THE SOUTHERN PLANTER; 

Deaotefc to Slsrteulture, ^ortCcuIturc, ant» the ^ouseliolfc £lrts. 



Agriculture is the nursing mother of the Arts. 

Xenophan. 


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


C. T. BOTTS, Editor. 


Vol. IV. RICHMOND, MAY, 1844. No. 5. 



For the Southern Planter. 
PIPE CLAY AND COMPOST HEAPS. 

Mr. Editor. — I have been a constant reader 
of your valuable journal the two years last past, 
and have hoped to find a plan for the improve- 
ment of a particular kind of land, commonly 
called pip-: clay; but thus far I have been dis- 
appointed. Will you or some of your practical 
correspondents be good enough to put me on a 
plan to improve a few acres of that kind of soil, 
which forms frequent barren spots in my flat 
land ? Some of these spots are very wet, and 
though I have ditched all around them, they 
still remain so. 

In return for the information desired above, I 
will give you. some of my plans of proceeding 
which you may publish if you think them worth 
the trouble. 

First, then, as regards the making of manure, 
the importance of wiiich needs net to be pointed 
out to an intelligent farmer. In order to raise 
the largest possible amount, I keep my cattle on 
the same pen during the year, and keep that 
well littered with oak leaves or pine tags, (I 
prefer the tags,) and as opportunity offers, I haul 
sand or other earth and throw over the litter — 
taking care to plaster it well once or twice a 
week. Lime, no doubt, would be better than 
plaster. In this way twenty or thirty loads of 
good manure may be raised a year from each 
hea.d. My stables I always keep well littered 
with the like materials, and plaster them regu- 
larly as the farm pens — cleaning them out only 
when compelled by the mass of manure. Pre- 
vious to this operation, I have in readiness as 
much of leaves or other litter, and sand or other 
earth, (ditch bank or from fence coiners,) as 
may be sufficient. I then commence (a rainy 
day being most suitable,) by putting down a 
layer of leaves twelve or eighteen inches thick, 
with a little sand or earth over them, in a pen 
of suitable size, and as near the stable as con- 
venient. Over these, I throw a layer of the 
manure from the stable, not more than three 
inches thick, on which I throw another layer of 
leaves, then a layer of earth, six or eight inches 
thick, then plaster or lime. Lime is greatly to 
be preferred in this operation, and should be put 
one inch thick. Then comes the manure again 
for a second layer, and so on, till all the manure 
is taken from the stable. The manure of the 
Vol. IV— 13 



different cleanings may be put in the same pen, 
provided it be of sufficient size. I am not in 
favor of having the heaps too high. They 
should never be allowed to rise higher than four 
or five feet, and at that frequent holes should be 
made in the top with a sharp stake for the pur- 
pose of letting in the water. The heap should 
be carefully watched for a few days to see that 
the proportion of manure is not too great for the 
other materials ; if it is, the manure will burn, 
or fire fang, as it is termed. I have had to take 
down one or two of my heaps on that account, 
and add more leaves, earth, &c. since I com- 
menced the plan. But manure enough from the 
stable must be put in to produce the degree of 
heal necessary to decompose the other materials. 
In this way from forty to fifty loads of manure, 
a year, may be made from each horse, much 
superior to that raised in the farm pens. 

I will here mention another valuable source 
for raising manure that has been resorted to but 
by very few farmers. 1 mean the kitchen. — 
Have a pit thirty or forty feet square and two 
or three feet deep, with a good bank around it. 
In this pit let the same materials, viz: oak 
leaves, pine tags, sand, earth, &c., be put in 
suitable layers; on which throw all the slop 
water, soap-suds, yard sweepings, ashes, con- 
tents of chambers, and in short, every thing that 
can be conveniently got together for the purpose. 
It may be at any convenient distance from the 
kitchen, so that the slop water, soap-suds, &c, 
may be conducted to it by a trough. Be sure 
that no water gets into it in any other way. If, 
at any time, it should become offensive, (to pre- 
vent which care should be taken,) start your 
teams immediately and cover it over with sand 
or earth sufficient to prevent the escape of any 
effluvia. 

I consulted my ptrysician before undertaking 
this plan, fearing that the health of my family 
might be endangered by it. He assured me, 
that with proper care, it would not only not pro- 
duce any disease, but in all probability be a pre- 
ventive, by taking into it all matter that might 
otherwise become offensive. In this pit, lime 
should be used freely, always putting it on the 
top after filling up. Lime, in my opinion, can 
be used more profitably in this way (I mean in 
manure heaps,) than in any other. I am not 
able to estimate the quantity of manure that 
can be raised annually in this wa y, as that must 



98 



TEIE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



depend on many circumstances. This plan I 
have not been able to carry out fully, owing to 
a scarcity of labor. However, I am determined 
for the future to take two of my hands out of 
the crop, whose business it shall be to collect 
materials and make manure in the way I have 
mentioned above, through the year. I would 
say something about hogs and sheep as sources 
of manure, were not my communication already 
longer than I intended it when I sat down. I 
hope many of your readers will try the plan 
recommended above and report their success 
through the medium of your valuable paper. 
Very respectfully, &c. 

C/OLONUS. 

Cumberland, March 21, 1844. 

We have had some experience with the "pipe 
clay," and our conclusion was, that it is the 
most worthless and unmanageable of soils. It 
is so tenacious and impermeable, that until its 
texture is altered by a mixture of sand, it is al- 
most impossible to drain it. It is probable that 
where they can be had conveniently, coal ashes 
would be found highly advantageous. Such a 
soil is better adapted to the growth of herds- 
grass than to any other vegetable with which 
we are acquainted. There is a great deal of 
such land in Virginia, and a good article upon 
its management will be very acceptable. 

A strong box to hold his money, is not more 
valuable to the farmer than the kitchen reservoir 
recommended by our correspondent. Manure is- 
only a dirty kind of money. 

With respect to our correspondent's preference 
for lime to plaster in his compost heaps, we can 
only say, that the propriety of using lime in 
this way is a mooted point, not only among 
practical farmers, but amongst the most profound 
chemists and philosophers of the day. Liebig 
seems to prefer the plaster on account of its ac- 
tion in arresting the ammonia, which, on the 
other hand, the lime has a tendency to liberate. 
C. W. Johnson, the author of the Farmers' 
Encyclopedia, says, " I have several times mixed 
lime, in cases where I suspected the presence of 
grab and the seeds of weeds, with farm yard 
compost, but never successfully. Convinced of 
the ill effects of the lime being thus mixed, I 
have long since abandoned the practice. There 
is in fact no beneficial effect to be obtained by 
this mode. The natural well regulated fermen- 
tation of the dung effects all that the lime can 
do, and in a better manner ; for the lime dis- 
solves, and, to a considerable extent, decomposes 
the finer and richer portions of the compost; 



and it certainly renders the straw and other 
coarser portions of manure drier and more diffi- 
cult to dissolve in the soil. The practice, there- 
fore, seems worse than useless." 

Our own inference is, that much depends 
upon the state in which the lime is applied. If 
it is used as quick lime, its chemical action is 
very powerful in decomposing the organic mat- 
ter within its influence ; producing great heat, 
and expelling the most valuable properties of 
the dung. On the other hand, if by long ex- 
posure it has become a complete carbonate, it 
has the property of other salts in arresting the 
further decomposition of organic matter, and in 
such a state may possibly be used with advan- 
tage to prevent the " fire fanging" of stable 
dung. As at present advised, we should prefer 
the use of plaster to lime in the compost heap. 



FATTENING POULTRY. 

From the American Agriculturist, whose edi- 
tor is a connoiseur in such matters, we extract 
the following directions for preparing poultry for 
the table : 

"The fowls being in good condition a fortnight 
to one month previous to the time they are 
wanted for killing, shut them up in a roomy, 
dry, well ventilated, and warm building, with 
either a ground, stone, or plank floor, as is most 
convenient. This should be cleaned every day, 
and straw several inches thick spread over a 
part of it, especially where geese and ducks are 
shut up, for the purpose of giving them good 
beds to sit in. As often as the litter gets soiled, 
remove it, and put clean straw in its place. A 
constant supply of food and water should now 
be kept before them, allowing the fowls to eat 
and drink as often and as much as they please. 
Gravel is indispensable for their health, and 
charcoal, together with a little lime or ground 
bones, is beneficial. Fowls fat better when they 
can get at their food as often as they please, and 
are not so apt to gorge themselves and become 
surfeited. 

" For feed we prefer corn mostly : a little 
wheat, rye, or barley, is also very well as a 
change; oats have rather too much husk about 
them. In addition to these, boiled potatoes, 
sweet apples, pumpkins, and sugar beet, are ex- 
cellent food, especially when mixed with a due 
proportion of mush or hasty pudding. Where 
sweet potatoes abound, they are an excellent 
substitute for the last. To the above, add daily 
a little lean meat, that which is cooked is pre- 
ferred ; and the last week of their fattening, for 
a finishing process, rice boiled in milk and 
sweetened with molasses, is very excellent. — 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



99 



This may be called an expensive method ; but 
our readers may be assured that the fowls will 
be enough better to pay for it. Meat derives 
much of its taste from the kind and quality of 
food that the animals consume; hence gross, 
fatty substances, fish, or anything that is disa- 
greeable to the taste, should be avoided in the 
food given to fowls during the fattening process, 
as these invariably impart more or less of their 
disagreeable flavor to the flesh of the poultry 
fed upon them. It is well known that the cele- 
brated canvass-back duck derives its delicacy of 
taste from feeding on the bulbous roots of a pe- 
culiar grass growing in the Chesapeake Bay, 
and that other kinds of ducks are scarcely eata- 
ble, in consequence of their living almost entire- 
ly upon fish. These remarks will hold good to 
most kinds of birds, both of the water and land, 
and, indeed, of all animals ; accordingly as their 
food is good or bad, so will be the quality of the 
milk, meat, or eggs. 

