hence to the far luest, leaving behind him 
not only a most enviable reputation, but a most 
numerous progeny to attest it. Such is the es- 
timate in which his race is held now by those 
who have tried it that it would indeed be difficult 
to find one who would be willing to admit that 
the " Improved Durham Short Horns," valuable 
as they are, are in any essential superior to the 
descendants of "Bergami." I have myself a 
cow, now ten years old next grass, whose dam 
and grandam were both by " Bergami." She 
herself was by Meade's Durham Short Horn, 
" Frederick." She has brought me ten calves, 
having had twins twice — is among the most 
abundant milkers I ever saw and has never been 
dry but once since she brought her first calf. In 
color she follows her Short Horn ancestry (be- 
ing white, with some little mixture of red) — in 
weight, fine bone, round barrel, long frame, deep 
chine, &c. &c. She exhibits the leading cha- 
racteristics of the Bergami race. I have seen 
many other cows of this particular breed of cat- 
tle, but have yet to lay my eyes on one of them 
that is not above mediocrity, most of them would 
compare favorably with the latest and most fash- 
ionable importations of British cattle. 

Now, Messrs. Editors, I will leave my cow, 
to, to her ruminations awhile, and give in, in as 
few words as possible, my experience of Berk- 
shire pigs. I have given them a fair trial, and 
find that the cross upon our common hog is a 
decided improvement, but not sufficient to justify 
by any means the exorbitant prices that are 
paid for them. I have sold some of the young 
pigs at ten dollars ahead but have not been able 
to get that price for any of them when grown 
and fatted. I have no disposition to ridicule 
either the raisers or praisers of Berkshires, nor 
yet the hogs themselves. Were I to attempt 
that, every grunter I have would curl his tail at 
me — for I have no other kind — but the truth I 
will tell about them, and the whole truth. 'Tis 
true "they live on less than any hogs in the 
world," and, therefore, I think it a pity to kill 
them. 'Tis true that " they come to maturity 
early," and 'tis equally true that they rarely 



44 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



overgrow themselves. I am done buying them 
at ten dollars ahead. Parson Turner may get 
all he can for his, but in future I will sell my 
full blooded pigs for five dollars ahead — buy 
common shotes at two dollars, and lay out the 
balance of the pig money in corn to feed them 



on, and that will make bacon good enough for 
me if well cured,* and cheap at that. 

A Loudoun Subscriber. 
Middleburg, Loudoun, Jan. 11, 1843. 

* Some of these days I'll show you how to do it. 



HUSSEY'S CORN AND COB CRUSHER 




The public have become satisfied, at last, that 
in throwing away the cob of the Indian corn, 
they have been wasting very good feed. The 
experiments of Mr. Peter Minor, of Albemarle, 
which have been detailed over and over again, 
and the testimonials daily published in the agri- 
cultural journals, of the nourishment and bene- 
ficial effects of cob meal, have awakened a very 
general interest in the subject. We have often 
expressed the opinion, which we take this occa- 
sion to repeat, that the farmer wants nothing 
more than a good, cheap, and simple horse-power, 
to induce him to apply it to many operations at 
home, that are now, either totally neglected, or 
performed abroad, at the expense of much cost 
and more trouble. Amongst the chief of these 
we reckon the grinding not only corn and cob 
for stock feed, but the grinding of corn meal for 
human consumption. Every farmer who has 
to send five or six miles to mill, knows, that 
the toll is the smallest portion of the expense of 



grinding ; and the greatest difficulty in persuad- 
ing our farmers to do what, under almost any 
circumstances, their interest would dictate, that 
is, to grind all the grain they feed away, arises 
from the trouble and inconvenience of "sending 
to mill." For this reason, we have been asked, 
over and over again, by persons living within 
five miles or less of a public mill, " can you not 
find or construct us an implement with which 
we can grind our own corn ?" With the in- 
creased desire to grind the corn and cob to- 
gether for all the stock, this demand has greatly 
increased. To answer this demand, various 
machines have been gotten up ; there are Hus- 
sey's, Baldwin's, Murray's, and Birely's, 
that we have seen. We have not, however, 
had sufficient opportunity to examine and test 
them, to enable us to compare them, or speak of 
their respective merits. Of Mr. Hussey's, of 
which the engraving is a representation, we 
have received and worked one or two, and we 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



