This book made available by the Internet Archive.

TEIE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

Mr. Editor, to say a few words on another subject. I sincerely wish you could by some means or other induce your correspondents to write over their own names. It would make the Planter still more interesting. I have no doubt if all were required to do so, most would get over their false modesty, and at all events we should have more reliable suggestions and fewer vagaries. For one, I never adopt or regard the suggestions of an anonymous writer. I take it for granted that if he is certain he is telling the truth he will not be ashamed to sign his deposition. I really think if a man advises others to make important changes in their management and cultivation, and induces them to do so, by recording extraordinary success, he is morally bound to hold himself responsible—responsible to the agricultural public. If he draws upon his fa,ncy for his facts, which is too often the case, we should know his name, and we then should be prepared to place a proper estimate on his facts when he appears subsequently.— Men will promulgate opinions and slate the results of experiments under cover of an incog, which they would not venture to do over their own names, and it is this inaccuracy and recklessness of anonymous writers, which so impair the value of our public journals—we are so often deceived, that we lose confidence in all the statements and recommendations which we see, and believe nothing but what we have tried ourselves and so our sources of improvement, become narrowed down to our own personal experience. I believe that anonymous communications did more to break down the Farmers' Register than any other one cause. Its sheets were constant^/ filled with the long, visionary, speculations and absurd theories of these writers, which were attempted to be sustained by fanciful facts, until the paper became almost a proverb, and few had the temerity to appeal to its columns as authority in support of their views. It is this which has brought " book farming" into such deserved disrepute. Men whose management is so notoriously bad, as not to be listened to by their neighbors, ought not to be allowed to palm their advice off upon the public over anonymous signatures, merely to insure a hearing. This is too often done. And if, Mr. Editor, we want short, practical, reliable, communications, and an interesting, valuable agricultural journal, let us go for the honest impress of the planters first.

Wishing you success in all your enterprises, I remain yours. &c.

N. A. Venable.

Our own estimate of anonymous correspondents coincides exactly with that of Mr. Venable. A speculation or theory may be as good over a false as a real name, but it is not speculation

that we want—our object is to obtain the result of well conducted experiments, and three fourths of the communications made to us, depend for their value upon the veracity of the narrator. Of what worth is the evidence of an unknown witness whose name is not heard and whose face is not seen 1 We know that it is a kind of delicacy, we think a very false one, that induces some of our best correspondents to withhold their names from their communications. But a consideration of the injurious effect upon the interest and usefulness of their essays, should serve to overcome any such feeling. For our own part, we would recommend our readers to pay very little regard to anonymous communications, unless the obvious justice of the reasoning they contain, is sufficient to recommend them. We always postpone an anonymous communication, even of superior merit, to one with the real name attached.

From the American Agriculturist. RAISING TURKEYS.

Heretofore I have had so much difficulty in raising turkeys as to be almost discouraged, but of late have been very successful, in consequence of pursuing the following mode recommended to me by a lady, who said that she had no trouble with them:

When first hatched give no feed for twenty-four hours, then give a little curd made from buttermilk, increasing the quantity as they grow older, at the same time feeding the hen with whole corn. They should be secured from the wet, and by no means have Indian meal; but with the curd they may have in moderate quantities, wheat bread soaked in buttermilk, or crumbs of the same. I believe Indian meal is fatal to the greater part of the young turkeys which die in the attempt to raise them. To allow them to wander too much is attended usually with considerable loss. I have found it a very good plan to make an enclosure of boards six feet square or so, and twelve to eighteen inches high, and set this in a grass field during fine weather, in which to confine the young turkeys. This is removed occasionally from place to place, the chickens thus get all the fresh green food they may need, besides an abundance of insects.

Chales Starr, Jr.

Mendham, JV. J., July, 1844.

ELECTRICITY APPLIED TO AGRICULTURE. It has been long known that electricity possessed the power of promoting the growth of

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

219

plants in a very astonishing degree, but we find in the New York Farmer and Mechanic a communication from Mr. William Ross, in which he gives an account of the most practical application we have ever seen. The following is his statement:

" I had potatoes planted on the 6th of May, and as a first experiment with Mr. Bain's discovery, I procured a sheet of sheathing copper, which is about five feet long and fourteen inches wide," and cut a piece of sheet zinc the same size as the sheet of copper.

w

Surface of ground.

1 00 feet.

c, in the above diagram, represents the sheet of copper buried in the ground at one end of the rows, and z the sheet of zinc buried at the other end of the rows, and 10 is a copper wire which is attached to both the copper and zinc. The result of this arrangement is, that the two metals form a galvanic batteiy, being in metallic connexion by means of the wire 10, and the moisture of the soil completing the galvanic circuit, which last is necessary before any chemical action takes place. The potatoes were planted in drills, but as the copper was only five feet long, only three rows could be influenced by it. The potatoes were only once hoed, and from circumstances never earthed up. On the 15th of June some potatoes were taken by the fingers from these rows, varying from one inch to one and a quarter in diameter; and those exhibited at the New York Farmers' Club, July 2d, were about two and a half inches in diameter, and were dug from the same three rows. Some of the adjoining rows were tried, but few of them had potatoes larger than marrowfat peas—certainly none larger than a boy's marble."

From a subsequent communication of Mr. Ross we make the following extracts:

"For experiment, the writer would suggest that at one end of several rows, in a tolerabhy long field, a plate or sheet of common thin sheathing copper be placed on its edge, just so deep as that the upper edge may be within one or two inches of the surface of the ground—and at the other end of the same rows, a sheet of zinc of the same size, placed in a similar manner. Connect, them together by a copper wire, the shorter the better, and take care that the wire and sheets are in perfect contact when the battery is complete. As soon as the copper and

zinc are moistened by the damp soil, action will commence by the decomposition of the moisture in the soil—the oxygen combining with the zinc, and the hydrogen travelling through the soil to the copper surface, where, unless taken up by the plants, it escapes into the air. Part of the alkaline water in the soil dissolves the oxide formed on the zinc plate, and the action continues till the zinc is all dissolved. Neither the copper sheet or wire is acted upon by the oxygen—consequently they do not waste, and the whole expense will be every year oi two for a new sheet of zinc to replace the one worn out. The wire will not require to be insulated, and may lay on the surface of the ground, or be attached to a fence.

" Whatever metals are adopted for forming the batteiy, it is essential, or in fact indispensable, that they be in metallic contact—otherwise, the electricity will not be set in motion. The usual method of doing this is by connecting them with a wire or strip of metal, for which use copper is b}' far the best, owing to its excellence as a conductor, in addition to its great flexibility. It is not enough that a hole be made in the plates, and the wire passed through them, but the parts of the wire, as well as the plates which come in contact, must be cleaned by scouring or otherwise, so that all rust be removed from them to the clear metal. The wires may then be soldered to the plates, or passed through holes, and firmly twisted together, so as to press the plates with some force: the parts so in close contact will remain clear as long as the battery is in action.

"Mr. Bain has found that when the plates are near together, their action is much more feeble than when they are far apart. This to the farmer is of great advantage in every way, both in labor of putting it down, and in the economy of materials."

SALTPETRE ON SEEDS AND PLASTER ON FLOWERS.

Hart Mussy, Esq., of this village, took a small portion of the corn with which he planted a field, and soaked it in a solution of salts of nitre, commonly called saltpetre, and planted five rows with the seed thus prepared. Now for the result: The five rows planted with corn prepared with saltpetre, yielded more than twenty-five rows planted without any preparation. The five rows were untouched by the worms, while the remainder of the field suffered severely by their depredations. W 7 e should judge that not one grain saturated with saltpetre was touched, while almost every hill in the adjoining row suffered severely. No one who will examine the field can doubt the efficacy of the preparation. He will be astonished at the striking difference

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

between the five rows and the remainder of the field.

Mr. M. also stated the result of another experiment. Fie has a fine, thrifty, healthy apple tree, about twenty-five or thirty years old ; but it has never, in any one year, produced over about two bushels of apples. While in blossom last spring, he ascended the tree and sprinkled plaster freely on the blossoms, and the result is that it will this year yield twenty bushels of apples.— Concordia Intelligencer.

For three years we have published from time to time experiments and statements showing the value of the saltpetre soak for corn and other seeds, and yet probably not one-tenth of our readers use this or any other soak. For several years we have soaked all our corn with the most gratifying results. None of it has ever been touched by the grub, against which we, therefore, regard the saltpetre as a perfect protection, and it grows with a rapidity that shames the sluggishness of grass and weeds. We planted some corn this year, on the 6th of May, soaked as usual, and in just twenty-eight days it stood twenty-two inches high—ground rich but not manured this 3 7 ear. A pound of saltpetre in enough water to cover a bushel of corn is about the proportion.— Louisville Journal.

CHERRY BOUNCE. The best we ever saw was made as follows: A demijohn was filled with ripe morello cherries, and the very best apple brandy was poured on them until it ran over. After standing long enough to extract the flavor of the cherries, it may be drawn off as it is wanted, and sweetened to the taste. In this way, without the admixture of sugar, the brandy and cherries will keep and improve for an indefinite period ; in a temperance neighborhood at least, but not in the region in which we obtained this recipe.

WEEDS.

Now is an excellent time to destroy weeds, as the rankest and most pernicious of them are in flower, and you thus prevent their seeding your own and neighbors' land. If cut down close to the ground in full bloom, some kinds will be totally destroyed; others will not rise again that year, or if they do, so feebly as to do little injury, and there is no danger of scarce any running to seed. The most effectual means which we have found to destroy the hardier weeds, such as mulleins, thistles, burdocks, &c, is to place half a table-spoonful of salt upon each stem immediately after being cut close to the ground. If there be a great number, after mowing them, scatter salt plentifully upon the

land, pasture, sheep there, and they will most invariably be destroyed in a season or two. The salt acts beneficially with the sheep-dung in enriching the land. To increase the feed, plaster maybe sown at the rate of 1| to 2J bushels per acre.— American Agriculturist.

GIVING CREDIT.

The American Agriculturist takes us to task for not giving him credit for an article in our last number upon the use of Lime and Charcoal. We were not aware that it was customary to credit an extract from a public address to any but the author. However we take great pleasure in awarding to Mr. Allen all the honor that he conceives to be due him for being the first to make the extract from Mr. Partridge's address.

For the Southern Planter. IMPROVEMENT.