" We recollect, when a boy, of having occa- 
sionally seen geese and ducks nailed through 
the webs of their feet to planks and floors, and 
hens and turkeys tied up and so closely confined 
to stakes, that they could not exercise. This 
was done so that they might fat the faster! — 
How shockingly barbarous, and any one guilty 
of such a practice in these days, ought to be 
indicted, and severely punished for their cruelty 
and cupidiiy. We are totally opposed to the 
close confinement of beast or bird. Without 
exercise, the system cannot be in a healthy state; 
and the meat of close confined animals is never 
as good, to say the least of it, as when they 
have plenty of fresh air, and are allowed to 
move moderately about. 

" The best method of killing fowls, is to cut 
their heads off at a single blow with a sharp 
axe. and then hang them up and allow them to 
bleed freely. By this process they never know 
what hurts them, or endure pain for a second. 
Wringing the necks of poultry is almost as 
shocking as nailing their feet to planks for the 
purpose of fattening them, and follows in the 
same barbarous category. 

" Scalding the fowl previous to picking, in- 
jures the feathers, and makes it troublesome to 
dry them, and we think the quality of flesh is 
somewhat injured by this process, especially if 
the weather be not pretty cold at the time. — 
They should be picked as soon as possible after 
being killed, and their offal taken from them ; 
be clean rinsed then in cold water, and hung up 
to dry, and kept as separate as possible till sold ; 
packing thern together in heaps injures the flesh. 
To be hung up and frozen for a few days, or 
even weeks before eating, makes the flesh more 
tender. To keep thern the same length of time 
after roar-sting, especially if well stuffed, also adds 
to their delicacy of taste and tenderness. 

" When the bird is brought on to the table, it 



is perfectly shocking to see its head, legs, and 
feet, left upon it, though we know in many places 
this is fashionable, and considered highly gen- 
teel ; but for our own part we detest such offal, 
and the sight of them frequently destroys our 
appetite for the time being. The process of 
carving also at, the table is a dead bore. We 
like the French fashion of cutting up the bird 
in the kitchen or at a side table, and having it 
passed round on the dish, every one then help- 
ing himself to such pieces as he likes best." 



For the Southern Planter. 
PEAS. 

Mr. Editor, — In your December Planter some 
remarks are made relative to sowing peas. For 
the last three years, at the last working the 
corn, which happened to be about the 3d and 
5th July, I sowed a kind of hardy red pea, 
which also matures as earl} 7 as any other we 
have, and which, by the bye, will remain through 
the winter on the ground perfectly sound, and if 
covered in the spiing will come up and do well. 
The last summer I was more particular, both in 
measuring the peas as well as the land — the 
average quantity of seed was a half bushel to 
the acre — sowed on the 3d July. They came 
up well, and matured a bountiful crop. Many 
are now lying on the ground perfectly sound. 
They are truly a great fertilizer, perhaps not at 
all inferior to red clover, and much cheaper. 

I have lent my aid to increase the circulation 
of the Planter in this vicinity — it is both instruc- 
tive, interesting, neat and cheap, and I truly 
wish that it, or some other good agricultural 
work were in the hands of many more of our 
farmers — and also, I am truly pleased with your 
" cash system," for then, when I receive the 
work, I know that it is paid for. 

Mr. Editor, I wish to make a few remarks on 
a compost that I put up early the last summer, 
and used. I crushed up 12 bushels of castor 
beansj with which I used 6 bushels stone lime, 
6 bushels plaster, 24 bushels leached ashes, 
and about 150 bushels of very rich surface earth, 
putting a course of each till completed. It so 
remained for eighteen days ; the corn then being 
about two feet high, when about one quart was 
put around the hill — increased ultimately to 
about a half gallon : this done, I gave the corn a 
working. During the whole time, even to the 
gathering, I could not perceive any good effect 
it had produced. 

In my farm pen, I am making a compost of 
first woods litter, stable manure, marl, woods 
litter again, swamp muck or mud — having used 
three courses each to this time. 

You can read this and throw it under the 
table. J. Bunch. 

C/iuckatuck, Minsemond, Dec. 27, 1843. 



100 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



P. S. — If I could write intelligibly, and had 
any thing worth writing, I would lake great 
pleasure in so doing. J. B. 

Since writing the above, I saw two squares 
of the garden or English peas growing as hand- 
somely as if it was April or May, the plants 
being some six inches high — seeded in Novem- 
ber last — the young plants scarcely at all pro- 
tected. This to me is something new, though 
it may not be to j'ou. 

J. Bunch. 



COMPARATIVE VALUE OF HAY, VEGETA- 
BLES AND CORN. 

I wish to draw briefly the attention of far- 
mers to the value of hn.y, compared with other 
crops, for the feeding of stock. An acre of hay 
yelds one ton and a half of vegetable food. An 
acre of carrots, or Sweedish turnips, will yield 
from ten to twenty tons ; say fifteen tons, which 
is by no means an exaggerated estimate. It 
has been ascertained by experiment, that three 
working horses, fifteen and a half hands high, 
consumed at the rate of two hundred and twent}'- 
four pounds of hay per week, or five tons one 
thousand and forty-eight pounds of hay per year, 
besides twelve gallons of oats per week, or se- 
venty-eight bushels by the year. An unworked 
horse consumed at the rale of four and one quar- 
ter tons of hay in the year. The produce, there- 
fore, of nearly six acres of land is necessary to 
support a working horse by the year; but half 
an acre of carrots, at six hundred bushels to the 
acre, with the addition of chopped straw, while 
the season for their use lasts, will do it as well, 
if not better. These things do not admit of 
doubt. They have been subjects of exact trial. 
It is believed that the value of a bushel of In- 
dian corn in straw and meal, will keep a healthy 
horse in good condition for a week. An acre 
of Indian corn which yields sixty bushels, will 
be ample for the support of a horse through the 
year. Let the farmer, then, consider whether it 
be better to maintain his horse upon the produce 
of half an acre of carrots, which can be culti- 
vated at an expense not greatly exceeding the 
expense of half an acre of potatoes, or upon 
half an acre of ruta baga, which can be raised 
at a less expense than potatoes, or upon the 
grain produce of an acre of Indian coin, or on 
the other hand upon the produce of six acres of 
his best land in hay and grain; for six acres 
will hardly do more than to yield nearby six tons 
of hay and seventy-eight bushels of oats. The 
same economy might be as successfully intro- 
duced into the feeding of our neat cattle and 
sheep. 

These facts deserve the particular attention 
of the farmers who are desirous of improving 
their pecuniary condition. It is obvious how 
much would be gained by the cultivation which 



is here suggested ; how much more stock would 
be raised ; how much the daily produce might 
he increased ; and how much the means of en- 
riching the land and improving the cultivation 
would be constantly extending and accumulat- 
ing. But when we find on a farm of two hun- 
dred acres, that the farmer cultivates only two 
acres of potatoes, one acre of ruta baga, and 
perhaps a quarter of an acre of carrots, we call 
this "getting along," in the common phrase; 
but we can hardly dignify it with the name of 
farming. I am aware that labor of a proper 
kind is in many cases difficult to be procured, 
and with our habits, as difficult to be managed, 
farming, likewise, can in few situations be suc- 
cessful^' managed, unless the farmer has capital 
to employ, equal at least to one year's manure 
and one year's crops. A large portion of our 
farmers, also, from the nature of their habits and 
style of living, are so prosperous and indepen- 
dent, that they have no occasion to extend their 
cultivation beyond what it now is, in order to 
meet their wants; and to incur all the trouble, 
vexation and risk of employing more labor, ex- 
pending more capital, and increasing their cares. 
Colman's Agricultural (Survey. 



For the Southern Planter. 

CORN. 

Mr. Editor, — To the Southern farmer, the 
corn crop is one of great interest, and although 
we have communications, in the Planter, from 
men of experience and observation, yet in none 
have I remarked any notice of what, with me, 
is an object, that is, in turning under a sod of 
any kind, (and with me one is always desirable,) 
to cultivate the land in such a way as not 
to turn it up during the growth of the corn. — 
The following is my mode of cultivation : — A 
little before planting, 1 run heavy harrows the 
way the plough went in the fallow ; 1 then run 
off the rows shallow, with a shovel or scoop 
plough, it being one that leaves loose soil in the 
furrow ; when the corn is large enough to thin, 
I run close on- each side with a common new 
ground coulter, thin and weed; after which, I 
run cultivators made of square bar iron, set in 
the beams so as to cut within four and a half 
inches of each other. These I run as often as 
I find them necessary, some land and some sea- 
sons requiring more than others, and with those, 
and from one to two hoeinps, I subdue the grass, 
and keep the land well stirred in all ordinary 
seasons until I quit working, which is as soon 
as the corn begins to tassel. But in very wet 
seasons, I have sometimes to resort to the turn 
plough, taking care then to run shallow, in order 
to disturb the sod as little as possible, and never 
to use them longer than the season compels me. 
I find that when the sod is turned up to the sun 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



101 



the decayed vegetation quickly evaporates, and 
that when it remains under it nourishes the crop 
until it is matured. I also find the above to be 
a labor-saving system. I have long been op- 
posed to turning up the land to the winter's frost, 
but I find, unless clovered land intended for corn 
is fallowed by the 15th of February, that it al- 
most invariably suffers by the worm ; my clo- 
vered land I, therefore, fallow in winter, if pos- 
sible, and that for timothy and herdsgrass in the 
spring. 

