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SOUTHERN PLANTER 
(1882) 



VOL. 45 
1884 



MISSING: NO. 2-3, 6-7, 9, 11 ' 



THE 



S 



OUTHERN rLANTER 



P 



DEVOTED TO 



AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE, LIVE STOCK AND THE HOUSEHOLD. 



T. W. ORMOXD, 

W. C. KNIGHT, 

i W. C. JACKSON, 



Proprietor. 
Editor. 
Advertising Agent. 



45th Year. 



JANUARY, 1884. 



No. I 



O O ISr T E 3Sr T S : 

Farmers and Farming in Virginia in the Olden Time 1 

A ^jut 5 

Soils Practically Conaidered 6 

Seed Breeding.. . , 14 

Domestic Cheese-Making 16 

Planting and Feeding the Orchard 18 

Plowing Match in Albemarle County 20 

Concerning Thin Seeding 23 

Scientific Farming 23 

A Reader's Letter _ 24 

The Fertility of Soil 25 

Kainit and its Valae , 28 

Public Roads 30 

Phosphate vs. Superphosphate 31 

The Peanut.. 33 

'•Peach Culture" and Borer , 37 

The East Virginia Marl Beds 38 

Watering Window-Plants _ 40 

Newspaper Laws..... ..; 40 

The Fruit Trade in Henry and Patrick Counties 41 

•Judicious Farming — What is It? 41 

The Opossum , 42 

Poa Pratensis, or Kentucky Blue Grass 44 



Editorial : 
Smut in Wheat. . 



45 



Editorial Notes : 



An Apolojy ; Address of A. .1. McWhiter, Esq ; Soils Practically Considered ; The 

Rose-Bud Pest ; Books, Pamphlets, &c.; Advertisements 49-52 



Bichmond : J. W. Fergiisson & Sou, Printers. 



OROANIZEi:* 1S3S. 



THE- 



Virginia Fire and liarine 

INSURANCE COMPANY, 

OF B,ioi3::is«!toasri3, "vircshistia., 



ASSETS, - - - $557,000.00. 



Insures against Fire and Lightning. 



HALF A CENTURY IN ACTIVE AND 
SUCCESSFUL OPERATION. 



ViRHMA Fire ai Mm hmm Co. 



A HOIKEi: INSTITUTION. 

This old Virginia Institution offers solid security to those desiring Insurance. The 
Company has paid Hundreds of Thousands in losses in this State, and nearly 
Three Millions in all parts of the country. 

All Descriptions of Proprrty in Country or Town — private or public — insured 
at fair rates and ou accommodating terms. Agencies in every county and city. 



DIRECTORS. 

W. L. COWARDIN, - - - President. 

E. 0. NoLTiNG, E. B. Addison, G. W. Allen, 

W, S. DoNNAN, Thomas Potts, D. 0. Davis. 

floxue OfKce, N. lOlS Miain Street. Iticlimoiicl, "Va. 

W. L. COWARDIN^lPresident. 

WM. H. McCA-RTl ~ ~ 

l«r-C0|jrR'^^'6,N.iJ|tNCE SOLICITED.^ 

College 




— THE- 



SOUTHERN PLANTER. 

DEVOTED TO 

Agriculture, Horticulture, Live Stock and the Household. 

Agriculture is the nursing mother of the Arts. — Xenophon. 
Tillage and pasturage are the two breasts of the State. — SuLLY. 

T. W. ORMOND, Proprietoe. 

W. C. KNIGHT, Editor. 

45th Year. EICHMOKD, JAN" [JAR Y, 1884. No. 1 



FARMERS AND FARMING IN VIRGINIA IN THE OLDEN TIME. 



No. i8. 



[1. Letter from Gen. J. H. Cocke, dated 1818, on manuring wheat. 

2. Letter from Judge Holmes, of Winchester, dated 9th February, 1820, on the subject 
of stone fences. This may interest our readers in the Valley. 

3. Letter from Peter Minor, Esq., dated May 8th, 1820, on the subject of an imple- 
ment for gathering clover seed.] 

Bremo, i8i8. 
To Peter Minor, Esq., Secretary to the Albemarle Agricultural Society : 

Sir, — The following account of a manuring for wheat upon 
fallows I have thought worth giving to the Society, being 
persuaded that facts accompanied with a detail of all circum- 
stances likely to influence results, a more valuable kind of infor- 
mation than the most ingenious commentaries. 

In the summer of 1817 I fallowed eight acres of poor high 
land, known in this part of the country by the denomination of 
barrens, and, unaided by manure, I think would not have pro- 
duced more than eight bushels to the acre with the most favor- 
able season. Having but the small quantity of manure that 
was made upon the farm and an adjoining plantation, between 
the time of carting out the contents of the farm-yard in the 
Spring and the season of wheat sowing (tho' it is proper here 



416229 



SOUTHERN PLANTER. [January 



to remark, that it was chiefly of the strongest kind, the greater 
part of it being made from the stables), I determined it was 
safest to err rather upon the side of giving it too much than too 
little extension. I therefore checked off the land with a plough 
23^ yards by 17^, putting a load into the centre of each 
square, which gives precisely 1 2 loads to the acre. The manure 
was carried out just in time to plough it in before seeding. 
The cart used carried between 25 and 30 bushels only at a load. 
The manure was better rotted than it usually is at this age from 
being placed in a stercory, which kept it moist with the muck 
water that settled at its bottom. The seeding was commenced 
on the 5th of October and finished on the 7th, put in with har- 
row on the second ploughing. Seeded one bushel to the acre, 
and the produce was tAventy bushels to the acre. The wheat 
was of the kind known with us under the name of the yellow 
bearded. Yours respectfully, J. H. Cocke. 



Winchester, February 9th, 1820. 

Dear Sir, — Reading this morning your letter to the President 
of the Albemarle Agricultural Society on the subject of stone 
fences, and being engaged myself in improving my farm, as you 
are, by making stone fences, I have supposed that a communi- 
cation of my experience might be useful to you and through 
you to the public. To the advantages which you have enumer- 
ated may be added lessening the blacksmith's account, and when 
your fences are complete, throwing more land into cultivation 
by clearing that which you don't want for rails or fuel. My 
farm contains 900 acres of rich limestone land, 600 acres cleared 
and 300 in wood ; when I shall have surrounded it with a stone_ 
fence, I can without a violation of the proper proportion of ara- 
ble and wood land, clear 100 acres more; the product of this 
100 acres, besides the value of the wood, I place to the credit 
of the stone fence. I have made a great deal of stone fence, 
but have never, until within the past year, made any that did 
not fall down in the winter and spring, by reason of bad con- 
struction and the distension and subsiding of the earth by frost. 
If I don't succeed in describing my new fence so that you can 
understand me (and I fear I shall fail on account of my awk- 
wardness at a diagram), you must come and see it, and I need 
scarcely add that I shall be very happy if you will do so. My 
fence was built by a Scotchman who came over about two years 
since and is now living on my land and building stone fence. 



1884.] SOUTHERN FLAI^TER. 3 

He brings with him all the late improvements in Scotland on 
this fence. The foundation is dug 2^^ feet wide and 6 inches 

deep, filled to the surface with small stone. ^ 'L- , 

He then places stones on the edge of the foun- aj- I uij^ I i i^i_LB 



I I I 



dation that will reach beyond it about 6 or 7 inches, resting on 
the ground, and covering the foundation with small stone 7 or 
8 inches. He then starts the wall upon the horizontal line A 
B, hearts it well, as he calls it, in its ascent, but at the height of 
18 inches he puts on a binder that reaches from side to side of 
the wall, as at c, c. ; these binders are one yard apart, the whole 
length of the wall. He builds 18 inches higher and runs through 
another binder, not immediately above those laid at the first 18 
inches, but in the centre between them, so as to form a triangle. 
He caps with stones that reach across the wall, which is only a 
foot at top ; two stones one over the other compose the cap. 
I asked the workman of what advantage was the jutting over of 
the bottom ; he answered (as is customary among many of his 
countrymen) by asking another question : Don't a man stand 
more firm by extending his legs y\^, than when his feet are close 
together ][? I have detected a great error in the information 
communicated to you by Mr. Moore. He says dig no founda- 
tion and let no stone go through until the last course. I have 
built some fence without a foundation, and am obliged every 
spring to rebuild most of it, and you see in my improved fence 
I have three- binders in every longitudinal yard, besides the two 
top stones, and so disposed as to bind from top to bottom. 
Suppose you start the wall 2^ feet thick and batter it up to a 
foot at top, would a stone of one foot at the top bind the two feet 
work near the bottom? 

You are correct in stating that a stone fence is the cheapest. 
Let us compare it with the cheapest and most worthless — the 
common worm fence. Rails sell here for ^5 per one hundred ; to 
make one rod of this fence you must have 25 rails worth $1.25, 
exclude the labor of putting it up, and various other items, but 
keep in view the idea of permanency. My improved stone fence 
costs me ^i per rod, and the workman finds himself. When I 
don't employ my own carts, I hire the hauling of the stone at 
66 cents per rod, that is $1.66 per rod; it will last forever, and 
the workman says it is considered a bad fence in Scotland if 
there should be a gap found in it within forty years after it is 
built; but in forty years, besides upsetting, the worm-fence will 
require at least three, if not four, renewals, and it is fair to 
add this additional expense of three or four dollars per rod 



4 SOCJTHERIT PLANTER. [January 

to the original cost of the worm fence when we are comparing 
it with a permanent fence. 

I congratulate you, dear sir, on the prospect before us of 
great improvement in the science of agriculture and the imple- 
ments of husbandry. The agricultural societies will be the 
means of collecting much valuable information, and that excel- 
lent paper, the American Farmer, printed at Baltimore by Mr. 
Skinner, will be a prompt agent in diffusing it. If you are of 
opinion that this letter would be of any service to the public,, 
you may send it to Mr. Skinner. Very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, H. Holmes. 

Peter Minor, Esq., of Albemarle. 

I present, for the inspection of the Society, a simple implement 
for gathering clover seed, which I used last summer with great ad- 
vantage and success. It combines no new principle in the con- 
struction different from several others in common use ; nor is it of 
recent invention, for I remember to have seen one similar to it 
twenty years ago ; the recollection of which induced me to have 
some made last summer when from the excessive drought which 
prevailed throughout Virginia our clover did not get high enough 
to cut. It is recommended for the simplicity of its construction 
and cheapness (the entire cost not being more than 75 cents), 
the ease with which it is worked, and the astonishing expedi- 
tion and success which attends its use. A neighbor .of mine and 
a member of this Society, gathered last summer with one ex- 
actly similar to the present model, 100 bushels in a day com- 
mencing after the dew was off. But it must be mentioned that 
the clover stood very thick and erect^ and the heads were per- 
fectly full and in fine order for pulling. A few days succeeding, 
after a heavy rain, which beat off a great deal of the seed and 
tangled the clover, in the same field and with the same machine 
I could not gather more than 60 bushels. The man who works 
it should go regularly through the field in rows, as he would in 
mowing, and he will carry about as wide a row as he would with 
a scythe. In making from 6 to 1 2 strokes he will get so much 
as to require the comb to be emptied. A small boy with a 
large hamper or basket should attend his steps for this purpose, 
and the boy can wait upon two gatherers. As the hampers get 
full they should be emptied into a cart, which must attend to 
remove the the seed to the place of keeping. 

I have seen a machine upon this principle, fixed on low wheels 
and drawn by a horse, a cut and description of which is givea 



1884.] SOUTHERN" PLAI^TER. 5 

in the American Farmer, page 253, vol. ist. The objections to 
the horse-rake are, that the horse beats down a quantity of the 
seed, and if stumps or stones intervene, you must deviate from 
a straight course, thereby missing a great many heads, and the 
operation of emptying the box is tedious and attended with 
waste. A gentleman who used the horse-rake, saw my Hand- 
Combs, as I call them, at work, and gave them a decided prefer- 
ence, both for expedition and effectual performance. The 
combs will work around a stump or stone as easily and as 
effectually as a grass scythe, and although they strip the heads 
perfectly clean, yet a sufficiency of seed falls to the ground in 
the operation to renew the crop of clover if the ground is in- 
tended for a fallow. P. Minor. 



A HINT. 



There is more merit in the common cows of the country than they 
get credit for. Give them the same pampering that the thoroughbreds 
get, and the thoroughbreds the scanty, bare and hard treatment the 
common stock get, and a few generations will suffice to bring them 
both to the same level. The thoroughbreds are what they are from 
good food and good treatment. 

How readily the common cows respond to a little more generous 
supply of food than they are accustomed to enjoy, is well illustrated in 
the experience of the present season. Favored with an abundance of 
rain to make ilush pasturage, the cows which depend wholly on grazing 
have been better supplied with food than they usually are, and the re- 
sult is something like 25 per cent, more butter and cheese than they 
are accustomed to make in the first half of the season. , Their products 
are always large when the season is favorable for an abundance of 
grass, but when in the vicissitudes of the weather the heavens are less 
generous, and drought makes feed unfortunately short, milk and its 
products dwindle to the opposite extreme, and there are loud com- 
plaints of the "scrub cows," and the owners begin to look round for 
better breeds. It is a good idea to look for a better breed, but it vpill 
require a pretty sharp lookout to find a breed of cows that will give 
full returns from half-fare, or do any better than the so-called " native" 
cows when there is a lack of food to make milk from. 

When our dairy friends have such ample opportunity for witnessing 
the difference between full and scanty rations, why can't they utilize 
the hint and see to it that their herds have full fare all the season, 
whether the heavens smile or frown, A little comparatively inexpen- 
sive preparation for soiling with green food in case pasturage should be 
scanty, would meet any emergency and secure returns so generous and 
uniform, that instead of despising his cows it would inspire an inclina- 
tion to admiration and gratitude. — Rural New Yorker. 



SOUTHERN PLANTER. [Januarj 



SOILS PRACTICALLY CONSIDERED. 



(Continued from page 590, December number) 



II. 

DRAINAGE — ITS IMPORTANCE AND EFFECTS. 

Of all the mechanical operatrons of the farm, this is the most im- 
portant, because a large proportion of the best farming lands require 
it. Its importance was recognized by the Romans; and Cato, Colum- 
ella and Pliny all mention draining, and some of them give minute 
directions for making '■'■ under-drains" with stones, branches of trees 
and straw. Draining is necessary for all cultivated land that is not natur- 
ally under-drained. The necessity for drainage does not depend so much, 
upon the quantity of water which falls or flows on the land, nor upon 
the power of the sun to carry it off, by evaporation, as upon the nature 
of the subsoil. With a subsoil of sand, gravel or other porous earth, 
the water not evaporated passes off below, by natural drainage. With 
a subsoil of clay, rock or other impervious layer, the downward course 
of the water is stopped; it becomes stagnant, rises to the surface, or 
bursts out as springs. If the water which falls on the surface of an 
acre in the course of a year was removed by evaporation alone, the 
soil would be absolutely barren, on account ot its coldness. The rain- 
water which falls on cultivated lands in part flows into the streams,, 
either upon the surface or by percolation through the soil, passes oflFby 
evaporation, and partly enters into the constitution of plants. A great 
deal of land is drained naturally, so that the proportion of water which 
passes off" by evaporation is not injurious. But a much larger propor- 
tion is not "nature-drained," and cannot be made productive without 
artificial drainage. Whether drainage will prove profitable or not de- 
pends on the value and character of the land, as well as the nature of 
the soil, as to productiveness when drained. Lands that require drain- 
age and pay best are river bottoms, or low grounds, branch flats, 
meadows, and all high lands with strong clay soils. Each kind requires 
drainage specially adapted to it. But "careful observation will soon 
teach any intelligent farmer what parts of his land are injured by 
water; and having determined that point, the next question should be 
whether the improvement by drainage will justify the cost of the ope- 
ration." It should be borne in mind that drainage is a permanent in- 
vestment, and the question should be, will the increased profit of the 
land drained be permanent enough to pay a fair interest on the cost of 



1884.] SOUTHERN PLANTER. 7 

the improvement? Experience both in England and this country shows 
that the increase of crops by tile-drainage is from 25 to 30 per cent., 
arid has proved universally profitable. 

There are various methods of drainage — (1) Open ditches are most 
commonly in use in this country. They furnish the most obvious 
means of getting rid of the surface water, and perhaps the cheapest 
method; but there are grave objections to them. They are not perma- 
nent, and require constant care and labor to preserve them in proper 
condition. They obstruct the operations of the farm, as ploughing, 
mowing, and the laying out of the land for convenient cultivation. 
They occupy too much space, and furnish channels for the washing off 
of the manures and fertilizing principles of the soil, while they drain 
the subsoil very imperfectly. (2) Secret or under-draining by means 
of brush, poles, plank, rocks, and tile drain-pipes, comprise the 
methods mostly in use. The ditches being cut from 3 to 4 feet, brush 
is put in, laid butt-end up stream, then poles are laid on, and the whole is 
covered with earth. Where the wooden mass is kept constantly wet, 
it may last for some time, but the wood generally rots in three or four 
years, and the earth caves in and produces obstructions, rendering the 
drain useless. Pine poles are used for the same purpose, applied so as 
to have one resting on the two applied on the bottom. If economy, 
durability and thorough drainage are the main considerations, tiles 
combine these qualities better than anything else. For, although rocks 
and planks are both cheap and durable material, the durability of their 
use in drains is a very different matter. But we would by no means dis- 
courage the use of rocks and planks where tiles cannot be obtained at 
fair prices, especially where the materials are often close at hand. 
Every farmer should estimate the cost of draining- by these diflferent 
methods before the work is undertaken; but we think, that with the 
present prices of labor, the tiles will be found the cheapest in a majority 
of cases. The different forms of tiles in use are the horseshoe tile, 
the sole tile, and the round tile, of different sizes and lengths. We 
prefer the round tile, because they are stronger, less expensive, and 
discharge the water better than the other kinds. They may be used 
■with collars to join them at the ends, or simply applied end to end in 
straight lines, and kept in place by the earth on each side. The sizes 
in common use are 2, 4 and 6 inches. The 2-inch tile is the one most 
used, and the 4 inch for main ditches, or outlets. Elbows and joints 
are also used with all these sizes when required. A 2-inch round pipe 
with a fall of 1 foot in 100 feet, will have a velocity per second in feet 
1.71, and a discharge of 22,891.1 gallons in 24 hours. A 4-inch pipe, 



8 SOUTHERN" PLANTER. [January 

with the same fall, will have velocity 2.13, and a discharge of 86,181.4 
gallons in 24 hours. The distance at which the drains are put apart 
must depend upon the nature of the subsoil, the fall and the depth of 
the ditch. lu wet lands, with heavy clay subsoils, from 28 to 30 feet 
apart, and 3J to 4 feet deep, will be about the best proportion. In 
ordinary cases, 42 feet apart and 4 deep will be sufficient. The direc- 
tion of the drains should always be in the line of the steepest descent, 
or'greatest fall, as essential to effective and economical drainage. It is 
therefore of the greatest importance that the levels should be carefally 
obtained by means of an accurate survey, with proper instruments, 
before'the work is undertaken. The arrangement of the drains must 
not only have reference to the fall, but to the nature of the outlet as 
well, fe In regard to the extent of the fall, Stephen says, "It is surpris- 
ing what a small descent is required for a flow of water in a well con- 
structed duct;" and French says, "That he knew of a swamp being 
drained and converted into a garden with drains of but 3 inches fall in 
every 100 feet; and another instance in which he found a fall of 2^ 
inches to the 100 feet sufficient." Whatever may be the nature of the 
surface, it is always advisable to divide the fall as evenly as possible 
throughout all the drains, and to have the main drains from 3 to 6 
inches lower than the drains discharging into them, so that there may 
be no obstruction from the backing up of water, and the deposition of 
sand during heavy floods. In short, the drains must be cut as straight 
as possible, and have a constant, regular and equal fall to the outlet. 

The outlet of tile drains is the place of all others where obstruction 
is most likely to occur. The outlets, therefore, should be arranged in 
a permanent and substantial manner, by means of bricks or stones 
around the point of discharge, as well as inspected carefully from time 
to time, in order to remove any obstructions that may occur from the 
tramping of cattle, the burrowing of reptiles, cray-fish, &c. Gratings 
or screenings may be used, but they also obstruct the flow too much, 
by catching the sediment. Wells or openings with traps in the course 
of long drains may be used, but I have never found them necessary. 
If a pipe is broken, or becomes displaced, or obstructed, the fact and 
the location are soon made known by the wet area immediately over 
the point of dislocation or fracture, and the remedy is readily applied 
by putting in a few new pipes carefully adjusted. 

The cost of under-draining with pipes or any other material will de- 
pend upon the cost, weight and freight of the material, the price of 
labor, and the nature of the laud drained, as well as laying out or 
engineering. The under-draining done on the Experimental Farm has 



1884.] SOUTHERN" PLAN'TER. 9 

cost an average about of 7J cents per yard, with 2-inch pipes, made on 
the farm. If the^freight had been added to the prime cost of the pipes, 
the amount would have been increased. The number of tiles required to 
the acre will depend upon the intervals between the drains, in feet, and 
the length of the pipe, in inches. With an interval of 30 feet between 
the drains, and the use of a 2-inch pipe 12 inches long, the number of 
pipes required for an acre will be 1,452. The same pipes laid at in- 
tervals of 42 feet between the drains will require 1,037 per acre. If 
the pipes are laid 4 feet deep, the interval of 42 feet between the drains 
is fully sufficient in all ordinary cases. To recapitulate, the elements of 
■computation of the cost of under-draining are, the price of labor, the 
price of pipes and the freight on them, the character of the subsoil, the 
depth of the drains, the distance apart, and the incidental expense of 
the laying out and making the outlets. The mode of procedure in 
iaying, securing joints and covering the pipes, is not difficult, although 
it requires a careful and steady laborer to do the work properly. The 
pipes are laid end to end and connected by collars, or a piece of broken 
pipe is laid directly over the joint; the clayey earth is then thrown 
carefully on each side of the pipes to hold them steadily in position, 
until the earth is placed over them to the depth of 12 or 14 inches, and 
then the filling in is done afterwards. In England tan bark, sod and 
straw were formerly placed over the pipes, but the practice is now en- 
tirely abandoned. 

Where under-draining is impracticable, great benefit may be derived 
by the judicious location of open ditches and surface drains. In all 
cases, the lands should be carefully surveyed, in order to obtain the 
true line of descent or fall for the open ditches, which should be cut 
strictly in accordance with this line, and as straight as possible. The 
surface drains, or "water furrows," may be made with the plow in ac- 
cordance with these principles, ancf should lead directly into the open 
ditches. There are several ploughs made especially for this purpose, 
called drain-ploughs, 2iB Routts, &c. ; but an ordinary plough is gener- 
ally all sufficient. Great neglect is often shown in the careless way in 
which water furrows are run, and in not having them lead directly into 
the open ditches. Waring, in his admirable little work on the '■'■Ele- 
ments of Agriculture," sums up the advantages of under-draining as 
follows : 

"1. It greatly lessens the injurious eflfects of drought. 