Mr. Editor, —It having been my misfortune to own poor land, and to be without money to improve it, I was much cheered at the following caption of an article which appeared in the last number of the Southern Planter, to wit: " How Poor Men may Make Poor Land Rich." This struck me as being the desideratum at which I had so long aimed ; I, therefore, read the article with avidity, but lo ! my spirit quailed when I found that lime and plaster were " indispensable." It is true your correspondent has suggested an economical way to obtain these articles under certain circumstances ; but suppose I am located in a neighborhood where there are no oyster-shells and oyster-houses, and without money to buy plaster; I am barred these benefits. Permit me, therefore, to suggest a course, which is better calculated to attain the end proposed by j'our correspondent, The wife and the necessary farming implements being obtained, to put his land (the poor man's) in good arable condition, let him plant, his corn in well pulverized earth, and go to his ash banks and piles of horse manure, and take therefrom a quantity sufficient to drop in each corn hill, one quart (a pint of leached ashes will suffice) so long as his manure lasts, and w r ork his corn without reference to the application of manure, and my word for it, he will improve double the quantity of land and make double the quantify of corn that he would have done had he have applied his manure broadcast; and I have little doubt but that the double quantity of land thus manured will yield more wheat; for from my experiments in this way, I find the manure diffused through the beds to an extent that no one can conceive,

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

221

who has not experimented in this way. The second crop the beds will be reversed, and the same course pursued, by which a more general diffusion of manure will take place. I am fully persuaded that the small quantity of manure

recommended in this article will produce double the quantity of grain that a broadcast application of the same would, and leave the land better every year. A Patron.

July 23, 1844.

THE MARL INDICATOR.

The following, taken from an old number of and the adjoining country, that the growth of a the Farmers' Register, may be new and interest- , certain plant, in running water indicates, with ing to many of our friends in the marl region : \ absolute certainty, the presence of marl, or beds

of fossil shells, somewhere higher up the stream.

It ha3 been long and generally believed among The great value of any such indication, to those the marling farmers of King William county'who are searching for marl, is obvious. We

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER

were informed of the peculiar rule of location of this plant several years ago, by our friend and correspondent, Dr. William B. Westmore, then a resident of King William, and, at that time, requested such particular information as would enable us to identify the plant, and, by publishing the description, to furnish all the readers of the Farmers' Register, the means to avail of its use, in showing the before hidden presence of marl on their lands, or in their neighborhood.— Dr. Westmore caused a correct colored drawing to be made of the plant, by a good artist who happened to be at his house; and from the drawing we have, had engraved the representation which accompanies this article ; and which, with our own description may enable persons without botanical knowledge, to identify the plant. But to those who possess any thing of that knowledge, (to which we have no pretension,) a much surer means of identification is offered in the following report of the botanical character of the plant, which was furnished at our request by a correspondent, who is much better informed on the subject, and to whom the growing plant was exhibited. His report was as follows:

" I carefully examined the plant you pointed out to me, when here, as indicating the presence of marl in the earth, or as growing only in streams supplied with calcareous matter.— Though the flowers are very small, the botanical character is obvious, and easily determined. The plant belongs to the second class and first order of the artificial system, (diandria monogy-nia,) and to the genus Veronica of that order.— Loudon describes eighty-four species of this genus, only one of which ( Veronica Virginica, with a variety, Incarnaia,) is American. This plant does not agree with any of the numerous species described by Loudon, and I very much doubt whether it is described by any botanist. I would, therefore, be inclined to consider it a new and important species. Its botanical description is—root fibrous, stem smooth, leaves opposite, amplexicaul, lanceolate, slightly ser-rate,flowers racemose,axillary,calix four-toothed, corolla light blue, entire base; lip four parted, capsule two-celled. Should this be (as I think there is every probability) an entire new species of Veronica, would you permit me the liberty of suggesting a specific name— Veronica Rvffinia'! If its presence is a sure indication of marl, it is a highly important plant, and your name is almost identified with marl."

We beg leave to decline the unmerited honor above proposed, as we have no claim to the discovery—and but only that of having appreciated the facts, as soon as they were heard of, and now of making them public. We should think the name of Westmorea more appropriate: but our friend Westmore also waives all claim to the discovery, and says, that he does not know

who first noticed the connexion of the plant with marl. And if, contrary to the present supposition, the plant should in fact have been long on the catalogues of botanists, it will not the less deserve to be considered, for its peculiar quality now just brought to light, as a new and important agricultural discovery. We prefer for its name the descriptive one of the "Marl Indicator."

But we have further evidence of this being in truth a new species, in the opinion of our friend and correspondent, Gideon B. Smith, of Baltimore, to whom we sent the drawing to have it engraved, accompanied by a statement of the peculiar value of the plant, and a copy of the foregoing botanical description. His answer says—

" I cannot determine the botanical character of the plant from the drawing, but it certainly appears to be a Veronica. The description of the plant and the drawing agree perfectly, so far as I can follow the latter—the characters of the coralla, calyx and capsule not being distinct in the drawing. [Owing to their small size.] The plant is new to me; it is not described by Loudon, nor, so far as I can find, by Elliott, nor any other botanist to whose works I have access.

"It will be a curious and valuable discovery for the agricultural interest, should it prove to be in fact an indication of the presence of calcareous matter, and I shall certainly bear it in mind in all my botanical rambles."

We readily found this plant growing in several of the rivulets flowing through different beds of fossil shells, or marl, on our farm. For the fact that it is yet to be found in none other than such streams, we have as yet to rely on the information of others; and on the certainty of its absence as well as its presence agreeing with the absence and presence of marl, obviously depends the value of the " indicator."

The plant is an evergreen ; it grows only in shallow water. The stalk is seldom more than a foot high; though we found some two and a half feet. It is so succulent and tender, that it droops and withers very quickly after being pulled up, and left dry ; but when immediately placed with the roots in a bottle of water, it continued to live, and to throw out successive flowers for several weeks. It was in flower in May, and had not ceased to flower in the beginning of September. The flowers are very small, of a pale blue, or nearly of a lilac color, and appear in small clusters, or strings.

We have taken much trouble and incurred some expense, to enable our readers to identify this plant. It is hoped that many will search for it, and test its alleged peculiarity of location ; and if observation should serve to disprove that peculiar character, it is further hoped that such observation and facts will be communicated for publication. To correct erroneous opinions, and

.

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER,

223

mistaken facts, is as useful and as necessary to agricultural knowledge and improvement, as to announce new and undoubtedly true opinions and facts.

As no calcareous earth exists in the tidewater region of the southern States, except the fossil shell deposite, or marl, as commonly termed, of course the growth of this plant, when found any where in that region, will always indicate that form of calcareous earth only. But if it grows among the mountains, and in more northern as well as more elevated lands, it will probably be found in all limestone streams.

HOARSENESS.

One drachm of freshly scraped horseradish root, to be infused with four ounces of water, in a close vessel, for two hours, and made into a syrup, with double its weight in vinegar, is an improved remedy for hoarseness; a tea-spoonful has often proved effectual; a few tea-spoonfuls, it is said, have never been known to fail in removing hoarseness.

For the Southern Planter. GREEN OATS FOR COLTS.

JWr. Editor, —I noticed in the Planter for July a caution against turning colts in upon green oats, as they are considered poisonous. During the last spring I had the misfortune to lose a very fine mare with a colt fifteen days old at her side. I turned the colt in upon an oat lot, where it is now, and to all appearances doing remarkably well.

Very respectfully,

B. H. Brown.

Gravel Hill, Buckingham, July 1, 1844.

TO PROTECT HENS FROM VERMIN. A gentleman from Hanover requests us to state the fact that pennyroyal woven into their nests will perfectly and certainly protect hens from the annoyance of vermin. He generally makes the nest entirely of this strong scented herb.

SHEEP KILLED BY BRINE.

Some farmers keep a trough of salt in their barn yards, so that their cattle, horses and sheep may have access to it whenever they are "salt hungry." • Thi3 may be a good plan; but the trough ought not to be exposed to the rains. A farmer in a neighboring county recently lost two sheep in consequence of their drinking of the brine made by the rain falling into a trough of salt kept in his yard. They had not been salted for a considerable time, and on corning

into the yard drank freely of the brine, and died in a very few minutes.

We never heard of sheep eating so much salt, when given to them dry, as to kill them ; but in this instance they were probably both thirsty and "salt hungry" at the same time, and hence they drank so large a quantity of the brine that it proved fatal to them.

JWaine Farmer.

The following articles are from the Foreign News Department of the American Agriculturist :

Substitute for Guano and Bones. —Mr. Dinsdale advises the collection of human urine, giving to it about fourteen pounds of sulphate of magnesia (Epsom salts) to every hundred gallons, and adding lime in the state of hydrate (that is, slaked.) Such a mixture contains all the elements of bones and guarif; and although more than one private empiric and public company have adopted the process, for profit, it still remains comparatively unknown. I calculate more than one hundred gallons per month are thrown away in every minor farm house, while in towns there is great waste'in this way.

Guano a Preservative of Flowers. — Those who are lovers of flowers, and delight in having them constantly in their rooms, may continue to keep them fresh for a very considerable time, by putting into the water a' pinch of Peruvian guano, which is rendered immediately soluble and taken up by the cuttings. Guano is essentially different from all other manures: it possesses most of the t:onstituents of plants, and contains a great portion of salt and other antiseptic, and yet the most fertilizing ingredients.

For the Southern Planter. MATTERS AND THINGS IN GENERAL.

From a Housekeeper's, Omnium Gatherum.

Hemp sown around a hen-yard or around a cabbage patch will keep off vermin.

Hollow Horn. —A writer in the Louisville Journal recommends to saw off the horn. Try it in an extreme case.

Removing Unpleasant Taste in Milk. — Dissolve a piece of saltpetre, about the size of a hazelnut, in warm water, and mix with a gallon of new milk immediately after being strained. Very innocent—will make milk cast cream better.— Cultivator.

Manure for Vines, —The cuttings chopped fine and dug in.— Liebig, 347.

Rheumatism. —Take one pint of bruised mustardseed; soak one night in two quarts of milk ; boil and strain the milk and add good old

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER

Madeira wine till a whey is formed ; strain and bottle. Drink a wine glass three times a day. Mrs. Parson S. is the author of the above.

Colic in Horses. —Soap suds, freely administered, has effected many cures.

Flowers, to Preserve. —Drop a little salt in the water in which the flowers are placed. Try it, young ladies.