Respectfully, A Fluvannian. 



LIME. 



To our poor thinking, by far the most able, 
the most profound, and the most practical dis- 
sertation that we have ever seen upon the appli- 
cation of lime to the soil, is to be found in the 
" Third Part of Lectures on Agricultural Che- 
mistry, by James F. W. Johnston, M. A. F. 
R., &c. &c. &c." We will endeavor, by means 
of comments and extracts, to present the general 
views of the lecturer in an abridged and con- 
densed form before our readers, assured, that it 
will form at least an excellent text for the notes 
and commentaries of such of our correspondents 
as are versed in this interesting and important 
subject. 

In the first place, Mr. Johnston calls the 
hearer's attention to the five different states in 
which, under the general name of lime, this 
substance is applied to the soil, and these dis- 
tinctions he seems particularly anxious to en- 
force, because he conceives that a confusion of 
them has lead to much of that contrariety of 
opinion that exists upon the subject. The first 
grand destruction is between mild and caustic 
lime. Pure lime has a wonderful affinity for 
carbonic acid, with which it combines to form a 
carbonate of lirne ; when it loses its causticity, 
and changes some of its other properties. With 
th'13 tendency to attract carbonic acid from the 
atmosphere, lime is always found after long ex- 
posure in the state of a carbonate. By subjec- 
tion to heat, the carbonic acid is expelled and 
the causticity restored. Quick lime, or that 
from which the carbonic acid has been expelled, 
when subjected to the action of water, combines 
with it, and becomes converted into a milder or 
less caustic compound, which among chemists 
is known by the name of hydrate of lime. By 
exposure to the atmosphere, quick lime becomes 
air slacked; that is, one-half of the lime unites 
with the water, and the other half with the car- 



bonic acid of the atmosphere. In this state, it 
is only half caustic, and has a tendency to at- 
tract more carbonic acid from the atmosphere 
until it becomes a perfect carbonate, and entirely 
mild. Nature also furnishes lime in another 
form, that is when it is united with a double 
proportion of carbonic acid: it is then called a 
Bi-carbonate. In this form, it is readily soluble, 
and hence springs are often impregnated with 
it, and the waters that gush from fissures in the 
lime stone rocks, spread it through the soil in 
their neighborhood, and sweeten the land. 

Mr. Johnston seems to think that the presence 
of lime in some shape or other is absolutely ne- 
cessary to the productiveness of a soil, inasmuch 
"as it seems that in nature all cultivated plants 
do absorb lime by their roots from the soil, and 
make use of it in some way in aid of their 
growth." But there are several states of che- 
mical combination in which it may exist ; as in 
that of a phosphate, a humate, a silicate, a carbo- 
nale, a sulphate, &c. For the detection of all 
these, Mr. Johnston furnishes appropriate tests, 
but as it is known to the generality of readers 
only in the forms in which it is most usually 
found, viz : either as a sulphate or carbonate. We 
extract his remarks on these two compounds 
alone : 

"In that of sulphate of lime or gypsum. — In 
this state also it is not a constant, and in a few 
cases only an abundant, constituent of the soil. 
Its presence may be detected by the deposition 
of minute oyslals on the sides of the vessel 
during the evaporation of the solution obtained 
by boiling the soil in distilled water. Or, its 
presence may be inferred if, after observing that 
oxalate of ammonia causes a precipitate in one 
small portion of the solution, it be found that 
nitrate of baryta also throws down a white pre- 
cipitate from another small portion. 

"In the state of carbonate, lirne is generally 
supposed most usually to exist, and most abun- 
dantly in all soils. If on pouring dilute mu- 
riatic acid upon a soil, a visible effervescence or 
escape of minute bubbles of gas manifest itself, 
or if, when the experiment is made in a tube 
closed at one end, and inverted over water or 
mercury, bubbles of gas collect in the upper end 
of the tube — the soil contains some carbonate. 
If after ammonia has been added to the solution, 
oxalate of ammonia throws down a white pre- 
cipitate of oxalate of lime — the soil contains 
carbonate of lime." 

We have been frequently asked what quantity 
of lime is to be applied to an acre. We will en- 
deavor to give Mr. Johnston's views on this 



102 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



point, by extracting and condensing- his remarks 
as they are scattered through the lecture : 

" On clay lands more lime is necessary than 
on light and sandy soils. This may be partly 
ascribed to the physical effect of the lime in 
opening and loosening the stiff clay — but inde- 
pendent of this action the particles of lime are 
liable to be coated over and enveloped by the 
fine clay, and thus shut out from the access of 
the air. These particles, therefore, must be 
more numerous in such a soil if as many of 
them are to be exposed to the air as in lighter 
land, through which the atmospheric air con- 
tinually permeates. 

" On wet and marshy soils, a larger applica- 
tion still may be made with safety, and partly 
for the same reason. 

" The moisture surrounding the lime shuts 
out the air, without the ready access of which 
lime cannot perform its important functions. — 
The same moisture tends to carry down the 
lime and lodge it more speedily in the subsoil. 
The continued evaporation also keeps such soils 
too cold to allow the chemical changes, which 
lime in favorable circumstances produces, to pro- 
ceed with the requisite degree of rapidity. The 
soluble compounds which are formed as the con- 
sequence of these changes are, in wet and 
marshy soils, dissolved by the moisture, and so 
diluted as to enter in smaller quantity into the 
roots of plants. And lastly, in certain cases, 
new compounds of the lime with the earthy 
and stony matters of the soil are formed, which 
may either harden into visible lumps of mortar 
and cement, or into smaller particles of indurated 
matter, in which the lime is no longer in such a 
state as to be able to act in an equal degree as 
an improver of the soil. 

" In cold and wet clays, in which all these 
evil conditions occasionally meet, it is not sur- 
prising, therefore, that large doses of lime should 
sometimes have been added without producing 
any sensible benefit whatever. 

"Again, when the soil is also rich in vegeta- 
ble matter, lime may be still more abundantly 
applied. Thus, when a field is at once wet or 
marshy, and full of vegetable matter, as our 
peat bogs are, lime may be laid on more un- 
sparingly than under any other circumstances. 
For in this case, besides the action of the ex- 
cess of water, as above explained, the vegetable 
matter combines with and masks the ordinary 
action of a considerable quantity of the lime. — 
By this combination, no part of the ultimate in- 
fluence of the whole lime upon the soil is ne- 
cessarily lost ; in most cases the immediate effect 
only is lessened, which the same quantity ap- 
plied to other soils would have been seen to pro- 
duce. In favorable circumstances its action is 
retarded and prolonged, the compounds it forms 



with the vegetable matter decomposing slowly, 
and, therefore, remaining long in the soil. 

" Not only the natural depth of the soil, as 
already stated, but also the depth to which it is 
usually ploughed, and to which it is customary 
to bury the lime, will materially affect the quan- 
tity which can be safely applied. A dose of 
lime which would materially injure a soil into 
which the plough rarely descends beyond two 
or three inches, might be too small an applica- 
tion where six or eight inches are usually turned 
over by the plough. When new soil, also, is to 
be brought up, which may be supposed to con- 
tain no lime, or in which noxious substances 
are present, a heavier dose of lime must neces- 
sarily be laid upon the land. 

"Such are the circumstances in which large 
applications of lime may be usefully applied to 
the land. In soils of an opposite character not 
only will smaller quantities of lime produce an 
equally beneficial effect, but serious injury would 
often be inflicted by spreading it too lavishly 
upon your fields. 

" The more dry and shallow the soil, the. 
more light and sandy, the less abundant in ve- 
getable matter, the more naturally mild its lo- 
cality, and the drier and warmer the climate in 
which it is situated — the less the quantity of 
lime which the prudent farmer will venture to 
mix with it. It is to the neglect of these na- 
tural indications that the exhaustion and barren- 
ness that have occasionally followed the appli- 
cation of lime are to be ascribed. It is only in 
rare cases, such as the presence of much noxious 
mineral matter in the soil, that these indications 
can be safely neglected. 

" But a difference of opinion also prevails 
amongst practical men, as to whether that quan- 
tity of lime which land of a given kind may 
require ought to be applied in large doses at 
long intervals, or in small quantities frequently 
repeated. The indications of theory in reference 
to this point are clear and simple. 

"A certain proportion of lime is indispensable 
in our climate to the production of the greatest 
possible fertility. Let us suppose a soil to be 
wholly destitute of lime — the first step of the 
improver would be to add to it this indispensable 
proportion. This would necessarily be a large 
quantity, and, therefore, to land limed for the first 
time theory indicates the propriety of adding a large 
dose. 

" Every year, however, a certain variable pro- 
portion of the lime is removed from the soil by 
natural causes. The effect of this removal in 
a few years becomes sensibly apparent in the 
diminished productiveness of the land. After 
the lapse of five or six years, during which it 
has been gradually mixing with the soil, the 
beneficial effects of the lime are generally the 
most striking — after this they gradually lessen, 
till at the end of a longer or shorter period, the 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



103 



land reverts to its original condition. To keep 
land in its best possible state, therefore, the natural 
waste ought from time to time to be supplied by the 
addition of smaller doses of lime at shorter intervals. 

" The most injurious effect of an over-liming', 
whether it be laid on at one or at successive pe- 
riods, is the exhaustion by which it is succeeded. 
'An over-dose of shell-marl,' saj T s Lord Karnes, 
'laid perhaps an inch thick, produces for a lime 
large crops, but at last renders the soil capable 
of bearing neither corn nor grass, of which 
there are many examples in Scotland.' The 
same is true of lime in any form. The increased 
fertility continues as long as there remains an 
adequate supply of organic (animal and vege- 
table) matter in the soil, but as that disappears 
the crops every year diminish both in quantity 
and in quality. 