2. It admits an increased supply of atmospheric fertilizer. 

3. It warms the lower portions ot the soil. 

4. It hastens the decomposition of organic matter. 



10 SOUTHERN PLANTER. [January 

5. It accelerates the disintegration of the minerals of the soil. 

6. It causes a more even distribution of plant food. 

7. It improves the mechanical texture of the soil. 

8. It tends to prevent grasses from 'running out.' 

9. It enables us to deepen the surface soil. 

10. It renders soils much earlier in Spring. 

11. It greatly lessens 'heaving by frost" and 'Winter killing.' 

12. It allows to vrork sooner after rains. 

13. It prevents the effects of cold weather in the Fall. 

14. It prevents the growth of sorrel and noxious weeds. 

15. It hastens the decay of vegetable matters, and pi'omotes the finer 
comminution of the earthy particles of the soil. 

16. It prevents the excessive evaporation of water and the conse- 
quent cooling of the soil. ^ 

17. It promotes health by the removal of the causes of disease in 
man and domestic animals." 

In fact, it is the sine qua non of all successful and profitable 
farming. 

In hilly lands, with wet, soggy, or weeping areas, on the hill tops 
or on the slopes, drainage is often necessary. This is generally due to 
some peculiarities in the stratification of the underlying bed rocks. In- 
tractable, barren areas of various sizes are often produced by excessive 
wetness, resisting even the repeated application of top-dressings of 
manure. The cheapest form of drainage in all such cases is to sink 
pits in the midst of such areas, below the overflowed stratum, and fill 
with rocks from the surroundings, and cover with earth to the depth 
of 3 or 4 feet, so as to take the water off between strata too low to in- 
terfere with the surface soil. 

III. 

PLOUGHING AND SUBSOILING. 

Ploughing deep into the subsoil is labor thrown away, unless the 
land is well drained, because the rains of a single season overcome its 
efiects by packing the deep layers down into their former condition. 
But after the land is thoroughly drained, it is productive of the best 
results, because it admits atmospheric air, allows the roots of plants to 
ramify, disintegrates the mineral silicates, and promotes chemical action 
in all its phases. The object of deep ploughing and subsoiling is to 
deepen the soil or tilth, to enlarge the seed-bed and to admit the roots 
of the plant to a greater depth, to obtain the nutriment necessary to its 
growth, to increase the moisture from the lower portions of the soil,, 



1884.] SOUTHERN PLANTER. 11 

and to enable the plant to assume the form requisite for its greatest 
development. The ability of roots to perform their functions in the 
soil and to grow to the largest size depends greatly on the condition of 
the subsoil. Cold, impenetrable subsoils are not only mechanically, 
but chemically inimical to the growth and ramification of the roots of 
plants. In all conditions of this kind, under-draining, deep ploughing 
or subsoiling are absolutely necessary to render the land remunerative. 
Subsoils of this character, when brought to the surface, may be unpro- 
ductive for the first year, because it requires some time for the particles 
from this lower stratum to be aerated, oxygenated and weathered; but 
the beneficial effects are soon seen in the perennial improvement. For 
this reason, it has been recommended to plough an inch or two deeper 
every time the land is broken up in the rotation. For ordinary lands 
this is a very excellent plan. With a proper subsoil plough, however,, 
the subsoil may be broken without bringing what the farmers call 
"the dead earth" to the surface. In using the subsoil plough, it should 
follow in the furrow immediately behind the ordinary plough, and it 
should be so shaped as to penetrate the subsoil as deep as practicable,. 
and burrow it up like a mole, rather than turn it up over the surface. 
In this way the hard, impenetrable subsoil is broken and made loose,, 
with the greatest benefit to the crop. Heavy clay soils should always 
be ploughed in the Fall, so as to expose them to the freezing and thaw- 
ing of Winter, which aerates and pulverizes them in a way affected by 
no other process. Light sandy soils may be more advantageously 
ploughed in the Spring, as they are apt to leach during the Winter 
rains, and are generally sufficiently porous for all the crops grown on 
them. 

The advantages of deep and subsoil ploughing are, that they 
make the seed-bed deeper and finer for the ramification of the 
roots; fix them more firmly ; secure under- drainage; prevent the evil 
effects of drought ; insure permanent improvement of the land, and 
largely increased production. The other processes of pulverizing the 
soil, as harrowing, cultivating, coultering, rolling, &c., are all impor- 
tant, but are entirely subsidiary to thorough ploughing during the 
right season, with the land in proper condition. 

No land should ever be ploughed or worked wet. Land ploughed 
too wet never recovers from it during that season, and rarely produces 
a crop equal to its natural capacity. When the furrow turns from the 
mould-board of the plough in a compact form, and presents a glazed 
or sleek appearance, the land is apt to be too wet, and when the excess- 
of water evaporates, it not only leaves the land cold, but the furrow 



12 SOUTHERN PLANTER. [January 

hard and baked into a compact mass, which, when harrowed, breaks 
up into dense clods, more or less impenetrable to moisture and air the 
balance of the season. This may be overcome, to a certain extent, by 
freezing and thawing during winter, when the land is ploughed in the 
fall ; but even this is an equivocal remedy. 

If the land is level, it should be ploughed in the direction of the 
line of greatest descent or fall, in order to secure the best drainage. 
Hilly and rolling lands should be ploughed horizontally, with the same 
object in view, taking care to avoid too great fall or descent in the fur- 
rows. Level lowlands may be ploughed in beds, with great advantage 
to secure surface drainage, and the width of the beds may be suited to 
the character of the land and the objects in view in regard to the crops 
<jultivated. Beds five, fifteen, twenty, and twenty-five feet have been 
advocated and used in the tidewater counties of Maryland and Virginia 
for a long period. Great care should be observed when these beds are 
ploughed by reversing them, not to have them too low or too high in 
the middle ; but this is a matter of practice soon acquired. 

IV. 

MANURES IN THEIR RELATIONS TO VEGETABLE PRODUCTION. 

Having examined into the nature of the soil ; its earthy constituents; 
its relations to heat, light and moisture, as well as the methods and 
remedial effects of drainage and ploughing, I pass on to consider ma- 
nures and their practical effects on the soil in promoting vegetable pro- 
duction. 

Manures may be divided into three classes, viz., mineral, organic, 
and atmospheric. Having considered the last class in the former part 
of our course, our time now will be occupied with the two first. 

Mineral manures are believed to have four modes of action when ap- 
plied'to.^the soil, concisely stated by Waring as follows : 

1st. They furnish food for the mineral or inorganic part of plants. 

2nd. They prepare matters already in the soil for assimilation by 
roots. 

3rd. They improve the mechanical condition of the soil. 

4th. They absorb ammonia. 

Mineral manures do not necessarily produce all of these effects at one 
and the same time. Some produce only one, perhaps, while others 
produce two or more of them. Of those which are used as food for 
plants, the ash reveals the most important; and we have seen that the 
ashes of plants of the same kind are always of very nearly the same 
composition, while the ashes of different kinds may vary very consid- 



1884.] SOUTHERN PLANTER. IS- 

erably. Different parts of the same plant even are supplied with dif- 
ferent kinds of ash ingredients. The clover plant, when burned, fur- 
nishes an ash containing lime in large proportion, while potatoes leave; 
potash in large proportion. These considerations have an important- 
bearing in practice, not only in effecting the fertility of land directly^ 
but in making a rotation of crops a necessity in general agriculture. 

According to Professor Anderson, of Scotland, a wheat crop [grain-, 
and straw] removes from the soil 98 lbs. of silica; a crop of turnips 
only 4 lbs. ; wheat crop from 17 to 37 lbs. of potash ; turnip crop 112- 
Ibs. per acre. Wheat removes only 4.7 lbs. of sulphuric acid; turnip- 
crop, 40 lbs. per acre. Wheat requires only 19 lbs. of lime and magne- 
sia, while a clover crop requires over 135 lbs. These substances must all 
exist in the soil in soluble form in order to be taken up by the roots of the 
plant. When we apply unleached wood ashes, we furnish all these; 
minerals in the best possible proportions for the plant. 

The practical deductions to be drawn from these observations are — - 
1, That the soil must be supplied with all the mineral matters absorbed 
as plant food in sufficient quantities, and in soluble form, for the high- 
est production. 2, That great economy is gained by having crops of 
different classes to alternate with one another which is known as a ro- 
tation of crops. In this way the minerals, which serve as food for- 
plants, are, so to speak, economized in the soil. Mineral manures not 
only serve as food for plants, but they render available the matters al- 
ready contained in the soil. It is in this way, that the alkalies render 
the silica of the silicates of the soil, soluble in water; and lime causes 
particles to crumble and expose their constituents to the demand of 
the roots. One of the chief offices of lime, therefore, is the develop- 
ment of the fertilizing ingredients of the soil. Mineral manures also 
improve the mechanical condition of the soil. The alkalies, and alka- 
line earths, break up the mineral silicates, combine with the silica and 
alumina, produce a pulverization of the particles of the soil and pro- 
mote porosity. Minerals, such as plaster and salt, have the power of 
absorbing moisture from the atmosphere and thus improve the mechan- 
ical condition of the soil. Some mineral manures have the power of 
absorbing ammonia. The most important of these are plaster, lime, 
alumina, or clay, and the oxides of iron, which absorb ammonia, whether 
arising from the fermentation of animal or vegetable matters in the. 
soil or washed down from the atmosphere by the rains. 

The deficiency of any one or more of the ash elements of plants ren- 
ders the soil infertile or barren, until the missing substances is suppli- 
ed. These minerals, in many cases, may be actually present in the. 



14 SOUTHERN" PLANTER. [January 

soil, but are bound together in such close combination as to be entirely 
insoluble, and utterly useless to the plant. Under these circumstances 
the deficiency must be artificially supplied by the necessary minerals, 
or the insoluble combinations be broken up by the application of pro- 
per agents, as lime in its various forms. Fortunately ordinary soils 
contain a sufficient amount of all the ash elements of plants except 
potash, lime, and phosphorus; and it becomes necessary to supply these 
substances, as well as nitrogen, liberally to most of our cultivable soils, 
in order to secure the highest production. 

Potash may be applied in the form of unleached wood ashes, ten or 
fifteen bushels per acre, sowed broadcast on the land when it is pre- 
pared for the crop. The kainit or German potash, is another form 
which supplies this mineral, along with magnesia and soda in fair pro- 
portion, or it may be supplied in the form of sulphate and muriate, pre- 
pared from the crude kainit or Stassfurth salt. A better plan is to ap- 
ply the potash in the form of one or the other of the above compounds, 
mixed with phosphate of lime, finely ground or pulverized. The Ger- 
man potash salts, mixed with a fourth larger amount of fine ground 
phosphate or bone furnish all the necessary ash elements of cereal 
plants in excellent proportion. The mixtures may be used after being 
composted with manures, vegetable matters, &c., or mixed with equal 
parts of alluvial or dry earth. They should be applied before the seeds 
are sown and well mixed with the soil by the harrow or cultivator. 



SEED BREEDING. 



Perhaps no department of farming needs so careful attention as that 
of the breeding and selection of seed. The seed is the parent of the 
plant — and bounds its possibilities — possibilities that vary widely with 
the seed. So critical an observer as Dr. Sturtevant has given facts 
upon which he seems to rest a belief that seed is capable of making as 
wide a difference in product as the use of manure against unmanured 
land. We find that laws of heredity are as potent in plant as in ani- 
mal life, and respond as fully to the breeder's art, under crossing and 
selection. To secure the best seed is of more importance to the farmer 
and the country than it is to secure the best breeding stock. The 
plant precedes the animal and its cost modifies the cost of animal pro- 
ducts. The plant food of the country far exceeds the value of our 
animal products, much of plant food going into direct human con- 
sumption. Yet, notwithstanding these facts, far more complete atten- 
tion is given to improvement. I am aware that new varieties, or pre- 
tended varieties, of plants are being constantly put upon the market, 
get fairly introduced at much cost and then are found to be no improve- 



1884.] SOUTHERN PLANTER. 15 

ment, or have become mixed with other seed, or are soon displaced 
under the cry of deterioration. 

In animal breeding the effort has not been so much to produce new 
varieties as to improve the old. And how? By the selection of the 
typical animal of a given breed and then the best of his get, or the 
best to be found. Selection has rarely been pursued in seed breeding 
of our field crops, excepting corn — imperfectly. When a new Variety 
is put upon the market, if the introducer does not give us every seed 
produced, the purchased sows and continues to sow all the seed used 
without any selection at all, or if at all, the selection is inadequate. It 
is true that a majority of us do, by the use of separators, obtain the 
plumpest and heaviest seeds, but in this division we fail of the point 
desired. We have in the dense and heavy seed combined, no guaran- 
tee of several vital factors. In plants grown for seed, seed in quantity 
and quality is aimed at, and not stem and foliage. (3ther things being 
equal, the less of stem and branch the better. Again, profligacy is 
important — if not all important, a main object to be achieved. Our 
dense large seeds from the separator may have been grown on a non- 
prolific plant. However important production of new varieties may 
be, by crossing, selection of seeds from the plant in the field must be 
and remain always a most valuable means of maintaining a high stand- 
ard of excellence. It was by this means that Major Hallett succeeded 
80 well with his pedigree wheat, which he reports to having increased 
in length of head 4^ inches to 8| , and in seeds per head from 47 to 
120. 

By this means the wonderful increase in the per cent, of sugar in 
the sugar beet from Napoleon's day to this, was largely accomplished. 
Among the Durhams we have the Princess, Duchess, Young Mary's, 
&c., &c.; why not have lines of field crops of superior excellence? In 
some respects the analogy may not be perfect, nor is it likely that 
strains of Timothy will be sold over the country. But why does not 
some careful farmer select seeds for Timothy plants of superior type 
and by continued selection fix that type. It may be objected that se- 
lection with our lesser field crops is too troublesome a matter. In 
many directions those things that require much trouble to accomplish 
are the most profitable to take hold of. Those things required to be 
done, and that take but little care or skill to handle, are the matters 
that the masses are doing, and in which there is much competition. 
This work is a work that pre-eminently needs doing in the West. 

Prof. J. W. Sanborn, in College Farm. 



— Much nursery stock is foredoomed to failure from being grafted 
on little pieces of roots, and one-year-old seedlings at that. A whole 
root is none too much for a single graft if a vigorous tree is desired. 
With many slow growing varieties it is better to have the grafting just 
above the collar, so that the roots will be on the more vigorous natu- 
ral stock. 



16 SOUTHERN PLANTER. [Januarj 

DOMESTIC CHEESE MAKING. 



The introduction of the factory system in cheese dairying is fast re- 
ducing the domestic manufacture to the condition of a lost art. This- 
is unfortunate, because the home manufacture of cheese is in many 
cases a great convenience and economy. To help preserve this domes- 
tic art, we give a few plain directions for making small cheeses for 
home use, w^hich any person may follow successfully after a trial or 
two. The quantity of milk used as the basis of the method here given 
is 100 quarts or 220 pounds. This quantity can easily be procured by 
changing milk with two or three neighbors so as to get the requisite 
quantity on one day, returning it on other days. If the milk of one 
meal can be procured in sufScieut quantity, that is the best ; If not,, 
the evening's milk is stirred the last thing at night and again in fie 
morning, when it is warmed up to a heat of 90 degrees. The new 
morning's milk is then added to it, and both well stirred and mixed 
and the rennet is then added. 

The rennet is made of the dried stomach of a sucking calf. This is 
taken from the calf and emptied of its contents, some salt is put into 
it, and salt is rubbed on to the outside: it is then stretched on a loop 
of bent twigs and hung up to dry and cure. The older the rennet up 
to 18 months, the better it is. The stomach may be steeped in a quai't 
of salt water for three weeks and the liquor bottled for use ; or a piece 
one inch wide and two inches long may be cut ofl" and steeped in half 
a teacupfal of water for 24 hours for 100 quarts of milk. If the liquor 
is used, three tablespoonfuls is the right quantity for 100 quarts, and 
and at the temperature of new milk, or about 80 to 90 degrees, will 
bring the curd in one hour. The milk is curdled in a vat made of 
white ash or white cedar: one 3 feet long, IJ feet wide, and 16 inches 
deep will be a good size for setting 25 gallons, or 100 quarts, of milk. 
The sides of the vat should be made a little flaring, and the joints put 
together with white lead. This vat should be made of seasoned lum- 
ber, and should be carefully washed with cold water, and then scalded 
after use, and then put away in a clear, airy outhouse or dairy room. 

As soon as the curd is formed it is cut into slices h9lf an inch thick 
with a long bladed knife; the curd is then cut crossways, so as to re- 
duce it to squares half an inch each way. It is better to cut it still 
further into cubes by passing a frame made with fine brass wires set 
half an inch apart through the cube, so as to divide it horizontally 
and leave it in small square pieces half an inch each way long, wide 
and thick ; or this may be done, as well as may be, with the knife held 
in a sloping manner, so as to cross the other cuts. This is done care- 
fully lest the cream should escape from the curd. The curd and whey 
soon separate, and the whey is dipped off into a pail and heated until 
the hand cannot be held in it, and then poured over the curd. It is a 
good plan to have one or two holes bored in one end of the vat and 
closed by plugs or provided with faucets through which the whey can 
be drawn ofi" to be heated. The whole curd should be brought up to 



1884.J SOUTHEKI^ PLANTER. 17 

a heat of 100 degrees and covered up with a cloth to retain the heat 
for half an hour. Some whey is then drawn off and heated again and 
added to the curd, which is stirred so as to warm up every fragment 
equally. The curd is then left to stand in hot whey and cool for half 
an hour, when the whey is drawn off and left to cool ; after which what- 
ever cream may rise upon it is skimmed off to be churned and kept 
for rubbing the cheese afterward ; and the whey is then put into the slop 
barrel with some meal for the pigs. 

The curd is then left in the vat, heaped in the centre of it, and cov- 
ered with a cloth for half an hour. It is then broken up with the 
hands or cut with a knife, turned, and left another half hour, or until 
it becomes slighly acid to the taste. ISTo more acid than this should be 
developed. It is then broken up again by the hand, spread to cool, 
and pressed in a corner of the vat and left until afternoon. It is then 
broken up fine as possible once more, fine salt is added at the rate of 
one ounce to three pounds; 100 quarts of milk will make about 21 
pounds of cheese, and it is ready for the press. The test of the ripe- 
ness of the curd for the press is a squeaking noise when a piece is 
crushed between the teeth, or when a piece touched to a hot iron, as a 
hot poker, and withdrawn leaves strings attached to the iron. 

The curd is put into hoops as soon as it is salted, and when com- 
pletely cooled by exposure to the air. The hoop for a family cheese 
should be about 9 inches deep and 7 inches wide: a cheese of this size 
will weigh about 10 pounds, and 100 quarts of milk will make two of 
them. A good hoop is made of the hoop of a common cheese box, 
cut to the proper size and not fastened at the side, but made so that 
it can be drawn up by means of a cord fastened to one end of the 
scroll, and wrapped around it. Such a hoop can be let out so as to 
make a larger thin cheese, or drawn up for a smaller thick one, as may 
be desired. The hoop is lined with a piece of thin muslin, the curd is 
laid in the mold until it is filled, the muslin is folded over the top, a 
a piece of board cut to fit the mould inside is laid upon the cloth, and 
the whole is put into the press. This consists of a strong bench of 
three-inch plank at one end, a post is set through the plank and stoutly 
keyed, a lever is pivoted strongly to this post; the mold with the curd 
is placed under the lever, a few blocks are placed on the cover of the 
mold, and the lever is fitted on to the blocks; then a \\ eight, such as a 
large stone, is hnng to the end of the lever, and the pressue is made 
to bear on the cheese. If a strong screw can be procured and fitted 
in a stout frame so as to bear on the cheese, that will make a very con- 
venient press. But for an odd occasion, a lever press may be impro- 
vised with a strong rail, fastened at one end to something that is firm 
in the ground, and with a stone hung to the other end, so as to brino- 
pressure upon the cheese placed under the lever near the fastened 
end. The pressure may be known by multiplying the weight hung on 
the lever by the number of times the length of the weight end of the 
lever exceeds the length of the other end. If the cheese is one foot 
from the fixed end, and the weight six feet from the cheese, and the 
weight is 100 pounds, the pressure on the cheese is 600 pounds. This 
2 



18 SOUTHER:Nr PLANTER. [January 

is enough for a small cheese, and half of it might do very well if it 
is continued twice as long as a heavier pressure. After 24 hours the 
cheese is taken out, a fresh cloth is wrapped about it, and it is put in 
press again for another day. This is repeated once more, and after 
three days the cheese is rubbed with butter (usually made from the 
cream taken from the whey), is wrapped with a bandage of strong 
cotton cloth, which is four inches wider than the cheese is thick, and 
the excess is turned down on the face of the cheese. The cheese is 
then kept in a corl room on a shelf, and turned every day to ripen. 
By having two or more molds, as many cheeses may be pressed at 
once. The cheeses may be ranged side by side, and a square bar is 
placed over the molds so as to press upon each of them equally, and 
the lever presses upon the bar. A cheese thus made will be ripe for 
use in 30 to 90 days. There is no use to followout this precise plan; 
this may be modified to suit the circumstances. The chief points to 
be precisely observed are the temperature of the milk, the quantity and 
quality of the rennet, and the heating and airing of the curd. Over- 
heating makes the curd hard and poor, and moderate heating, or none 
at all, will give a rich, mellow cheese. The heating is a part of the 
Cheddar system; in the Cheshire system the curd is not heated, and 
the cheese is softer meated than the Cheddar. — The Dairy. 



PLANTING AND FEEDING THE ORCHARD. 



One reason of the lack of success in starting a young orchard on old, 
worn out lands, is that the necessary care is not taken to deepen the 
soil and thoroughly prepare and manure it. Another reason is the 
neglect that the young trees subsequently receive. The young orchard 
is too often left to take care of itself The weeds out-rank the trees; 
no suitable manure is applied, and the land is left unplowed, and the 
young trees soon give up the unequal contest for life. This should not 
be. An apple orchard, when cared for as it should be, will pay. 

Many claim that spring planting is the best. My experience has 
been decidedly in favor of fall setting. Perhaps the method of plant- 
ing, as well as the soil and location, have had their influence. My 
plan is this: Procure trees direct from the nurseryman who grows 
them, together with a written guarantee that the varieties are correctly 
labeled. As soon as received, open the bundle or box. Cut off the 
ends of the bruised roots and cover the roots of each variety with soil. 
Dig the places (not holes) for setting them by plowing, with a strong 
team, deep dead-furrows thirty-six to forty feet apart each way. Fill 
in with surface-soil, forming a low mound where the tree is to stand 
and press the roots down in the top of it firmly. Set the tree as deep 
as it stood in the nursery, for the ground will settle from one to two 
inches. Lean the tree a little to the south west, placing the lowest 
limbs in that direction. If the tree is crooked, put the projecting crook 
toward the north-east and then lean the top to south-west the same as 



1884.] SOUTHERN" PLANTER. 19 

if it were a straight tree. Fill up around and over the roots of each 
tree and firm the soil, and raise a compact mound about each tree to 
a height of one foot above the general level of the surface. This 
mound is levelled down the following spring and a small forkful of 
half rotted straw is put about each tree. Corn is a good crop to grow 
in a young orchard, as the trees are partly shaded by the corn. The 
next two crops grown should be potatoes, care being taken to use ma- 
nures containing a liberal supply of potash, such as ashes. 

I do not cut back the top in the fall, but do it as soon as the buds 
begin to swell in the spring. I give the tree the proper shape by cut- 
ting back nearly one half of each limb, about half an inch above a bud 
that points outward from the centre of the tree. Thereafter, I always 
keep a sharp knife with me, and at any and all seasons cut out the 
small limbs that rub against or pass over others. 