45 



confess ourselves highly pleased with its construc- 
tion and performance. It is as naked and simple 
as possible ; from which are derived the three ad- 
vantages, of engendering but little friction, being 
easily 1 ^pt in order, and being furnished cheap. 
It occupies a space of about three feet square, 
and weighs, we should guess, about three hun- 
dred pounds. Upon a horizontal shaft, is placed 
a cast iron grooved plate, armed also with steel 
cutters, which works against another plate, 
which is stationary, being screwed to cast iron 
projections fastened to the frame. Both of these 
plates, with the cutters affixed, may be displaced 
and substituted by new ones, by the mere turn- 
ing of two or three screws. The extra plates 
are furnished at a dollar and a half a pair. By 
means of a screw, shown in the front part of the 
engraving, the plate affixed to the shaft, may be 
made to approach or recede from the stationary 
plate, at pleasure ; so that, in a few turns, you 
change the grinding from the finest meal, to the 
coarsest hominy. 

In answer to our inquiries as to the wear of 
the plates and efficiency of the machine, Mr. 
Hussey says, that he has had no opportunity 
yet of testing the wear of the plates, the ma- 
chine having been in use only about a year. — 
" With the ordinary horse-power used in thresh- 
ing wheat, it will," he says, " grind from eight 
to ten bushels per hour of dry corn ; if the corn 
be damp, it will make quite a difference in the 
quantity, although the meal will be equally 
good." 

The machine is intended for horse-power, and 
has a whirl on the shaft of such a size as will 
give it the proper motion when driven directly 
from the drum which drives an ordinary thresh- 
ing machine. It is also fitted with a crank and 
handle, and although it is tolerably hard work, 
two men, by spelling each other, can, of a rainy 
day especially, do very respectable work with it. 
It is fed through a tube or hopper, ear at a time, 
and requires the constant attendance of a feeder, 
although his task is an easy one. 

This machine, although it is sold for less, we 
believe, than any other constructed for the same 
purpose, bore away the palm and received the 
first premium at the agricultural fair at Albany 
last spring. 

We will keep a supply of them which we will 
deliver at our wareroom, in Richmond, for $37 
apiece. 



NEW FABRIC FOR SERVANTS' CLOTHING. 

Mr. Chase, of Baltimore, has invented a hand 
machine for carding and spinning wool. It also 
wraps one or more threads of cotton with the 
wool. The only two machines of this kind he 
has made, are now in use on the plantations of 
George Kelso, Esq. of Louisiana. Mr. C. ex- 
hibited to us some linsey manufactured by Mr. 
Kelso's negroes, which is an excellent and very 
singular fabric. The chain is of cotton, and the 
filling consists of three threads of cotton wrapped 
with wool. The cloth combines strength with 
warmth and cheapness. Mr. K. uses Mclntyre's 
spinning machine to prepare the cotton. Mr. 
Chase says that a number of his spinning ma- 
chines have been ordered by the cotton planters. 
Very excellent blankets may be prepared by 
wrapping the warp and filling with wool. 

Louisville Journal. 



M'CORMICK'S REAPER. 

As we have received a great many inquiries 
about M'Cormick's Reaper since we published 
our last number, and as they are pretty much 
embodied in the following, from Mr. Smith, we 
will undertake to answer them all, as well as 
we can, through the columns of the Planter. 
Mr. Smith asks, 

" First. Will the wheat cutter answer upon 
land smartly undulating, or upon flat land bed- 
ded — the beds eighteen feet wide — or upon the 
same kind of land simply drained by water fur- 
rows ten or twelve feet apart ? 