" From the possession of this exhausting pro- 
perty has arisen the almost universally diffused 
proverb, that lime enriches the fathers but impo- 
verishes the sons. The fault, however, is not in 
the lime, but in the improvident fathers, who in 
this case, as in so many others, exhaust and in- 
considerately squander the inheritance of their 
sons. If care be taken to keep up the supply 
of organic matter in the soil — by copious addi- 
tions of manure or otherwise — lime may be added 
freely and a system of high farming kept up, 
by which both the present holder of the land, 
and his successor, will be equally benefited. 

"The opinion expressed by some of the highest 
authorities among practical men, that too much 
lirne cannot be added, provided the soil abound 
sufficiently in vegetable matter, may perhaps be 
rather over-stated ; but it undoubtedly embodies 
the result of long-continued general observation, 
that the exhausting effect of lime may be post- 
poned indefinitely by a liberal management of 
the land." 

As to the manner of application, we extract 
the following: 

" In regard to the period of the year and of 
the rotation, there are three principles by which 
the procedure of the practical man ought chiefly 
to be directed. 

"That lime takes some time to produce its known 
effects upon the soil. — It ought, therefore, to be 
applied as long as possible before the crop is 
sown. That is, in the early autumn, where 
either winter or spring corn is about to be sown, — 
on the naked fallow where the land is allowed 
to be at rest for a year, — or on the grass fields 
before breaking up, where the pasture is to be 
immediately succeeded by corn. 

"That quick-lime expels ammonia from decom- 
posed and fermenting manure. 

" When such manure, therefore, is applied to 
the land as it '13 in all our well-farmed districts, 
quick-lime should not be so laid upon the land 



as to come into immediate contact with it. If 
both must be applied in the same year, they 
should be laid on at periods as distant from each 
other as may be convenient, or if this necessity 
does not exist, the lime should be spread either 
a year before or a year afier the period in the 
rotation at which the manure is usually applied. 

"It is for this reason, as well as for the other 
already stated, that lime is applied to the naked 
fallow, to the grass before breaking up, or along 
wilh the winter wheat after a green crop which 
has been aided by fermented manure. "When 
ploughed into the fallow, or spread upon the 
grass, it has had time to be almost completely 
converted into the mild state, (that of carbonate,) 
before the manure is laid on. In this mild state 
it has no sensible effect in expelling the ammonia 
of decomposing manure. Again, when it is ap- 
plied in autumn along with, or immediately be- 
fore the seed, the volatile or ammoniacal part of 
the manure has ahead}' been expended in nour- 
ishing the green crop, so that loss can rarely 
accrue from the admixture of the two at this 
period of ihe rotation. 

" The excellent elementary work of Professor 
Lowe contains the following remark : ' It is not 
opposed to theory that lime should be applied 
to the soil at the same time with dung and other 
animal and vegetable substances, as is frequent 
in the practice of farmers.' This is strictly cor- 
rect only in regard to marls, lime-sand, &c, or to 
perfectly mild lime, any of which may be mixed, 
without loss, with manure in any state. Of 
quick or caustic lime it is correct only when the 
animal or vegetable matter has not yet begun 
to ferment. With recent animal or vegetable 
matter quick-lime may be mixed up along with 
earth into a compost, not only without the risk 
of much loss, but with the prospect of manifest 
advantage. 

"That quick-lime hastens or revives the decompo- 
sition of inert organic matter. — This fact also in- 
dicates the propriety of allowing the lime as 
much time as possible to operate before a crop 
is taken from land in which organic matter al- 
ready abounds. Or where fermenting manure 
is added, it advises the farmer to wait till spon- 
taneous decomposition becomes languid, when 
the addition of lime will bring it again into ac- 
tion and thus maintain a more equable fertility." 

As to the effects of lime upon the productions of 
the soil, we make the following extracts: 

"It improves the quality of almost every culti- 
vated crop. 

" Thus, upon limed land, 

"The grain of the corn crops has a thinner 
skin, is heavier, and yields more flour, while 
this flour is said also to be richer in gluten. On 
the other hand, these crops, after lime, run less 
to straw, and are more seldom laid. In wet 
seasons (in Ayrshire) wheat preserves its healthy 



104 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



appearance, while on unlimed land, of equal 
quality, it is yellow and sickly. A more marked 
improvement is said also to be produced boih in 
the quantity and in the quality of the spring- 
sown than of the winter-sown crops (Puvis). 

"Potatoes grown upon all soils are more agree- 
able to the taste and more mealy sifter lime has 
been applied, and this is especially the case on 
heavy and wet lands, which lie still undrained. 

"Turnips are often improved both in quantity 
and in quality when it is laid on in preparing 
the ground for the seed. It is most efficient, 
and causes the greatest saving of farm-yard ma- 
nure where it is applied in the compost form, 
and where the land is already rich in organic 
matter of various kinds. 

"Peas are grown more pleasant to the taste, 
and are said to be more easily boiled soft. Both 
beans and peas also yield more grain. 

"Rape, after a half -Yxramg and manuring, gives 
extraordinary crops, and the same is the case 
with the colsa, the seed of which is largely raised 
in France for the oil which it yields. 

" On fax alone it is said to be injurious, di- 
minishing the strength of the fibre of the stem. 
Hence, in Belgium, flax is not grown on limed 
land till seven years after the lime has been ap- 
plied. 

"It hastens the maturity of the crop. — It is true 
of nearly all our cultivated crops, but especially 
of those of corn, that their full growth is at- 
tained more speedily when the land is limed, 
and that they are ready for the harvest from ten 
to fourteen days earlier. This is the case even 
with buckwheat, which becomes sooner ripe, 
though it yields no larger a return, when lime 
is applied to the land on which it is grown. 

" The liming of the land is the harbinger of 
health as well as of abundance. It salubrities 
no less than it enriches the well cultivated dis- 
trict. I have already drawn your attention to 
this as one of the incidental results which follow 
the skilful introduction of the drain over large 
tracts of country. Where the use of lime and 
of the drain go together it is difficult to say 
how much of the increased healthiness of the 
district is due to the one improvement, and how 
much to the other. The lime arrests the noxious 
effluvia which tend to rise more or less from 
every soil at certain seasons of the year, and 
decomposes them or causes their elements to 
assume new forms of chemical combination, in 
which they no longer exert the same injurious 
influence upon animal life. How beautiful a 
consequence of skilful agriculture, that the health 
of the community should be promoted by the 
same methods which most largely increase the 
produce of the land ! Can you doubt that the 
All-benevolent places this consequence so plainly 
before you, as a stimulus to further and more 
general improvement — to the application of other 
knowledge still to the amelioration of the soil ?" 



But it is impossible that within our limited 
pages we can find room for all that is good and 
valuable in this incomparable treatise. AVe hope 
we have said and done enough to induce every 
one, who has the facilities for liming his land 
within his reach, to provide himself (which he 
can do at an expense of thirty-one and a quarter 
cents) with the whole work. 



For the Southern Planter. 

VALUE OF AGRICULTURAL PAPERS- 
ASHES FOR STOCK. 

J\Ir. Editor, — I have been a subscriber to your 
paper from its commencement, and I would not 
be without it for twice the amount of the sub- 
scription. I look forward to the day of its ar- 
rival with anxiety ; one number has been worth 
more lr> me than all the subscription money I 
have ever paid you. I am using my best exer- 
tions to obtain subscribers for you. I am a 
young farmer, surrounded by a community of 
land killers, who look upon book farming, as 
they term it, as humbuggery. I showed a num- 
bur of my Southern Planter to one of my 
neighbors, and asked him to become a subscriber; 
he laughed at the request, and said he would 
profit by my example. Not long after, one of 
his oxen got choked with an ear of corn ; he 
did not know what to do ; some advised him to 
kill him, but his wife advised him to send for 
me. Her advice prevailed, and post haste he 
came over for me. I went over, and from the 
knowledge I had obtained from the Cultivator, 
I relieved the animal in five minutes. I had 
the pleasure of saving the life of an ox, for 
which he said he would not take twenty dollars. 
I informed him where I obtained my informa- 
tion, and asked him again to become a sub- 
scriber to your paper, but he would not. I have 
gained much information from your able corre- 
spondents, and am in hopes I shall be able to 
give them something in return. 

In fattening my hogs this year, I had a quan- 
tity of ashes put into my pen, and sprinkled 
over with salt, of which they ate greedily, and 
I never saw hogs fatten faster in my life ; since 
then, I have used the ashes freely to my cattle, 
and they have mended wonderfully. 
I remain yours, &c. 

A. W. Cousins. 



For the Southern Planter. 

EXTRAORDINARY FECUNDITY. 

Mr. Botts, — There was an instance of greater 
fecundity in my neighborhood a few daj's ago, 
than I have ever heard of before. Nature made 
the effort, but the constitutional powers of the 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



105 



mimal were not sufficient to accomplish her 
purpose. 

A ewe belonging to Mr. William Applebury, 
(S. A.) about two j'ears old, became so disabled 
and diseased from the excessive distension of 
the uterus, as to make her entirely helpless and 
apparently dying. Mr. Applebury thought it 
most humane to have her killed. On examin- 
ing the contents of the womb, he found four 
perfect lambs near sufficiently matured for birth. 
A fine subject for the physiologists. 

J. M. W. 

Chatham, Feb. 17, 1844. 