After fall planting, in order to prevent rabbits from gnawing the 
bark off the young trees during the winter, I take four or five pieces 
of cornstalks about three feet in length, set them about the trees, and 
tie them at the bottom and top with carpet twine. This also protects 
the tree from drying west winds, or the action of the sun in winter 
upon the bark of the trees. It also serves to protect the trees the fol- 
lowing spring when plowing for growing crops. 

As plant food for either a young orchard or an old one, I have found 
nothing better than wood ashes scattered upon the surface under the 
trees. If the soil is too close and compact by reason of continued 
pasturing with stock, as in the case of old orchards, then the sod should 
be heavily manured, plowed deeply and planted to corn, and then be 
seeded with wheat and clover as long as possible, and without closely 
pasturing it. An excellent special manure for an orchard is two hun- 
dred weight of fresh, hard wood ashes, sown broadcast after plowing 
the land. I have found that two hundred pounds of bone dust and 
three hundred to four hundred pounds of sulphate of potash to the 
acre is an excellent top-dressing for an orchard. This formula, says 
the Scientific Farmer, "gives some seventy or eighty pounds of potash, 
fifty to sixty pounds of lime (from the bones), and ten to twenty pounds 
of nitrogen, and some magnesia in the potash and fertilizer, all of which 
are called for to nourish orchards on insufiicient soil, as the flesh of 
most fruits contain much potash as well as lime, in combination with 
the fruity acids, and the seeds phosphoric acid. Sow broadcast and 
lightly harrow in, leaving it to the rain to more thoroughly incorporate 
with the earth." — E. H. W., in Farm and Fireside. 



— There is a much larger percentage of soluble phosphoric acid in 
good stable manure than is generally supposed. Besides this its chem- 
ical action in the soil releases a portion of the phosphoric acid which 
the soil itself contains and which would not otherwise be available as 
plant food. 



20 SOUTHERN" PLANTER. [January 



PLOWING MATCH IN ALBEMARLE COUNTY^ 

Editor Southern Planter : 

On the 13th of November, 1883, the Albemarle Plowing Society 
held its Seventh Annual Plowing Match on the land of Wm. Jeffries, 
Esq., near Charlottesville. 

The contest for the premiums was enlivened by the entry of nine- 
teen plows — eight in the first class of 3-horse plows, and eleven in the 
second class of 2-horse plows. These plows were drawn by as fine 
teams as could be found anywhere in the State. Conspicuous among 
them were the teams of S. "W. Ficklin, Esq., of Norman-Percheron 
mares. The steady and equable motion of these animals fit them pre- 
eminently for the plow, the action of which should be steady, constant 
and regular, in order to do the best work. 

The ground was a grass ley of five or six years' standing, and the 
soil was, for the most part, quite a stiff clay. The whole plan having 
been judiciously arranged and a committee of gentlemen farmers ap- 
pointed to act as judges, about eleven o'clock the nineteen teams 
started, at a given signal, with plows of various construction and equip- 
ment. The day proved remarkably fine, and the work proceeded with 
all due order and propriety, without any overstrained exertion on the 
part of the men or the animals employed. The concourse of specta- 
tors was not equal to what we expected, but those who were present 
went away fully satisfied that it was a day well spent. 

The committee having considered and estimated the respective cir- 
cumstances of comparative excellence in execution, with the value of 
labor employed, the premiums were adjudged as follows : In Class 
I, 3-horse plows, prize first to T. F. Coles' man, "Johnson," perform- 
ing with a Syracuse plow; second prize to "Craven," with Omahun- 
dras team and a South Bend plow; third prize to Capt. Bryon's man, 
"Emanuel," with a Rowland Chilled plow. In Class II, 2-horse plows, 
the first premium was awarded to the Syaracuse plow; the second to 
the South Bend ; the third to the Oliver Chilled. 

The work of all the plows and of the plowmen was so good that 
the judges found it a difficult matter to decide between them. 

After the plowing the members of the Society dined together at 
Ambroselli's restaurant, where numerous toasts were drunk, speeches 
made, and the best humor prevailed. 

In accordance with the custom of the Society, the President, after 
offering some congratulatory remarks, reminded the members that 
seven years ago, when the plowing match was first started, the plows 



1884.] SOUTHERN PLANTER. 21 

used were all of the old Livingston pattern, except two, and that, on 
this occasion, there were ten or twelve plows of new and improved 
patterns in use, or on exhibition. This fact alone was an open decla- 
ration of the necessity for this Society and for its active support. Im- 
provements continually necessary, because the field of agriculture, 
although traversed for a thousand years by the wisest and the best 
of the human race, was still an incomplete art and science. The rea- 
son of this is that agriculture is a complex science and a manifold art, 
embracing all the combined principles of science and art to illuminate 
its processes. Every year and every day presents something new of 
value to the farmer; and even, of the old things — the practices of ages, 
there exist in the minds of many the most diverse opinions. Of these 
old things, still undecided, many instances might be adduced, but only 
one would be considered in direct relation to the work of the day, viz.: 
Whether plowing deep or shallow is preferable? Speaking for him- 
self, he had no doubt of the greater utility of deep plowing for a large 
majority of arable lands, as the result of observation and experience ; 
not that it should be understood that he would plow all descriptions of 
land alike deeply at once, but by an increase of two or three inches 
every time the land is broken up for the corn crop, until the soil is 
opened and pulverized to a depth of twelve or fourteen inches. When 
this is accomplished in any well-drained land, the soil may be likened 
to a larap-wick or a sponge, in which porosity and capillary force have 
the fullest play, and the soil is made a reservoir of food elements to 
continuously supply the roots of the plant in drought as well ^s ia 
good seasons. 

The beneficial effects of deep jjlowing are never seen with greater 
effect than in the cultivation of Indian corn during periods of pro- 
tracted drought. In such seasons the familiar "twisting" of the leaves 
of the corn is always regarded as an evidence of the severity of the 
drought. Even in the better class of lands this "twisting" is most 
often due to shallow plowing, and he has frequently had the fact directly 
before his eyes, in which the corn on the deep plowed land remained 
green and untwisted, while the shallow plowed was twisted and yellow. 
Few farmers consider the depth to which the roots of agricultural 
plants penetrate into a deeply-loosened soil. The roots of Indian corn 
have been known to descend in a congenial soil to the depth of nine 
feet, and leguminous plants, as clover, peas, &c., to even a greater 
depth. These may be regarded as extreme cases, but they indicate the 
importance of enlarging the feeding grounds of the roots as well as 
doing away with the evil effects of drought. The beneficial effects of 



22 SOUTHERN PLANTER. [January 

deep plowing are seen in the more perfect drainage,'the increased sup- 
ply of atmospheric air in the soil, increased warmth, accelerated chemi- 
cal changes in the organic and inorganic or mineral matters, increased 
area traversed by the roots, an improvement in the mechanical texture, 
the prevention of grasses "running out," and last, but not least, an 
increased " nitrification in the soil," the promotion of which is one of 
the most important and money-saving operations the farmer can accom- 
plish. This nitrification in the soil is now shown to be due to a micro- 
scopic fungus, which only acts under certain favorable conditions. It 
may be best illustrated by what occurs naturally in British India, where 
a heavy, rainy and an intensely hot and dry season succeed annually. 
During the rainy season the deep, porous, alluvial soils, charged with 
animal and vegetable matters, become saturated with rain-water, 
charged also with a certain amount of nitrogen compounds, and dis- 
solves the salts and minerals. As soon as the dry season sets in, the 
water evaporates with great rapidit}', and as it rises to the surface soil, 
it deposits the saline and mineral matters it contains and passes off into 
the air as vapor. In this way large quantities of nitrate of potash, ni- 
trate of soda, and other nitrates, are left in crystals, and even crusts 
in the surface soil, from which it is gathered, to be used in the various 
arts. There are what are known as ^^ natural nitre beds," a process 
w^hich goes on in all thoroughly tilled soils to a greater or less extent. 
Many other common place facts might be adduced in the advocacy of 
deep and thorough plowing, but these must suffice. 

Another subject of interest is found in comparing the methods of 
plowing in the past and at present, that oxen are rarely used now to 
the plow. Is there any good reason* for this? Oxen have been in all 
ages the team preferred for plowing. The steady, slow and heaving 
motion of the ox team recommends it highly for the plow when we 
consider the fact that the combined principles of the plow's action are 
of the screw, the wedge and the lever. In this combined operation no 
rapid or unsteady motive power can do the work as it ought to be done. 
It is submitted, therefore, that ox teams shall not hereafter be excluded 
from our prize lists. As to the difference in the amount of work ac- 
complished in breaking up land between a good 4-ox team and a 3- or 
4-horse team, numerous instances might be adduced to show that it is 
almost an immaterial factor. 

After thanks to the judges, the Secretary and President, the Society 
adjourned to meet next at the call of the President. 

John R. Page, President. 

James Weamouth, Secretary. 



1884.J SOUTHEK^ PLANTER. 23 



CONCERNING THIN SEEDING. 



With the ascertained capacity of wheat to reproduce its kind, it is 
not at all difficult to believe that much less than even a bushel would 
be sufficient under favorable circumstances to seed an acre. 

A year or two before the war some department at Washington experi- 
mented with varieties of Italian and Seciliau wheat, and produced from 
a single grain as many as from 3,000 to 5,000 grains. A gentleman 
interested in Western agriculture procured, through my agency, a 
quantity of seed wheat to be imported from Italy by E. L. Palmer & Co., 
of Baltimore, but unfortunately died before it arrived. 

But the most astounding result is related by Dr. Adam Clarke, in 
his Bible Commentary, apropos of the parable of the sower in which 
(Matt. 13: 8) the seed sown is said to have produced a hundred-fold. 
A. M. Miller, of Cambridge, England, on the 2d of June, 1766, sowed 
some common red wheat. On the 8th of August he took up a single 
plant and separated it into 18 parts, which he replanted. He repeated 
the process in the latter part of September, and again about the 1st of 
April in the following year, making 500 plants. These tillered again, 
and he threshed 3| pecks of grain, weighing 47 pounds, 7 ounces, and 
calculated to contain 576,840 grains. 

J. D. M. 

Washington, Xov. 2, 1883. 



SCIENTIFIC FARMING. 



The Rev. Beecher has tried it in all its rigidity. His farm (accord- 
ing to Mark Twain, who never lies), contains thirty-six acres. He does 
nothing without consulting several ponderous tomes, which are said to 
cost more than all his tools and stock. He was determined to establish 
the truth of scientific farming on an immovable foundation ; but with 
all his faith and energies in carrying it out, he found that it had a few 
drawbacks, which, however, he means possibly to dissipate. As a com- 
mercial enterprise he found out that his wheat crop, though standing 
more than a foot and a half high, brought him sadly in debt, and he 
forthwith abandoned it. From all the signs he could gather, he was 
satisfied last year that water melons would be scarce in ITew Jersey 
and the South, and he therefore put most of his farm in that crop; but 
what was his surprise when sending them to market he was told that 
they were pumpkins! This year be planted a large space with, as he 
supposed to be, sweet potatoes, but they turned out to be carrots. This, 
however, he fed his horses on, and was therefore not all a loss. When 
he bought his farm, to his surprise he found an egg in every hen's nest, 



24 SOUTHERN" PLANTER. [January 



and at once saw the cause of so many farmers coming out the little end 
of the horn by such wasteful distribution. He therefore gathered them 
up and put them all in one nest and set a patient old hen on them; 
but after sitting for eleven weeks a neighbor told him it was no use, 
they wouldn't hatch, 'cause they were porcelain and were intended as 
nest eggs. Mr. B. was downright angry at playing this cruel deception 
on the poor hen. He next — mind, so goes Mr. Twain's statement — 
determined to change his tactics, and went into the growing of dried 
apples, and planted §1,500 worth, but they proved a dead loss, for to 
bis utter amazement not one sprouted ! Raising hogs was a specialty 
with him. He loved the hog for its many gentlemanly qualities, espec- 
ially as it never did a mite of work, and only ate and drank and slept 
all the time. Well, he began by buying a pig — quite a youngster — 
for §1.50, and after feeding it §40 worth of corn, sold it for §9. This 
was satisfactory, and he means to carry it on more extravagantly next 
year; for though he lost on the corn, he made $7-50 on the hog, and 
it was the only enterprise yielding any profit that he had yet tried. 

Mr. B., according to Mr. T., is now looking out for a person to take 
the farm on shares. Many first-class farmers have applied, but after 
examining his books and being made acquainted with all the advant- 
ages, one and all, to his astonishment, declined, not even regarding the 
honor of being his partner and conducting the premises under his di- 
rections and supervision, to say nothing of the prospective profits, as 
anything at all ! 

[This may he intended for a burlesque, but we do not know, for nothing is too extrav- 
agant in Dr. Beecher's career. It only teaches a practical fact, that men who undertake 
farming, or any other business, must know what they are doing. We quote from the 
Germantown Telegraph, Pa., and it is not wholly an untrue story, as many conceited men 
fail in agriculture as in other pursuits. — Ed. S. P.] 



A READER'S LETTER. 

Editor Southern Planter: 

I write to apologize for not sending something for your valuable 
Journal. I had a communication all arranged and fixed up in pre- 
sentible style, but on receiving your October number I think, I found 
that I had been anticipated by Dr. Pollard. His subject, "The Fence, 
and a good way to work for posterity." His suggestions as to 
planting cedar posts eight feet apart, to which wires or boards may be 
attached, are well worthy of a trial. I endorse every word he says about 
the osage orange. His head is level on that subject, as it is on every- 
thing I have seen from his pen, with perhaps one solitary exception, 
and that, in one of his communications he makes my son my father ; 
but that was a small matter, and I repeat that I endorse all I have seen 
of his writings. 



1884.] SOUTHERN" PLANTER. 25 

One of my neighbors intends building a fish pond. What time of 
the year is best to stock it with young fish? The carp, I suppose, and 
what steps must he take to procure a supply. 

Respectfully your friend, 

R. I. H. Hatchett. 
Richmond, Va., N"ov. 24, 1883. 

[In reply to the enquiry as to fish ponds, we say, that the usual time for stocking is in 
the early Fall, or in the Spring. Fish can be procured by proper application to Col Wm. 
McDonald, Assistant Fish Commissioner, at Washington city. Pond should be well con- 
structed and fed by a living stream of pure water, and protected from the washings of 
hillsides, which will make them muddy, and in the course of time fill them up. They 
may be utilized for ice also, and for this pure and clear water is required. A fish pond, 
well stocked and cared for, is almost as valuable on a farm as a good hog pen. — Ed. S. P.] 



THE FERTILITY OF SOIL. 



There is great diversity in the fertility of difierent soils. Some are 
very productive, others less productive, and still others comparatively 
barren. After careful investigation, scientific men have come to the 
conclusion that the fertility of soils depends largely upon their physical 
and chemical character. In regard to the physical character of the 
soil it may be remarked, that the degree of fineness of its particles ex- 
erts a marked influence over its fertility. In illustration of this Prof. 
S. W. Johnson, of Yale College, says: " On the surface of a block of 
granite only a few lichens and mosses can exist; crush the block to a 
coarse powder and a more abundant vegetation can be supported on it; 
if it is reduced to a very fine powder and duly watered, cereal grains 
will grow and perfect fruit on it." There are sandy soils in New Eng- 
land which, without manure, will yield very small crops of buckwheat 
or rye; and there are many soils in Ohio which, without manure, yield 
on an average eighty bushels of Indian corn per acre, and have yielded 
such crops for twenty and fifty years in unbroken succession. Yet 
these two soils, according to David A. Wells in an article in the Amer- 
ican Journal of Science for July, 1852, are practically identical in chem- 
ical composition, so far as their various elements are concerned. The 
difierence in the two soils is in their fineness. The barren sandy soil 
of New England consisted in great part of coarse particles, while the 
Ohia soil consisted of an exceedingly fine powder. 

It is found that nearly all, if not all, fertile soils contain a large pro- 
portion of fine or impalpable matter. There are many unproductive 
soils in New England which, if they could be run through a mill and 
ground exceedingly fine, would become very fertile and produce heavy 
crops for years without the application of manure. But these soils 
cannot be run through a mill, that would cost too much. Something, 
however, can be done to aid in pulverizing them. Air, water and frost 



26 SOUTHERN" PLANTER. [January 

are the potent agents in pulverizing rocks and coarse soil, and their aid 
should be called into requisition. Frequent stirring of the soil in sum- 
mer will let in the air, ploughing in the fall will secure the aid of frost, 
and thorough cultivation will assist in admitting all the rain and pro- 
mote pulverization. Turning under green crops to ferment and decay 
will also aid in pulverizing soils. 

Why it is that fineness of soil is essential to its fertility is not diffi- 
cult to understand. The food of plants must be dissolved in water, 
and the finer the particles of soil are the more ready access the water 
has to it. Fine sugar thrown into water dissolves much more readily 
than lumps do. So it is with the soil, the finer the particles the more 
readily the soluble portions dissolve. When the soil is coarse, only a 
small portion of the soluble part can be washed, much of it being en- 
closed in a bed of insoluble particles. When the soil is fine as dust, 
the water as it permeates through it, is able to dissolve all the plant 
food that the growing crop needs, and the soil is very productive. 
Then, again, the finer the soil is the more space the roots of the grow- 
ing plants have in which to extend and seek their supplies of food. 
These are some of the reasons why the fineness of the soil contributes 
to its fertility. In order that a soil may be fertile, its character must 
be such that it will be favorable to obtaining and retaining sufficient 
moisture for the support of plants. Soil has the power of withdrawing 
from the air, vapor, and condensing it in its pores where it is available 
for the use of plants. ISTot all kinds of soil possess this power in equal 
degree. The following table gives in thousandths the quantity of 
moisture absorbed from the air by difierent kinds of dried soil, under 
similar circumstances, in twenty- four hours: 

Coarse quartz sand 000 

Gypsum 001 

Lime sand 003 

Plough land 023 

Clay ^soil (60 per cent, of clay) 028 

Loam 035 

Heavy clay soil (80 per cent, of clay) 041 

Garden mould (7 per cent, of humu§) 052 

Humus 120 

It will be seen by this table that humus, which constitutes the bulk 
of muck and other decayed vegetable matter, possesses to a remarkable 
degree the power of absorbing moisture from the air. Hence the im- 
portance of having a considerable amount of this substance in the soil, 
in order to enable it to withstand our prolonged droughts. Sandy 
soils, which it will be observed absorb very little moisture from the 
air, may be greatly benefited by heavy application of muck, or by 
ploughing under heavy green crops so as to add large quantities of 
humus to the land. The capacity of sand, or any kind of soil to ab- 
sorb moisture is increased in proportion to its fineness. If sand is re- 
duced to a very fine powder, it will hold sufficient moisture for the 



1884.] SOUTHER]^ PLAITTER. 27 

purpose of plant growth; but, as it is usually found, it is too coarse to 
absorb or retain moisture. It is the surfaces of particles which attract 
and retain water, and the finer the particles the greater the extent of 
surfaces exposed, the larger the amount of water that would be ab- 
sorbed and retained. The amount of water which soil can absorb and 
the slowness with which it allows it to evaporate influence its fertility. 
A German experimenter, Schubler, prepared tables illustrating the 
peculiarities of different soils in this respect. The first column of the 
following table gives the per cent, of water absorbed by completely 
dry soil, when completely saturated with water, any excess of water 
having been allowed to drain away; the second column gives the per 
cent, of water which evaporated during the space of one hour from 
the saturated soil spread over a given surface : 

Per cent, of water absorbed. Per cent, of water evap- 
orated in one hour. 

Quartz sand 25 88 

Gypsum 27 71 

Lime sand 29 75 

Clay soil (60 per cent. clay)... 40 62 

Loam 51 45 

Plough land 52 32 

Heavy clay (80 per cent. clay). .61 34 

Garden mould 89 24 

Humus 181 25 

It will be observed by this table that the soils which absoi-bed the 
least water evaporated the most in a certain space of time. The quartz 
sand retained only twenty-five per cent, of water when thoroughly 
drenched with it, and yet in one hour allowed eighty-eight per cent, of 
the amount held to escape by evaporation. It is obvious that land 
which contained a large per cent, of sand would need almost daily 
showers to keep it moist enough for plants to thrive. This want of 
retentive power for water is one of the chief causes of its unfruitful- 
ness. The only way to render them productive is to irrigate them or 
add clay or humus to increase their retentiveness. Humus, it will be 
observed, absorbed-181 per cent, of water and parted with only twenty- 
five per cent, of that amount during one hour by evaporation. The 
importance of increasing the amount of humus by adding muck and 
turning in green crops in soils which suffer severely from droughts, is 
obvious to all. The subject is commended to the thoughtful atten- 
tion of farmers generally. Many farms have sand banks adjoining 
fields of muck, or land rich in vegetable matter. By mixing muck 
with the sand and spreading sand upon the muck land, both will be 
made productive. Oftentimes it will be cheaper to mix soils than to 
depend wholly upon fertilizers to renovate them. — H. R. — In New 
England Farmer. 

Don't take too big a chip on a saplin. 



■28 SOUTHERN" PLANTER. [January 



KAINIT AND ITS VALUE. 



Xainit is extensively used as a fertilizer in Germany, and is coming 
into quite general use in the East. It is, however, comparatively little 
known here, and the following in regard to it by Mr. Eli Minch, in one 
of our Eastern exchanges, will be of interest to the readers of the 
Revieiv : 

Kainit is a mineral salt found in Germany at a depth of from 300 to 
1,200 feet below the surface and in such abundance as to be practically 
inexhaustible, being found and mined near Strassfurt ; it is also called 
Strassfurt Salt. 

Its great fertilizing power is largely due to the large amount of sul- 
phate of potash it contains as well as other chemical salts. It is im- 
ported into this country finely pulverized, and put in sacks of 200 
pounds each, and is of very easy application. 

I copy from Bulletin No. XXVII of the New Jersey Agricultural 
Experiment Station, its report of the amount of potash that kainit con- 
tains. " Station Analysis, No. 711; Kainit, Alexander 'Kerr & Bros. ; 
Philadelphia; Potash per 100 pounds of Kainit, 12.80 pounds; cost of 
potash per pound 03.9c.; cost of Kainit $10.00 per ton." 

I give the analysis of that of Alexander Kerr & Bros., because it is 
first on the list, and also being superior. A full analysis gives the 
following composition of 2,000 pounds : 

Pounds. 

Sulphate of Potash 496 

Sulphate of Magnesia 286 

Chloride of Magnesia 252 

■Chloride of Sodium, 1 ^tn. 

•Common Salt, j 

Moisture 288 

Insoluble 38 

Total 2,000 

It will be seen by the analysis that the quantity of the sulphate of 
potash is very large, and that of the sulphate and chloride of magnesia 
also large. The salt, 640 pounds, is also in most cases valuable, leav- 
ing only the moisture and insoluble matter, a trifle over 300 pounds, 
that is valueless. The manurial value of the potash in Kainit can be 
easily understood by comparing it with ashes. Unleached ashes, as 
usually sold in moist condition, contain, on an average, of not over five 
per cent, of potash, or" 100 pounds per ton. 

Kainit, by the station analysis, contains 12.80 pounds of potash per 
100 pounds or 256 pounds per ton. Leached ashes often contain less 
than thirty pounds per ton of potash. Kainit at $10 per ton, good 
wood ashes should, to be equal, be worth $4 per ton. The value of 
sulphate and chloride of magnesia, supplying as they do chlorine, sul- 
phuric acid and magnesia, in soils that are deficient in them is some- 



1884.] SOUTHER!^ PLANTER. 29 

times worth the cost of the whole. Kainit is also valuable to mix with 
compost or for stable use, to absorb bad smells or prevent the escape 
of free ammonia. 