Joint-Felon. —Apply equal parts of soft-soap and slaked lime; put on a piece about the size of a pea, and scrape off every fifteen or twenty minutes.

Frozen Limb or Burn. —A poultice of Indian meal and yeast, Mr. Fessenden says is good.

Cologne. —Oil of lavender half an ounce, oil of rosemary one drachm, essence of lemon two drachms, oil of cinnamon sixteen drops, bergamot two drachms ; put the whole in three pints of alcohol, shake well and often.

Shaving Soap. —Take common (store) turpentine soap, scrape it fine, dissolve in just enough French brandy to dissolve.

Honey, its Anti-Septic Property. —The best mode of conveying grafts, vine cuttings, &c. is in a tin case or cylinder filled with honey. Melons and fruits are preserved this way in Italy.— Farmers' Register, 520.

Flies, to Prevent Attacks and Injuries to Pictures, Furniture, &c.—Let a bunch of leeks soak four, five or six days in a pailful of water, and wash your picture or any other piece of furniture with it. It will drive flies away.— Old Boston Times.

John Smith.

EXTRACTS.

Agriculture feeds us, to a great extent it clothes us, and without it we could not have manufactures, and we should not have commerce; these all stand together like pillars—the largest in the centre—and that largest is Agriculture. — Webster.

Our farmers sometimes put out their money in some joint stock company, to convert sunshine into moonshine—or he buys shares in some gold mine. Rely upon it, our richest mine is the barn-yard, and that whatever temptations stocks or shares may offer, the best investment for a farmer is live stock and plough shares. — Biddle.

Steam has given to England the equivalent in labor to four hundred millions of men.

"Flowers are God's smiles," says Wilberforce; they are as beautiful beside the cottage as the palace, and may be enjoyed by all. Let every one study then, and work, to make whatever place they may be in, so attractive that the hearts of the absent ones shall go back to it as the dove did to the ark of Noah.

o. p. a.

CULTIVATOR ALMANAC FOR 1845. We observe that Mr. Tucker, of the Albany Cultivator, has prepared an Almanac for 1845 similar to his 1844 edition. From the table of contents, and from the Almanac of the present year, we have no doubt that it contains much valuable matter. It is illustrated with thirty engravings, and sold (we suppose at the agencies of the Cultivator) at the low price of two dollars per hundred and fifteen dollars per thousand. " Booksellers or others, can have editions printed with their imprint, and occupy the last page with an adveetisement, for five dollars extra on the first thousand copies."

From the New England Farmer. HILLING AND NOT HILLING POTATOES.

I left two rows in the piece unbilled—that is, making only a very slight hill at the first hoeing, and not enlarging the hills at the two subsequent hoeings. The whole piece was hoed three times in the course of the season, and at each of these times the hills in all the rows save these two, were increased in size, as usual. At harvest, I measured the product of two rows on each side of the two unhilled, and the last gave five pecks more (and larger potatoes) than the mean product of the other four. By making large hills, I suspect we deprive the crop of an important share of the beneficial influences of sun and atmospheric moisture.

Potatoes need a free and mellow bed to grow in, but this is not best secured by increasing the size of the hill after planting—it should be done before that,—at least, so that I have been led to think from recent observation.

DOWNING'S WORKS.

We are pleased to see that Mr. A. J. Downing, of Newburgh, New York, is about issuing a second and enlarged edition of his very valuable treatise on " Landscape Gardening," as also of his "Cottage Residences." Messrs. Wiley & Putnam, (Mr. Downing's publishers) have published a work of this author on " Fruits." A friend has promised us a notice of these works as-soon as he has received them. We hail with an unaffected expression of pleasure, these books, and we hope to see them in the libraries of many Virginia gentlemen. The American public has been placed under obligations to this author for his contributions to the improvement of the domestic architecture and rural taste of our country, and we verily believe that he will effect a

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

226

great change in the opinions of his readers with reference to theory and practice of Landscape Gardening.

Although a little too diffusive and general in its nature for the circumscribed limits of the " Planter," we make room for the following, because we are lead to believe it is the precursor to other essays of equal intelligence and of a more practical and agricultural character:

TO THE MEMBERS OF THE CUB CREEK AND STAUNTON RIVER AGRICULTURAL CLUB.

Gentlemen, —In compliance with your request, and after expressing to you my acknowledgments for presuming that 1 might suggest any thing worthy of your attention, I now undertake to offer some remarks connected either immediately or remotely with the laudable object of your Association. I say either immediately or remotely connected, for I am not inclined, nor is it my intention to rule myself to any very nar-now nor even rectilinear course of observation. And as time, which in its course over human affairs never fails to leave a trail behind it, seems to have trodden much more heavily on my organs of verbal articulation than on those employed in writin<r, you will, I doubt not, readily acquiesce in the medium of communication which I adopt. Of one thing, however, gentlemen, I would premonish you, that the communicative faculties of persons approaching, as I am, the confines of octogenarianism, seem sometimes under the influence of the law in physics called the vis inertia of matter; and in obedience to which all bodies continue in their existing condition, whether of motion or rest, until that condition be changed by some external force.— Having now propelled me into motion, you will, therefore, have to extend indulgence to me and cultivate patience in yourselves until I shall strike against some sufficient obstacle to further progress.

Under the severe pressure of the present drought there can be no difficulty in the selection of a subject for remark. The drought itself stands in front of every thing now presenting claims on our attention ; and it is a subject not merely of local and temporary, but of general and permanent, interest to the agricultural community.

On a retrospect of the weather for twenty or thirty years, nay, for more than half a century past, we shall find its characteristic features to be variableness and irregularity; and particularly that during the whole season of the culture and maturation of our principal crops, corn and tobacco, we are liable to severe and destructive droughts. Is it in our power to prevent or in Vol. \S.-Vi

any degree to diminish the injurious effects of these calamitous visitations?

To some, perhaps, this inquiry may at first sight appear not only futile but presumptuous. They may consider droughts as Providential inflictions ; and in regard to which patience, penitence and humble deprecation constitute our only duties—that it would be even impious to endeavor to prevent or diminish their destructive consequences.

I am under no apprehension that this superficial objection to our proposed inquiry would be offered by any of those to whom this communication is more immediately addressed; but as it wears a grave aspect, and as its discussion may present views, not universally familiar, of the moral and physical relations in which we stand to some of the objects around us, I ask indulgence while I bestow on it some attention.

Drought certainly stands on the same ground with every other physical evil; they are all results of the operation of the laws of nature, established by the great Author of nature; and if for that reason we may not rightfully counteract the operation of any one of these laws, it is certainly our duty to acquiesce unresistingly in the results of all. But this principle would not only expose us helpless victims to every sort of evii, but would soon exterminate the human race. Cold and hunger, destitution, pain and disease, all resulting from the operation of the laws of nature, would soon sweep mankind from the face of the earth. We have been so often told to follow nature, that the precept seems to have acquired the dignity of a moral maxim ; but if taken as a rule of conduct without much qualification and exception, our fate would soon resemble that of the Indian, who, in attempting to cross the river a few miles above the falls of Niagara, instead of addressing himself vigorously to his paddle, continued to indulge his natural inclination in frequent intercourse with his only travelling companion, a bottle of whiskey, until becoming drowsy, the usual consequence of inebriation, he concluded still to follow nature still further by lying down and going fast asleep in his canoe. Neither the tremendous catastrophe which immediately succeeded, nor its illustrative relation to the doctrine inculcated, requires description or explanation.

So far from being impious or presumptuous, it is the great duty and business of our fives to endeavor as far as possible to defeat the laws of nature, whenever they operate injuriously to ourselves. For exemplification, let us attend to some of the occupations of the husbandman.— Does he find it necessary in the first place to build a house? In procuring the materials he forthwith attacks and desolates the establishments of nature all around him. What is his ultimate object ? To protect himself from the excessive heat of summer and the still more in-

THE SOUTHERN PLAN TE R

tolerable cold of winter, both of which are the necessary results of the laws of nature which regulate the annual and diurnal motions of the earth. In clearing land for cultivation, all he cuts down, grubs up and destroys, had been planted, nourished and watered by the hand of nature. While breaking and pulverizing the soil he is violating the law of cohesive attraction by which all bodies are held together, and even the solid parts of our own prevented from crumbling into impalpable dust. In draining swamps and ponds he conducts water away from places whither it had been carried and where it was reposing in obedience to the laws of hydrostatics, which are merely part and parcel of nature's code. This principle applies to all he does. In lifting the smallest thing from the earth he has to contend with, and even to overcome the great law of gravitation ; in obedience to which even the heavenly bodies bend down their submissive orbits. This state of conflict is not confined to the human race—it pervades the whole animal kingdom. Not only are all struggling against the laws of inanimate matter; but every species, not excepting man, while in a state of nature, is at war with every other species; nay, every individual with every other individual, even of the same species.— Among the inferior races of animals, both wild and domestic, this general hostility is quite obvious to common observation. And if it be less apparent in man in the social state, it is because the anti-social and belligerent principles of his nature, which had full sway before, are now under legal restraint. But in proof of the existence and even prevalence of these principles in human nature, without referring to the history of the race, every page of which is smeared with human blood, we have only to point at the civil and criminal codes of the most civilized and refined communities.

But whence this universal antagonism, this battle-royal of the animal kingdom? It proceeds from this great paramount law of animal life, which together with its penalty may be expressed in two words EAT or DIE. This inexorable and immutable law is inscribed by the Author of nature on the constitution of every living creature, and keeps the whole animal creation in motion and in perpetual quest of food ; each species and individual scuffling and fighting with its competitors for the same sort of food; or, as the case may be, with respect to appetite, strength and other physical circumstances, either pursuing its fellow-animals with blood-thirsty eagerness, or straining every nerve to escape the talons or fangs of its ruthless pursuer.

A remission of the intensity of this general conflict may occasionally take place in consequence of great physical or moral calamities, such as severe winters or very unfruitful sum-

mers, the ravages of war or widely destructive epidemics. These dreadful visitations by curtailing the numbers of different, species of animals generally leave, for a time, a more plentiful supply of food to the survivors. But the prolific faculties of every species is such, and especially under the favorable circumstances of plenty of food as soon to carry up the numbers again to the suffering and scuffling point.