As an accompaniment to the above, we may 
mention that a gentleman of this city, of the 
highest respectability, called at our office a few 
days since and stated, that a sow on his farm 
in the neighborhood had the evening before given 
birth to eleven fine full grown pigs, and that 
about twelve hours after, she produced another 
litter of ten, about three-fourths matured — evi- 
dently the result of a second conception. 



IMPROVEMENT OF WORN-OUT LANDS. 
From a very intelligent traveller, whose ac- 
quaintance we happened to make as he was 
passing through our city, we have received the 
following communication: 

Fayelteville, Cumberland Co., JV. C. 

C. T. Botts, Esq.. 

Dear Sir, — In passing through parts of Vir- 
ginia and North Carolina, T was much surprised 
to see large fields lying waste, which I was in- 
formed had been abandoned as "worn out," 
whilst the proprietor had substituted new grounds 
for them, at all the expense and inconvenience 
of a new home and a new clearing. Beside 
the sacred and endearing associations which 
usually cluster around the ancient homestead, 
a great pecuniary loss must be sustained in the 
pursuit of this system. It would seem that one- 
half of the time and labor required to fit a new 
farm for the crop, would restore the old one. A 
plan for the improvement of old lands is very 
successfully practised at the North, which, it 
appears to me, would be applicable here. It is 
as follows : 

Procure a3 many bushels of buckwheat as 
there may be acres to improve, and as soon as 
the spring opens, plough the fields deep and 
sow the buckwheat broadcast, and harrow it in. 
This on the very poorest lands at the North 
will yield a quick and luxuriant growth. 

As soon as the crop is in full blossom, (unless 
it has grown so rank as to have lodged of it- 
self) flatten it to the ground by the use of a 
roller, followed immediately by the plough, which 
Vol. IV.— 14 



shall whirl it under. Sow again another bushel 
to the acre upon the upturned sod, rake it in, 
and as before, turn it under. Then sow the 
seed of the largest kind of red clover, which 
should be suffered to grow to maturity, then to 
be trampled down and eaten off by stock. To 
all these crops, one bushel of plaster per acre, 
applied when they are about one-fourth grown, 
will vastly increase the amount of vegetable 
matter, and will also secure a more extended 
fermentation. 

At the end of the second year, all lands thus 
treated, will be restored to their original fertility. 
At least, I know from experience that such has 
been the effect in the more northern sections of 
the Union, and I do not see why the same re- 
sult should not follow at the South. 

A Northen Farmer. 



WATER-ROTTING HEMP. 
To the Editor of the Southern Planter: 

Sir, — It is from no desire to appear in print, 
that I ask a small space in your valuable paper, 
to enable me to give my mite of information on 
the subject at the head of this article, but sim- 
ply the carrying out of an intention long since 
made of publishing my experience on the mode 
of water-rotting hemp — I am the more induced 
to do this, because in Virginia it is very little 
understood, if indeed, I am not almost the only 
one at all engaged in it. While on the subject 
of hemp, perhaps it might not be amiss to say 
something in a general way as to its cultivation 
and management; I shall, therefore, give my 
views : 

1st. As to the sort of land suitable for hemp. 

2d. Its preparation; the time and manner of 
sowing; quantity of seed; time of pulling or 
cutting, and manner of securing. 

3d. The ordinary mode of dew-rotting, and 
subsequent management. 

4th. The water-rotting process. 

1st. Then, it is useless to sow hemp on poor 
land ; rich soil is indispensable. Rich tobacco 
lots, flat rich creek or river bottoms, mountain 
hollows with southern exposure, or clover lands 
where two or three successive crops have been 
permitted to fall. These are the only lands 
from which a good crop of hemp may be ex- 
pected. As to the preparation of the soil, a to- 
bacco lot requires nothing but to be broken up 
with a barshare, (just before sowing,) harrow- 
ing, sowing and ploughing in quite shallow, 
with the shovel plough. Most other lands, es- 
pecially meadow and clover lands, should be 
well broken up in the fall, and again in the 
winter or early in spring, and well harrowed, 
and finally, before sowing closely bull-tongued, 
harrowed, sowed, and shovelled, about three 
inches deep. As to the time of sowing, there 
is some difference of opinion. Some sow as 



106 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



early as the first of April ; while others contend 
that as late as the 15th of May is best: both 
are, I think, on the extreme. In this climate, 
from the middle of April to the first of May is 
perhaps about right ; say just before corn plant- 
ing. Hemp should never be stinted ; it should 
be sowed when the ground is warm, so that it 
may come up soon and grow off vigorously, 
and never have a check from drought. It dif- 
fers essentially from corn, tobacco, &c, in this 
respect ; for these speedily recover from a check, 
but hemp does not. As to the quantity of seed, 
it is said too much cannot be put in, as all the 
seed over and above what the strength of the 
land will germinate, will perish. The usual 
quantity on very rich land is two bushels to the 
acre; the quantity, however, is varied down to 
one and a fourth bushels. As to the time of 
pulling or cutting, this will depend much on the 
season and time of sowing. Perhaps, as a gen- 
eral rule, the proper time is when the farina or 
dust from the male hemp begins to fly, as this 
shows that this part of the hemp is on the de- 
cline. When pulled (which is a laborious pro- 
cess,) or cut, it is laid in swaths, like wheat, &c. 
until it is cured, which will be effected, in good 
weather, in two or three days ; the leaves or 
tops are then beaten off with sticks ; it is then 
shocked up, and a band of hemp fastened tight 
around the top. In this state it remains until it 
is removed for rotting. 

Hemp is usually spread for dew-rotting late 
in the fall, the later the better, if there should be 
sufficient rains and snows to rot it ; when spread 
early, there is a greater certainty of its being 
rotted in time, but it is usually darker. A pri- 
mary object should be, to have it ready for the 
brake at the earliest moment after the first of 
January, so that every cold dry day may be de- 
voted to the brake. On the subject of braking 
hemp, I should be glad to hear through your 
paper what improvements are made in this most 
laborious operation. I understand a spring pole 
fastened to the head block, has been tried with 
success in the West. < 

Having now, in as concise and plain a man- 
ner as possible, gotten through with my digres- 
sions, somewhat after the manner of our great 
men in Washington, I will conclude by giving 
you what I promised in my text on " water- 
rotting hemp." Hemp is ready for the water 
immediately after it is shocked, but the best time 
is from the 20th of September to the 1st of No- 
vember. My pond, which is about ninety yards 
long by about thirty yards wide, and two and 
a half feet deep, is supplied by springs affording 
water sufficient to fill it in forty eight hours. — 
Before putting the hemp to water, which is tied 
into bundles of about the size of a man's body, 
the head gate is raised and the water let off; 
poles are then laid across the pond of sufficient 
distance for a layer of hemp, say from six to 



eight feet ; the first layer being down, butts all 
one way, the second is reversed, and so on, until 
four la3 T ers are down ; it is then weighted down 
with plank and rock; this is then continued 
until the pond is full. The gate is then let 
down, and the pond fills, and so remains until it 
is sufficiently rotted. As to the time necessary, 
much depends on the season, temperature, and 
the character of the water. In a still pond, 
with no running water, eight or ten days will 
doubtless be sufficient. «In 1842, I rotted, in 
October, in about fifteen days. My last crop, 
rotted in winter, was barely rotted enough in 
four weeks. There is, however, in a spring 
pond very little danger of over-rotting, and no 
danger whatever of sickness being produced by 
it. To ascertain when it is rotted enough, a 
small quantity can be taken out and dried, and 
applied to the brake. When watered enough, 
the water is let off, and it so remains for two 
days to drain, that it may be the lighter and 
easier handled. The bundles are then set up in 
shocks of about a dozen in each ; in this state 
it remains a few days longer, depending of 
course on the weather ; it is then spread until 
dry, and then shocked up neatly and bound at 
top and is ready for the brake. Should the 
weather be dry and windy, a day or two is suf- 
ficient time after spreading. 

The advantages from water-rotting are con- 
siderable to those whose natural advantages 
make it convenient. I should be very appre- 
hensive of artificial ponds or pools, as the ex- 
halation arising from decomposing hemp is very 
offensive, and must be unhealthy. The first 
advantage in water-rotting is, that you are in- 
dependent of the season ; your crop can be got 
in readiness for the brake early in winter, where- 
as, in dew rotting, it may not be ready in a cold 
dry winter until the braking season is past, 
when you will be obliged to house or stack 
your hemp, or lose it. The next advantage is 
the enhanced price, growing out of its great 
superiority in color and strength. 

I should be glad, Mr. Editor, to see frequent 
essays on this most important branch of our 
agriculture. Why is it that so little appears in 
your paper on this subject? 

Your constant reader, 

X. Y. Z. 

Roanoke, Va., April 2, 1844. 

We too should be glad to receive any addi- 
tional information upon the subject of hemp. — 
We have in our office a specimen of water- 
rotted hemp, presented by Mr. William Peyton, 
of Roanoke, which we have reason to think 
rivals the best specimen from Russia. We 
know that Mr. Peyton esteems it the most pro- 
fitable crop that can be grown upon rich land. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



107 



For the Southern Planter. 

UPPER HOLE AND CORNER. CLUB OF 

MECKLENBURG. 

C. T. Botts, Esq. 

Sir, — At the meeting of the Upper Hole and 
Corner Club in December, it was ordered, that 
the following report on the plantations of A. C. 
Morton, Esq., be published in the Southern 
Planter. I, therefore, forward it with the request 
that you will publish it in your paper. 
Respeclfull v, &c. 

"B. W. Leigh, Cor. Sechj. 