For the above uses it is superior to land plaster, being more soluble, 
and also from the disposition of the sulphate of magnesia with ammo- 
nia, to form a double salt of magnesia and ammonia, fixing all escaping 
smells and free ammonia. 

Kainit, similar to ashes, is caustic, and must not be put in contact 
with roots of plants, for when applied in so concentrated a form it will 
burn the plants as quickly as ashes. The best plan to apply Kainit is 
to sow it broadcast over the land as evenly as possible at the rate of 200 
or -300 pounds per acre, as long before the crop is planted as possible, 
but if that cannot be done, it can be sown after the crop is planted, 
and will mix with the soil while cultivating the crop. I have used six 
tons of Kainit on corn, beans, potatoes and buckwheat with the best of 
results at the rate of -500 pounds per acre. A smaller quantity oftener 
applied will be better in most cases. 

On fruit trees its value cannot be over-estimated, especially on peach 
trees. I have a small orchard of 300 one-year-old peach trees, that be- 
fore I used the Kainit were yellow and sickly-looking. The leaves 
were all curled, and were so hopeless-looking that I was advised to dig 
them up and burn them. I applied 500 pounds of Kainit broadcast 
per acre, and as much more in a circle of four feet around the tree, 
carefully spread, and on the balance I used a peck of fresh wood ashes 
to each tree. 

The change made by the Kainit was complete. ~Ho finer growth of 
wood and leaves can now be found. The trees where I used the ashes, 
were, after a fair trial, so far behind the others in vigor and health, to 
save them I used Kainit also, but as yet they are behind them in 
growth. — Farmer's Revieiv. 



Salt as Insecticide and Fertilizer. — Colonel Piollot, at the El- 
myra Farmers' Club, said he had used salt on alluvial and diluvial 
soils with good efiect. Last year he had fifteen acres of corn treated . 
to eight bushels of salt to the acre, after planting the corn. There 
were no cut-worms on that field. His brother had no faith in salt as a 
cut-worm antidote, and used no salt, but had to plant his corn over, 
after the cut-worms had fattened on his first planting. 

He claims to have destroyed the black fly completely by the use of 
salt in the cultivation of turnips. 

On strips of wheat land where salt was sown no Hessian fly appeared, 
but on strips where no salt was sown Hessian fly cut down the yield 
from five to eight bushels per acre. He also claims to have derived 
essential benefit last year from sowing salt on his potato crop. He ad- 
vises farmers to combine and buy salt in bulk by the car-load. 

'Tis a strange truth that only in the agony of parting do we look 
into the depths of love. 



30 SOUTHERN PLANTER. [January 



PUBLIC ROADS. 



Mr. Editor, — I was interested iu the remarks of Mr. Normand Smith, 
of Henrico county, on "Public Roads," in the Planter for December, 
1883, and agree with him in most that he says. 

There are no improvements which should interest farmers more than 
that of the public roads and the methods to keep them in proper repair. 

There can be no one rule or method for repairing roads that would 
be practical for every locality to adopt, as the condition and circum- 
stances are not the same in every district or State; but the drainage 
law of Michigan is what every State should adopt for sanitary purposes, 
if for no other. 

The road law in Virginia that allows the surveyor no compensation 
for his services, except for summoning hands, is unnatural, and only a 
relic of the dark ages, to be classed with the Blue Laws of Connecti- 
cut. It defeats itself, for where there is no compensation there can be 
no responsibility. This law also required the surveyor to make his 
annual report early in March, which is at least a month earlier than is 
practical in most seasons. The greater portion of the roads in Ches- 
terfield county cannot be worked to advantage except when the frost is 
just out of the ground, which in this locality is usually iu February. 

Within a year or so the law has been changed ; what is required now 
I only know from the manner of working the roads since under the 
special direction of the Board of Supervisors. One man is employed 
with team and tools to work all the roads and warn out the inhabitants 
as he passes along from one road to another. This method is deficient 
in many ways ; having so much territory to work, he cannot work all 
at the time it can be done to advantage ; he cannot be present to repair 
wash-outs and bridges in the time of it. After the ground has thor- 
oughly settled from frost, the greater portion of our roads cannot be 
greatly improved, except by throwing out stones and clearing ofi" 
bushes, and the worse feature of all is, at this season of the year farmers 
and laborers are so busy with their crops they cannot leave them with- 
out a very great sacrifice. The man employed may be ever so compe- 
tent, but the circumstances are against him and beyond his control. 

All things considered, the old system is preferable, with a few excep- 
tions. The surveyor should be allowed reasonable pay for his services. 
Most farm laborers are colored and non-property owners, but equally 
benefited, and should be taxed to work one day. Property owners 
should be assessed for the rest pro rata, according to their valuation. 
The colored people are so lax in their economy of time that one day is 



1884.] SOUTHERN PLA:NTER. 31 

"nocouuf'to them, and really would consider it a dishonor not to 
have their part and lot in the work. 

There should be an honorable strife or pride among farmers in every 
district to see which should have the best roads. Besides being of im- 
mense value to the travelling public, it quite as much increases the 
value of each farm; hence, while working out the tax you are really 
working in your own interests, and the labor should be as cheerfully 
and faithfully performed. With all this in view, each district would 
choose their best men for surveyors, and could do the work when most 
needed and at the time when it would be the least burdensome. 

Roads should be well rounded in the middle, thoroughly drained, no 
stones allowed within reach of the wheels, and no wider than can be 
thoroughly worked. All bridges should be made of thoroughly ce- 
mented stone or tile, where it is practicable, as a matter of economy. 

Centralia, Chesterfield Co., Va. E. Bonney. 



PHOSPHATE vs. SUPERPHOSPHATE. 



"Superphosphate" is now a household word with our farmers. 
Since the day when Liebig suggested the employment of sulphuric acid 
to render the more valuable phosphoric acid soluble, hundreds of thous- 
ands of tons of superphosphate of lime have been used. The almost 
universal need of phosphoric acid in our soils warrants the attempt to 
cheapen the supply, and to inquire whether in some cases a simple 
phosphate may not be as efficacious as the manipulated and more costly 
article. 

In 1870 I sent a ton of common, ground, but otherwise untreated, 
South Carolina phosphate to my brother, then residing on my farm in 
Louisa Co., Va. He applied it at the rate of 300 pounds per acre to 
corn in the hill. The Summer was very dry, and the crop was a failure. 
In "71 the field was sown with oats and seeded with clover; another 
dry year and another failure of the crop followed. But in '72, wherever 
a hill of corn had stood, there, and there only, was a bunch of clover. 
Satisfied I was on the right track, I applied the raw phosphate to wheat 
on a more extensiv^e scale. A field of fifty acres was sown to wheat 
and manured with this cheap fertilizer, in quantities varying from 250 
to 400 pounds per acre. A strip about an eighth of a mile long was 
manured with a good unammoniated superphosphate, and another strip 
equally long was left unmanured. The fertilizer and wheat were sown 
broadcast and harrowed in together. At harvest and during the grow- 
ing season no difierence could be perceived between the effects of the 
superphosphate and raw phosphate, but the unfertilized strip bore a 
very poor crop. A mile off it could be seen like a road running through 
the field ; on either side was a fair crop, considering the extremely poor 



32 SOUTHERN PLANTER. [January 

soil, and on the strip itself, a stunted growth that did not cover the 
ground. The field was then left to itself, when, except on the unferti- 
lized strip, a spontaneous growth of Red Clover appeared, affording 
fair pasture. The clover gradually died out, other grasses. Blue or 
Wire Grass — Poa compressa — especially, taking its place, but the strip 
remained visible for years. 

Then in conjunction with my brother, I tried it in corn, both on his 
farm and on mine, with marked benefit, bat so far no quantitative test 
had been made. In 1880 I procured Professor Atwater's set A of fer- 
tilizers for an acre and in addition manured a plot with raw phosphate 
at the rate of 400 pounds per acre. The whole was planted with corn. 
The phosphate gave an increase of 19 bushels of shelled corn peracreover 
the unmanured plot, beating 300 pounds of superphosphate, alone and 
with potash, but being beaten by the complete manure, viz., superphos- 
phate, potash, and nitrogen. It even beat stable manure at the rate of 
twenty loads to the acre, but this I think was due to the latter remain- 
ing undecomposed in the soil. An account of this experiment can be 
found in the Conn. Ag. Report for 1880. 

A great advantage in the use of this cheap fertilizer is that there is 
no waste. It neither leaches, evaporates, nor "reverts" from a dear 
fertilizer to a cheap one, but remains in the soil for an indefinite tirne 
ready for use. In 1881 the experimental corn-field was sown with the 
common black Southern field pea ; no additional fertilizers were sown, 
and the comparative results were about the same as with corn, except 
that the stable manure was ahead. In the Fall, Winter oats were sown, 
that were harvested in '82. The raw phosphate was equal to the super- 
phosphate in this test, and far ahead in the clover that followed the 
oats. The cost of hauling and spreading the stable manure was equal 
to the whole cost of the phosphate, and yet it is hard to say which of 
these two manures has given the largest crop of clover. To the eye 
they are equal. 

Plere are four crops in succession, all benefited by the single appli- 
cation of the plain phosphate. The corn and the clover especially prove 
themselves abundantly able to dissolve it, and that, for them, the costly 
soluble phosphoric acid is unnecessary. 

Enough has been said to warrant farmers in testing the so-called in- 
soluble phosphate ; a single bag will be ample. Try it against a good 
plain superphosphate; weigh the crop and report results. Unfortu- 
nately, chemistry does not determine which form of phosphoric acid 
will be the best ; a soil test is the only reliable guide. My soil is a 
decomposed gneiss, containing but little lime. On limestone soils a 
superphosphate may prove the best, for it is thought that to be effica- 
cious, phosphoric acid must be insoluble, and in a limestone soil the 
acid is speedily precipitated as an insoluble phosphate of lime in an ex' 
ceedingly fine state of division, and here lies the secret of the efficacy of 
of a superphosphate. It forms a precipitate far finer than can be made by 
mechanical means. In soils devoid of lime the soluble phosphoric acid 
may either remain soluble, and be positively injurious, or it may com- 
bine with alum and alumina, making the very insoluble phosphates of 



1884.] SOUTHERJT PLANTER. 33 

those substances. By applying a raw, undecomposed phosphate these 
evils are avoided. 

Finely powdered South Carolina phosphate can be obtained in the 
large cities. It is advestised in Baltimore and K"ew York. [Yes, and 
also in the Uural. — Eds.] In the latter place it is ottered for $17 per 
ton, containing 55 per cent, of bone phosphate. _ I confidently look for- 
ward to its extensive employment, and hope that those who use it will 
make the results public — the failures as well as the successes. — George 
Clendxcx, Jr., in Rural New Yorker. 



THE PEANUT. 



An Important Crop — Where it is Grown, How it is Cultivated, Harvested 
and Prepared for Market — Its Value, &o. 



[We received, some weeks ago, a request from a reader of the Planter in North Caro- 
lina, that we would publish something in reference to the culture of peanuts, their profit, 
&c. We take the following exhaustive article from the Industrial South] 

Perhaps few articles of commerce ever grew suddenly from the dim- 
inutive proportions of a pet crop, grown in patches, to the mammoth 
supply of a great staple. Yet such is approximately the fact in regard 
to the peanut or "goober." 

A few years before the war this esculent nut was cultivated rather 
for fun, as an experiment, and to eke out the gifts of Santa Claus to 
good children, than because of a general demand or the hope of profit. 
Then the cultivation was almost exclusively with the hoe, and the te- 
dious operation of putting a hoe full of dirt and patting it down upon 
each vine was believed to be a necessary feature in peanut.farming. 
ISJ'ow, in five counties of "Virginia, Isle of Wight, Southampton, Sussex, 
Surry and Xansemond, this crop is planted by hundreds of acres, in 
some localities rivalling and defeating the highly valued staple, cotton, 
for popular favor. 

The Virginia peanut is more highly valued than its JSTorth Carolina 
contemporary, because of its size and weight, while its bright, clear 
color makes it more desirable than its Tennessee namesake. Close ob- 
servation and a thorough practical knowledge in the matter have con- 
vinced the best farmers in the counties referred to that lime is abso- 
lutely necessary to the production of a full, plump, white peanut. 
Where it already exists as a component element of the land, the appli- 
cation of kiln lime should of course be less, but the peanut insists upon 
the presence of lime in the land as necessary to its full and healthy 
development. 

In the sections where this crop is most productive, the average ap- 
plication of shell lime is about 1,000 lbs. per acre, varying of course in 
quantity according as the crops have been rotated. The mode of ap- 
plying the lime varies somewhat according to individual experience, 
the pressure of time and other immediate and surrounding causes. 



34 SOUTHERN" PLANTER. [January 

But when time and means are abundant, the provident farmer hauls up 
his mud from the circum-adjacent swamp in the Fall, and relies upon 
the cold of winter, and a liberal application of lime, to correct its 
acidity and otherwise prepare it for the crop. 

In lands where there is necessary delay in obtaining the lime, it is 
then applied as a top dressing, and with usual good effect if the plant 
has time to absorb and assimilate it. 

The usual manipulated guanos are also extensively used in the pro- 
duction of this nut, with varying results according to the intrinsic value 
of the guano, its adaptability to the land, the quantity used, &c. 

The usual quantity is about 200 lbs. per acre, and when the note falls 
due at the rate of about $45 or |50 per ton, with a short crop and dull 
market, the cuss-words of the old farmer have at least the merit of 
being emphatic and candid, though they may lack elegance. 

While much has been written and said about the manner of cultivat- 
ing the peanut, there is really little to be said about it as a special 
method, save to work the fields often enough to keep them clean. 

The rows are laid off 3 feet, 3 feet 6 inches, or 3 feet 9 inches apart, 
according as the land is productive or not — the vine on strong land 
requiring of course more room — the guano or compost is then de- 
posited in the drill, and the lists are then thrown up to complete the 
row. The land is of course supposed to be free from clods, well pul- 
verized and well drained. 

Next comes what is locally and technically called a "dotter." 

This implement is simply a frame containing a roller into which pins 
have been inserted so as to "dot" or make holes upon the row about 
18 inches apart, the roller being preceded by a "shoe" or scraper for 
the purpose of levelling the row. 

Laborers follow the "dotter," dropping one or two nuts, just as seed 
h-^ppens to be plentiful and the weather favorable, in each hole, cover- 
ing and pressing the dirt upon the nut with the foot. 

"The planting is usually begun upon light uplands about the 1st of 
May, upon damp low-lands latter, according to the spring rains. The 
sooner, reasonably, the planting is done the better, because it gives you 
a better opportunity of testing the procreative power of your soil, and 
more time is thus given you to re-plant, though the writer has made 
good peanuts by replanting as late as the 18th of June. 

When planting is begun earlier than May 1st, the nut is planted un- 
shelled as being then better protected from the cold damp spells which 
sometimes come in April and early in May, though the usual method 
is to shell them, as the nut then responds more readily to the action of 
the heat. 

The planting should be done, if possible, when the ground is moist, 
but not too wet. The peanut is extremely sensitive to cold and wet, 
and soon rots when exposed to the combined, action of these agents. 
It will lie in the ground for many weeks waiting for a rain, if it be 
only deep enough to prevent it from being baked by the sun. 

After the plant gets up it requires a great deal of moisture, and 



1881] SOUTHERJsT PLAiTTER. ■ 35 

plaster should then be liberally applied, so as to assist the plant in get- 
ting moisture from the air, if the ground should be too dry. 

Lee's Prepared Agricultural Lime has been used with very fine effect 
by the writer, putting 300 lbs. per acre. 

After the plant is well up, replanting should be begun, at the same 
time trimming or scraping the row and weeding out the young grass 
with the hoe. 

The cultivation should then proceed regularly and frequently, alter- 
nately throwing the dirt to and taking it away from the plant, accom- 
panying each plowing^ with hoepv'ork till prevented by extension of the 
lateral branches of the vine, and then finger-work should be substituted, 
'"till the crop is "laid by," usually from the 1st to the 10th of August. 

The ends of the vines should be broken up at each plowing, as the 
limbs are then prevented from throwing out needles and thus wasting 
the vigor of the vines in abortive attempts to make nuts at the ends of 
these tentacles. The vigor ot the vine should be expended in making 
and developing well grown nuts around the stem of the plant. 

In saving seed, they should be dug before frost withers the vine too 
much; should be thoroughly dried before stocking; should be carefully 
picked and put away in open bulk, so as not to be damaged by heating 
or severe cold. Many farmers lost their seed last winter from the 
severe cold, only the nuts in the centre of the bulk being saved. 

Digaincr beofins about October 10th, according to the weather. After 
being plowed up the vine should be turned so as to expose the nut to 
at least one day's good sun, then shocked, taking care to allow room 
between the shocks for pure circulation of air. 

The shocks should be carefully put up, taking care to lock each vine 
around tlie stick, making the shock a little higher than a man and in 
bulk larger than a barrel. 

They should remain in shock about two weeks, and when taken 
down should be immediately picked off. 

Many years ago, before the invention and introduction of " Cleaners," 
the farmer was expected to clean his crop so as to insure the sale, but 
for two seasons the crop has been sold in the dirt, the buyer preparing 
and ojradincj the nut for market. 

The merchants of Norfolk, the principal peanut market of the world, 
in 1879 decided that the crop should be bought and sold only by the 
pound, but prior to that time it was sold by the bushel — 22 pounds of 
the Virginia pea making a bushel, 28 pounds of the Tennessee pea to 
the bushel, and 32, I think of the North Carolina pea to the bushel. 

For many years subsequent to the war this commodity brought al- 
most fabulous prices, t'le "gilt-edge" in some instances bringing $4 or 
§4.25 per bushel. 

The prices realized last season were 3, S^, 3| and 3|-c. per lb., mak- 
ing a considerable fall off in the price. 

The latter price, while much less, is a more healthy and reliable one, 
and with an average yield of 50 bushels to an acre, there is really more 
money in the crop than in cotton. 

The peanut is dependent upon fewer contingencies ot weather after 



36 SOUTHERN PLANTER. [January 

it comes up, but it is a subject of much more frequent depredation than 
its rival, because everything in the world, from an ant to an elephant, 
from the negro who plants and picks them off, to the commission mer- 
chant who sells for you, considers it a legitimate prey and eats it with- 
out scruple. 

The "hands" charge 10, 12J and sometimes as much as 15c. per 
bushel for picking off, ostensibly boarding themselves, but really board- 
ing themselves on the nut; while in planting, the seed has to be covered 
with coal tar to protect it from the fox, mole, dog, and the chap wha 
drops it. 

A few persons have attempted to introduce a machine for picking 
ofl' the nut, but only with medium success, as the machine breaks the 
hull and mixes in fragments of the vine, thus making the crop more 
difficult to clerai. 

The hand-picked pea is much more sought for, and commands a 
better price. 

Among the collateral or auxiliary industries introduced by peanut 
ciilture, none has proven more profitable than the manufacture of shell 
lime from the oyster shell, which has been hitherto so little utilized for 
that purpose. Many villages in the Southside tidewater counties now 
have their kilns, and lime can be readily had at $5 or $5.50 per ton. 
Suffolk has two such kilns, and by reason of its accessibility has growB 
into quite a market for this article. 

The genius of invention has also received an impulse from it, 
and every season witnesses the introduction of some new picker and 
cleaner. 

So far, none have given entire satisfaction, but possibly constant ex- 
perimenting may develop a machine equal to the slow but better plan 
of hand-picking. 

So from the little basket of the proverbial cake-woman who used to 
visit Virginia musters, courts and elections, we fiud the peanut crop 
has expanded 'till ships and long trains groan under their weight. 

The crop has, besides its commercial value, its characteristics and 
peculiar features, for when several families of negroes gather their 
shocks around the same fire, and make twenty or more groups, the 
field has a picturesque and interesting appearance, while the happy 
laugh, the camp-meeting hymn, or the latest scandal, helps to while 
away the time and sweeten their labor. 

Peanut-picking is rapidly supplanting our old time corn shuckings, 
and helps to revive and retain much of the conviviality of those oc- 
casions. 

The vines of the crop, at one time much used as forage, are now 
generally restored to the land, and the crop is not now considered 
much more exhaustive than cotton. When tenants cultivate the land, 
they usually pay one-fourth of the crop, leaving the vines on the land, 
they being at all the expense of planting, cultivating and saving the 
crop, the lime and guanos being jointly paid for by the tenant and 
land- owner in the same rate as the crop is divided. 



1884.] SOUTHER!!^ PLANTER. 37 



"PEACH CULTURE" AND BORER. 

The above caption in your December No., calls for a few remarks. 
I have raised peaches for my family use for over a half century with 
success, and will therefore speak with some authority. Your corres- 
pondent "M.," has, I think, several errors in his culture. In the 
:fi.rst place the peach is a tropical fruit, and its roots especially should 
not be exposed to frosts. My father, in early times, before the peach- 
borer made its appeal ance, had great success with peaches; but his 
trees were finally killed when the borer made its way westward. Sup- 
posing that long culivation of the soil caused the death of the tree, he 
■cleared a new field and replanted his orchard. In the mean time he 
was told of the ravages of the borer, and the remedy of taking away the> 
€arth from the roots to kill the borer was tried. But the trees and 
borer were both killed! My practice is to clear away the soil around 
the peach stock to the roots in early spring before the fly lays the 
eggs. The bark is then examined with care, and where the gum ex- 
udes it is cut away with a narrow, stiff knife-blade, and the worms 
taken out and killed. The tree is then whitewashed with strong lime 
for a few feet above the ground, and then hilled up from eight to ten 
inches, and so left till fall when the leaves begin to drop off, when the 
earth is removed and the worms again killed. The object of the hill- 
ing is to place the maggot of the borer above the roots, where they are 
easily cut out with the knife, when the trees are again whitewashed, 
^nd the ground left level till freezing sets in, when they are again 
hilled up and left so till early spring, when the same process is con- 
tinued. The peach thus treated will last from fifteen to twenty years 
and bear well. 

" Cutting back" the boughs of the peach tree, denounced by " M.," 
is recommended by all peach growers and is always practiced by me. 
As soon as the tree is planted out, or appears in the nursery the second 
year, it should be trimmed closely in early spring of every limb, and 
the top cut off somewhat, when new limbs put out all along the stem 
p.nd grow for one year. The second year after the setting in the 
X3rchard the tree should again be trimmed as high as the bowl is de- 
sired to remain. I prefer low trunks. From this time the limbs should 
be headed in ("cut back") till they assume a regular sugar-loaf or oval 
form, and so cut back say generally one-third of each year's growth, 
till the tree has borne a few crops of fruit ; when all trimming should 
cease, being no longer needed. The reasons for this plan are tt^ese: 
The trunk is made low against sun and winter frostg protected by the 



38 SOUTHERN PLANTER. [January 

branches; the limbs do not fork nor split, nor do they bend down and 
decay in consequence ; the tree is strong and stocky, and by cutting 
back last year's growth you also trim away much of the bearing wood, 
and thus thin the fruit, which is nearly always required for its full 
growth and flavor; and the fruit is so low as to avoid wind- falls and 
to be easily gathered ; and by this process no large limbs are ever cut 
away, as all such surgery is injurious to the health of the tree. 