But whilst engaged in a necessary conflict with foreign powers we must not neglect the civil war which is, or ought to be, at the same time carried on within us, among the different principles of our own nature. Our passions and natural propensities, are ever on the watch for opportunities to rise in rebellion against reason, their rightful sovereign. In endeavoring to suppress these restless insurgents we cannot do better than to take the experienced veteran, St. Paul, for our leader: I say experienced, for he too, found " a law in his members warring against the law of his conscience," and has given a particular description of the most suitable armor, offensive and defensive; and moreover, left us the most approved system of tactics for this species of warfare that has ever been published.

But I really fear that we are likely to digress even from our digression. To that, therefore, if not yet to our main subject, we return, by observing that the apparently severe law, which goads into incessant activity every form and grade of animal life is not confined to that department of nature; but is coextensive with all organization. The inhabitants of the vegetable kingdom must also eat or die. Theirs too, is a life of perpetual conflict as well with each other as with the natural tendencies of unorganized matter. Their roots are scuffling for food and moisture below the surface while their leaves and blades are contending for light and air above. And no inconsiderable part of the business of the cultivation of the soil consists in interfering in this contest and showing foul play, if I may adopt a pugilistic phrase, in favor of those articles which he grows for his own use. They also counteract, control and modify according to their own necessities the laws of inanimate matter. In spite of gravitation they carry their food from the root upwards, whilst in exercising the vital energy of their organs, they laugh to scorn all the laws of chemical affinity, combination, and decomposition.

The preceding representation of organized nature may to some appear gloomy and repulsive. There is in the ear of gentleness no harmoniously responsive chord to the quick respirations of toil, the clamors of strife, and conflict, or, the shrieks of carnage. But perhaps on this subject the feelings of exquisite sensibility might be rectified by considering whether she herself be not a carnivorous animal and how often

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

227

her own teeth and tongue have been stained with blood. Thus qualified, she might with a greater degree of impartiality approach the inquiry whether the doctrine of Pope may not after all be correct, that

'■ Discord is harmony not understood, And partial evil universal good."

And perhaps after due consideration at length may be prepared to assent to the ultimate conclusion of the poet just quoted, that, with reference to the whole universe and the general laws by which it is governed, " whatever is, is right." There are certainly many things, which on a superficial view appear to be great evils, but which on proper examination, are found to be no evils at all. In this predicament stands the necessity of exertion. Intellectual and muscular exertion are the parents not only of every physical comfort, but of all human excellence. To these we are indebted for the sound and healthy state, as well as for the progressive improvement of all our faculties and organs. And the necessary results of habitual and permanent inaction would be morbid imbecility, degeneration, and the descent of the human race on the general scale of animal existence. And this downward course of civilized man would not be towards the condition of the savage, who is constantly stimulated to vigorous exerlion by the evils of hunger and cold and by the perils of hostile attacks, but toward the state of the harmless oyster adhering to its native rock, and the whole business of whose life consist in the periodical opening of its shell about one-tenth of an inch for the spontaneous entrance of nourishment.

It may tend still further to reconcile us to our unalterable destiny, of incessant action against universal reaction, to consider that in obedience to this law our welfare and happiness chiefly consist. The gratification of the senses, it is true, form an item, but it is comparatively a small item in the general aggregate of human enjoyment; and in this respect every man possessed of the necessaries of life, nay, every brute animal in a similar situation, stands nearly on the same level. Indulgence in sensual pleasure can, from the laws of the animal economy, occupy but little of our time, and it constitutes but a small part of the busines of life. Our happiness or misery depends chiefly on the manner in which we pass those comparatively long intervals of time which lie between the points of sensual gratification ; and that these intervals, comprising almost the whole of life, are most agreeably and happily employed in active, interesting occupation of body and mind is a proposition, the truth of which is attested by universal experience.

The acting, thinking man is, therefore, the only happy man ; and on the contrary, the absence of all motive and object of action consti-

tute the wretched condition, called in French ennui and in Latin tedium vita:, and from the oppressive burden of which many, all hough surrounded by all the blessings and comforts of life, have sought refuge in suicide.

All hough there is a pleasurable feeling resulting from the sound and healthy action of all the bodily organs, and which is probably common to every grade and species of animal life, yet this of itself is far from constituting the highest attainable degree of human happiness. In addition to this corporeal activity the mind also, as has been already intimated, must be occupied and interested, the intellectual faculties exerted, and the social and moral affections habitually exercised.

It is difficult to imagine a situation on this earth more favorable to a combination of all these elements of happiness, than that of the agriculturist. Oh ! fortunatos nimiwn, exclaims the poet of Mantua, sua si bona norint agricolas.

Nor can the cultivator of the soil reflect without proud complacency, on the dignity and importance of his occupation—not only as being connected with all human science, but also as constituting the broad basis of every human interest.

But I suspect the reader is ready to sajr, if agriculture be this all-important concern it certainly claims a less interrupted attention than it has received since its assumption as the principal topic of this communication.

I acknowledge that I have committed myself rather more unreservedly than I expected or intended to their erratic guidance of ideal association ; but in so doing, I have only been indulging myself in the privilege with which Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite* has invested, "length of days and multitude of years," and of which privilege I gave premonition at the beginning, that 1 was duly sensible. I now, however, claim the merit of returning to my subject, and am ready to resume the inquiry, how we may best counteract the injurious effects of the severe summer droughts lo which our climate is liable? But really, Mr. Editor, and you, gentlemen of the Club, I am ashamed of the graceless length to which this article has been already extended, and must, therefore, commit what I have to suggest on this subject to a subsequent communication.

William F. Rice.

Dr. Beekman stated in his Address before the late New York State Agricultural Fair in Rochester, that ten millions of cattle, and forty-

* If any reader should exclaim, who the devil is he, I answer, search the Scriptures, where you may not only find out something about Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, but perhaps, also, learn the indecency of taking the name of a certain personage in vain.

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

four millions of sheep, are kept in England, advantageously, on a territory but little larger than the State of New York. This is not far from twice the number of sheep now in the whole United States. The English cultivators of the soil, harvest, annually, according to Dr. Beek-man, two hundred sixty-two millions bushels of £rain.

From the Farmers' Cabinet. WORN-OUT LANDS.

In the American Farmer of December 27th, appeared an extract from a communication by John Jones, of Wheatland, to the Farmers' Cabinet, in which he makes allusion to the astonishing effects brought about in the renovation of worn-out lands in Delaware, by Dr. Noble, of Philadelphia. On land which cost but fifteen dollars per acre, and produced but five bushels of wheat three years ago, by the application of eight loads of manure, costing, freight included, less than one dollar and fifty cents per load, the Doctor has raised forty-seven bushels of wheat from one acre, and from the remainder rather less, the average being an enormous increase over the produce of former years. The Editor of the American Farmer expresses an "increase desire" to learn the secret by which the Doctor has been enabled, at the small expense of less than twelve dollars per acre, to effect such astonishing results.

We would inform him there is no secret whatever in the method pursued, but such as any farmer might discover for himself, if he would but take the trouble to read some of the numerous works upon the application of chemistry to agriculture, lately published. Knowing by chemical analysis or examination, the composition of the grain and straw of wheat, and that of the soil, it was an easy matter to apply those materials which were needed, in order to produce a healthy and vigorous growth. He prescribed for his wheat and soil as he would for a patient, and with equal success; health and strength have been restored to the suffering subject.

Now, as to the sources of the manure which he has made use of, we will say a word ; it is in the power of every farmer, near large cities, to procure the materials which are needed to enrich the soil.

The Doctor formed a compost obtained from various sources, consisting of the refuse of tanners, soap boiling establishments, &c; in short, of such animal and vegetable substances as contain soluble salts, or which can be made subservient to the growth of plants. In the selection of these substances he was guided by their composition, as made known by chemical analysis. "Give/' says the rational agriculturist, "to one plaint such substances as are necessarj' for its development, but spare those which are not re-

quisite, for the production of other plants which require them."

"An empirical," or quack system " of agriculture, has administered the same kind of manures to all plants, or where a selection has been made, it has not been based upon a knowledge of their peculiar composition." The phosphate of soda or lime, the silicate of potash, ar.d sulphate of ammonia, or other salts containing these in other combinations, are necessary for the production of wheat; these have been supplied by the Doctor, and why should we be astonished at the results which have followed their application 1 He has adopted the scientific method of manuring, and if his knowledge of the composition of the soil and wants of the crop was exact, and his conclusions correctly drawn, he could not err in the application of his manures. His is indeed a triumph of science over the old fashioned, uncertain, and empirical mode of farming; here is an example worthy the attention of every farmer, and especially should it be considered by those whom prejudice has so blinded that they cannot perceive the vast benefits arising from the judicious application of scientific knowledge to agriculture. It is indeed " creditable to the Doctor as a scientific farmer;" we hail him as a benefactor, and desire that he maj 7 persevere in that path of usefulness in which he has found both pleasure and profit.

J. S. L.

Philadelphia, Second month 6th, 1844.

For the Southern Planter.

Wheatland, Mecklenburg, Aug, 13, 1844.

Mr. Botts :

Dear Sir,—The enclosed letter was written by a negro man sold by a nephew of mine a year or two ago to go to Missouri with his wife, and as I esteem it the most honest account of matters in that country, 1 have thought proper to enclose it to you for publication in the Planter. Yours, respectfully,

P. C. Venable.

Upper Missouri, July 1, 1844.

Dear Mother,—I am well and hearty; my wife is also enjoying good health at this time. I have lost my two youngest children, Bob and Harriet, since I have been out here. She has a baby six weeks old, named Priscilla. I am very desirous to see you and my relations ; wish you would write to me on the receipt of this, and let me know how you are and who has died since I left.

This is a very fine fat country, though I cannot like it; it is too scarce of water and a great deal more sickly than where I come from, though I have not had much sickness myself, I would advise none of my friends, black or white, never

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER,

229

to come here if ihey can help it, for it is too cold a country : if you don't take good care of yourself you will take the head pleurisy and die in three days. In the summer time the people have to drive their stock three to five miles to water, and in the winter they have to haul ice and melt it to water them. The most of people have to strain the water that they use to drink and cook with, on account of waggle tails. I think the reason why so many people move to this country, those that are here wont write the truth, and when the} 7 go to the old country they wont tell the truth. I have eaten no good corn bread since I have been in this country—the meal is all like ground hominy—ground by horse

mills—and I am living in the healthiest part of the State, and the best watered. M3' master talks of moving back in the course of two or three years, as he is very much dissatisfied, and I hope to see you all again before I die.