Mecklenburg, Jan. 23. 1844. 



The report of the Committee appointed by 
the Upper Hole and Corner Club, to examine 
the plantations of A. C. Morton, Esq. 

Your Committee had no opportunity of ex- 
amining any other crops than the wheat, which 
we think was well and neatly seeded. 

Until Mr. M. purchased his plantation, seven 
years ago, it had been managed entirely on the 
old Virginia plan. But within this period we 
think all will agree that he has greatly improved 
his land, both by manuring and sowing the ar- 
tificial grasses. He has sown a large part of 
his plantation in the artificial grasses, but mostly 
in herdsgrass, (which he prefers to clover,) and 
has increased his manured surface at home to 
nearly three entire shifts for his crop of tobacco. 
He cultivates his land on the three shift system, 
both for corn and tobacco, which we think of 
doubtful propriety, where herdsgrass is used as 
an improver. 

In manuring, his plan is to go over in the 
summer as large a surface as he can by penning 
both his cattle and his sheep, the latter of which, 
he thinks are but little injured, if they are not 
driven too fast, in penning. In the winter he 
collects a very large quantity of leaves and 
coarse grass into his farm pens in addition to 
his straw and stalks. Until the present year, 
Mr. M. has used the whole of his manure on 
hi3 tobacco, but this year he has commenced 
applying some of it to his corn. As a proof of 
the success of Mr. M.'s plan of improving, we 
will state that the whole of his crop of tobacco 
at home, the present year, which we think all 
will concede to have been very fine, grew on 
very old high land made rich by putrescent ma- 
nures and the artificial grasses. He has im- 
proved, by putrescent manures and the grasses, 
275,000 tobacco hills, a large part of which has 
been twice manured, at home, and 80,000 at 
Walnut Hill, besides applying a good deal of 
manure to fruit trees, patches, &c. This has 
been done by a force of sixteen hands, rather 
inefficient, and frequently much hindered : and 
in the meantime we do not think that his corn 
land has deteriorated. 

Mr. M.'s crops at home, the present year, 



which we all know to have been a very bad 
one, were 169 barrels of corn, 300 bushels of 
wheat, 16 stacks of oats, 25 stacks of hay, and 
his tobacco, which was judged by all to be 
equal to 10 hogsheads, made by three men, two 
boys and four women, one of the men sick 
nearly the whole year. These facts prove, we 
think, beyond a doubt, that we can make to- 
bacco, and at the same time improve our lands 
rapidly. 

Mr. M. has a very fine meadow, which adds 
greatly to his forage and to his means of making 
manure. 

Mr. M. is trying to improve his stock of cat- 
tle, and for this purpose has lately purchased a 
full blooded Durham bull of the stock of the 
late Rev. Mr. Kirkpatrick, of Cumberland. 

Your Committee cannot fail to mention that, 
though Mr. M. found no orchard on his planta- 
tion, he has now a young orchard of apple trees 
beginning to bear, and an abundant supply of 
excellent peaches. 

Mr. M. has, at considerable labor, made a 
beautiful fish pond, which also serves for his ice 
pond. 

B. W. Leigh, 
P. C. Venable. 

December, 1843. 



For the Southern Planter. 

TOBACCO. 

Mr. Editor, — The tobacco crop of Virginia 
has so greatly deteriorated in value that it be- 
comes a serious question, by what means its 
prices may be increased. Light will be thrown 
upon this inquiry by a consideration of the 
causes which have reduced its value. The 
principal of these are the inferior quality of the 
article, and the great increase of the crop in the 
United States. The effect of the latter circum- 
stance is a supply greatly increased beyond the 
increase of the demand. Our market has gra- 
dually, but. slowly, extended, while a vast por- 
tion of our most fertile lands have been added 
to the tobacco region within a few years. This 
cause of low prices might be counteracted either 
by extending the market, or by reducing the 
crop. If China would abandon the use of opium 
and substitute our tobacco, we should be bene- 
fited, as well as her own people. Or if Euro- 
pean governments would remove their enormous 
duties on tobacco, our remuneration for its pro- 
duction, as well as the royal revenues, would 
be proportionally augmented. These changes, 
however, are beyond our power. But the other 
remedy is in our hands: we can reduce the 
crop. Suppose we reduce it by a half; and 
that, instead of two hogsheads, we make one: 
it is obvious that we produce the same practical 
result we would by doubling the demand. Prices 



108 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



would speedily go up. It may here be asked, 
objectingly, What is the difference between 
making a thousand pounds at five dollars, and 
five hundred pounds at ten dollars ? In both 
cases, we would receive fifty dollars ; but in the 
latter case, the fifty dollars would cost us just 
half the expense of time and labor that we give 
for the same sum, in the other case ; and time 
and labor are the capital of the farmer. 

This augmentation of value, by a diminution 
of the supply, might be effected by a general 
combination of the planters in the United States, 
and would unquestionably, be advantageous to 
all. But there is no probability of such an 
agreement with the new States. Virginia must 
act for herself; and here comes up the question, 
What can xoe do to increase the value of our 
great staple % Something must be done : we 
cannot afford to produce tobacco at present prices. 
We have no substitute for tobacco, and should 
we abandon it, and enlarge our crops of corn 
and wheat, the value of these would be depressed 
in proportion to their increase. Silk from ihe 
mulberry, and sugar from the corn-stalk may 
one day take their place among the staples of 
Virginia husbandry — but that will be hereafter. 
We must rely still upon tobacco for our largest 
revenue. What, then, can be done to increase 
its value % The ready reply is, produce a less 
quantity of a better article. All will admit that 
it is necessary to make better tobacco, in order 
to get higher prices ; and in admitting this, they 
yield the whole matter. We can improve the 
quality of the crop only by cultivating less. — 
The two things go together. Our cleared lands 
are exhausted — we have no more forests to cut 
down — and our best " improved" lands must be 
much more improved before they can regain 
their original productiveness. Our resources for 
manure are limited, and it is very important to 
concentrate what we have on as small a surface 
as possible; because it is only by heavy manur- 
ing that our old land and lots can be made rich 
enough to produce good tobacco. Now, by 
cultivating less land in tobacco, we can employ 
more time and labor in making manure — we 
can make our tobacco lands richer, and cultivate 
the crop more thoroughly. Thus, we may pro- 
duce better tobacco — and having a smaller quan- 
tity of plants and leaves, we can cure and prepare 
it for market in superior style. 

In connection with the foregoing remarks, 
the writer suggests the following experiment to 
every tobacco grower who reads the Planter. — 
Every one has noticed those plants which, 
from any cause, have lost several leaves — how 
much heavier and richer are the three or four 
leaves that are left, and how much earlier they 
mature, than other plants of the same topping 
that ripen eight or ten leaves. Let the planter 
6elect, at his first general topping, several thou- 
sand plants of equal size and an equal soil — top 



half the number at six leaves — the other half 
at eight or ten, as his custom may be ; carefully 
note the appearance of the different plants as 
they grow and mature — cure them separately, 
and after weighing the different parcels, give 
the result in this journal. In all probability, a 
thousand plants with six leaves will iveigh more 
than an equal number with nine or ten leaves : 
there certainly will be fewer " lugs," and a larger 
proportion of good leaf — for the plants should 
be " primed high." And "last, but not least," 
the six leaved plants would come to the knife 
ten or twelve days sooner. 

These are mere suggestions for the wisdom 
of others to work upon. If worthy of attention, 
they will doubtless receive it. ; if not, they can 
do no harm. But I cannot forbear urging prac- 
tical men to make the proposed experiment in 
topping low and priming high. The trouble 
would be trifling, and should it fail, the loss can- 
not be large. But if the result should be what 
I confidently anticipate, it might lead to impor- 
tant additions to individual wealth and the pros- 
perity of the Old Dominion. 

Taylor. 

Springfield, March, 1844. 



From the Southern (Georgia) Cultivator. 
CULTURE OF CORN. 

J\Iessrs. Editors, — The communication which 
I am about to make, I designed making to the 
Albany Cultivator, last year, and would have 
done so had it not been for my aversion to ap- 
pearing in the public prints. I at several times 
thought of making the communication over a 
fictitious name, but reflected that facts are not 
so apt to be received as such, unless a man 
vouches for their truth in his own proper name. 

It may bo proper to say, in the outset, that I 
am cultivating land on Flint river, which I set- 
tled some four years since for my father, and 
which, in the common language here, is "as 
rich as land ever gets to be." 

Last year I planted for experiment one acre 
of corn in the following manner : The ground 
was first broken very deep, and then laid off two 
feet each way — the corn planted in checks and 
covered with the foot. When it was up about 
half leg high, I had it flat weeded and thinned 
to one stalk. When silking I had it flat weeded 
again, and this finished the cultivation — it never 
had been ploughed at all. About the time the 
corn was grown, a severe wind prostrated it in 
several places, so that I feared my experiment 
would fail at last. In addition to this disaster, 
it being in an exposed situation, the squirrels 
destroyed a good deal — the outside row was, I 
think, entirely consumed. At a proper time I 
had what was left gathered, shucked out, and 
measured the ears in a barrel in the same manner 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



109 



as we purchase and sell corn. 1 had one barrel 
shelled, and as I had no measure upon which 
to depend, I weighed the corn thus shelled. — 
According to the weight of this barrel, the pro- 
duce of the acre, as gathered, was five thousand 
one hundred and four pounds. 

Now, farmers differ as to the weight of a 
bushel of corn. In the Southern States it va- 
ries from fifty to fifty-six pounds ; the latter being 
the maximum weight. This I allowed, and you 
will perceive, upon calculation, that this will 
make it ninety-one bushels and nearly half a 
peck. 