I think "M." is in error also in advising stimulating in the nursery 
and leaving it off in the orchard. Sudden change of food for animals 
or plants is always injurious, hence the trees highly stimulated in the 
nursery are often lost or stunted in the orchard. Equal treatment 
always is best. 

" The Yellows." — I have long been of the opinion that there is no 
such cause of death to peach trees as "the yellows." When the borer 
weakens the tree by girdling the underground bark, " the yellows " 
ensue. It may be possible that animalcule or fungi are present on the 
leaves in such cases, as nature always asserts hy such means the disso- 
lution of organic matter ; but these are the consequences, not the 
causes. So of the "Pear blight" the same may be said. And many 
of these microscopic bacteria and other reported infusoria are nothing 
but the ultimate g-lobules of animal and ve2;etable structure in normal 
motion ! C. M. Clay. 

WMte Hall, Ky., 1883. 



THE EAST VIRGINIA MARL BEDS. 

We make the prediction and enter it here upon record, that from the 
marl beds of Eastern Virginia and the limestone of the Valley will 
come the future supply of commercial fertilizers for this state and sec- 
tion. From the day of the introduction of Peruvian guano to this time, 
farmers have had the round of a long list of manipulated fertilizers, 
and they have been thoroughly tested and found to be costly, in many 
cases too costly, and now attention is being diverted to chemicals as 
the thing for the farmer. lie is told to bring a few hundred pounds 
of chemicals, and to make his own manures. Well, this has been tried 
and found to be no better than the other. And so it will go on till 
farmers take more pains to educate themselves, and find wherein they 
have been the loser throughout the whole period of commercial ma- 
nures. The manufacturers will continue to find some nostrum to dis- 
pose of at good figures to the unwary. 

But the light of a better knowledge is gradually getting abroad, 
and it will not be very long before the Virginia farmer of the Valley 
or of the Seaboard will know of a certainty, that he has a better mate- 
rial for a fertilizer right in his neighborhood and upon his own farm 



1884.] SOUTHERJ^ PLANTER. 39 

than any he has been getting from abroad. A calcareous soil is not 
only the best possible one for peanuts, that great and growing staple 
of the East, but it is the best for all kinds of grain, and for nearly 
everything that the Virginia farmer produces. And of all calcareous ma- 
nures yet discovered, the Virginia marl seems to possess qualities su- 
perior to any. It is not only the large amount of carbonate of lime 
that most samples of this marl contains, that makes it so efficient and 
valuable, but it seems to possess the power of assimilating with the 
mineral and vegetable matter already in the land where applied, and 
of farming with it our homogenous mass of fertility for feeding and 
nourishing crops to a higher degree than any other known material. For 
farming a complete soil in conjunction with vegetable matter, it is better 
than lime, better even than ashes, and far ahead of plaster. 

Its great value, no doubt, lies in the amount of carbonate of lime 
that it usually contains, and this alone, to say nothing of other ele- 
ments known or unknown, will always make it an article of high 
value as a fertilizer. Think of almost inexhaustible beds throughout 
all Eastern Virginia, all containing from thirty to sixty or seventy per 
cent, of the valuable carbonate of lime, and these but a few feet be- 
neath the surface, and laid along almost every stream and valley, even 
to the very barn door of many farms, intersecting the fields, and crop- 
ping out in the hillsides in every direction, and you will have some idea 
of the immense deposits of this material awaiting the wagon and shovel 
of the farmer to take it away and make it useful. And along the 
James, York, Rappahannock, and other large tributaries and estuaries 
of the Chesapeake, it is even -more accessible still, jutting out in the 
banks high and dry, requiring only to back up the carts and throw it 
in without so much as a drop of water to incommode the labourer. 
To put it in a short, expressive phrase: there are millions of it; not 
only millions of tons, but millions of car loads. 

And when its value is better understood and appreciated, and when 
our railroads shall so reduce freights as to render its transportation to 
distant points reasonable, the farmer of the Piedmont and of the plains 
will begin its use, and the Seaboard farmer will give it in exchange 
for wheat, or cattle, or wool. Put the price of transportation low, and 
there is no reason why almost every western bound freight train of the 
X. & W., and of the A. & D., when built, shall not carry one or more 
car loads of marl above tidewater, to the plains and to the Piedmont. 
Then we shall see piles of it at every railroad station, and every far- 
mer will use marl and sow peas to improve his land, and commercial 
nostrums will be employed in smaller doses and with greater caution. 
At five dollars a ton it would be the cheapest fertilizer in the world, 
and the trade in it would become immense. Xo fears need be enter- 
tained that the supply would soon fail. A century would not remove 
the ninth part of it. 

And if this may not be — even should a car load of it never be sent 
away, still one-third of the State has it in bed. Let the farmers of this 
section utilize it as they should, and great will be the gain. It is the 
one great fertilizer for the peanut, and of this alone it will continue to 
pay . — In dez-Appea I. 



40 SOUTHERN PLANTER. [January 



WATERING WINDOW-PLANTS. 

There is nothing that seems to bother more those who would grow 
window-flowers, than how often to water them. It is an exceedingly 
simple thing to those who have had experience, though so mysterious 
a thing to those who have had none. When the skilled gardener is 
asked for advice, he says, "Water only when the plant needs it." But 
this tells the inquirer nothing. There still remains to be understood 
how to tell when plants need water. After all this is a species of knowl- 
edge that cannot well be taught by another. It has to be learned from 
experience. The good plant-cultivator tells from the color of the earth; 
but even this is a relative term. There is dark soil and there is light 
soil ; but all soils are darker when they are wet then when dry. One 
can soon learn this by experimenting a little; and can soon tell whether 
the eai'th is dry or wet, by the eye or finger alone. If it is wet, it oi 
course wants no more water; if much lighter than its usual color, the 
earth is dry and needs some. It is an exceedingly simple matter to 
those who will try to learn ; to those who cannot learn themselves it is 
a hopeless task. 

There is one hint that we may give that may be of value. If the 
earth never gets dry, the plants are not in good condition. Something 
is wrong. It is the active, growing, working roots that take the mois- 
ture out of the earth. It is a sign of good health for the plant to want 
frequent watering. As we have already said, the color of the soil, as 
compared to what it is when wet, will tell whether it wants water or 
not. — Germantown Telegraph. 



NEWSPAPER LAWS. 



Read them carefully, and avoid any misunderstanding: 

1. Subscribers who do not give express notice to the contrary, are 
considered wishing to continue their subscription. 

2. If subscribers order the discontinuance of their periodicals, the 
publishers may continue to send them until all arrears are paid. 

3. If subscribers neglect or refuse to take their periodicals from 
the oflice to which they are directed, they are held responsible until 
they have settled their bills, and order them discontinued. 

4. If subscribers move to other places without informing publish- 
ers and the papers sent to former direction, they are held responsible. 

5. The courts have decided that refusing to take a newspaper from 
the oflice or removing and leaving them uncalled for, is prima facie 
evidence of intentional fraud. 

6. Any person receiving a newspaper and making use of it, whether 
he ordered it not. is held to be a subscriber. 

7. If subscribers pay in advance, they are bound to give notice to 
publishers, at the end of their time if they do not wish to continue the 
paper; otherwise the publisher is authorized to send it on, and then 
subscribers will be responsible until an express notice, with payment 
of all arrears, is sent to the publisher. 



1884.] SOUTHERN PLANTER. 41 



THE FRUIT TRADE IN HENRY AND PATRICK COUNTIES. 

Since the war a great mauj orchards of apples and other fruits of 
improved variety have been planted, and now they are beginning to 
return to their owner's handsome profits. 

The blackberry trade has yielded large income, and as they are saved 
by the women and children who would not otherwise be profitably em- 
ployed, this much might be considered as clear gain to the community. 
Then the desired apples are of next importance. A great quantity of 
apples have been sold recently to the merchants of this place, and for 
high prices, beside what has been sold directly to drummers from whole- 
sale fruit dealers in the cities. Dried peaches have had a great run, 
and prices have been higher than for manj years. We have heard of 
instances in which one single family has saved and sold several hun- 
dred dollars worth of fruit. 

In Patrick, we have heard that a considerable quantity of raspber- 
ries has been brought on the market, and they sell higher than any 
other fruit. 

The raspberry might easily be cultivated and made very profitable. 
The blackberry will grow spontaneously, but it might be improved by 
cultivation. Most all of the exhausted land in this country will pro- 
duce the blackberry. If planted in rows, the fruit can be much easier 
gathered, and it would prevent the washes and at the same time im- 
prove the soil. As most of the apple orchards have been planted since 
the war, the fruit business may be said to be in its infancy, as compar 
ed with what it will be a year or so hence. — Martinsville Herald. 



JUDICIOUS FARMING— WHAT IS IT? 

Some years ago we heard a farmer who had become rich at the busi- 
ness, remark, in a conversation on what might be called good or 
judicious farming, that the "test of good farming is that every successive 
crop is better than the one that preceded it."' To obtain such an evi- 
dence of skillful tillage, however, for a large scries of years, would of 
course be an impossibility, but to keep the soil in such a state of fer- 
tility as to insure a full and remunerative yield when favored by the 
season, is an evidence of intelligent farming of by no means uncom- 
mon occurrence. We have ho fear of the ultimate prosperity of the 
agriculturist who secures this encouraging result of his labors. We 
have see ext«nsive and highly-cultivated farms by subsequent injudici- 
ous cultivation degenerate into barrenness; and we have not many 
miles to go to see the once sterile and sand-plains of Jersey, by systematic 
tillage, liberally rewarding the proper labors of the husbandman. Land 
there that was formerly covered with rank grass, huckelberry bushes 
and stunted pine trees, now yield in an abundance the choicest 
varieties of grapes, pears, cherries and apples, and all the field crops 
that can be profitably grown in the adjacent states. Good tillage 
having developed the true character of this once comparatively unpro- 



42 SOUTHERN PLANTER. [January 

ductive soil, has in many localities enhanced its pecuniary value, and 
there are plenty of instances where a quarter of a century ago land 
that could not be sold for five dollars an acre, would not now be dis- 
posed of for a hundred dollars an acre. Thus, as the value of the soil 
of New Jersey for agricultural purposes becomes disclosed the quantity 
and worth of her grain, fruit and vegetable products steadily increases, 
and will continue to do so. 

And all this is the result of what we simply call judicious farming^ 
and it answers the question which is asked at the start. — G-ermantown 
[Pa) Telegraph. 



THE OPOSSUM. 

Mr. Editor, — In your journal of this volume. No. 3, you have an ar- 
ticle entitled "The Kangaroo and Opossum." Not long since I saw an 
article in a very respectable newspaper, where a "clergyman" asserted 
that the carrier-pigeon flew one wing while resting the other ! when every 
farm-child of an age fit to enter school, knows that so far from resting 
the whole wing, a few inches cut off from its tip would cause any bird 
or fowl to be disabled from flying at all. Now, we find in so brainy a 
paper as the Scientific American, the assertion of this correspondent, 
"H. D. G.," that the young of those marsupials "grow out of the teat 
of the mother's pouch." Now, everybody does know that the young 
of all the mammals grow from the ovum generated in the womb, and is 
nourished by the blood of the mother's system, and not by the milk 
system till after birth. Can any absurdity then be more wonderful 
than R. D. G.'s experience of seeing the young opossums growing, 
like a knot on a tree, upon the teat and milk of the mother! Hume's 
reasoning upon miracles would be beneath contempt, if such stuff" as 
this needs refutation. But it seems that it docs. Well, let us see; the 
opossum's pouch is a loose extension of the skin of the belly on both 
sides, from fore to hind legs, covered with hair like the rest of tKe body, 
with two parallel rows of teats like the sow has. When the pig is born, 
by instinct it never stops a moment, but passes at once around to the 
teats of the mother, and then lays hold and begins to suck, and so each 
pig of a dozen, if there are so many, will do the same with the regul- 
arity of clockwork. Now, when the opossums are born, by the same 
instinct the little ones take hold of the teats, I will not say unaided by 
the mother, as I have no proof, never having been at a birth. But I 
must tell R. D. G., that old Kentucky is a'possum-raisini; State, and 
for a long life I have been familiar with the opossum and its habits. 
The reason for this unusual provision of Nature in this animal seems 
to be like the provision for birds, by the embryo being continued in 
the voided e.gg till by the heat and moisture of the mother's breast it is 
able to assume its independent existence. If the birds were vivipa- 
rous the eggs would weigh them down and prevent their flying, and 
subject them to destruction by their many enemies. For even the 
bones in birds are made porous, hollow and raarrowless, to make the 



1884.] SOUTHEEN PLANTER. 4S 

•whole machinery lighter, so they may fly with their air. Kow, the 
opossum has a great many young at a birth, and Nature relieves the moth- 
er simply by hastening the time of birth and maturing the embryo for 
separation from the blood circulation even before the hair is of much 
growth, and substituting the hair of the mother's pouch instead to cov- 
er the young until their own is sufficient. The hair on the opossum is 
mixed with fur, and the whole coat is very thick, which would be an- 
other reason for speedy birth. And of all our animals the opossum 
is the most lethargic, moving over the ground with great difficulty and 
apparent pain as the sloth. The oppossum is very peculiar in its hab- 
itat, moving but very short distances on account of its awkward struc- 
ture. It therefore takes its house in a rock or hollow tree near the 
pawpaw bushes, grape-vines, oaks and other food, where they exist in 
profuse quantities. Its principle food is composed of berries on trees 
and bushes, and its tail being prehensile like the monkey's, serves it a 
good purpose in getting from limb to limb. The little "possums" would 
therefore make but poor taking care of themselves if the mother did 
not a long time bear their burthens. 

These animals have but very little muscle, but take on fat profusely 
and are very much like a roast-pig in very rich flavor. They, like the 
bears, hybernate ; they lie in their holes during the cold weather, and 
live upon the absorption of accumulated oils or fat. In early days, 
when the winters were more equable in consequence of the protection 
of forests, the snow lay much longer on the ground; and when the 
winters were long or for some other reason, the opossums would ven- 
ture out and seemed to be hunting acorns or hickory-nuts, by turning 
up the dead leaves. The bears will also at times leave prematurely 
their winter-quarters and go in search 6f food. The opossum, I think, 
lives much upon snails, bugs, frogs and other kinds of animals. They 
are very fond of chickens, and w^ere in early times much in the habit of 
robbing the hen-roosts. But as their food has been restricted by civ- 
ilization, and as their flesh is very much liked, they in this region, once 
so plenty, are now rarely seen, being found mostly in the inaccessible 
cliffs of the Kentucky liiver, where neither man nor the red foxes, 
which are believed to eat them, can penetrate. 

But I wander from the caption, and conclude that all the pouches I 
have seen at many stages of the growth of the young opossunos have ex- 
tended the whole length of the rov.'s of teats, the young being cover- 
ed by the falling walls of the skin as between two blankets. And R. 
G. D., must have a large little linger if it could not enter such a pouch !. 
although its power of contraction is considerable. 

C. M. Clay in Germantown Telegrafli^ 
White Rail, Kt/., 1883. 



Xo one can exist in society without some specialty. Eighty years, 
ago it was only necessary to be well dressed and amiable ; to-day a maa 
of this kind w^ould be too much like the waiters in the public dining- 
rooms. 



44 SOUTHEEiT PLANTER. [January 



POA PRATENSIS OR KENTUCKY BLUE GRASS. 

Editor Transcript, — In the deartTi of political questions of interest, I 
find much pleasure in agricultural pursuits and inquiry. It is a matter 
of very small importance whether the Kentucky Blue Grass is indigen- 
ous or not; but having asserted that it is not, I think I can maintain 
my position. Some years ago I sent a whole plant of this grass to a 
learned scientist of the East, who reported that the blue grass was 
identical in all respects with the Poa Pratensis, or English "Green 
Sward." ISlow the English "Green Sward" has existed long centuries 
in England; long before Kentucky was known to civilization. If it 
was indigenous native in England, it cannot at the same time be na- 
tive in Kentucky; unless we reject the Mosaic account and admit that 
it originated in Engiand and here both. I presume that no one will 
contend that it found its way from here to England long centuries ago. 
There is no doubt, that grasses and other plants are carried in the seed 
by birds and other animals, which make long migrations, and hence I 
found the Poa P., on the Northern lakes, near St. Paul, in Minnesota, 
and at St. Petersburg, Russia in latitude 60 degrees north. Wherever 
it originated, therefore, the P. P. has taken a wide spread over the earth. 
I was the first to make the culture of Blue Grass a specialty in Madi- 
son county, and I know that notwithstanding it had existed for half a 
ceuturj' on my lands, it had to be sowed in the newly cleared fields. 
The seed were no doubt brought from over the sea purposely to set 
lawns in the East of America, which was a comparatively old country 
before the settlement of Kentucky. It was no doubt brought to Ken- 
tucky by immigrants; or it may have been brought by animals. Cer- 
tain it is that it did not rapidly spread, as it would have done, if nature 
had sown it over this State. It was first sown in my father's yard, 
and then took hold on the woodland, clearings and fields. It went 
from here by seed purposely transplanted into Ohio, Illinois, and the 
Western States. As the Blue Grass, like Napoleon, was moving 
whilst its enemies were quiet, growing in early spring and winter, 
whilst other grasses were dormant, and by its tenacious hold, stifling 
all other grasses, had it been indigenous no doubt it would have taken 
all the prairie lands of this continent long centuries ago, at least where- 
ever the soil and climate enable it now to hold the mastery. I think 
these facts are incontrovertible, and that the reasoning is logical when 
I repeat that the Kentucky Blue Grass is exotic, and like the honey 
bee, follows civilization westward. C. M. Clay. 

WMie Hall, May, -[882. 



The important point in threshing grain is to have sufiicient help to 
keep a steady flow of grain to the separator; Too rapid threshing is 
wasteful, and an unskillful thresher can easily lose more than the cos^ 
of clean work by letting grain go into the stack. 



1884.] SOUTHERN PLANTER. 45 

Editorial. 



SMUT !iM WHEAT. 



We have a letter from a correspondent who communicated to the 
Planter several years ago his experience as to the best method of pre- 
venting sraut in wheat. He refers to a recent article of ours recom- 
mending the wash and soak for twelve hours in strong brine. He does 
not say that our plan will not accomplish its object, but thinks his plan 
of frequent washings in clear water is a better one. We agree that 
smut in the neiv grain is produced by the fungus spores which adhere 
to the seed which is sown. Any method by which the spores can be 
removed and the seed made perfectly clean is a safe remedy against the 
appearance of smut in the next crop. It so happens that our corres- 
pondent and ourself were for many years near neighbors, and each was 
familiar with the practice and views of the other. Our plan for freeing 
the seed wheat from the obnoxious germs we regard best, for the reason 
that it is simple and involves but little labor or cost. Salt is an inexpen- 
sive article, and the cost per bushel of wheat is a mere trifle. Besides its 
purifying properties, it is a valuable manurial agent in the early growth 
of the wheat. The plan for salt-washing is simply this : Have a water- 
tight tank, or a set of tubs, sufficient to hold as much wheat as will be 
sown in one day. Fill this tank, or the tubs, half full of clear water, 
and then add as much salt as will make a strong brine. Pour the wheat 
into the brine gently, or slowly, so that the grains will become separated 
as they touch the water. The light and inferior grains will for a few 
moments float on the surface, when they should at once be skimmed 
off and rejected. The heavy and sound grains will sink to the bottom; 
and then a man should roll up his sleeves, extend his hands to the bot- 
tom of the vessel, and stir the wheat actively and wash it by rubbing 
between the hands. After this operation is performed on the evening 
of the day previous to seeding, the wheat is permitted to remain in the 
soak all night. On the next morning the wheat is removed from the 
vessels and placed in baskets, or hampers, to drain for a few minutes, 
and it is then carried to the barn floor and spread. The driers, such as 
ashes, lime, or pbosphatic float, are then dusted over it. A few shov- 
ellings back and forth will soon have the grains coated with the drier 
and the grain will be ready for use, either by the drill, or broadcast. 
The water in the vessels is permitted to remain during the day, and 
when the time comes for soaking another day's supply, a spiggot, which 
should be as near the bottom of the vessel as possible, is withdrawn, 
and about half of the water formerly used is suffered to flow out. All 



46 SOUTHERN PLANTER. [January 

sediment having fallen to the bottom is carried off by the flow of the 
water. The requisite quantity of fresh water having been added, more 
salt is put in, and. thus the process repeats itself from day to day. If 
the seeding is interrupted by bad weather, this will make no difference 
as the wheat which has been soaked and dried by the duster, will keep 
a week, or more, if it is thinly and evenly spread on a plank floor. 
We now present our correspondent's letter defining his views in re- 
spect to the prevention of smut: 

Editor Southern Planter, — I see that you recommend soaking wheat 
in salt water as a means of preventing smut, and though disinclined to 
dispute this assertion (and would not if a mistake of yours would not 
carry many others wrong) feel called on to state why I disagree. In 
my first article on smut written some years ago, I reported that the 
Royal Agricultural Society of England had virtually decided that smut 
was produced by the ashes or residuum of dead smut grains adhering 
to sound grains, and that either steeps that would kill the smut fungus, 
or washings that would cleanse the grains, would save the crop; that 
smutty wheat cleansed or the smut- vitality destroyed by steeps, would 
bring sound grain, and vice versa, the soundest grains rolled in smut 
would produce a smutty crop. 

I also stated that a neighbor asked how I kept clear of smut, and 
I told him by washing the seed, and the next year he had more smut 
than usual, and (like a man) reproved me sharply for leading him astray. 
But upon enquiry I found out that his head man (Spencer, whom you 
know), had merely soaked the wheat in salt water in a large kettle; 
and did not wash it as he had been directed to do. Upon mentioning 
this to P. J.rowlks,then living,he remarked, that his experience in soak- 
ing in salt water was similar toWm. II. Scott's, and that he relied upon 
blue stone. He also mentioned this fact, that he once rolled pure grains of 
wheat in smut dust and sowed them in his garden, and they produced 
a smutty crop. My belief is, that smut is very soluble in water; and 
through this quality may be readil}' gotten rid of. 

I have so long used this way and heard intelligent men and women 
too do the same to have nice flour free from smell, that I have no 
doubt of its eflicacy; and that now the only difiiculty is, the trouble 
of washing in a plenty of water; which some simple mechanical con- 
trivance would obviate. Your friend, Siiarpe Carter. 

Having compared our views and experience with those of our corres- 
pondent, we may say that both may be wrong, if we are willing to 
accept the views of the Editor of the Lancaster {Pa.) Farmer for No- 
vember, 1883, and of a correspondent in the same issue. The editorial 
remarks of the Farmer and the communication of its correspondent 
will be attached hereto, so that all sides may be heard on a vital ques- 
tion in wheat culture. 

Lancaster County, Pa., is one of the best wheat districts in the State, 



188i.] SOUTHERN PLANTER. 47 

and it would seem that the observations of its intelligent farmers would 
never place rust and smut both in the class offungoids. Smut is one of the 
most subtle of fungoids. Its millions of microscopic spores even from 
one diseased grain which has reached the paff-ball condition are suffi- 
cent to impregnate many bushels of sound grain. These spores are 
so minute that if attached to a grain of sound wheat used as seed, they 
can be taken up by the roots of the plant, and thus, from the earliest 
growth of the plant, they are a source of insidious disease which at- 
tacks the heads of the wheat and effectually destroys them. The views 
herein presented by our correspondent and ourself, based on a long ex- 
perience, show that these spores which attach to sound grains may be 
removed by thorough washing, and is an effectual preventive of smut 
in a crop raised from grain so washed. 