" Second. Will the cutter operate well when 
the straw is damp from dew or rain % 

" Third. Can the cutter be easily drawn by 
two horses, when the land is wet % 

" Fourth. Can the cutter be conveniently used 
unless the wheat ripens in large bodies ? And, 

" Fifthly. What will be its probable last? 
Geo. A. Smith. 

Orange C. H. t Va." 

1st. The width of the machine is about seven 
feet, and where there are no very great inequali- 
ties within that space, it will operate without 
difficulty. Upon hill sides that are tolerably 
level, and not too steep, we understand it works 
well. 

2d. We have the authority of one gentleman, 
Dr. Braxton, for saying, that during the last 
harvest, which was a very wet one, he cut a 
great deal of his crop immediately after heavy 
rains, and found the dampness of the straw to 
offer little or no obstruction to the operation of 
the machine. 



46 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



3d. When the ground is dry, two horses work 
the Reaper with perfect ease, when it is wet, 
the wheels sink and make the work much 
harder, requiring sometimes the assistance of a 
third horse. But for the coming harvest, the 
width of the wheels will be increased, by which, 
it is supposed, the sinking will be avoided. 

4th. The term "large" is a very indefinite 
one ; it is certain that a very small crop would 
not justify the expense of the machine, but 
knowing what it will do, every one can judge 
for himself whether it would be to his interest 
to have it. 

5th. As to the probable last, if well taken 
care of, we see nothing about it liable to wear 
out in twenty years, if applied only to the crops 
of a single farmer. 

It must be understood, however, that we have 
never seen the machine, and that all the know- 
ledge we have concerning it, is derived from the 
information of others, and from a personal in- 
spection of the model. 



RICE. 



It is said rice was first planted in Carolina, in 
1668 ; but owing to bad seed it was abandoned. 
In the year 1695, a vessel from Madagascar, the 
master of which furnished a gentleman with a 
small quantity, from which has sprung immense 
sources of wealth to the southern States. " So 
much for a remnant of a sea store left in the 
bottom of a bag." — Nashville Jlgricv.Uv.rist. 



THE POET AND THE BASKET MAKER. 

I am no enemy to learning — no enemy to col- 
leges. On the contrary, I am the steadfast 
friend of both. But I am opposed to having 
them both overrated as they are ; and the ad- 
vantages of both so abundantly exaggerated, 
by the great mass of our people — as if no other 
learning were valuable, no other knowledge 
worth having. 

I would remind them of the basket maker ; 
the only man of a large crew, cast ashore among 
savages, who was able to turn his past acquisi- 
tion to account; while the remainder sat twirl- 
ing their thumbs, liable every moment to be 
knocked in the head for their ignorance, the 
basket maker was made a chief upon the spot ; 
and almost worshipped for his ingenuity. 

Or I might remind them of that other crew 
taken by a Barbary corsair. When they were 
before the Dey, he inquired their several occu- 
pations. The riggers, and blacksmiths, and 
carpenters were all sent off lo the dock yard. — 
The sailors had a comfortable berth provided for 



them, and even the officers were turned to ac- 
count one way or another. At last his highness 
came to a literary man — a passenger and poet — 
what to do with him, for a long while, his high- 
ness could not say, till at last, on learning that 
the prisoner was a man of sedentary occupa- 
tions, and having them explained by the inter- 
preter, he ordered the poet a pair of feather 
breeches and set him to hatching chickens. 

And now which of these two was the edu- 
cated man, the poet or the basket maker 1 

John Neal. 



THE GOOCHLAND AGRICULTURAL 
SOCIETY. 

Four or five weeks ago, we received through 
the Secretary, a report of the agricultural fair 
in Goochland, and a copy of the address deli- 
vered by their able President, Dr. Wight. By 
request, we left them at the office of one of our 
city papers, where they were unfortunately mis- 
laid, and it was not until to-day that we were 
enabled to regain them. We regret this delay 
particularly, because, an examination of the ad- 
dress satisfied us that it more than sustained the 
high reputation for science and practice that Dr. 
Wight has acquired in the circle where his me- 
rits as a farmer are known. We shall probably 
draw largely on it in our next. 