It is my desire for all my religious friends, both white and black, to pray for me, for I am so dissatisfied in rnind I cannot pray for myself. 1 had rather live in Old Virginia in the piny old field, work all day and part of the night and live on peas and potatoes, than live here and have as much hog and hominy as I can destroy.

I have nothing more at present, but remain Your affectionate son until death,

John Preston,

For the Southern Planter. BOLTON HOISTER.

Mr. Editor, —Jonathan Pindar (a cousin of the celebrated Peter) tells a story of a Dutchman who went to mill once a week with a bushel of wheat in one end of his bag and a stone in the other, to balance it. The reason he gave for this was, that his father, his grandfather and his great grandfather had done so before him ; of course it was all right. Now, Mr. Editor, I go for all rational improvement.— Whatever lessens labor, saves time, and in other respects answers a good end, must be valuable. We have, in my humble opinion, too much of this skipple stone, Dutch work about us. But to the point. When in the State of Missouri, last year, my attention was called to a very simple and useful small affair for the purpose of

filling tobacco barns, and I had one made, and filled seven large barns with it in a hurry. I found that it saved time and labor, and answered a good end ; that I could fill two barns sooner than one in the ordinary way, without risk or danger, as all hands were on the floor, except one man above, to take and place the tobacco slick—no handing from tier to tier. I have endeavored to give you a draft of it above.

A is a piece of timber about four or five inches square, with any kind of a roller in one end of it, and fastened with a string or rope at the other end, to keep it from tilting, say about six feet long—it lies across two joists, and may be moved at pleasure.

B is a piece of timber two or two and a half

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER

inches square, and two feet or two feet three inches long, with a piece of plank fastened to the middle of it, with a hole in one end for a a rope, and in this piece of timber there are two teeth about seven inches long, not loo much elevated, upon which the tobacco stick is placed, near a balance and ready for hoisting.

C is the rope by which it is hoisted. At the word hoist, it is carried up easily between the tiers, to the top of the tallest barn—commence filling at one end of the house.

Only one hand is required above, standing on a short plank, who takes the tobacco off and places it, and the weight of B brings it to the floor again, where the hand stands who hoists.

D simply represents the joists which cross the tobacco barn.

My much respected friend, Gen. Lewis Bolton, of Blufion, on the Osage river, was the first who told me of this, and I believe him to be the inventor and first user. I, therefore, call it the !l Bolton Hoister." D. M.

Amelia County, Va., July, 1844.

THE PEACH.

With the fertile soil of our country, we have but little diificulty in growing peach trees until they are three or four years old, when they are attacked by the worm in the root, or a disease called the yellow, and frequently by both. In either case the tree dies in two or three years.

The following remedies have been found perfectly successful in preventing the worm in the root. When a tree is first set out in the orchard, apply three quarts of fresh or unleached wood ashes, and add ashes every spring. Another method is to pour chamber-lye around the roots of the trees several times during the spring and summer.

The method pursued by Mr. Pell, of Pelham, Ulster count}', New York, is to put one-half peck of fine charcoal to the roots of each tree when first set out in the orchard, and adding a quantity each spring.— B. G. Boswell, Philadelphia.

of buckwheat, and turn them in just when they get into bloom, taking care at each ploughing in of such green crops, to sow a bushel of plaster per acre, on his field ; and if possible to spread on each acre twenty-five bushels of lime and two of ashes. With such a preparation of any field, which might have been originally adapted to wheat culture, we would not only promise him a remunerating crop of wheat, but a good growth of clover afterwards, provided he sowed the seed thereon. So also, would we pledge our word, that with similar preparation, excellent crops of corn might be grown ; or, indeed, any other of the cultivable grains or grasses; for all that either the one or the other wants, is food, and that would be furnished by the means we have pointed out. And if the condition of production is to be continued, all that is necessary to be done, is, to repeat the means of improvement indicated in our preceding remarks. American Farmer.

MANURES.

With regard to what particular kinds of manures are best, were we asked the question, we would say, that all are good—that of the animal and vegetable kinds, every thing susceptible of rotting, is good to be converted into manure— that where the farmer has not the facilities for making a supply to meet the demands of his farm in his barn-yard and stables, he should make the turning in of green crops a part of his system of husbandry.

If his lands are too poor to yield clover for such purposes, let him sow two successive crops

For the Southern Planter. THE CULTIVATION OF INDIAN CORN.

Mr. Editor, —In your number for this month, I observe a communication on corn by Mr. Wm. B. Easley, of Mecklenburg. Mr. Easley is opposed to the mode of superficial cultivation advised by Judge Buel, and you side with Mr. Easley. Asa young farmer, I am diffident in opposing his practice, and your authority, and would not do so if I could not state facts to bear me out against you both..

I know that a good deal must depend on the nature of the soils operated on ; and the plan of cultivation which would ruin a crop for Mr. Easley might make one for us. His land is a dry, stiff, clay soil. The south-west mountain land, which I till, is a light, loamy clay, easily tilled when once well broken up, and soon mellowed by exposure to sun or frost. Deep ploughing, with a subsoil plough, if necessary, and thorough harrowing might give Mr. Easley's land the advantages of mine for corn. But of this I know nothing. Some allowance too may perhaps be made for the kind of corn, though it is presumed that all good farmers reject the gigantic varieties, as neither heavy nor prolific.

The mode pursued in cultivating my crop, acknowledged, though no merit of mine, however, to be one of the very best in the county, has been as follows: The land, a naked fallow of eighty acres, was broken up before Christmas as deep as three-horse ploughs could do it. Early in March it was well harrowed, leaving the whole completely pulverized. It was then laid off in deep furrows five feet apart with a heavy two-horse plough ; planted two and a half feet apart in the step, and covered with the hoe.— The corn is of the kind known among us as the

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

231

red-cob variety, the stalk rather under size, but large, compared with any at the north. When about six inches high, it was harrowed over without taking out the front tooth of the harrow, so as to cripple the springing grass and fill up the planting furrow. Both these purposes were well accomplished. It was then thinned to two stalks in the hill, and as soon as the grass began to spring again, cultivators, followed immediately by hoes, went over it. As soon afterwards as necessary, the final working was given by what are called skimmers in the lower country, and scrapers here—an implement of which every farmer should have a full supply. This mode of cultivation, as you perceive, has been entirely superficial. The storms have been attended with the usual gales, and the last rain we had, on the 26th of July, was accompanied with a violent wind. The corn was then in the worst condition for standing a blow, being full eared, very luxuriant, full of sap, and unusually large for its kind. The ground too was saturated with water from previous rains. But on looking through the crop the next day I thought it less prostrated than any I had ever seen. I have not yet housed it, of course, but on examination, it appears very fine, and but for a drought of twenty-six days would have come fully up to my desire. It was the earliest crop in the neighborhood, though not planted until the 15th or 20th April, which I think the best time in this climate; and I ascribe its forwardness to non-disturbance of the roots, whrch were thus enabled to feed the stalk continually, and to the mellowness and consequent moisture of the soil which was not stirred and exposed to the sun.

A year ago, I had an opportunity of observing a fact confirmatory of that I detail, on the adjoining farm of rny father-in-law, Thomas Jefferson Randolph, Esq. Accidentally, he was unable to " give the dirt" to a part of his corn. A violent gale came on late in August, when the corn was formed but not filled ; and the part that had been " sided" was blown nearly flat, whilst the other was comparatively erect. Mr. Randonlph pointed it out to me, and we could tell the difference to the line.

I am also at liberty to state that my friend and neighbor, Col. Thomas Macon, made an experiment last summer to test the virtues of superficial culture, which, as far as it goes, strengthens rny position. His crop was managed in the old way with the plough and coulter, but he treated four rows, indifferently selected in the body of the field, according to Buel's plan, and he 3ays that the closest scrutiny has failed to detect the slightest difference between those rows and the balance on both sides of them. I think it probable that measurement will show a considerable per cent, in favor of the experiment. Admitting equal products, however, the saving

of at least cne-half the labor is, I should think, a very decisive fact.

It seems too, other things being equal, that this mode of cultivation accords with reason.— The coronal, or "prop," roots generally put forth before the dirt is given to the corn. When that is done, these are covered up and fresh ones are formed above. It takes time, and sap, which is drawn from the whole plant, to perfect this second growth, which after all, may not, and sometimes does not, attain sufficient size and length to answer its natural end. It certainly delays, and to some extent, exhausts the plant, as every additional draught upon it must.

I confess I see but one difficulty in the way of Judge Buel's plan on such lands as the southwest mountains afford—it may cause them to wash. On that point I am not satisfied, but endeavoring lo become so. If it be an objection it is fatal.

I have hesitated, Mr. Editor, to send you this communication. It is long, though as much compressed as I could make it; and the harvest is not appropriate to discuss the seed time. But it is perhaps better to meet objections at the threshold, and my piece is submitted accordingly. Respectfully, your obedient servant,

Frank G. Ruffin.

Shadwell, Albemarle, Sept. 3, 1844.

W T e do not think either ourself or Mr. Easley have been exactly understood. It is very common in this climate to see extensive injury arising from the prostration of our corn at different periods of its growth; the level mode of cultivation recommended by Judge Buel does seem to ns as less calculated to guard against the effect of high winds than the old mode of "earthing" the corn. By this latter process the stalk is induced to put forth additional " prop roots," which its frequent prostration now seem to render desirable. We were willing to take, at any rate to record, the opinion of so distinguished a planter as Mr. Easley for the product of the two modes. We have, however, met with several other gentlemen since the publication of Mr. Easley's communication who concur with Mr. Ruffin in preferring the level and superficial mode of cultivation, upon the ground that it affords an equal product, with less labor. We happened to visit the farm of one of these gentlemen who defends and practices this level mode, and certainly his crop had suffered materially from being blown down by the wind ; whether it would have been saved by ridging, we are unable to say. For our own part, we have been inclined to think

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

that the way to make a great crop of corn was to make the land rich, fallow deep, pulverize well, plant closely, and cultivate frequently and deeply with the coulter. If the soil is deep and well broken up the roots of the corn have a perpendicular instead of a lateral tendency, and there is little danger of injuring them by deep cultivation.

Mr. Ruffin need make no apology for the season at which his communication appears. Indian com is a privileged question, and is always in order.

For the Southern Planter. THE BARBERRY.