I have given you the result of an experiment 
tried under many disadvantages. I will now 
give you the reasons which induced me to plant 
as I did. It is a fact well known, that corn ma- 
tures better in a colder climate than ours, and 
from this I inferred that it suffered too much 
from the intense and collected heat of the sun in 
our climate. This is one reason why I planted 
so close, for when grown in midsummer, the 
ground, and therefore the roots, would be pro- 
tected from the sun by the shade of the corn 
itself. Another reason was, that in appropriat- 
ing a given number of stalks to the acre, they 
had better be planted at equal distances from 
each other in every direction, so that the roots 
of one stalk will not interfere with those of an- 
other. By this system you make it more pro- 
fitable, as every particle of earth will be reached 
by the roots, and no portion of soil be free from 
effort while other portions are overtasked. 

Another reason was, that when planted so as 
to shade the ground, (strange as it may appear,) 
it would better stand a drought, by preventing 
the largest portion of a shower from evaporating, 
as it is the case where the sun has free access 
to the ground. That this idea may not appear 
so novel, I ask you to reflect that the spots 
which remain moist for the longest time in the 
woods are those which are covered with the 
densest growth. 

Another was, that it would save labor in the 
cultivation ; for when the corn is high enough 
lo shade the ground, weeds and grass cease to 
flourish. And still another reason was, that it 
saved the necessity of cutting the roots with the 
plough. I know this is a controverted point 
among practical farmers; but I would just as 
soon expect that an animal would be more 
thrifty by having his limbs broken or his mouth 
lacerated, as to suppose that a plant would be 
more vigorous in consequence of having its 
leaves or roots injured. The latter, vegetable 
phisiology teaches us, serve as the rnouth, and 
the former as the lungs, of plants. It has again 
boon objected, that such close planting prevented 
the corn from getting air, which was necessary 
for its health. 

It has seemed strange that this objection 
should have been urged, for if a philosopher 



were experimenting in pneumatics, he would 
hardly say his receiver was "air-light," if it had 
a crack of tivo feet in it. Finally, Messrs. Edi- 
tors, we may theorize on the subject as much 
as we please, and there may be as many objec- 
tions urged as it is possible to produce, yet un- 
precedented success and a full " crib" will an- 
sw )• them all — at least to my satisfaction. 

There were two other acres connected with 
the one upon which the experiment was tried, 
part on one side and part on the other, planted 
and cultivated in the usual way. The product 
of both together scarcely equalled the one I re- 
port, though the corn had been worked oftener. 
This year I have planted some eight or ten 
acres after pretty much the same plan, and it is 
decidedly the best corn I have ; the freest from 
weeds and grass, and will doubtless produce 
double of any other corn on the plantation, 
though the price is equally good elsewhere. 
I am your friend, truly, 

Williams Rutherford, Jr. 

Crawford County, Sept. 15, 1843. 



For the Southern Planter. 
HOLE AND CORNER CLUB OF ALBEMARLE. 

The undersigned, a Committee of Inspection 
appointed by the Hole and Corner Club of Al- 
bemarle to examine and report on the farm of 
Col. Thomas J. Randolph, respectfully submit 
the following report, regretting at the same time 
that they have not had an opportunity to make 
thorough examination of the farm in question : 

Col. Randolph's farm, like most, of those at- 
tached to the Club, is a corn, wheat, and tobac- 
co farm, with all of which he has, for a few 
years past, combined grazing. This farm is, at 
present, in a high state of improvement, when 
compared with most farms in this part of the 
country, combining beauty and fertility; and 
from the exhibit made to us by Col. Randolph, 
and also by others, who state that when Col. 
Randolph became possessed of this farm, some 
fifteen or eighteen years ago, it was almost a 
barren waste, it affords most ample and satisfac- 
tory proof of what the industry and energy of 
man can accomplish when directed aright. Col. 
Randolph well deserves our highest encomiums 
for the great improvement he has wrought in 
his lands : he has probably made as great a 
profit on them by their increased value alone, as 
most farmers have made from improvement and 
moneyed returns combined. 

The system of cropping pursued on this farm 
has varied much since Col. Randolph has had 
possession of it : at present he has adopted the 
seven shift system with the following rotation. 
1st. Wheat on fallowed land which has lain out 
three years. 2d. One year's rest. 3d. Corn 
and tobacco. 4th. Wheat, to be followed by 



110 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



three years rest in grass, to be grazed hard the 
third year. 

The Committee has no doubt this may be a 
good rotation for Col. Randolph's farm ; but at 
the same time they would suggest simply whe- 
ther it would not be a better rotation with seven 
fields to have first wheat on land to be fallowed 
that has lain out two years ; then two years rest 
under grass; then corn and tobacco; then wheat; 
then two years rest under grass, to be grazed 
hard and trampled the last year for the wheat 
which is to follow. At any rate, they do not 
hesitate to express the opinion that this system 
would be too hard an one for most of the farms 
in this vicinity, especially with Mr. Randolph's 
rotation of it ; though his farm may improve 
under it, inasmuch as it has reached a stage of 
improvement which will bear a more frequent 
repetition of crops without prostration. 

The Committee has not had time to enter 
into further detail of this system of rotation. — 
For the information of those not so well ac- 
quainted with this farm, however, and for the 
more correct appreciation of the exceptions we 
have taken to it, it may not be amiss to state 
that clover hay is cut to a considerable extent 
from some one or other of the fields while lying 
in grass, and, of course, all the manure, both 
animal and vegetable, which the farm affords, to- 
gether with a liberal use of plaster of Paris is ap- 
plied to one crop or another during the rotation. 

The fixtures, such as fences, gates, &c. are 
remarkably good, and generally in good repair. 
Many of the fences are made of stone of the 
height of from two and a half to three feet, with 
a capping of three rails confined by stakes and 
caps, which we consider an improvement on the 
old mode of making stone fences ; that is, en- 
tirely of stone to the height required; they are 
of course more liable to tumble and require re- 
pair, especially with such stone as is usually 
put into fences. 

The farm buildings also deserve particular 
notice. They are, for the most part, well 
planned and built, and in a good state of repair. 
The barn is the most complete we have seen 
anywhere, possessing the advantage of roomi- 
ness, convenience in arrangement, complete ven- 
tilation and economy of covering or roofing, and 
good fixtures in the way of threshing out wheat 
and freeing it from the chaff, this being all done 
by horse-power and at one operation. This 
barn is three stories high ; the lower story of 
brick and stone ; and we would recommend to 
any member of the Club who has not seen it, 
to examine it for himself. We had omitted to 
mention that there is a stable for work-horses in 
a part of the lower story of this barn which is 
convenient and comfortable ; and as the subject 
of stabling is one a good deal neglected in this 
part of the country, we would also recommend 
this to the notice of the Club. 



There is one exception which we feel com- 
pelled to make to the farm buildings, to wit, the 
negro cabins. These, or at least such of them 
as we saw, were not in keeping with the gen- 
eral improvement which we witnessed. They 
appeared to be small and rather rude in the 
style of construction, and withal rather detract- 
ing from the general air of neatness and good 
management which characterized the farm. — 
We do not wish to be understood as saying that 
the cabins were not comfortable ; for we had 
not an opportunity of going inside of them, and 
consequently do not feel ourselves competent to 
pronounce on them in this respect. We hope, 
therefore, that Col. Randolph will respond to 
this expression of our opinion in such a manner 
as to satisfy us on this point. 

The tools and farm implements which we 
saw were not remarkable, with the exception, 
perhaps, of two ; one of these was a London 
barshare plough, which we think possesses de- 
cided advantages over the three-horse ploughs 
commonly used in this vicinity for breaking up 
fallows, especially in turf land. This plough 
was doing decidedly superior work to the three- 
horse McCormick, when we saw them both at 
work on the same land ; though we must say 
that we did not think the ploughing remarkably 
good with either. The other implement to 
which we alluded, was a one-horse plough 
called a skimmer, to be used in working corn 
for the purpose of stirring the soil, and at the 
same time, cutting up the running brier and 
sassafras sprouts, to which our mountain lands 
are peculiarly subject. It gives the land a good 
superficial working and kills the grass and 
weeds at the same time. Its shape is that of 
two sides of an equi-lateral triangle with the 
angle working in front. It cuts about fifteen 
inches in width and runs from three to four 
inches under the ground. 

The crops were very good for the season ; 
though the corn, tobacco, and oat crops had been 
recently much curtailed, in consequence, we 
suppose, of the long drought we have had this 
summer. 

The stock of cattle, hogs, and sheep are very 
good, and from their appearance show that they 
have been cared for. The working cattle are 
particularly good ; they are mostly of a cross of 
the North Devon breed, and a finer specimen 
of oxen we have rarely seen. 

The Committee are sensible that they have 
been unable to do justice to the farm of Col. 
Randolph, from the want of opportunity to ex- 
amine it critically since the duty has devolved 
on them, and they are compelled to pass over 
many things which would be of interest to the 
Club. 

William W. Minor, 
Franklin Minor, 
Hugh Minor. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



111 



A JUDICIOUSLY MANAGED AND PROFI- 
TABLE FARM. 

If our readers should derive as much pleasure 
as we did, in reading the subjoined account of 
the management and products of a thrifty Yan- 
kee's farm, they will thank us for having af- 
forded them the opportunity of perusing it. The 
productiveness of this farm should go far to 
prove, how much better it is to cultivate a small 
farm well, than by attempting the culture of a 
large one, greatly bej'ond our means and force, 
to reap disappointment as the reward of our 
toils. — American Farmer. 