REBELLIOUS HENS. 

A neighbor of our's states that hog's lard is 
the best thing he can find to mix with the dough 
he gives to his hens. He says one cut of this 
fat, as large as a walnut, will set a hen to lay- 
ing immediately after she has been broken up 
from her setting ; and thus his hens lay through 
the whole winter. Will some more experiment- 
ers try the virtue of hog's lard. — Massachusetts 
Ploughman. 



From the Central New York Farmer. 

CUTTING FEED FOR CATTLE. 

Messrs. Editors, — My location is among the 
mountains in the southern part of the State of 
New York, but my exact whereabouts it is not 
proper at present to define. The result of my 
reflections will, from time to time be forwarded 
for publication, and as I sometimes emerge from 
my hiding place, I shall tell of some of the 
faults, as well as the merits of the farmers where 
I travel. In this communication, I shall touch 
upon some of the errors which prevail to a con- 
siderable extent, not only in my neighborhood, 
but in nearly every part of the country. The 
first error which I shall name is the wasteful 
manner of feeding stock which too generally 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



47 



prevails. It may be assumed as a safe calcula- 
tion, that at least one-fourth of the fodder may 
be saved by the use of the straw-cutter ; and 
yet, how few of these machines are in use. But 
as arguments rather than mere assertions will 
be expected, we will enter into an estimate, for 
the purpose of showing the actual saving in 
dollars and cents ; for this, after all, is one of the 
great objects of the farmer. Let us suppose, 
then, that a farmer has thirty head of cattle, 
which at a moderate estimate, will consume one 
and a half tons of hay each. Judge Buel and 
others, who have given the experiment a fair 
trial, estimate a saving of one-third, or half a 
ton to each cow in one winter. But for fear of 
being considered extravagant, I will suppose 
that eleven and one-fourth tons, or one-fourth, 
would be saved by the use of the machine. — 
Eleven and one-fourth tons of hay at six dollars 
per ton, which would perhaps be less than the 
average price for a term of years, amount to 
sixty-seven and one-half dollars. The extra la- 
bor in taking care of the stock would be worth, 
say thirty dollars, which, deducted from sixty- 
seven and one-half, leaves thirty-seven and one- 
half, a sum sufficient to pay for two good ma- 
chines. With this view of the subject, then, it 
will be seen that in a course of years, a consi- 
derable saving would be made ; but this is the 
most unfavorable view which can be taken of 
this subject. Hay in many parts of the country 
will average ten dollars per ton, and is frequently 
worth that price in nearly every part of the 
State. It is, however, in feeding straw and corn 
stalks, that the greatest saving is effected by 
cutting, and so great is my confidence in the 
propriety of this method of preparing coarse 
fodder for stock, that it is my firm conviction, 
that it would be better for any farmer who has 
not the means at command, to sell a sufficient 
quantity of fodder to pay for the machine and 
extra labor, than to feed in the old-fashioned and 
slovenly method, without cutting. Every far- 
mer knows that in feeding stalks whole, about 
one-half of the value of the fodder is wasted, 
while stalks properly cut with a machine, will 
be entirely consumed. 

Straw properly cut, may be mixed with hay 
or stalks, when the necessity or the convenience 
of the farmer may require it, and will be more 
readily eaten by cattle than when fed whole ; 
for every farmer has found some difficulty in 
making cattle .eat straw, in any considerable 
quantity, unless, (as is the practice with some,) 
a considerable quantity of grain is left in the 
straw. Taking into view all these advantages, 
it appears to me that the saving in the winter's 
keeping of a cow, cannot be less than half a 
ton of hay, which in the stock of thirty cows, 
would make a saving of fifteen tons, or ninety 
dollars, from which deduct thirty dollars for ex- 
tra labor, and we have a saving of sixty dollars 



for the use of the machine in a single winter. 
There is, however, another point which ought 
not to be overlooked, and which is second in im- 
portance to no other branch of agriculture. In- 
stead of selling the fodder which would be saved 
in the way we have pointed out, the farmer may 
keep a greater number of cattle, and conse- 
quently, the quantity of manure will.be so in- 
creased, as to aid materially in the renovation 
of the soil. This cannot fail to have its proper 
weight with exery calculating farmer. But as 
I may hereafter touch upon the subject of ma- 
nures, it is proper to abstain from a discussion 
of this branch of agriculture. 