Mr. Editor, —In the July No. of the Southern Planter was published a communication from Clayton G. Coleman, Esq., of this county, requesting information, whether the Barberry bush possesses the property of communicating the rust to wheat. If }'ou think proper to publish the following facts and remarks, they are at your service:

I am informed that my grandfather moved his family from the county of Hanover to the county of Amherst about the year 1750, and that my grandmother carried a Barberry bush, as a "God send," which was planted in the rich soil of the mountains. She lived to a very old age, and was often delighted to cut a branch from her bush, to relieve, or cure the diseases or some of them, to which the sons and daughters of Adam were subject. About the commencement of the present century I came into possession of the land on which she died and with it the Barberry bush, perhaps not inferior in size and beauty to the one in the garden at Jerdone Castle. The garden, yard, &c. was attached to an adjoining field on which grew several fine crops of wheat before I parted with .it; I never saw on the wheat a particle of rust although I have frequently seen the wheat touching the bush.

I became an inhabitant of the county of Louisa about thirty years past and found on the plantation I moved to a Barberry bush, about the size of the one I left. In making some arrangements in the garden it became necessary to remove the Barberry bush, which I declined doing until I had several of its descendants in a state of thriftiness. I have three of them planted on the side of the pnblic road, all of which are not equal in size to the parent stock from the frequent cutting of the branches for medicinal uses.

My wheat has occasionally been injured by the rust since I moved to the county of Louisa ; and so has the wheat of those who never had a Barberry bush ; even those who have destroyed

them have shared the same fate. I have seen the Barberry bush have the rust; so has oats and rye; the brier bush has the rust frequently, and so has the cotton plant; in fact there are few subjects in the vegetable kingdom, but, what some years or some time in the year have the rust. Does the Barberry bush communicate the disease to all of its fellow subjects, or is there not a general cause in nature which operates upon them all? Wheat has sustained much more damage from the rust since the commencement of the nineteenth century, than it did during the letter part of the eighteenth century, when the Barberry bushes were much more numerous than they are now. The mania for destroying the Barberry bush has pervaded almost the whole country, and but few of the family are now left. Has the bush become more malignantly destructive as its numbers have decreased? I think not. It will be remembered that the Hessian Fly made its appearance about the commencement of the present century ; since which time wheat, instead of being seeded as formerly, in the month of August, is now seeded in the months of October, November, and even as late as December, in order to guard against the ravages of that little destructive insect. Thus the farmer by endeavoring to keep clear of scylla runs into charybdis;—to avoid the fly by early seeding he seeds late to be destroyed by the rust. It is wrong that the innocent Barberry bush should feel the vengeance of the sufferer.

We are informed by history, in by-gone days, that the pleople " Down East" took it into their wise heads, that their cattle died in consequence of being shot with hair balls by a certain class of old women which they called witches, and that man}' of those witches suffered death by water and fire for the supposed crime of shooting their neighbors' cattle with hair balls, when no hoie was to be found through which the ball passed. Had those shrewd people fed their cattle as well then, as they do now, and put them in as warm houses in that cold climate as they at present do; it would have saved the lives of many a cow and many an old woman.

If the farmers of Virginia will make their land rich enough to bear seeding two or two and one-half bushels of wheat to the acre, and will cultivate the forward family of wheat and seed it in the month of September, it is my opinion they will have no occasion to use violence towards any of the relatives of " the God send" of my good old Grandmother.

Respectfully, Sir,

Yours, &c.

Wm. Crawford. Locust Grove, Louisa Co., Jlug. 15, 1844.

p. S.—Wheat which has been injured by the rust, will produce a good crop of sound merchantable wheat the next year. W. C

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

233

GREAT WASTE OF MANURE.

Not upon ouv land, for although injudicious application may be considered a species of waste, yet there is not so much to be complained of in regard to the application as the worc-application of manures. The waste is in not saving, in not accumulating, every thing of the kind which will fertilize the soil from which we take our crops. We know from our own personal experience and observing others, that twice as much— nay, three times as much manure may be saved— we will say saved—not manufactured, but saved, as there now is. How many sink spouts are there in the country, that are almost hourly pouring out their contents, to be floated away, no where in particular, and "to waste their fragrance on the desert air ?" How many stables are there in the country, where there is not even the shadow of a fixture to save the urine and liquid particles of manure which are continually made there 1 Nearly all the barns are without sheds for manure. All that the cattle make during housing time is thrown out of the windows, where it is exposed to the weather. The arrangement seems to be the very best in the world to dissipate the valuable parts and leave the poorest. It is, first a layer of manure—then a layer of snow—then manure—then a heavy rain—then a strong wind and sunshine—then manure, and so on. In the spring, we shovel in what there is left us, and which is of such strong and stubborn material that the combined attacks of snows and rains, and freezing and thawing, and sunshine and winds, could not overcome, and this we apply to nourish our crops, and to supply the delicate and fine vessels of the rootlets with nourishment. Isn't this admirable? A little care and attention, and a small amount of labor, would enable the farmer to preserve and apply his manure in a much more judicious and saving manner. We do not hesitate to say, that we have found by experience, that when stable manure is housed until it is applied to the earth, it is one-third better—more efficacious, because more full of the necessary materials for feeding vegetation. Liquid manures are seldom, if ever, used among us. In Flanders it is a very common thing for a farmer to pay ten dollars (forty shillings of their money) for the urine from a single cow during the year. And what is the result of such saving ? Why this: More human beings are comfortably supported on a square mile than in any other country on the globe, unless it may be China, where equal attention is paid to these savings. There are various modes adopted for saving these things. One is to have cisterns into which it may run. The cheapest mode is to have some kind of compost which will absorb it. We find in the last New England Farmer a communication from Dr. Ja.ckson, giving a very cheap but excellent mode Vol. IV.—30

of concentrating and preserving these fluids.— His plan is the following: "Take twenty measures of dry peat and one of ground gypsum, and mix them together. Place barrels half full of this mixture in places where urine may be collected, and it will be found that the salts and ammonia of many barrels of urine will be consolidated in this mixture, without giving the slightest odor, or being in any way offensive, for the salts are taken up, and the carbonate of ammonia, formed by decomposing urea, is immediately absorbed.

" This method of getting rid of a nuisance and of consolidating a valuable liquid manure, full of the most useful salts, ought to receive attention. A mixture of peat or swamp muck and gypsum (plaster of Paris) will also serve to absorb all the disagreeable gases of vaults, which will be converted into fertilizing compounds with the sulphuric acid of the gypsum and the organic vegetable acids of the peat."

Here, then, is a very simple but at the same time very efficient mode of securing the valuable ingredients of the sink and other disagreeable but necessary places about our premises; one which every farmer can adopt. A small pit, made with a covering to keep out sun and rains, filled with the above materials, would be a little mine of wealth to every farmer, and we may-say a mine of health too, for it would swallow up all the pestiferous and noxious gases which must invariably arise from the decomposition of such offal.— JSIaine Farmer,

CURE FOR HOVEN.

Take \ lb. of lard, 1 pint of milk, boil both down to a pint, mixing them well together.— Give half of this immediately at blood heat, and the remainder soon after.— Central N. York Farmer.

We have no doubt of the efficacy of the above cure; we cured a very bad case of hoven in a young Durham heifer two and a half years old, by a very similar treatment. Our dose consisted of a pint of fish oilj a pint of molasses, two ounces of ginger, the whole mixed in a quart of hot water. We divided and gave the mixture in two doses, the second dose in an hour after the first, taking care to keep the animal moving until the medicine operated.— Ed. Jim. Farmer.

For the Southern Planter. THE TRANS-ALLEGHANY COUNTRY.

Mr. Editor, —Having just returned from a trip to the mountains of Virginia, I propose to hole!" a little talk with you upon the agricultural capabilities and prospects of that part of the world.

Permit me to say, en passant, that the light

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

and salubrious air, the grandeur and sublimity of the mountain scenery, the gaiety of the several watering places render these mountains the most delightful summer retreat that it has ever been my good fortune to encounter. The refreshing coolness of the mornings and evenings, or the healthful influence of the mineral waters, or perhaps both combined produce a lightness and buoyancy of spirit, that impart the highest pleasure to mere animal existence. Indeed, it is this universal cheerfulness and gaiety of spirit that distinguishes the company at these springs from the frequenters of any other fashionable resort I have ever seen, and it is this genial flow of life's current, that imparts to these mountains their greatest charm.

It is true that the extraordinary fascinations of the watering places rendered my excursion less of an agricultural one than I had intended, but I did not fail to penetrate the mountain recesses of Alleghany, Greenbrier, and Monroe. I quitted the high roads and followed the mountain paths into the very heart of the settlements, and I visited the estates of some of the most distinguished farmers and graziers in the three counties.

No where can finer grass lands be found than in Greenbrier and Monroe, and no where that I have seen does a more indifferent system of cultivation prevail. It is provoking to see so fine a country so sadly abused, and the gifts of Providence so wantonly thrown away. There are of course several honorable exceptions, but the general system (if the loosest and most irregular mode of cultivation be entitled to the name) struck me as the very worst I ever saw. When we see poor exhausted lands indifferently tilled, we pity the owner, but when we behold the most fertile meadows overrun with weeds and bushes, we are provoked at the folly of the proprietor.

As to farming proper, with a rotation of crops and all that sort of thing, it is neither to be looked for nor desired. Stock raising must ever form the chief business of this region, and even if you were to penetrate the country with railroads and canals (which can only be done at the greatest expense) the people would still find it to their interest to send their products to market in the shape of cattle, horses, mules and other slock. I think they are well satisfied of this themselves, and all they ask for is a few more McAdamised turnpikes, which, with my old fashioned notions, I believe to be better and more suitable to the present state of the country than either railroads or canals.

The climate here is, I think, very similar to that of Connecticut or the western part of New York. The winters, from what I hear, are long and pretty severe, and their summer bursts forth at once without waiting for the mediating influence of spring. Vegetation is rapid and lux-

uriant in the extreme. One-half of the country is composed of precipitous mountains, and it is chiefly the valleys-and gorges that are cultivated. Many of these mountains are wonderfully fertile, as is evidenced by the maple, poplar and walnut, with which they are covered, and where they are not too precipitous to be brought into cultivation, they afford the richest and finest pasture that can be imagined.