Bust is not a fungoid at all, and its dust has no vitality. It is the 
result of the bursting of the sap-vessels of the wheat plant by reason 
of abnormal growth occasioned by an over-supply of heat and mois- 
ture, and by too thick seeding on fertile lands, whereby sun-light and 
air are excluded. The rupture of the sap-vessels first occurs on the 
leaves of the plant, and if favorable conditions do not occur in time 
it extends to the stalk. The exudation from the rupture will soon dry 
up into red dust, something like the rust of iron, and it is therefore 
called rust. The best preventive is thorough drainage, and not too 
thick seeding on the best lands, and to trust to Providence for favora- 
ble conditions of weather after the heading-out of the crop. 

SMUT IN WHEAT. 

We insert with more than ordinary pleasure the communication of 
our correspondent from Brookville, because it seems to have a good, 
intelligent, and practical Lancaster county farmer-ring; and, if Lan- 
caster county farmers would only condescend to make their sentiments 
freely and liberally known, through the medium of the press, we feel 
assured that they could honorably occupy the exalted position of teach- 
ers, instead of mere freshmen in agricultural lore. Of course, it is not 
to be supposed that we officially endorse the doctrines embraced in the 
various paragraphs we quote from other journals, any more than we 
are supposed to endorse the sentiments of all our contributors and cor- 
respondents. But finding these paragraphs in respectable journals, we 
suppose them to have a respectable authorship, and hence we give them 
place for what they may be worth, knowing that if they cannot bear a 
practical test, they come to naught. According to some of the most 
unquestionable authorities on the origin and germination of "rust" or 
" smut," our correspondent is right; nor can we see, any more than he 
can, how the small quantum of sulphate of copper which may adhere to 
a grain of wheat, can have any beneficial effect upon a disease that is 
only banefully developed some eight or nine months thereafter. There 



48 SOUTHEEN PLANTER. [January 

is not a more subtle development in the vegetable kingdom than that 
of mold, smut, or rust, under whatsoever name, or in whatever form it 
raaj appear. Its development seems to be entirely under the control 
of surrounding conditions, and as these conditions cannot be seen six 
or eight months in advance, it would seem futile to depend on any 
remedy involved in "seed-planting." These crjptogamic parasites 
may be found in the "seed cavities " of apples, pears and quinces; in 
the cells within a loaf of bread, or an English cheese, or within the 
abdominal cavity of an insect even before it is dead. This would im- 
ply that the spores or germs had been in the air, and that their devel- 
opment was entirely dependent upon surrounding conditions, and these 
conditions would more likely exist in a damp cellar than in a dry gar- 
ret. Of course, any chemical application that would stimulate the 
healthy and vigorous growth of a plant, would advance it farther be- 
yond the injury of rust, than if it were in an enervated condition. It 
is true also that often the most vigorous plants become atFected with 
rust, but then this may occur through excessive stimulation, and a pro- 
tracted humidity in the surrounding atmosphere. 

CORRESPONDENCE ABOUT RUST. 

Dr. S. S. Rathvon. — Dear Sir : I see by the Lancaster Farmer for 
October, that some one in the jSTew York Weekly Times suggests the 
propriety of steeping seed in a solution of sulphate of copper and other 
mixtures containing ammonia, for the prevention of rust and smut on 
the plants grown from seed so treated. As I see it, I don't go much 
on such recommendations. The spores or germs of mildew, rust and 
smut, are afloat in the atmosphere, and take root on any plant that 
is in a condition to admit of it — that is, in a wet time, when the stems 
and leaves are soft. These fungi are parasitic in their habits. In foggy 
weather, nearly all kinds of plants, especially kitchen garden vegeta- 
tion, are liable to be affected by the growth of these fungi on the dif- 
ferent parts of the plant. If it is true that germs take root on these 
plants by coming in contact with the exterior of the different parts of 
the different plants, then upon what principle could treating seed in 
this way do any good.? One of the best remedies that I know of is to 
furnish the soil with such chemical compounds as the plant wants to 
give its stem a coating of glass, such as cornstocks have. The silicates, 
especially of potash, furnish what the plant wants to protect itself from 
the exhausting effects of this growth, white sand and wood ashes fur- 
nished the soil is a good application. Remedies for this, as well as for 
human ailments, consists in assisting nature in its work of protecting 
itself. 

Philosophers have already enumerated more than 150 varieties of 
these fungi. 

The science of Mycology, as the study of these almost microscopic 
crj'ptogamous plants (concealed flowers) are called, is one of the most 
recondite of sciences. When we are advised to do a thing, before we 
do it we should always first ask ourselves, does it look reasonable, or 
have we a reason for the faith that is in us? — 0. G., Brookville, Ohio. 



1884.] 



SOUTHERN" PLANTER. 



49 



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EDITORIAL NOTES 



18841 

May it be a prosperous year for our State 
and country, and for the Planter and its 
readers ! 



An Apology. — Oar Editor has been sick, 
and in bed, for two weeks, during the work 
on this issue. He has, therefore, been 
compelled to do on the sly — his doctor ad- 
vising a suspension of mental and physical 
labor — such work as was necessary. We 
offer this as an apology for any apparent 
delinquency of duty. 



Address of A. J. Mc Whiter, Esq., Presi- 
dent of the Southern Immigration Asso- 
ciation of America, delivered at Vicks- 
burg, Miss., Nov. 21, 1883, before the 
Cotton Planters' Association of America. 

The question of the introduction of im- 
migrants into the South — let them be hon- 
est and intelligent laborers, or men of capi- 
tal for large investments — is one of the 
greatest importance ; and it is well that the 
expansive minds and patriotic spirit of the 
leaders of public sentiment are earnestly 
at work on its solution. Let the Statec, 



through their Legislatures, give the Asso- 
ciation all the material aid it needs. 



Industrial South. — Nothing has dis- 
tressed us more grievously than the circum- 
stances which made it necessary for the In- 
dustrial South and the Planter to separate 
their offices. Although we are not now 
more than the distance of a stone's throw 
apart, we yet miss much of the intelligent 
companionship of the Editors o? the South, 
which we have enjoyed for several years in 
the same office-room. It may be best that 
it is so ; for now the South has its printing 
room and office adjoining, which will afford 
better facilities for the conduct of the most 
valuable industrial paper of the State. 

Remember that the Industrial South and 
the Planter are sent for $2 50 a year to one 
subscriber to each Journal. 



Lord & Thomas, Advertising Agents; Chi- 
cago, 111. 

The receipt of a recent advertisement 
through this agency reminds us to say at 
the commencement of a new year that our 
business relations have been of the most 
pleasant kind. They are liberal and prompt 
in their dealings. Their advertising mat- 
ter is well selected, and they offer nothing 
which high toned papers would not be will- 
ing to accept. They know what printing 
and paper are worth, and they offer full 
compensation, and their payments are 
prompt. No newspaper or journal will be 
disappointed in respect to any business 
transacted through this agency. For years 
it has been marked No. 1 on our books. 



Soils Practically Considered. — Un- 
der this title Prof. Page, of the University 
of Virginia, has forwarded us an interesting 
and exhaustive article in two parts, the 
second of which appears in this issiie of the 
Planter. It is a subject which every far- 
mer sho«ld study by reading and re-reading 
the Professor's practical views of the sub- 
ject. 



The Rose-bud Pest. — Dry slaked, lime, 
applied after a rain, or heavy dew. 

An Insect Destroyer. — Soft soap, 4 
parts; extract of tobacco 6 parts; amylic 



50 



SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[January 



alcohol 5 parts ; methylic alcohol 20 parts. 
Extract of tobacco is made by combin- 
ing equal parts of rolls of tobacco and soft 
soap, and water is added to make up for 
what is evaporated. When the soft soap 
is dissolved, the other ingredients are add- 
ed. 

We regard the above as reliable recipes. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, &c. 

Peabodt Educational Fund. — Proceed- 
ings of the Trustees at their 22d meet- 
ing, held at New York 3d October, 1883, 
with the Annual Report of their General 
Agent, Dr. J. L. M. Curry. 

We are indebted to Dr. Curry for a copy 
of this interesting document. There are 
many features of interest we might note, 
but fail for lack of space ; but we cannot 
refrain copying those paragraphs which re- 
fer to unneeded changes in school oiBcers, 
and the need that efiBcient men should not 
feel that their places are dependent on the 
success or defeat of a political party. 

' 'The frequent change of school-officers — 
superintendents, and others connected with 
administrative functions — produces serious 
inconvenience and sometimes real harm. 
The value of the work of these men is often 
not dependent so much on natural clever- 
ness and aptitude, as on the practical ex- 
perience, acquired habits, knowledge, and 
expertness which come from acquaintance 
with a system and the intelligent applica- 
tion of rules. Time is needed to famili- 
rize one with principles and details, to en- 
able him to understand character and scope 
of duties. All are familiar with the amus- 
ing failures to comprehend the operations 
of a government from merely reading ex- 
planatory- treatises. The acquired experi- 
ence or knowledge of a school-officer en- 
hances his qualifications, and his value, not 
unfrequently, proportionate to the time he 
has been in office. Rotation deprives the 
State of official wisdom, familiarity with 
details, and routine acquaintance with the 
techniqu* of administration, it begets un- 
certainty and neglect, and takes away the 
healthful stimulus of an honest ambition to 
connect one's name with the education of 
youth. At the South where public school 
systems are novel, and where many intelli- 
gent citizens are unfamiliar with their oper- 
ations, the necessity of permanence in 
school-officers is greater than in States 
where such schools have been for genera- 
tions a part of the daily life. 



The evils of rotation are aggravated 
when changes are the consequence of the 
varying fortunes of political parties. 

Changes are multiplied, and the tendency 
is to convert the school organization into a 
a political machine for retaining party as- 
cendency. Instead of the schools and their 
administration being sacredly kept as the 
appointed means for educating children, 
they are subordinated to the irrelevant ends 
of party success and personal aggrandize- 
ment. Instead of being for the general 
weal, the school system may be wickedly 
perverted to secure the supposed interest 
of a fraction of the people. It is not easy 
to imagine a state of things more mischiev- 
ous, more fatal to "free schools for the 
whole people," more corrupting, than the 
degradation of the State-school organiza- 
tion, throughout all its parts, to a party in- 
strument for promoting or ostracizing cer- 
tain politicians, or effecting certain ends 
which have not the remotest relation to the 
instruction of youth. 

Such an abuse of trust saps the founda- 
tion political ethics, and violates all sound 
principles of civil service. An officer, in- 
stead of discharging duties and relying on 
capacity and fidelity for retention in his 
place, considers himself as the servant of 
the party to which he belongs, and uses his 
time, influence, and official power for ends 
quite apart from the efficiency of schools. 
Cicero said that those officers who take care 
of one part of the citizens, and disregard 
or neglect another part, do but occasion 
sedition and distrust. Any suspicion or 
fear of the use of the school organization 
for partisan purposes excites prejudices 
against or engenders attacks upon the pub- 
lic schools, either the entire .system or the 
details of administration. The party out 
of power — restive, discontented, ambitious 
— is easily provoked into open or indirect 
hostility. If the superintendent or other 
officers interfere actively in party politics, 
or use their official power for party ascend- 
ency, attacks will be made on officers, 
salaries will be reduced, or other means 
just as effective will be found for crippling, 
the usefulness of the schools. An enlight- 
ened and patriotic public sentiment should 
rigidly confine the school organization to 
its proper sphere, and lift the free schools 
out of the arena and the fluctuations of 
political strife." 

Address of the Commissioner of Agricul- 
ture of Alabama, E. C. Betts, and Report 
of Experimental Station on the subject 
of carp ponds and the management of the 
fish. It is an interesting and very practi- 
cal paper. 



1884.] 



SOUTHERN" PLANTEK. 



51 



Horses : Their feed and their feet; a 
Manual of Horse Hygiene. Fowler and 
Wells Publishers, N. Y. city. 



SwiifE Breeder's Manual, or how to 
breed and manage improved swine. Pub- 
lished by the American Berkshire Abgo- 
ication, Springfield, 111. 



Laxdreth's Rural Register and Alma- 
nac FOR 1884, — This firm has been in busi- 
ness 100 years, and they now offer an at- 
tractive manual of vegetables, seeds, &c., 
for the present year. 



Godet's Lady's Book. — We call atten- 
tion to the advertisement of this old and 
esteemed periodical, as to the terms on 
which it will club with the Planter. We 
have received the picture called Our Daisy 
and it is really a gem. One of these pic- 
tures will be given to each subscriber to the 
Ladys-Book, at the regular price $2 per 
year, or at the clubbing rate with the 
Planter. 



The Principles and Practice of Veteri- 
nary Medicine. By William Williams, 
F. R. C. V. S., F. R. S. E., &c., &c. 
The first American from the last English 
Edition. Wm. Wood & Co., Publishers, 
New York, received through Messrs. 
West, Johnston & Co., this city. 
This is evidently a book of great value 
to every owner and breeder of horses. It 
is scientific in its researches, but practical in 
its results. Call on West, Johnston & Co. 



Annual Report of Dr. R. A . Wise, Su- 
perintendent of the Eastern Lunatic Asy- 
lum of Virginia. It is an excellent and 
praiseworthy showing in all Departments 
of the Institution. 



FuRMA.>i's Farming : A series of letters 
on intensive farming, by the late Parish C. 
Furman, of Georgia. Published by B. F. 
Avery and Sons, Louisville, Ky. 

Address of the Hon. G. B. Loving, U. 
S. Commissioner of Agriculture, before 
the American Forestry Congress, at St. 
Paul, Minn., Aug. 8, 1883. 



Sixteenth Annual Report, of Ohio 
State Horticultural Society, for the years, 
1882-'83, received with thanks from G. W. 
Campbell, Esq., Secretary, Delaware, 0. 

"The Weather," a practical guide to 
its changes, showing the signal service sys- 
tem, and how to foretell local weather. 
By S. S. Bassler, of the Commercial Ga- 
zette. Robert Clarke & Co., Publishers, 
Cincinnati, 0. 



We have a circular, which is important 
to Pomologists, from W- J. Beal, Esq., 
Lansing, Mich., containing the regulations 
adopted by the American Pomological So- 
ciety in reference to the names of fruit. 

ADVERTISEMENTS. 
Ashley Phosphate Company, have re- 
newed their advertisement for the year 
188i. Examine it carefully, and if neces- 
sary, correspond with the company who 
will, with pleasure, answer all enquiries. 
We have said so much in the Planter as to 
the value of the S. C. Phosphates that we 
cannot say more in a limited notice of this 
kind. 



A. L. West, Architect. — See his card 
in this issue. It affords us pleasure to say 
that we have personally known Mr. West 
for more than twenty five years, and never 
knew a -more genial gentleman, and one 
more faithful and competent in his profes- 
sion. We give our word for it, that who- 
ever engages his services in the country, as 
we once did, will not regret it. As for 
Richmond and other leading cities, he is 
too well known for any commendation from 
us. 



TJ. S. Wind Engine and Pump Company. 
— We invite attention to the advertisement 
of this company. Wind Engines, or mills, 
are being rapidly introduced in all sections 
of the country for various farm and domes- 
tie purposes. In the matter of pumping a 
steady supply of water a wind-mill is in- 
valuable. There is nothing so delitereous 
to the health and condition of stock as ir- 
regular and insufficient watering. The 
Middle- Virginia practice of riding, or driv- 



52 



SOUTHERN" PLANTER. 



[January 



ing stock to water in a distant stream, and 
frequently, if not always, omitted in bad 
■weather is a source of great suffering to the 
animals. Have a well of pure water in 
the yard, and a tank always supplied, 
so that the stock can get it at will. A small 
wind-mill will always keep up a full sup- 
ply- 



Col. S. S. Bradford, advertises Merino 
and other sheep, and cattle. Col. B., is 
one of the best breeders in the State, and 
we would advise a correspondence with him 
by all persons desiring good stock. 



The Blacksburg College Herd of Short- 
HoKN Cattle. 

The renewal of the advertisement of this 
Herd enables us to say that it was exhibit- 
ed at the Roanoke, Lynchburg, and State 
Fairs of '83 and won 28 premi'ums. It is 
probably the best herd of its size in Virginia, 
and is very creditable to the College and 
to President Conrad whose skill and atten- 
tion have secured its perfection. We learn 
that at the State Fair it was constantly vis- 
ited by the best judges of cattle in the State, 
and there was a unanimous verdict of com- 
mendation and admiration of the beauty 
of the animals. 



Messrs. Tracy & Dkitz. — Advertising 
agents, Philadelphia, have sent us the fol- 
lowing. 

1. W. H. Smith, Seedsman, Philadel- 
phia. 

2. J. T. Lovett, Little Silver, N. J., 
Early Raspberries, Strawberries &c. 



Belmont Stud and Stock Farm. — Our 
friend Ficklin has sent us a new advertise- 
ment of his stock. There is no breeder 
more reliable, and his Percherons should 
be everywhere that good draft horses are 
needed. 



Messrs Alden & Brc, Cincinnati, 0., 
send us the Advertisement of J. H. Greg- 
ory, Seedman, Marblehead Mass. Mr. G., 
is as reliable a dealer as the country af- 
fords. 

It is of the greatest importance to our 
agricultural friends when seeking for seeds 



to plant in 1884, to secure the best that can 
possibly be produced. Any seed bought of 
Jas. J. H. Gregory, Seed Grower, Marble- 
head, Mass., are warranted first-class. Mr. 
Gregory has been in the seed business for 
thirty years and has always given satisfac- 
tion. If you desire his large complete cat- 
alogue of all kinds of seeds, he will send 
it to you free of charge. 



One of the world's recognized standard 
remedies in Dyspepsia and all Malarial 
Diseases, is Simmons' Liver Regulator, 
prepared by J. H. Zelin & Co. Its career 
has been marked by unparalleled success. 
It has been extensively introduced into ev- 
ery civilized nation of the earih, and is 
adapted alike to all ages and conditions of 
the human race. It is one of Nature's 
remedies, and is not to be classified with 
the many quack medicines of the day. 



Thomas M. Hayes & Co., Cincinnati, 0. 
— Dealers in Field and Garden Seeds. See 
their advertisement. 



Christian & White. — This old reliable 
and well-known house renews their adver- 
tisements with us for the year 1884. First- 
class goods at reasonable rates, and cour- 
teous attention to all. They are worthy of 
a continued and increasing patronage. 



Consumption Cured ^ — An old physician, 
retired from practice, having had placed in 
his hands by an East India missionary the 
formula of a simple vegetable remedy for 
the speedy and permanent cure of Con- 
sumption, Bronchitis, Catarrh, Asthma, 
and all Throat and Lung Affections ; also 
a positive and radical cure for Nervous De- 
bility and all Nervous Complaints, after 
having tested its wonderful curative powers 
in thousands of cases, has felt it his duty 
to make it known to his suffering fellows. 
Actuated by this motive, and a desire to 
relieve human suffering, I will send free of 
charge, to all who desire it, this recipe, in 
Gerriian, French, or English, with full di- 
rections for preparing and using. Sent by 
mail by addressing with stamp, naming this 
paper. W. B. Noyes, 149 Power's Block, 
Rochester, N. Y. jan 8t 



& Return to ug with TEH 
CTS. ^yo'i'Il get to^ mail 
AGOIDEN BOXOFGOODS 



H Biiliat will bring you in MORE MONEY, in Qne Taonth 
1 I f.hnTi anythinK else in America. Absoluterertmnt- 
^^Need uo capital. M.YounB,173GreenwichSt.N.Yorl 

octet 



GROCER 



803 Main Street (Pace's Block), RICHMOITD, VA. 

Take- pleasure in annoniicing ttat he has the Handsomest and Largest Fancy 
Grocery in the South, occupying three spacious floors, which will be laden at all 
times with the purest and most seasonable goods. As heretofore, my efforts will be to 
serve and satisfy the public. No one shall leave my establishment without having full 
value for every dollar invested. Orders are requested for the purest goods at the lowest 
prices. Samples sent upon application. Shipments carefully and promptly made. 




(Successor to MILLER & HAWES), 

SOUTHERN SAW WORKS 



J 

''f^ Circular and other Saws, Machinery, Edge Tools, 
Tobacco, Straw-Cutter, Book-Binding, 
Planer, and Other Knives. 

1426 and 1428 Gary Street, Riclimond, Va/ 

Burnt Saws Eepaired. [no 3t] Special Attention to Repairs of all Icinds^ 



Il854 



1854-1884 



My Vecretable and Flower Seed Catnlocrticthe ra- 
j^ suit of thirty years' experience as a Seed Orower,. 

^ will be sent free to all who apply.*"' All seed sent from my 

O** establishment warranted to be both fresh and true to name, 

^di- so far, that should it prove otherwise, 1 agree to refill or- 
ft^^^U ders gratis. My collection of vegetable seed is one of the 
^ most extensive to be found in any American catalogue, 
a large part of it is of my own growing. As the origl- 
nai Introducer of Eclipse Beet, Early Ohio, and 
Burbank J*otatoes» Marblehead Early Corn, the 
Hubbard Squash, Marblehead Cabbage, and a score of other 
new Vegetables, I invite the patronage of the public. In the gar- 
dens and on the farms of those who plaat my seed will be found my 
best advertisement, 

JAMES J. H. GREGORY, Seed Grower, Marblehead, Mass. 



jan 3t 



BELMQNT STTO' & ST^QCK FAEM 

Was commenced in 1847, and has been continuously improved, and two grazing farms 
added, with the kind of stock my experience has adopted as best suited to our country's 
wants. I have bred only from stallions or mares of my breeding or importation, and 
suited to the wants of any section, and will sell any of above of three years old and over, 
and in plain, unpampered condition, will let stallions, if not sold on safe business terms, 
for seasons of 1884. I have bred of several breeds of Cattle, but of late years onlij the 
Pure Shorthorns, and have all ages for sale, especially young Bulls, Heifers and Calves. 
I breed only the best Berkshire Swine, and have a number of Boar and Sow Shoats and 
Pigs for sale ; also, White Brahma Fowls and their Eggs. There may be other stock as 
good, or better, but my experience has settled on these, and I feel that I am doing a pub- 
lic good to forward the propagation of these improved breeds. 



Near Charlottesville, Va., Jan. Ist, 1884. 



S. W. PICKLIN. 



ASTHMA 

AND HAY FEVER. 



THEIR CAUSE AND CURE. 



KNIGHT'S NEW BOOK Sent Free. 



Asldress, L. A. KI>^IGHT, 
15 East Third Street, CINCINNATI, OHIO. 



jan 3t 



ALBERT L. WEST 

AECHITICT 

Wo. 821 Main St., Riehmond, Va. 

Drawings furnished for every kind of 
building and work superintended, ja 3t 



CLOUD'S 



SEEDS «-;n„?." ^.^' 

pronounced by tliousiuids 
ot'old customers. To induce 
new ones to try our Garden Seeds this year, we will 
send ourSpecial Collection by mail postpaid, lor §il, 
comprisingaf'oJiipIeteVesetahU' dJardcn worth 
over$2.i3. Send for it now. Our Fuini :ind Gar- 
den Annual tor lb34 is handsomely il lust i at ed and de- 
scribes over 1(X)0 new and standard varieties of Field 
and Garden Seeds, &<:. Free to all. Our N(jvelty List 
is complete ! Our Cash Prizes, Premiiiixis iind Offers 
areamazins! Write at once. Address plainly 
EiUviii'il 1'. Cloud, Kcnneti Square, Chester Co., Fa. 

jan 3t 



EEDSHIAB, 



WM.H. SMITH, S 

(Late of the Arm of HENEV A. WEEER), 

WAREHOUSE, 1018 MARKET ST., 

PHILADELPHIA, PA. 