A Mountaineer. 



REPORT OF THE VIRGINIA BOARD OF 
AGRICULTURE. 

We are indebted to the politeness of the Pub- 
lic Printer for a copy of this valuable document. 
We have no space for extracts, hardly for com- 
ments in this number, but this we will say, that 
the practical character of the report will recom- 
mend the Board from which it emanates to the 
regard of the agricultural community, and will 
put to shame those gentlemen of the Legisla- 
ture who could with difficulty be brought to vote 
for the printing of 1,500 copies of a document 
which they ought to have taken pride and plea- 
sure in placing in the hands of every farmer in 
Virginia. 



REMEDY FOR COLIC IN HORSES. 

Take two quarts of cold water in a hand ba- 
sin, add with your fire-shovel say a pint of hot 
wood ashes or embers, and stir. Cut off an 
inch and a half from a common hand of tobacco 
and shred in the mixture — stir all up and let it 
stand fifteen minutes and settle. Pour off a 
common black bottle full of the fluid and drench 
your horse — in half an hour he will be well. 

Rationale. — The gas which bloats the horse 
is probably carbonic acid gas and light-carbu- 
retted hydrogen, the product of the vegetable 
decomposition which is going on in the intes- 
tines — at any rate it is a gas which is immedi- 
ately absorbed by its combination with an alkali. 
The tobacco is a powerful anti-spasmodic and 
cathartic — it, therefore, prostrates the nervous 
sensibility,checks the inflammation and increases 
the action of the lower intestines. In a critical 
or extreme case it will be well to give an enema 
of a strong decoction of tobacco with a common 
syringe. Out of more than one hundred in- 
stances in which I have seen this remedy used, 
I have yet to witness the first failure. It also 
has an advantage over very many remedies, viz : 
it cannot injure a horse in perfect health. Feed 
light for a day or two. 



48 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



Causes of Colic. — The main cause consists 
in the presence of a greater amount of food than 
the intestines can elaborate into nutriment, or of 
a kind of food difficult of digestion, producing 
spasm, obstruction, vegetable decomposition and 
consequent inflammation. Hard driving on a 
full stomach will produce colic, because the effort 
weakens the tone of the digestive powers and 
they cannot elaborate the food — which then pro- 
duces irritation and inflammation. Cold loater 
when the horse is healed, because it is a powerful 
stimulus and will produce spasm or obstruction, 
or by the re-action produces weakness of the di- 
gestive organs. It also gives too much fluidity 
to the food — fluids are more difficult of digestion 
than solids. It also increases the fermentation. 
Hearty feeding after hard driving, because the 
stomach and intestines sympathize with the gen- 
eral fatigue of the system and are easily over- 
loaded, and the appetite will induce the horse to 
eat more than he can digest. 

Colic is first flatulent, then inflammatory. In 
the flatulent stage, or in what is called belly- 
ache, aromatic remedies or half a gill of spirits 
of turpentine, or a pint of whiskey and black 
pepper maybe given; all these stimulate the 
system and may assist it in overcoming the dif- 
ficulty. But in the latter and inflammatory 
stage, which rapidly succeeds the former, these 
same remedies would produce speedy death by 
increasing the inflammation. In nine cases out 
of ten, this disease is not observed by the ordi- 
nary driver until it has assumed the inflamma- 
tory form — in which stage the remedy at the 
head of this article should be given with as little 
delay as possible ; although it should not be 
omitted even if the horse be supposed to be in 
the article of death itself — for I have seen them 
recover when every by-stander had dismissed all 
hope. 

Yours truly, T. N. Welles. 

French Creek, Peoria Co., Nov. 25, ] 842. 