The clouds are always gathering about these mountain tops, and such a thing as a drought is almost unknown to these fertile valleys.— Hence the corn is planted very thick, and where ever the land is tolerably cultivated, the product is very great; but in several places I have seen the weeds taller than the corn, and in some they had almost extirpated it entirely. I am aware that in such a soil and with such a climate, it is almost impossible to suppress the luxuriancy of vegetation, and that it is much easier to keep your corn clean on fond where nothing will grow, but still, even here, the weeds needn't run away with the crop. From fifty to seventy-five bushels of corn with good cultivation can be easily made to the acre, whilst I presume thirty or forty is nearer the average. They have not yet begun to know the value of manure; the soil is generally a light friable reddish or chocolate loam on a stiff clay, foundation, and well managed would be inexhaustible.

I have never seen a country so admirably adapted to sheep. Every mountain ought to be filled with them and every mountain stream ought to turn a thousand spindles. If a man were to ask another to chew his food for him, it would not be more ridiculous than for these people to get others to make their woollen cloths. The day must come when this will be the great manufacturing district of America. With the most boundless capabilities of growing the raw materia], with the most unlimited number of never-failing waterfalls, with every facility for cheap living, they need only a dense population, which they are fast acquiring, to enable them to clothe the world.

At present, with all their advantages their lands are held too high. I was really astonished to find these valley slips estimated, and selling too, for from thirty to a hundred dollars an acre. For fanning purposes they are too far from market to be worth the half of it, and for grazing, for which they are better adapted, the present price of beef does not justify it at all. I can only account for this inordinate estimate from the fact, lhat when beef brought five and six cents a pound, a good deal of superfluous wealth was accumulated, and landed propertj' is the only investment afforded by the circumstances of the country. I am told, however, that in Fayette and Nicholas, which are more sparsely settled, lands of equal fertility may be bought for two or three dollars an acre. If this be so,

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER,

235

these counties must offer inducements to the growers of sheep, that can be found no where else in the Union.

] have seen men here who have grown rich by raising slock on estates where not more than twenty acres had ever been put in cultivation ; the product of the garden being intended for the domestic consumption of the human family — the stock were never fed on grain at all; the trees were belted ; the undergrowth cut out, and in summer, as now, the fat cattle were lolling and feeding upon the thickest and richest carpet of greensward and white clover that it is possible to imagine. In winter, I am told the horses and sheep break the snow to get at the same rich herbage, and without cover or protection, save that which the mountain sides afford, and without food, save the pasturage thus obtained, they come out in the spring just as fat and just as jolly as they are now.

1 have said that stock raising has been and ever must be the chief business of this region. It is impossible that any country in the world could be better adapted to this purpose: but this business like every other here is conducted with little system or intelligence. Generally speaking, no regard is paid to the family or pedigree, and all the rules of breeding are set at defiance. Horses, you know,'constitute the great staple of Greenbrier. It is said that nobody has ever seen a man in Greenbrier that did not have a horse for sale and my own experience does not falsify the statement. But it is astonishing to witness the carelessness and folly that are exhibited in rearing stock. The average cost of raising a colt to the age of three years is about thirty-five dollars, and the average price which the farmer gets for him, is about sixty, leaving a clear gain of twenty-five dollars. If, instead of the large mass of loose flesh and coarse bone which the grazier sends to market, he would patronise a well bred road horse, who could stand at ten dollars (instead of two, the usual price,) he would have a colt at an expense of eight dollars more, that would bring him a hundred dollars instead of sixty. Against thorough breds they have strong prejudices, because they have been imposed on by the leggy, slab-sided, cast offs, from the Eastern studs, that became quite fashionable amongst them several years ago. From these specimens they have been lead to consider the blooded horse as too light and too weak for general purposes; but there is a race of horses in the State of New York, descended from the old Messenger stock, (of which Abdallah is one,) that possess sufficient bone and muscle for any purpose in the world; affording the quickest and most powerful road hor.se I ever saw. With the noble presence, powerful limbs, and splendid action that is characteristic of this stock, there is not one of their three year old colts that would not bring a hun-

dred dollars, any where. It is exactly the horse to be taken into this grazing region, and forced down the throats of the farmers in spite of their prejudices, by his superior merits. Then indeed might Eastern Virginia look to the West for a stock of saddle and harness horses.

With respect to cattle, too, it is singular to contrast the beautiful herds of Durhams and Herefords that adorn the two acre fields of the Northern States, with the misshapen things that traverse these illimitable wilds. Where nature has afforded the most bounteous provision for their keep, a people who must perforce be graziers, whose whole pecuniary interest is vested in stock, and who ought to be the greatest breeders in the world, pay no sort of attention to the shape or form of their cattle.

What a figure Mr. Sotham's herd of Herefords or Mr. Vail's stock of Durhams would cut in these rich mountain gorges, with clover and greensward up to their bellies ! This seems to be the natural element of such creatures, and we cannot but indulge the hope that they will some day revel in it.

It's all very well for a gentleman in the. East to pay a high price for a fine Durham to adorn his lawn and fill his milk pail, but it is here, where it is not to be found at all, that improved stock, even at the highest price, would prove a source of real and substantial profit.

I may have something to say of the agriculture of Albemarle, of which I made some notes as I was passing through, but I must defer it until I have more time and you have more room. Yours, A Traveller.

GOOD EFFECTS OF DRAINING.

At the late annual meeting of the Liverpool Agricultural Society, the President, Lord Stanley, said that he would state one instance of the practical returns which might be expected from thorough scientific draining.

In 1841, his father was about to enclose in the park of Knowsly, a tract of about eighty acres. Of this about twenty acres were strong clay land, with a very retentive subsoil, and the remaining sixty he remembered from his boyhood, as the favored haunt of snipes and wild ducks, and never saw there any thing else. In the course of the first year, the sixty acres maintained—but very poorly—during the summer, six horses; and on the twenty acres there was a very small crop of very poor hay. It was impossible for land to be in a poorer condition ; and in breaking it up they had some two or three times to dig the plough horses out of the bog.

In 1842, the whole of this land was thoroughly subsoiled and drained, and in 1842, what was not worth ten shillings an acre per \ annum, the year before, was in turnips, and on

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER

that land they fed off, in five months, and fattened for the butcher, eighty beasts and three hundred sheep, and afterwards carted into the farm-yard three hundred and fifty tons of turnips. In the present year they had a very fair crop of barley and oats, which his friend, Mr. Henry, would be very glad to show to any gentleman who felt any curiosity on the subject. Now he did not hesitate to say that that land was, at that moment, worth thirty shillings an acre.— The outlay upon it for pulling up old fences, thoroughly draining, tilling, and breaking it up, amounted just to seven pounds ten shillings per acre, giving just twenty shillings for every one hundred and fifty shillings of outlay, and giving

to the landlord a permanent interest of fourteen per cent, on the money laid out on that unpromising ground. It happened that in the same year they took into their own hands land which had been abandoned by the tenant as perfectly worthless. It was a large field of twenty-two acres' of very poor sandy soil. It was drained at an expense of two pounds per statute acre, and in the first year they fed off on that land one hundred and twenty sheep, the remaining part of the turnips being carted to the farm-yard ; and he ventured to say, that at the expense of two pounds per acre, the land was increased in value ten shillings per acre to the landlord, and as much to the tenant.— New England Farmer.

THE C H ESTER COUNTY HOG

"tlBRuil-.Ck

"We notice that the Editor of the "Prairie Farmer" makes himself quite merry with some opinions expressed by one of our correspondents, who expresses a preference for the common breed of the country, what might be called the cold bred hog, over the thorough bred Berkshire. We can inform the Editor that this opinion is not so peculiar nor so absurd as he might imagine. A very large majority of farmers in this State, at least, complain bitterly of the injury done their original stock by the cross of the Berkshire, which they were induced to adopt by the high flown panegyrics bestowed upon them by writers for agricultural papers. For our own part, we believe there are some good things in the Berkshires, although they have certainly been greatly overrated. Many of those

who complain of them never saw a good Berkshire; detestable frauds were practised in some instances, and great errors committed in others; a great error it certainly was to introduce into the breeding stud any hog merely because he was of Berkshire parentage, without regard to his particular form. We have, however, seen some few cases of decided improvement by a judicious cross with a well selected Berkshire; but a great objection to the best of this stock is, we think the lightness of weight and the accumulation of flesh on the ham and shoulder, at the expense of the middling. In a conversation we lately held with the Rev. Jesse Turner, who had certainly the purest and finest stock of Berkshires in .this region, of which he was at one lime completely enamored, he admitted to

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

237

us that when he came to turn them into bacon, it was a very different business from selling the pigs at ten dollars a piece. In short, he did not think them as profitable or desirable as the best of- the common stock of the country. So it is, if a man wants a good looking " old field pig" about here, he must give a Berkshire and boot, to get. him.

It will be remembered that a very interesting contest was at one time waged in our columns between two gentlemen of this vicinity upon the subject of the relative merits of black and white hogs. One of them preferred a white hog belonging to Mr. Thomas Dicken lo the, at that time, popular Berkshire stock; and although we then thought he was wrong, we are now satisfied that he was right, and that for the southern mode of management this stock of Mr. Dicken is one of the most valuable in the country. We have every reason, from description and tradition, to believe this hog to be identical with the " Chester and Delaware County Hog," a portrait of which adorns this article. We find accompanying this portrait the following description in the " Farmers' Cabinet" :

' : The above cut is the portrait of a sow of this distinguished and highly valued breed,drawn from life, and engraved by those excellent artists, Mumford & Brother, expressly for our work.— The measurement of this fine animal was six feet nine inches long, from the tip of the nose to the root of the tail, and six feet in circumference immediately behind the fore legs. Her color was perfect white, with a softness and silkiness of hair scarcely ever before witnessed, while her great length and depth of carcass, together with a breadth across the back and loins enormous, were such as to satisfy the most craving appetite for monstrous hogs. A sketch was first taken when she was heavy in pig with her fouith litter ; in an adjoining pen on the right, was a daughter, second only in size to herself, with a litter of ten pigs, and in that on the left, were her spring litter of pigs, fifteen in number, she having brought up seventeen, two having been sent to New Orleans as specimens of the Chester county white hog, of which so much has been said. But before the sketch could be fully completed, she had farrowed sixteen pigs, and ber death followed within ihe space of three or four days of that event. Her very peculiar character and fine points, however, have been traced by the hand of our draftsman with the most perfect exactness, and exhibit a specimen of 'a Chester and Delaware county hog,' such as the advocates for that breed might well be proud of. I', will readily be perceived that this fine animal

was not allied to the no bone heed, nay, that she ' had a head of her own,' as honest John Lawrence says, and that she was able to carry it too; nor was her gigantic carcass supported upon four 'spermaceti candles!' her symmetry of form and proportions were perfectly in keeping, and it was a fact that when she lay down, she was able to rise without assistance—which could not have been the case with nineteen-twentieths of those we see portrayed, with the assurance that the likeness is perfect. Many of these fine deep-sided, long-bodied white hogs may be met with in the adjoining counties of Pennsylvania, as also in New Jersey ; but to those who have been acquainted with the best of that breed, their peculiarities arc as marked as the old English breeds—the Berkshire, the Hampshire, the Lancashire, or the Ryswick, none of which, however, ever exhibited a more perfect specimen of what such a hog ought to be, than the individual portrayed above. She was owned by a person named Montgomery, who refused seventy dollars for her and her seventeen pigs the last year, but her progeny was not worth}' of her, the sire of the brood having nothing to recommend him but his length of carcass and white color, and his ability to subsist on almost nothing—a grazier indeed, coarse and heavy in the offal, although boasting of the cognomen ' The Great Western !' The character of the old Berkshire and the present Hampshire (see pp. 89, 121 of the Cab. vol. 5, for portraits,) is, that the meat when cut up exhibits the same thickness, or very nearly so, on the sides and belly as on the back; producing what is called streaky bacon in extraordinary proportion, with the rind by no means thin, but gelatinous, and the whole carcass cellular, and remarkably delicate in texture."