Smitli's Seed Catalogue ibr 1S,>4, containing all the 
best leading varieties of iresli and reliable Flower, 
Vegetable, and Field Seeds, also liniilenieiit.'S and 
Garden Ilequisits, sent fr. e lo al. applicants. 

jan 3t 

fSwof Two"OhioIMFROVEU ches-^»- 
KTEIl HO(iS, Send for descriptiontfm^ 
I'ol ttiis famous breed, Also Va^K\&,\ff|j'dBm 
\t. II <<iTirt<'if t'f.KVKI.ANU. O.maf^^ 



jan It 



Ji. SlLVKlt, CLEVliLAilii, O. 



EVERT FARMER HIS OWN MILLER. 
THE HALLADAY 





Shelling: and Elevating; Corn, Grinding- Feed, Cut- 
tinij Hav, Sawinif Wood, Pumping- Water, etc. 

Send for Catalogue illustrati.na- the* above machin- 
ery; also Pumpina: Wind JSIilis, Pump.s, Tanks, 
l>Joyes Haying Tools, Horse Powers, Jaclts, &c. 

Reliable Agents wanted in all unassig-ned counties. 

U.S. WIND ENGIf^ElL PUMP CO., 

BAT A. VIA, Kane Co., ILL. 
jan 3t Lock Box 5. 

H fi Sl b F L L V Hhmble'llaspber^y , 
l)Lrg:e, brtgUt ermi-.«iii, vt'ry firm, 
productive, cxira hiirdy PJnrth and 
hoiitii. SiAliLV lEAKVKST,tho 

<, .irliest and uiDat pntlitable Blaok- 
iipiiy. AXB-AATIC&DAMEL 
U<>4>NE IS-truwborriee. Send/or 
I ' U particulars ; maiUd free. The. 
i'lrgcst and &c^f sincA; o/Sfcnnvberrles, 
".ivplH-rrlcs, KliukbPiTies, Gooseber- 
)'• - A' M minis, and GnxTifs in the U. S. 
^_^ in, Tniit Treps avd Niit-bparine 

~ 1 1 <-('s, inchtdi/ig TCicfTrr and Le Conte 

Pcar^, the nno Pearhfs—Tn^an Giant Cheatmtt. rf-c. liickhj 
H'u'^t-ati.d Catalofjue, wtfh honest dcscripHovs. truth fid pictures, 
and fair prices, ii^^t. It tcUs what to plant, how to plant, and 
how to get and grow Fruit Troes and TlanU ; thejincst and most 
useful cataloqne offhe Jcind puhHshed. 

J. T. T.OVKTT. Lmie Silver, New Jer-^ey, 
Introd'i.ciir Cuihhcrt llasphcrnj and Manchester SlrawhcTry^ 

jan 2t 



Christmas the Year Round. 

For Babies — Babyland, 50 cents a year. 

For Youna-est KeaiJers — Our Little iVEen 
and Women, SI. 00 a sear. 

For Boys and Girls — The Pansy, 75 cts. 
a year. 

For the Old and Young Folks— Wide 
Awake, $2.50 a year. 32 Page Illus- 
trated. Premium List Free. Address, 

D. LOTHROP & CO., Boston, Mass. 
[jan It] 




IT CURES 

mm% SPL15ITS, Cl'RBS, BL\G-BONES 



All Siinilar Blemishes, 

And Remotes the Bunch Without Blistering. 

For man it is now known to be ONE OF THE BEST, if not THE BEST LINIMENT 
EVER DISCOVERED, 

The most successful remedy ever discovered, as it is certain in its effects, and does not 
blister. Also excellent for human flesh. Read proof below : 

[From the Akron Cotimercial, Ohio, of November 25th, 1S82.] 
Readers of the Commercial cannot well forget that a large space has for years been taken up by Kendall's 
advertisements — especially of a. certain Spavin Cure. We have had dealings with Dr. Kendall for many 
years, and we know of some large business houses in cities near by, who have also dealt with him for many 
years, and the truth is fully and faithfully proven, not only that he is a good honest man, and that his cele- 
brated Spavin Cure is not only all that it is recommended to be, but that the English language is not capable 
of recommending it too highly. 

Keudall's Spavin Cure will cure spavins. There are hundreds of cases in which that has been proven to 
our certain knowledge, but, after all, if any person ''onfines the usefulness of this celebrated medicine to 
curing spavins alone, they make a big mistake. It is the best medicine known as an outward application 
for rheumatism in the human family. It is good for pains and aches, swellings and lameness, and is just as 
safely applied to men, women and children as it is to horses. We know that there are other good liniments, 
feut we do believe this Spavin Cure to be far better than any ever invented. 

Send address for Illustrated Circular which, we think, gives positive proof of its 
virtues. No remedy has ever met with such unqualified success to our knowledge, for 
beasts as well as man. 

Price, $1 per bottle, or six bottles. All druggists have or can get it for you, or it 
will be sent to any address, on receipt of price, by the proprietors. 

Dr. B. J. KENDALL & CO., Enosburgh Palls, Vermont. 
Franklin Davis. Edavard H. Bissell. 

RICHMOND NURSERIES. 
FRANKIiilN DAVIS £ CO. 

400 Acres in Nursery Stoct ! 100 in Orcliarcls ! 100 iii Small Fruits ! 

We offer to our eu.stomers an immense stock of APPLES, PEACHES, CHERRIES, 
APRICOTS. GRAPES, &c.— all the sta'ndard sorts. Also, the new varieties of FRUITS, 
ORNA.MENTAL TREES, SHRUBS, ROSES, &c.. Wholesale and Retail. To dealers 
■we can offer stock on favorable terms, and the best facilities for packing and shipping. 
Catalogues mailed on application. 

FRANKLIN DAVIS & CO., 

sep et Office : 1013 Main St., RICHMOND, VA. 

BECKWITH'S ANTI-DYSPEPTIC FILLS 

The best and most reliable Anti- Dyspeptic Medicine ever offered to the Public. 

For more than seventy years this medicine has maintained its high reputation. No 
remedy wa" ever offered to the public sustained by such forcible certificates of wonderful 
remedial properties. Presidents of the United Slates, Judges of the Supreme Court, 
Governors of States, United States Senalor.s and Physicians of the highest standing are 
among those who attest their value from personal tests. 

E. R. Beckwith, Pharmacist, now manufactures these invaluable pills from the Origi- 
nal Recipe of his grandfather. Dr. John Beckwith. 

40 Fills in a Box — Price, SS Oemts. 

Sufferers from DISORDERED STOMACH or DERANGED LIVER, with their at- 
tendant complications, will find relief from these pills. Sold by Druggists Generally. 

E. R. BECKWITH, Pharmacist. 

fe tf Cor. Market and Halifax Sts., Petersburg, Va. 



CHESAPEAKE m OHIO RAILWAY 

— FROM— 

CINCINNATI, LOUISVILLE and 
COLUMBUS, OHIO, 

— TO— 

CLIFTON FORGE, STAUNTON, 

CHARLOTTESVILLE, and 

RICHMOND, VA. 

LAND BUYERS and parties from the 
West and Northwest, who are looking for 
New Homes in the mild climate of Virginia 
and the Carolinas, will find the 

Chesapeake and Ohio Railway 

the only direct route to Virginia. 
Call on Agents of the Seneca Route, 

Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific. 

J. H. MARTIN, General Agent, Indian- 
apolis, Ind. 
Or following Agents of C. and 0. Ry. : 

W. P. FOSTER, 108 N. Third Street, St. 

Louis, Mo. 
FRANK W. BUSKIRK, 171 Walnut St , 

Cincinnati, 0. 
J. J. ARCHER, Gen. Pass. Agent, Scioto 
Valley Railway, Columbus, 0. 

H W. FULLER, 
General Passenger Agent. 
C. W. SMITH, 

General Manager, Richmond, Va. 




EEDO 



Clover, Timothy. Orcliard-c:rass. Bhipgrass, Red Tnp, 
Huiiffarian, Millet, Seed Oats, Seed Rye, Seed Barley, 
Garden Seeds, ete. Orders iiccompaiii'd hy mduey or 
post-offlce order filled at lowest ni.irket price. Send 
lor seed catalogue. SnEKMAJT A- CO., 

Sfos. 234 & 236 .^ixtli St., 1.0HisTille, Ky. 

jan 3t 

Farmers will find it to 
their interest to plant 
our Early Seed 
Corn, Potatoes and 
Garden Seeds this 
coming Spring. For 60 cents in 2 cent 
stamps we will send to any address, by 
mail prepaid, 2 pounds either variety se- 
lected seed corn. Mammoth Yellow King, 
Golden Yellow, Chester Co. Yellow, Learn- 
ing, Normandy White, Champion White or 
White Pearl. From the above varieties 
we have received better reports the past 
two years, and more first premiums than 
any house in the U. S. Price for either 
variety by express or freight, purchaser to 
pay all charges, 1 peck, 75 cents; 1 bushel, 
$2.40 ; 2 bushels, $4. .'50; 5 bushels, $10.00; 
sample any variety, 10 cents. Satisfaction 
guaranteed. ^Catalogue free) 

THOS. M. HAYES & CO., 
jan 6t Cincinnati, O. 



THIS IPA-FEI?, 

IN CLUB WITH 

ODEY'S 

LADY'S BOOK 

will be sent for one year to any address on re- 
ceipt of ^$2.50, whicli should be sent to the pub- 
lisher of the Soiil/iern Planter. 

GODEY'S LADY'S BOOK 

is recognized as the leading fashion and home maga- 
zine in America. The leading attractions for 1884' 
are the following: 

A^ Beautiful Colored FasMon Plates 

^S^T executed by the French process, represent- 
ing the prevailing fashions in both style and color, 
produced especially for and published exclusively in 
Godey's Lady's Book. 

I^J Engraved Plates of Fashion in black. 
Ca and white, illustrating leading styles. 

Irt Finely Executed Steel Engraving's; 
^m by the best artists, made fur Godey's Lady's 



Book. 



12 



1^% Engraved Portraits of Ex-Presi- 
fl dents of the U. S., which form a part of - 
what is known in Godey's Lady's Book as the 

Presidential Portrait Gallery, 
each being accompanied by a- short biographical 
sketch. 

IR^V Pag'es, Illustrating' Fashions and 
^J^J fancy needle work. 

Pages of Architectural Designs,. 

showing plans and perspective of Houses, 
and Cottages of all descriptions. 

4 t% Full Size Cut Paper Patterns, with 

I ^S full and explicit instructions for use. 
^%g\f\ G-odey's Lady's Book Celebrated 
^m\J\J household cooking receipts, each having 
been tested by practical housekeepers before pub- 
lishing. 

24 Pages of Sheet Music. 

BESIDES embracing a rich array of literature, 
Novels, Novelettes, Stories and Poems, by eminent 
writers, among whom are Marion Harland, Chris- 
tian Reed, Ella Rodman Church, Augusta de 
RuBNA, Mrs. SiiEifFEY Peters, Helen Mathers. 
Author of "Cherry Ripe." 

The Art Department will be under the direc- 
tion of VVm. BlacLend, Cur.ator of Corcoran Gallery 
of Art, Washington, D. C. All other departments- 
uuder equally competent direction. 

Subscription Price, $3.00 per Year. 

For further information send for circular. Sam-, 
pie copy of Godey's Lady's Book, 15c. Stamps, 
taken. To avoid errors write plainly your address,, 
giving county and State. 

GODEY'S LADY'S BOOK, 

1006 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, Pa. 



HONEY BEES! 

The Ne-w System of Bee-Keeping-. 

Everyone who has a Farm or Garden can keep- 
Bees on my plan with good profit. 1 have invented 
a Hive and New hystem of 13ee Management, which: 
completely changes the whole process of Bee-Keep- 
ing, and renders the business pleasant and profitable. 
I have received One Hundred Dollars Profit, fromi 
sale of Box Honey from One Hive of Bees in one 
year. Illustrated Circular of Full Particulars Free.. 
Address Mrs. LIZZIE E. COTTON, West Gorbam. 
Maine. nov 4t 



a)Ti)ifiiiifwr!) 



FEED CUTTER. 



This machine is coustructed on an entirely different principle from any other 
Feed Cutter in use, and is unequalled in three essentials, viz. : 

RAPID WORK, STRENGTH, AND FACILITY IN SHARPENING THE CUTTERS. 

They are made for both hand and power, and surpass any other machine for 
light running. It cuts cornstalks, ensilage, hay and straw with equal facility. 

Orders addressed to the undersigned, or any information desired regarding 
this machine, will secure prompt attention. 

MOSES & CLEMONS, 

Richmond, Va., Nov., 1883. General Agents for Manufacturers' 

[de 6t] 



Thomas Potts. W. G. Stokes. A. Y. Stokes, Jr. 



ESTABLISHED 1853. 

POTTS, STOKES & CO., 

(Successors to A. Y. STOKES & CO.) 

Importers, Wholesale Grocers and Commission Merchants, 

Tobacco Manufacturers' Supplies a Specialty. 

Nos. 19 and SI Sorith Xliirteenth St., Uiclmioncl, Va. 

[de 3t] 



Peck's Patent Tubular Cushioned Ear Drums cure Deafness in all stages. 
Recommended by scientific men of Europe and America. Write for illustrated descrip- 
tive hook and testimonials from doctors, judges, ministers, and prominent men and 
women who have been cured, and who take pleasure in recommending them. They ar© 
■unseen while in ase, comfortahde to wear, and make a permanent cure. Address, 
de 3t WEST & CO., 7 Murray St,, New York, Agents for South and West.. 



MAKE HENS LAY 



' An English Veterinary Surgeon ana Chemist, 
now traveling in this country, says that most 
of the Horse and Cattle I'owders sold here 
are worthless trash. He sa3-s that Sheridan's 
Condition Powders are absolutely pure and 
Immensely valuable. Nothing on earth will make hens lay like Sheridan's Condition Powders. Uose, 1 teasp'n- 
(nitb 1 pint food. Sold everywhere, or sent by maii for 8 letter-stamps. I. S. Johnson & Co., Boston, Mass. 



deiyeot 



J. T. GATEWOOD, 



DEALER IN 



LIQUORS AND FEED. 

116 E. Broad Street, Richmond, Va. 

Families having a surplus of anj'thing produced 
in tlie Dairy, Baruyard or Garden, will do well to 
advise willi me. I'orrespondeuce solicited. auly 



P. A. SOBLETT. 



W. M. Cart. 



SUBLET! & GARY, 

Commission Merchants 

No. 113 South Twelfth Street, 
RICHMOND, VA. 

Specialties: Tobacco, Cotton, Flour, Grain and 
Forage. Grain Sacks furnished to order. 

J. F. Jacob and B. Lorraine, of Richmond, Ta., 
and Nat Frazer, of Orange County, Va., respect- 
fully solicit the patronage of their friends. aul2t 



Beceivel M& 

HIGMSI AWAED 




OF UERlT 

CENTENNIAI. 

Smd/oT Ccaalos^Mi 

SAWMILLS 




,.:J^^ 



STEAM* ENGINES, 

A.B.FAS^UHABJork.Pa.. 
CheapeSjtand best for all pur- 
poses — simple, strong, anddu' 
rable. Also Horse Pow 
era aad Gin Gear. 

Saw, Grist And Cob 
Mills, Gitts, Peesses 
asdMachi-nery pener- ^, 
ally. Inquiriespromptly = 
answered. s 

"VerticalEngines.tvitlj oitvitUout S- ^ ^ 
' Tilieels,very touveni- wSV S" 5- £ 

ent, economiGal 
' complete in every de- 
^tail, best and 
gljf cheapest Vert- 
ical in tho 
, -world. Fig. I 
|1 is engine 
Binusa.Fipf. 
^2ready for 
iroad. 



The Farquhar Separator 

{Warranted) 






.caiii for mariot. 
AND 

r:3s&s7 nisz 

AWARDED 
RTPARATOnS. 



THS 

SILTEB UESAI. 

AT 

Pails Exposition. 



■•i.i«»— •'■d OntaJogTie. Addrctt A. S. Farquhar, TorKP* 



nov tf 



FREE 



Sj/ return matt. Full ne<irrli>tton 
Moody'a New Tailor JSyBt«>in of 

Dress Cutting moouK & CO, ciuoiuuuti, O 



Sawing Made Easy 

Monarch Lightning Sawing Machine! 



A Oreat Savlngr of 
liabor <& Moaey» 




Aboy 16 years old can saw logs FAST and EAST Miles 
MUKRAY.Port.atre.JIich .write?- "Am mnc-h pleased with 
the MONAKCH.LIGHTJJTN& SAWING M ft.CHINE. 
Isawed oft a.iO-inclilnKin 2minutes. " Fors^wing logs 
into suitable lenp-ths for fn rally sto\-e- wood, andallsorta 
of log-cutting, it is peerlo-is andiinnval d Illustrated 
C'ntalogr.o, Pree. AGENTS WANTED. Mention this 
t^^Ji"- i\;yU'*'*4'^0,'^A,RCH MANUFACTURING 
CO.i 1S3 E. Eandolph St., Chicago, 111, 

novGt 




& SflLERAIUS. 



mm &, HAMMER BRAND 

TO FARMERS.— It is im- 
portant that the Soda or Saleratus 
they use should be white and 
pure, in common with all similar 
substances used for food. 

In making bi-ead with yeast, it 
is well to use about half a tea- 
spoonful of the Arm and 
Hammer Brand Soda or Sale- 
ratus at the same time, and thus 
make the bread rise better and 

prevent it becoming sour by correcting the natural 

acidity of the yeast. 

DAIRYMEN and FARMERS should use 
only the Arm and Hammer brand for cleaning 
and keeping milk-paus sweet and clean. 

To insure obtaining only the Arm and Ham- 
mer brand Soda or Saleratus, buy it in pound or 
H.iLF-POUND PACKAGKS," whlch bear our name and 
trade-mark, as inferior goods are sometimes substi- 
tuted for the Arm and Hammer brand when 
bought in bulk. de 4t 

Premium Chester White, 
Berkshire and Poland China 
Pigs, Fine Setter Dogs, 
Scotch Shepherds and Fox 
,, ,-_, Hounds, bred and for sale 
_-__ .j^ms^S^ by AI.EX. PEOPLES, West 
Chester, Chester county, Pa. Send stamp for circu- 
lar and price-list. fe ly 




DR. HENRY FREHLING, 

ANALYTICAL & CONSULTING CHEMIST 

Laboratory : 17 South Twelfth Street, 
RICHMOND, VA. 




YOUNG MEN to learn tel- 
egraphy. Paying situations 
guaranteed. Send forterms. 
C03131KUCIAL U. K. TELECllAPU COLLEGE, Ann Arbor, mielu 

de 4t 



HABLISTON & BROTHER 

ARE NOW EXHIBITING A SPLENDID LINE OF 



Our recent additions include a very choice selection of NEW PATTERNS calculated , 
to please the taste of the most fastidious buyers. dov ti 



JOHN E. DOHERTY, 

822 HAST »XAXBJ STUSXST, 

Solicits an examination of his 

Fine Stooh of Foreign Goods 

UNEXCELLED FOR VARIETY, STYLE AND QUALITY by any offered in this 
market. Will be made by skilled workmen in the LATEST AND MOST APPROVED 
STYLES at PRICES THAT MUST SUIT. 

_ N. B.— SHIRTS, COLLARS and CUFFS made to order as heretofore and satisfac- 
tion guaranteed. 

ASHLEY PHOSPHATE Oa 

::CK:.A.I^I^EST0I>T, S. G.:: 



SOLUBLE GUANO - 
DISSOLVED BONE- 
ACID PHOSPHATE- 
ASH ELEMENT- 



Highly Ammouiated. 
Very High Grade. 
For Composting. 
For Cotton, Wheat, Peas, &c. 



FLOATS — Phosphate Rock, reduced to an Impalpable Powder by the Due 
Atomizer, of Highest Grade. SAMPLE sent on application. 

SMALL-GRAIN SPECIFIC— Rich in Ammonia, Phosphoric Acid, 
Potash, Magnesia and Soda. 

GENUINE LEOPOLDSHALL KAINIT. 

The above FERTILIZERS are of very high grade, as shown by the Official Beports 
of North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. 

For Terms, Hand-Books, Agricultural Primers, and good Articles on Floats, Peas and 
Ash Element, Kainit, &c., address the 

ASHLEY PHOSPHATE COMPANY, 

N. B. — SpeciaUinducements for Cash Orders. [6mjy] 



STANDARD 

CARRIAGE REPOSITORY 

1605 Franklin Street. 

Custom-made work. Buggies, PhEetons, Carriages 
and Farm Wagons at wholesale factory prices. All 
work warranted. ap ly 

F. Stearns' lo.l Fertilizer 

To THE Farmers of Virginia : 

Gentlemen,— We continue to manufacture this 
SUPERIOR FERTILIZER, composed of PURE 
BONE MEAL (i>arUally dissolved) combined with 
FISH GUANO, ANIMAL MATT'ER, and POTASH 
(muriate). 

We grind the bone and fish ourselves, and can 
vouch for its purity. Nothing can be better for 
TOBACCO and ALL SPRING CROPS, as testified to 
by the best farmers in "Virginia, who have used it. 
Price, ?40 per ton on board cars in Richmond. 

Our PURE BONE MEAL, ground fine, on hand, 
and for sale at the same price. 

Send in your orders at an early day, as our stock 
will be limited, Address 

STEARNS & HALSEY, 
No. 1.5 Fifteenth street, Richmond, Va. 



Franklin Stearns, I 
lEY. J 



J. Morton Halsey. 



sep tf 




PIANOFORTES. 

bAEyUALLED IN 

ToEe,Toncli, Worliiaiisliiii anil DnraMlity. 

wiLLiAiyi kmabe: & co. 

Nos. 204 and 206 West Baltimore Street, 
iBaltimore. No. 112 Fifth Avenue, N. Y. 



Dr GEORGE B. STEEL, 



723 Main Street, Richmond, Va. 
Chas. L. Steel, M. D., D. D. S., Assistant. 
Oct ly 



D E IST T I S T, 

Office; No. 807 Franklin St., bet. 
Eighth and Ninth. 
Elegant rooms ; uses best materials ; gentle, quick 
and thorough work ; long experience, and prices re- 
duced. Uses gas and chloroform in extracting teeth, 
nov ly 

"THE BEST IS THE CHEAPEST." 

S AW e BJ f^ I y E C^ THRESHERS, 
MILLS, Ell b 1 11 Ca HoBSE Powers, 

(For .ill sections and purposes. ) Write for Free Pamphlet 
and Prices to The Auitman & Taylor Co. , Mansfield, Ohio, 
nov 12t 




We will sonayoua watcli oracnain 
BY MAIL OR EXPRESS. COD., to be 

examined before payin.L;: any money 
and if not satisfactory, returned at 
our expense. We manufacture all 
our watches and save you 30 per 
cent. Catalogue of 2.5;i styles free. 
EvEny Watch Warranted, .\ddeess 

STANDARD AMERICAN WATCH CO., 

PITTSBURGH, PA. 