P. S. — Change of feed will sometimes produce 
colic, for the reason that the digestive organs do 
not readily adapt themselves to it — and the food 
lies there in its unchanged state, producing by 
heat and moisture, fermentation, irritation and 
inflammation. 

Colic produced by oats is not as obstinate as 
that produced by corn. T. N. W. 



THRESHING SEED GRAIN. 
"It has gone the rounds of the papers, on the 
authority of the New Genesee Fanner, that the 
use of threshing machines in getting out grain, 
will prevent a large part of it from vegetating. 
Several farmers who have made careful obser- 
vations tell us, that new machines, before the 
edges of the teeth are worn smooth, will de- 
stroy the vital principle of many kernels, but 
that old machines will not injure seed grain 
more than the flail." 



The use of the threshing machine is universal 
in Virginia, but we never heard of any injury 
resulting to the grain. There are, however, 
many varieties of the machine, and some may 
so break the grain as to destroy its vegetating 
properties, but if so, whether old or new, it should 
be discarded at once. 



CONTENTS OF NO. II. 



Tobacco — Of the cutting-, curing and housing, p. 25. 

Clay Soils — Proper mode of treating, p. 27. 

Boms — A description of Mr. Seely's on Staten Island, 

p. 27. 
Windmills — Information requested, p. 28. 
Sausages — Recipe for making Oxford sausages, p. 28. 
Cultivator — New and improved form of, with a cut, 

p. 29. 
Charcoal — Nutritive qualities of, p. 29. 
American Meat — Its introduction into the English 

market, p. 30. 
Horse-Power— Proper mode of constructing, p. 30. 
Dogs — To cure distemper, p. 31. 
Corn — Should be sowed for hay, p. 32. 
Stables — Management of, p. 32. 
Manure — Should be kept under cover, p. 32. 
Communications — Character of those desired for the 

Planter, p. 33. 
Bread — Recipe for making, p. 33. 
Sheep — Remedy for foot-rot, p. 33. 
Seed Grain — The most nutritive not the best for seed, 

p. 33. 
Corn — Mr. Young's mode of cultivation, p. 34. 
Potatoes — Modes of cultivation, p. 35. 
Urine — Its great value as manure, p. 35. 
Corn Fork — Description of Mr. Shriver's, with a cut, 

p. 36. 
Stays — Absurdity of, p. 37. 
Ruta Baga — Account of Mr. Bement's crop with his 

mode of cultivation, p. 37. 
Peaches — To secure a crop, p. -38. 
Seasoned Wood — Importance of seasoning fire-wood, 

p. 39. 
Machinery — Value of labor-saving machinery, p. 39. 
Cattle — Proper mode of driving, p. 39. 
Climate — New theory of, p. 39. 
Calves — To cure the scours, p. 40. 
Frost — Ingenious method of protecting fruit trees 

from frost, p. 40. 
Ink — To make marking ink, p. 40. 
Corn — Successive crops for sixty years, p. 41. 
Asparagus — Value of brine applied to asparagus, p. 41. 
Virginia Agriculture — Improvement of, advocated by 

Mr. Za. Drummond, p. 41. 
Founder — Value of a former recipe confirmed, p. 42. 
Hogs — Proper treatment of forest or grazing hogs, p. 42. 
Beeswax — Recipe for preparing, p. 43. 
Durhams and Berkshircs — Essay on, p. 43. 
Corn and Cob Crusher — Mr. Hussey's described, with 

a cut, p. 44. 
Clothing— New fabric for negro clothing, p. 45. 
M Comtek's Reaper — Inquiries concerning, answered, 

p. 45. 
Rice — Its introduction into America, p. 46. 
Education — Other sources of information besides read- 
ing, p. 46; 
Hens — To make them lay, p. 46. 
Feed for Stock — Value of passing all long food through 

the cutting box, p. 46. 
Virginia Board of Agriculture — Their report to the 

Legislature, p. 47. 
Colic in Horses — Recipe for, p. 47. 
Threshing Machines — Supposed to injure vegetating 

properties of grain, p. 48.