REAPING MACHINES. In our last number we expressed a preference for M'Cormick's machine over Hussey's: this lead to an application on the part of Mr. Hus-sey to be heard in behalf of his implement. It is a matter of great interest to the agricultural public to be informed of the comparative merits of the different articles presented to their consideration, especially of one so costly and so important as a reaping machine. For this reason we have willingly admitted Mr. Hussey to our columns; and for this reason we shall be pleased to encourage the dispute until all the facts interesting to the public have been elicited; but we shall be very careful to prevent this, as such things are too apt to do, from degenerating into a personal controversy. These gentlemen must also remember that our space is very limited,

TE1E SOUTHERN PLANTER

and that interesting as the subject may be, we can only devote a small portion of our columns to it.

Mr. Bolts, —A great deal has already been said on the subject of Reaping Machines, and I should not presume to trouble your readers with this, were it not yet an important question with them, which is the best reaping machine now offered to the public. It will, of course, be understood that I wish to make it appear that mine is the best of the two, and I think it will be no hard matter to do so. Both Mr. M'Cormick and myself can obtain more certificates than any editor is willing to publish Cutting wheat by machinery is so great an achievement, that any machine which can do it tolerably well can forthwith obtain certificates. Mr. M'Cormick has published many such, while I have been often censured for neglecting my own interest in being so far behind him in that respect; I have trusted to my machine to manifest its own superiority. It has always manifested it over M'Cormick's, when both have had a fair trial near together. It is true, that in one instance,

. . . I

at a trial near Richmond in 1843, a small, infe-j rior machine of mine (the only one of the kind ever made,) did not sustain the character of my reaper in the opinion of a committee; that was not a fair trial, because my proper reaper was not on the ground to speak for itself, and was made to suffer for the faults of a mere experimental machine. I came to Richmond in 1843 to compare my machines with Mr. M'Cormick's. I had two of different prices, one far superior to the other. I was desirous of exhibiting both, and testing their merits fairly. When my best machine was exhibited in comparison with M'Cormick's, I had the satisfaction to think that it was preferred, but of this trial no report was made. The next time I met M'Cormick's machine it was extremely inconvenient to procure my best machine, and I carried out the smaller one; which I would not have done if I had known this was to be the great trial between the machines ; but it was not until I had arrived on the ground that it was proposed to appoint a committee with the usual formalities to decide between the two machines, and then I would not back out although laboring under such a disadvantage. The report was favorable to both, but a final preference was given to M'Cormick's, partly on account of one quality in mine which was then esteemed a fault, but is now by all farmers experienced with it considered an advantage. 1 allude to the fact of its leaving the wheat lying straight in the wake of the machine and rendering it necessary to bind as fast as it is cut. Something has been said unfavorable to a few of my machines built previous to 1842. They were defective, but those defects, I trust, are now remedied. Before experience.

had taught me how strong to make them, they would occasionally break, but are mine the only machines that break ? I saw last year one of M'Cormick's machines which was purchased about 1S40 lying a heap of ruins in the field of Richard Sampson, Esq. in Goochland county, Virginia, but no machine is proof against breaking. Mr. John Watkins witnessed the operation of M'Cormick's reaper through the harvest of 1843, on a farm adjoining his own, and was fully acquainted with all its merits before he purchased a machine of me. Several gentlemen who visited his field and saw his machine operate in 1844, (while M'Cormick's was at the same time cutting in the next field,) have within a few days ordered machines of me for next year, and I fully believe that not an individual who has seen both machines work sufficiently to form an opinion, will purchase M'Cormick's machine. I would not speak in this manner but in self-defence.

My reapers have been in use several years in Jefferson county, Virginia. M'Cormick's reaper was introduced there in the last harvest. In a letter from a gentleman of that neighborhood addressed to me, is this language: "We have had a fair trial of M'Cormick's reaping machine

in this neighborhood this harvest. Col.

used one in the same field with one of yours and found that •yours would make two rounds while the other made one From all accounts I hear the farmers say it is of no account. I know several farmers that will have yours next season ; they were holding back to see M'Cormick's work, and are satisfied. Thinking that you would be pleased to hear of the success of your machine over the other I have accordingly written."

Mr. Lewis W. Washington, of Jefferson county, has cut three harvests with one of my reapers ; the following letter will show what his opinion is, and how his machine compares with M'Cormick's:

Beall Air, July 6, 1844. Obed Hussey:

Dear Sir,—Our harvest is over, and has afforded another opportunity of testing the reapers of your construction. Unlike most patent farming implements, they manifest their utility more evidently with each successive trial. Owing to the rust, the straw this year was spongy and difficult to cut with any tool; it was also much fallen. Those farmers who witnessed the operation of my machine, admitted that cradles could not have done the work so effectually.

Several of M'Cormick's machines were sent in this neighborhood, for trial, two within a mile of me and the others some two and a half miles off; being engaged in cutting myself, I did not see them operate; I made particular inquiry of four acquaintances who tried them, and in no single instance did they think them comparable

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

239

with those of your make. I am informed they do not cut clean when the grain is thin, and the inability of the raker to lay the grain straight renders them very objectionable. Respectfully, yours,

L. W. Washington. Jefferson County, Va.

The Hon. William H. Roane was one of the committee, before mentioned, when the final preference was given to JVl'Cormick's reaper; he not being satisfied, procured another trial on his own estate, when my best machine was put in competition with M'Cormick's. Note the result. Mr. Roane promptly decided in favor of my machine, and manifested his preference by ordering one of me, to cut the harvest of 1S44. Several gentlemen visited his field during the harvest, who, he informs rne, intend to procure my machines next year. Mr. Roane's preference for my reaper over M'Cormick's, has already appeared over his own signature in the public prints, and he now authorizes me to say that the cutting of his wheat and oats in the harvest just past has confirmed his opinions heretofore expressed.

The following is the letter alluded to from Mr. John Watkins, of Chesterfield :

Chesterfield County, July, 1844. Obed Hussey, Esq..

Dear Sir,—Having never seen you since receiving the wheat reaping machine, I with the greatest pleasure make known to you the result of its performance in cutting my wheat. It surpassed my expectation. In cutting wheat or oats no reaper can surpass it as to quantity, neatness in cutting, and laying the grain to the greatest nicety, and to advantage for the binders. The having to pick it up as fast as it is cut is, in my opinion, one great recommendation, because every operation is immediately under the manager's eye, consequently much more work will be done; and at night when the cutting is done, the picking is, of course. Numbers have been to see its performance, and all left with delight. One old gentleman, a James river farmer, remarked, had he such a farm as mine he would not be without your reaper for five hundred dollars. The people desire to see you in this quarter, and I have no hesitation in saying a trip to Richmond and its neighborhood as soon as convenient will be to your advantage.

John Watkins,

Of Amplhill.

Some doubts have been expressed of the ability of my machine to cut damp wheat. On this point I offer the following testimonial:

Ampthill, Sept. 23, 1844. Mr. Obed Hussey:

Dear Sir,—I found little or no difficulty in

cutting damp wheat or oats with my father's reaping machine.

Yours, respectfully,

H. Carrington Watkins.

By inserting this article in the Planter you will be doing an act of justice to the public, and much oblige

Your obedient servant,

Obed Hussey.

TURNING IN WEEDS OR OTHER GREEN CROPS WITH THE PLOUGH.

In ploughing stubble grounds, the weeds frequently choke the plough, and it is found difficult to bury them entirely. The same difficulty attends the ploughing in of clover, or buckwheat, &c. Various contrivances have been adopted to obviate this trouble. Some fasten one end of a chain to the plough-beam, and the other end of the off-end of the " double-tree," as it is called ; which being thus dragged along before the plough, bends down and draws forward the weeds in such a manner that the plough turns them fairly under. Ploughs have also been made very "high in the beam" to obviate the difficulty of choking. They are called " Crane ploughs," and are much used in Western Virginia and Southern Ohio.

Mr. Sidney Weller, of Halifax, North Carolina, informs us that he uses a very simple instrument for the purpose above named, and which answers better than any other plan he has seen. He says, " It is merely a sufficiently heavy piece of wood, like a common rake-head, with a few short teeth therein, and short handles at each end ; to the end of which handles, ropes or small chains, put through holes, fasten the instrument to the end of the whiffle-tree, if a single-horse plough, or to some part of the two-horse-tree, if a two-horse plough. This instrument straightens and levels down the weeds, &c, immediately under the plough-beam, and before the furrow-slice. It answers with us every desired purpose."— Cultivator.

For the Southern Planter.

EFFECTUAL PREVENTIVE OF SMUT IN WHEAT.

Mr. Editor, —On board of a steamboat, in conversation on the subject of agriculture, I was told by Mr. Dechert, of Tennessee, who allowed me to use his name, that in hundreds of instances he had known smut in wheat to be prevented by the following sleep—in fact, he believed it to be infallible, and deeming all such things worthy of being preserved and generally known, especially when avouched by responsible names, I committed it to paper, on the spot. Dissolve a pound of bluestone in as much water as