Oct ly 



MORISON'S PILLS 

A remarkable remedy for .Stomach, Liver, 
Kidney or Bladder Disorders, Jaundice, 
Chills, Malaria, Sick Headache, Indiges- 
tion and Costiveness. 

Mailed free to any address upon receipt of 
price, $1. W. S. PILCHER, Agent, 
Broad and Pine streets, 

aul2t RICHMOND, VA. 



EI A STIC TRUSS 

I Has a Pad diSerIn? from all otben!* 
" Is cap shape, witn SBlf-Adjosting 
I Ball in center, odaptsl tself toall 
' pofiiiona of tbo body, while tha 
Bal 1 1 n the cup presses back tha 
InteBthiesJnstaaapQrsoa would 
with the Finger* With light 
pressure the Hernia Is held securely 
flayand night, and a radical cure certain. Ilia eaey, durably 
Oad cheap. Sent by mail. Circulars free, 

EGO LESION lEUSS C0» CMcaso. III. 

felv 




J. W. FERGUSSON & SON, 

BOOK AND JOB PRINTEfiS 



IStft&WBfti, 

Corner of Main and Fourteenth Streets, 




We continue to 

t as solicitors for 

patents, caveats, 
„.ade-marks, copyrigMs, etc., for 
the United States, and to obtain pat- 
ents in Canada, England, France, 
Germany, and all other countries. 
„^^^ Thirty- six years' practice. No 
charge for examination of models or dra-n- 
infja. Advice by mail free. 

Patents obtained through us are noticed m 
the SCIENTIFIC A3IERICAN, -which has 
the largest circulation, and is the mostinfla- 
ential newspaper of its kind published in the 
world. The ad vantages of such a notice every 
patentee understands. 

This large and splendidly illustrated news- 
paper is published WEEK:i.Yat$3.20a3'ear, 
andis admitted to be the best paper devoted 
to science, mechanics, inventions, engineering 
works, and other departments of industrial 
progress, published in any country. Single 
copies by mail, 10 cents. Sold by all news- 
dealers. 

Address, ilunn & Co., pubUshers of Scien- 
tific American, 261 Broadway, New York. 
Handbook about patents mailed free. 




BERKSHIRESJn-rr?o|ffprol 

K. L. HUFFMAN, Bunker Hill, W. Va. 



DEKiRTUirs"Wx.c;oTroN pbesseu 

are Bent anywhere on. trial to operate against all 

~ other Presses, the custoin- 

er kepping the one that 

Euit3 best. No one baa ever 

dared show up any other 

Press, 83 Uerturick's Press 

■ Is kno-wn to be beyond 

. competition, and will bale 

, T.-itli twice the rapidity of 

• any Other. The only way 

1 inferior machines can be 

IBold la to decei7e the fn- 

ssperlenced by ridiculonsly 

false statements, and tliua 

Bell without sightor seeing, 

and swindle the purchaser. 

{■Working any other Presa 

f alongside of Dederiek's al- 

iways sella the purchasers 

iDederlck Press, and all 

'know it too weil to show 

up. Addrfss for circular and location o£ Western 
&ad Southern storehousea and Agents. 

P. K. BEDEEICK & CO., Albany, N.Y. 




JERSEY RED PIGS 

From largest herd South, which took eight 
premiums and great sweepstakes as finest 
herd in Virginia at State Fairs, 1881-"82. 
This hog is free from disease, a natural 
grazier, prolific and early to mature, and 
in the Western markets brings a higher 
price than any other breed. 

T. LOVELOCK, 
mh ly Gordonsville, Va. 




ETJREKi^! 

Is the Standard Incubator the world over. 
Made by J. L. CAMPBELL, West Eliza- 
beth, Allegheny Co., Penn. jely 

BEST MARKET Pi?AR 

^^^^ »9,999 P K A t 1 1 TIJ Ej:s Ail besi 
/5(J^8^'"\ """s'Jeiot new aud old Strawberries, 
rcj ^».l\ Currants, Giapes, Raspberries, etc. 




,-;ew Blacliberry, early, hardy, Kood. 
SlBK-le hill yielded 1 3 quarts at one 

Sicking-. .Seudlor tree Catalogue. 
. E>. t'lSLLcLNS, Alourestown, ii.J. 



ii 



DIXIE SHIRTS! 

ACME'' DE^ATTEE^S 

FINE DRESS SHIRTS a specialty. 

UNDERWEAR of all kinds ready made 
or to measure at short notice. Write for 
prices and printed blanks for self-measure- 
ment. We employ the most experienced 
cutters and skilled operators. We use the 
most improved steam machinery in our 
factory. 

We guarantee the quality and fit of every 
garment that goes from our factory. Cor- 
respondence solicited. 

H. T. MILLER 8l CO., 

MANUFACTURERS, 

Cor. Intli and Iain Sts.,RicliinoM,ya. 

[oct ly] 



Willard's Hotel, 

WASHINGTON, D. C. 

The National Capital is the most inter- 
esting in the United States for the tourist, 
and at no season is it more attractive than 
at present. No Southern tour is complete 
without a stay of a few weeks at Willard's 
Hotel, which is the leading hotel of the city, 
and is conducted upon the most liberal ba- 
sis. As to appointments, furnishings, 
cuisine, and service, it is unsurpassed by 
any hotel in the country. 

A description of the hotel, with a brief 
guide of the city, will be sent on applica- 
tion, 0. G. STAPLES, Proprietor, 
Late of the Thonsand Island House. 

de 3t 



TRADE- r% I I (OPY- 

AIAKKS, IJOtnnTA RIGHTS, 
PRINTS, r H I HII I S DESIGNS. 
JLABEI.S. I IIIUIIIUI R£-ISSU£S. 

Send description of your Invention. L. BING- 
HAM, Patent Lawyer and Solicitor, Wasliington, 
D- C. de 6t 



VXROINIA 



Agricultural & Mechanical 



BLACKSBURG, VIRGINIA. 



Shorthorn Bull Calves For Sale — 
pedigree guaranteed — price, $75.00. 

Southdown Buck Lambs For Sale 
— pure blood — price, $15.00. 

Berkshire and Jersey Red Pigs 

For Sale — pure blood — price, $10 a pair. 

China Geese, - - - $ 5 00 a pair. 
Pekin Ducks, - - 3 00 per trio. 

Bronze Turkeys, - - 10 00 " 
Plymouth Rock Chickens, 3 00 " 
Pure Game Chickens, - 
English Dorking Chickens, 

Address, 

THOS. N. CONRAD. 

Oct 3t Blacksburg, Va. 



5 00 
3 00 



PATENTS 



NO PATENT I NO PAY. 

R. S. & A. P. LACEYT Patent 

—'Attorneys, Washington, D. 0. 

full it^lructiuns and Uaud-Book ol Pateuts seat fbee. 



SedgwiokSfeelWireFence 




I«thp nnlj genpra! piirpnin Wire Fence in uea, being* 
Strong Net-Work Without Barts. It will turn dogs, pigs, 
cheep, and poultry, as well as the most Ticious stock, 
without injury to either fence or 8tock. Ilisjustthefeno* 
for farms, eardens, stock ranges and railroads, and verT 
neat for lawns, parks, school lots and cemeteries. Covetea 
with rual-proof [lain trorgaWanized) it will last a life-tima. 
It is Superior to Boards or Barbed Wire in every tespect. 
We aslt for it a fair trial, knowing it will wear itself 
into favor. The Sedgwlote «3aS«», mode of wrought- 
Iron pipe and steel wir,-, defy ail competltionin oeatQ^a. 
■trength and durahiiitv. We also make the best an<l 
cheapest All Iron Avitomatic or SeIf-Op»aiag Oate, also 
Cheapeit and Neateet Ail Iron Fence. litest Wire 
Stretcli«'fanU »»«?.l AMKet". Also luaiiufac- 
ture Russell'N exc-ellcnt Wind Kngiiiesfor 
piimplns water, or geared engines for grinding: 
and other lieht work. For prices and particulars asK- 
hardware dealers, or address, mentioning paper, 
SKBCIWICK BROS. Mt'vm. iBictamond, Ind. 

iely 




de ly 



FRED. A. OSBORN, 

CARRIA&ES OF EVERY DESCRIPTION, 

HARNESS, WHIPS, Etc. 

No. 726 East Main Street, Richmond, Va. 

Factory: New Haven, Conn. 

[nov 3t] 

THOROUGHBRED 

SHORTHORN CATTLE. 

MERINO SHEEP and BERKSHIRE 
PIGS. Bred and for sale, at moderate 
prices, by S. S, BRADFORD, 

ja 1 — ly Culpeper, Va. 

C. LUMSDfcN & SON, 

823 Main Street, Richmond, Va. 

Fine WATCHES, JEWELRY, CLOCKS, 
SPECTACLES, WEDDING RINGS, &c. 
de 3t 

^T7'KTC!Tm\TC ^'"' ^"y disability; also to 
SrUiii QJiUlN U Heirs. Send staiups for New 
Laws, Col. L. BINGHAM, Attorney, Washington, 
D. C. de 6t 



R. L. Christian. 



W.L. White. 



CHRISTIAN & WHITE, 



Here you will find the largest and finest assortment of the finest of 

FAMILY GROCERIES, WINES, LIQUORS, CIGARS, &c. 

South of New York. They are Agents of Hotopp's Celebrated Premium Virginia 
CLARETS, Portner's TIVOLI LAGER BEER, and Werner's AMERICAN CHAM- 
PAGNE, and keep always in stock a full line of the leading and most popular brands of 
Table Wines and Imported Champagnes. oct 3t 

ANDRETHS'irsTsEEDrmCATALOGUE 

"G ARDENERS' C OMPAMIOW." 

PRICE lO CENTS. The most complete and br'tliantly eIu^)t■Ul^■he■l Seed ("jitalopue ever 
published, costing fifteen cents. The article ou Marltct (iardeiiiiisiineler i^la^is is worth 
twenty times ihe price. This beln^ OUK ONE HL.NDKEDTH YI:aR. ^e publish this 
„„ Ornate tiuide for (Jarden and Fnrm. To all sendinjus TF,N CENTS in stamps, 
^"~ we mail a copy, aud on oider.s for Seed will give credit for that ajnoimt. Address 

LAND^ETH 5c SONS, Seed Growers, Lock Box, Phila. Pa. 




m 



ITEEi W¥ @f TIE#1»1A 



The Session begins on the FIRST OF OCTOBER, and continues until the Thursday 
before the fourth day of July ensuing. 

The Institution is organized in separate Schools on the Eclectic Ststem, embracing 
FULL COURSES OF INSTRUCTION IN LITERATURE AND SCIENCE, and in 
the PROFE,SSIONS OF LAW, MEDICINE, 

urrGisrEziRiirG and aghicusiTurx:. 

THE EXPENSES of the student (except such as enter the practical laboratories) ex- 
clusive of the cost of text-books, clothing and pocket money, ae from $356 to $391, ac- 
cording to Schools selected ; or, for those who economize by messing, these expenses 
are from $26G to $800. No charge for tuition candidates for the ministry unable to meet 
the expense. 

Apply for Catalogues to W. A. Winston, Secretary, P. 0. University of Virginia, Al- 
bemarle county, Va. .TAMES F. HARRISON, M. D., Chairman of the Faculty. 

seply 




Also other Small Frnits.and all older'Tarie- 
tles Graphs, Extraquality. Warranted tme. 
Cheap by mail. Low Uat«« to Dealers. 

au 9t 



POCKT.INGTON,DUCn- 
ESS, I.ADY WASIiaNi;;- 
TON, YEKGENNES. 
MOORE'S EARLY. JEF- 
FERSON, EART.Y VIC- 
TOR, BRIGHTON^ 



PRENTISS 




tARGEST STOCK In AMERICA. 

J^ces reduced. nius.CataloRTieyVM. 
T. S. nirBBARU, Frcdonla, N. T. 




ATLAS ^"^"^^ 



WORKS 

NOIANAPOLIS, IND., U. S. A. 

MANXJEACIUBEES OP 

STEAM ENGI^^^ 
AND BOILERS. 

CARRY ENGINES and BOILERS IN STOCKfor IMMEDIATE DELIVERY 




ESTABLZSKIiD IIT 1870. 



STONO-PHOSPHATE COMPANY, 

o:H:.A.i^i^EST03sr. s. o. 



WE OFFER TO THE PLANTERS 




GROUND TO A POWDER AS FINE AS WHEAT FLOUR— 

"PHOSPHATE FLOATS," 

FOR APPLICATION TO 

GRAIN, GRASSES, AND FOR COMPOSTING. 

The Rock is subjected to FREQUENT ANALYSIS by the Company's Chemist, 
and is of the BEST QUALITr. 

For TERMS, etc, address the Company. 

SAMPLE sent by mail upon application. 
del2m 

DUVA-L & JNOilTON'S 

Celebrated Horse Tonic, 

For improving the condition of Horses, Mules, Cattle and Hogs, giving them an appe- 
tite and relieving them of Bets and Worms, Hidebound Surfeit and Distemper, and all 
diseases to which a horse is subject internally. It is a certain cure for Hog Cholera 
given in half teaspoonful doses twice a day well mixed in the feed. From a large num- 
ber of certificates, we select the following : 

Mr. E. p. Reeves: RichmonDj Va. 

Dear Sir, — I have be^n using your Duval & Norton's Horse Tonic for the last eighteen 
months, and find it the best medicine I have ever used for improving the general health 
and appetite of horses in bad condition. Respectfully, 

RO. VAUGHAN, Manager Richmond City Railway Stables. 



HOG CHOLERA. 

The "Horse Tonic" is a certain remedy for the above dangerous disease — the proprie- 
tor will warrant it to cure. Read the following : 
Mr. J. P. Duval : Chesterfield Co. 

Dear Sir, — I take pleasure in saying that I have made a most valuable discovery — it is 
this : that your Horse Tonic will certainly cure the fatal disease called Hog Cholera. 
Last month, finding that I had about a half bottle of your " Horse Tonic" left on hand, 
I thought I would try it ; and I did not lose one of my hogs after I commenced the use 
of it ; but before I began with the tonic, I had lost eight or ten ; and I think I should 
have lost nearly all of them if I had not used your very valuable remedy. 

Very respectfully, JNO. B. LIPSCOMB. 

The excellence of this medicine is testified to by numerous gentlemen of standing, 
amongst them Prof. Ben. S. Ewell, of Williamsburg, Va. ; Thomas W. Turner, Franklin 
Street Stables, Richmond; Col. Wm. Watts, of Big Lick, Roanoke county, Va. 
Prepared only by E. P. REEVE, 602 E. Marshall Street, Richmond, Va. 

seply 



W. H. Palmer, Pres. B. C. Wherry, Jr., Sec. O. F. Wetsiger, Jr., Ass't Sec. 



iF'Hi.Es -A.ia"i> im-^jflikte:. 



VIRGINIA HOME 



RICHMOND, A^IRGMNIA.. 

Office in Company's Building, No. 1014 Main St. 

DIRECTOR. 

W. B. Isaacs. P. W. Grubbs. John Enders. Edward Cohen. 

Jno. C. Williams. R. E. Blankenship. Geo. K. Crutchfield. T. Wm. Pemberton. 

Jas. T. Gray. Moses Millhiser. 
seply 




OFFICE— 1006 MAIN STREET, RICHMOND, VA, 
CA.su CAPITAL, - _ _ _ ^300,000. 

Insures Dwellings, Stores, Merchandize, and other property against loss or damage by fire 

DIEECTOBS.— J. L. Bacon, President ; Thos. W. McCance, yice-President. Wm. H. Haxall, James 
Alfred Jones, A. D. Williams, A. Osterloh 

ROBT. E. KicHAEDSON, Sec. Bazil Gordon, Jr., Ass't Sec. Jno. B. Grant, Solicitor. 

^-Agents in all the prominent Cities, Towns, and Villages of Virginia seply 



[ataal Is 



o 



OF VIRGINIA. 



(INCORPORATED 1794 ) 

INSUiRES B? FERFIiTUAL OR AZUSTUAZi FOXJICIT. 

Office, Cor. of Tenth and Bank Streets. 

HERBERT A, CLAIBORNE, Principal Agent. 

F. D. STEGER, Secretary. T. BOLLING, Jr., Assistant Secretary. 

JOHN BLAIR, Collector. oct ly 




BEST A,Nn3 (jHEA-PESTI 

We wish to call your attention to the merits of ORCHILLA GUANO as the most 
wonderful grain and grass producer and real improver of the soil ever offered to the 
farmers of Virginia, whicb fact is not only substantiated by the best chemists in the 
country, but by thousands of the best and most reliable farmers io Maryland, Pennsylva- 
nia and Virginia, who have been using it for the last twelve or fifteen years, and who tes- 
tify to the fact that it is not only a powerful crop producer, but its effects are seen for 
foar or five years by a single application. 

This guano is found in the Orchilla Island, in the Carribbean Sea, and comes to us di- 
rect by vessels, and all we do to it on arrival is to screen out the lumps and bag it. 
Every cargo is analyzed before leaving the Island, and comes guaranteed to us to contain 
from 40 to 50 per cent, of Bone Phosphate of Lime, and other valuable ingredients. 

THE CHEMISTS ENDORSE IT. 

The Department of Agriculture of the State of Virginia, under the administration of 
Dr. J. M. Blanton, have recently undertaken the analysis of every brand of Fertilizer, 
sold in the State. The Report of the work done in that respect, by Prof. W. I. Gas- 
COTNE, the well known Chemist of the Department, during the Fall Season of 1882, has 
just been published. It embraces the analysis of seventy-five different brands of Fertili- 
zers, and certifies to the actual value of their several constituents as developed by the 
analysis. A reference to this Report exhibits the following remarkable results : 

1. The actual value of most of these Fertilizers falls helow the prices asked for them I 

2. Where the actual value exceeds the price asked, the excess, in very few instances, 
reaches 10 per cent. 

3. In the case of ORCHILLA GUANO, the certificate of the chemist is "Actual 
value $41.12," which is more than 60 per cent, over the price asked for itl 

This official statement is only corroborative of similar results, furnished us privately 
by other chemists of high reputation in Virginia and elsewhere; notably Prof. Mallet, 
Dr. Dabney, Prof. Taylor and others. According to Dr. Dabney, the cash value of the 
sample analyzed by him. was $43.97. Prof. Taylor's, by the same calculation, was 
$4432. 

We are permitted to copy a portion of a private letter from Prof. JOHN R. PAGE, 
of the University of Virginia, as to practical results : 

University of Virginia, January 23, 1883. 
****»! have used Orchilla Guano very successfully on root crops, 
as you might expect from its high percentage of Phosphoric Acid. * ♦ * I 
repeat what I have said repeatedly, that high-priced ammoniated fertilizers can- 
not be used in a large majority of the worn-out lands in Virginia profitably, 
until those lands have been prepared by drainage, thorough tillage — the use of 
lime compounds and vegetable matter ploughed into the soil. Until the land is 
prepared thus, there is nothing to hold the nitric acid and ammonia in the soil, 
and it is carried off by the drainage and atmosphere before the crop can use it, 
which often results in no profit and no permanent improvement to the land. I 
have used the Orchilla Guano this fall on wheat. * * * 

Yours, &c., John R. Page. 

Send for our LITTLE BOOK containing the letters of scores of Virginia farmers, 
bearing testimony to the fact, that the Lime Compound which has done them the 
best service, is ORCHILLA GUANO, with its 40 to 50 per cent, of Bone Phosphate of 
Lime. 



y^ 



J^ 



^K4¥: 



®@ 



«» 



-iisd: IP o i?,xE i^s- 



64 Buchanan's Wharf, 



BALTIMORE. 



CHAS. G. SNEAD, Importers' Agent, RICHMOITD. Va. 



Established 1S65. • Standard Guaranteed, 

AIjIiISON £ ADDISON, 

MANUFACTURERS OF 




"STAR BRAND" SPECIAL COMPLETE MANURES 

FOR EACH OF THE FOLLOWING CROPS: 

TOBACCO, WHEAT, COTTO.^, CORN, OATS, VEGETABLES AND GRASS. 

Pure Flour of Raw Bone, Acid Phosphate, Ground Phosphate Bock, Sulphuric Acid. 

— DEALERS IN — 

German Kamit or Potash, Nitrate of Soda, Plaster, Joe. 

OFFICII-] 322 Gary Street. ) D I /^ U tiM f\tilW\ %# A 

FACTOBY— Opposite HockettsJ Kl W rl IVI SJ HI Uy V #%■ 

All orders and communirations prompth/ attended, to. fe tf 



Enterprise Manufacturing Co., 

Third &. Dauphin Sts, Philadelphia, Pa. 







® -3 
= •- a,. 

IL CI1I2 2 a 
« P « (8 

0) 




The American Agricnltnrist Sept. Number eays, "We have given 
Ihiii Meat Chopper a thorough trial, with moat satisfactory results." 

AGENTS 



Sold by all Hardware Dealers. 



Send for Terms. 



de2t 




WIN YOV FLOW 



GET OIV TRXAI^ THE 

WATT CHILLED 



THEY ARE SUPERIOR IN EVERY ESSENTIAL OF 

STRENGTH, DURABILITY, ECONOMY, LIGHT DRAUGHT, 

PERFECT BURIAL OF VEGETATION, THOROUGH DISINTEGRATION OF 
THE SOIL, FREEDOM FROM CHOKING. Warranted to be as represented, and 
sold subject to approval by trial. Return at our expense if not satisfactory. 

"WATT No. D E and No. A B Jr. PLOWS are the favorites in the Cotton 
States. They are the only perfect combined Turning and Cultivating Plows made. The 
BEST and the CHEAPEST for Corn, Cotton, Tobacco and Vegetables. 

B@°=Sencl for Illustrated Circiila.rss_==^g 

FARM WAGONS^ 

made of the best material and fin- 
ished in tlie most attractive manner. 
We are prepared to furnish at prices 
as low as any first-class Wagon can 
be sold. Every Wagon warranted 
for twelve months. All expecting to 
purchase Wagons will find it to their 
interest to examine our stock and 
price.'. 




CORN SHELLERS 

shell clean 



for HAND or POWER, separating 
Corn from Cob, and guaranteed to 
FAN ATTACHMENTS for blowing out chaff and dust. 



ROSS GIANT ENSILA&E CUTTERS 

HAVE RECEIVED over 240 MEDALS 
AND HJGH AWARDS OF MERIT. 

Successful at every competing trial at cut- 
ling. Will do more work with less power 
than any other Cutters made. THIS WE 
GUARANTEE, and warrant every one to 
give satisfaction. We furnish these Cutter.' 
with a capacity of TEN TONS per HOUR 
down to fodder cutters of one-man power. 
We can meet the varied wants and tastes of 
all, in size, price and make. 




On receipt of six cents in postage, we will mail a HANDSOME BOOK ON 
ENSILAGE, of seventy pages, bound in cloth. 

ALL INTERESTED in the use and sale of IMPROVED IMPLEMENTS 
AND FARMING TOOLS, including Adjustable Iron-Frame Cultivators and Horse 
Hoes, Walking and Riding Cultivators, Mowers, Reapers and Threshers, Wheel Rakes, 
Farm Wagons, Grain Drills, Broadcast Seed Sowers, Harrows of various patterns, 
Plows, Plow Castings, and plow material of all kinds, are invited to send for Sj^ecial 
Circular and Price-List. 

WATT & CALL, - Richmond, Va.