STEPHEN BRINLEY's FARM. 

Not more than thirty miles from the city of 
Eoston you may have noticed a pretty location — 
a sloping surface inclining to the south-east — 
the highest point covered with pines, furs, and 
other evergreens. At the foot of the slope, on 
the south, a gentle brook meanders over the 
washed pebbles, or when more full and generous, 
it distributes its favors over the green herbage 
and makes rich a long lawn that yields without 
culture the winter supplies for a sleek herd of 
red Devons and a few cosset sheep. 

Mr. Brinley's farm consists of one hundred 
acres. Eighty of cleared land, ten of wood, 
and ten of timber land. The twenty acres of 
forest lie north of his buildings and protect them 
as well as his herds from the northerly winds. 
His dwelling house is not so large as to go 
without repairs, and his barn is large enough to 
hold his fodder and to sheller his stock. 

The highway runs nearly east and west, and 
his house is set square with it instead of ranging 
with a north and south line. As the house 
stands on the north side of the highway it faces 
southerly, and you are not tempted in a cold 
day, to go round to the back side to enter it. 

No evergreens are planted on the south side 
to screen it from the sun in winter — none are 
admitted there but such trees as are called de- 
ciduous, or mannerly enough to doff their caps 
as soon as they are found to intercept light and 
warmth which is wanted in the building in 
short days. But a belt of trees is flourishing 
on the west and north sides of the building, 
bidding defiance to wind and snow, and looking 
as fresh through the whole winter, as in June. 

The bam a.nd out-houses stand easterly from 
the dwelling-house and on the same side of the 
way, leaving the south and south-west breezes 
a free passage, and full authority to waft the 
noxious vapors from the manure heaps in a di- 
rection from the sitting rooms, in warm weather, 
such as accompanies breezes from this quarter. 
When the winds are north or north-east the ef- 
fluvia is seldom offensive. 

The principal barn has a deep cellar under 
♦he whole, but as it. stands up well on the sloping 



land no water stands underneath. The cow- 
yard is south of the bain and lower than the 
cellar, sloping enough to shed off all excess of 
wet into a pit on the eastern side where mate- 
rials are thrown to become impregnated. Thus 
no ice is made in the yard to endanger the cat- 
tle's bones, and no mire-pits formed to catch and 
hold fast the shoes of the unwary footman. 

A cheap shed runs the whole lengh of the 
west side of the yard, and another forms the 
east side. 

The barn cellar is stoned on three sides, leav- 
ing an opening south. All the cattle lie loose 
under the barn and sheds ; and when one or 
more requires different feed or treatment they 
are put in single pens. 

Racks are made round, that the cattle may 
eat on either side without fear, as they will ga- 
ther around a small stack of hay, not being ex- 
posed to be cornered and hooked, but free to fly 
off in a tangent when a superior nods at them. 

The cattle have learned their places, and 
there is no more danger from hooking than 
when they are yarded in summer, the master 
cattle having their favorite stands and keeping 
them the principal part of the eating hours. — 
Some hay is wasted, as coarse hay always will 
be, in any mode of feeding; but as the yard is 
never very wet and as straw and the poor kinds 
of fodder soon accumulate about the circular 
racks, very little hay that is valuable will be 
lost, and the poor kinds will be eaten much bet- 
ter when exposed in the yard or in open racks 
than when placed in a close manger before cat- 
tle that must either starve or eat in a fixed posi- 
tion — the head confined and the knees worn 
bare on a hard floor. 

The cellar is warmer in cold weather than 
the sheds, and in the coldest nights the master 
cattle choose the warmest part of the cellar, 
that is, the north end, to lie down in, and it 
sometimes happens that the underlings will 
choose to lie close beside them, and you will 
find a dozen head lying in a small compass. — 
Eut in moderate weather you will find the cattle 
preferring the open sheds to breathe a free air. 

Mr. Brinley finds his cattle will eat coarse 
fodder belter when they run loose than when 
they are tied to a stanchion ; that they lie more 
comfortably, much cleaner ; and that the labor 
of tending them is not half so great ; that the 
milk is cleaner, and that the manure is much 
more valuable. For every drop of the urine of 
the cattle is absorbed by the loam that is carted 
into the yard and under the barn in autumn. — 
The solid part too is trod down and mixed with 
the loam, instead of freezing and thawing as it 
will when thrown out at the window in the 
usual manner. 

The whole cellar is not occupied by the cat- 
tle, for the bay of hay takes fifteen feet of it 
and runs down six feet below the floor. This 



112 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



bay, fifteen by forty feet, holds six tons below 
the floor ; and as six tons more will fill it only 
six feet above the floor, twelve tons can be 
pitched into this one bay without a man or a 
boy to take it away from the carter. 

One man goes up from the field with a load 
of hay and pitches it off without assistance, 
leaving the others to rake and prepare for the 
next load. This makes a great saving of labor 
in the very busiest part of the day> and when 
there is the greatest danger of loss from showers. 
The hay in the bay may be levelled down in 
the morning when all hands are near by and 
no lost steps are taken. 

Under the barn carts can be driven without 
obstruction, going in on one side and turning 
about as occasion requires, to carry in loam or 
to carry out manure. A pump stands a couple 
of rods from the barn and a trough conducts 
the water to the trough which stands in the 
warmest part of the cellar and seldom freezes. 

Mr. B. having eighty acres of cleared land, 
ten of which is natural mowing, and sometimes 
flooded, he keeps forty more in tillage and mow- 
ing. He has two acres of orcharding which 
he keeps constantly broken up, and no cattle or 
horses are allowed to run in it. 

There remain nearly thirty acres of pasture 
land, most of which he can plough. On these 
thirty acres he summers fifteen cows or cattle of 
some kind, and he keeps half as many hogs as 
cows. The refuse of his dairy furnishes the 
principal part of the food for his young hogs, 
and he fattens his pork with Indian and buck- 
wheat meal, potatoes, &c. He plants two acres 
of corn and one of potatoes, never planting the 
same plat more than once before laying it again 
to grass. 

Four acres of his lightest soil are devoted to 
buckwheat. And as such land is not ploughed 
till the last of June, a green crop of weeds, &c. 
is always turned under, and he finds he may 
have an annual harvest of buckwheat with 
once ploughing and without manuring. But 
he occasionally sows buckwheat in May and 
ploughs in the first crop to enrich the land, and 
when he has time enough to sow again for a 
harvest. 

This course leaves him about thirty acres of 
upland mowing, from which he sometimes gets 
sixty tons of hay, besides about twelve tons of 
stock hay on his low ground. Now as he 
breaks up but about three acres each year his 
English mowing land would yield him but little 
if it must rest till its turn came to be planted — 
it would not come more than once in ten years, 
and in that time it would be so clogged with 
grass roots and bound out, as we call it, that it 
would not yield half a ton to the acre. 

To remedy this evil he adopts that branch of 
the neio system which consists in turning over 
the green sward in August, and sowing grass 



seed at once on the furrow. This saves the ex- 
haustion which is caused by grain crops — saves 
the expensive operation of tillage — and secures 
large annual harvests of that most important 
article in a cold country, the most indispensable 
item in New England husbandry — a good hay 
harvest. 

Mr. Brinley's cattle look sleek and handsome. 
If they are not all Devons they have the Devon 
color and appearance. No filth is found adher- 
ing to their sides and flanks, and they may be 
approached most readily in the yard without 
subjecting the inspector to a sight of filth and 
slime. 

Mr. B. fattens ten hogs, which weigh, on the 
average, 4,000 lbs. This, at 6 cents, $6 per 
hundred — gives 6 times 40=$240. His cows 
— fifteen— nett him $40 each,=$6C0. He 
sometimes sells from 15 to 25 tons of hay in a 
year — and this at $15 per ton — the average 
price of hay for thirty years past, gives not less 
than $300 more. 

Mr. Brinley keeps a couple of horses and 
with these he does the principal part of the la- 
bor on his farm; though he occasionally keeps 
a yoke of oxen, and he sometimes fattens them 
for market. Sometimes he purchases cattle 
from the country in autumn, keeps them through 
the year and sells them for beef, and keeps a 
less number of cows. 

His four acres of buckwheat give him 80 to 
100 bushels of grain, and his two acres of corn 
yield him, on the average, 120 bushels ; and he 
raises his own rye and oats on three acres of 
ground that were planted the preceding year. — 
Occasionally he raises wheat instead of rye, for 
his own use ; and generally he makes it a rule 
to buy nothing which he can raise on his own 
farm — so that whether prices are high or low 
he is not affected except in regard to the surplus 
which he has for sale. 

From his orchard he realises a profit. Some- 
times he sells 200 barrels ; and whether apples 
are plenty or scarce the nett income is not so 
much varied as the quantity of fruit. He thinks 
he averages not much less than $100 for his 
apples. These four items give on the average 
from 12 to $1300 worth for sale. Then his 
family is supported besides from the same farm, 
and supplied not only with all kinds of necessa- 
ries but with numerous luxuries. These are, 
honey from his bees, peaches, pears, quinces, 
currants, raspberries, strawberries, cherries, in 
their season, — and grapes of various kinds that 
give him a great supply from the first of Sep- 
tember to the first of November. 

Then he has a pair of horses to travel with, 
either in a wagon or in a family carriage, and 
he has always leisure enough excepting only in 
July when his hay harvest presses. This whole 
farm is carried on by the labor of one hired man 
through ten months of the year, one more ia 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



113 



July and a lad of a dozen years of age ; and 
the owner is not under the necessity of laboring 
more than half the time. There is no crowd 
of work except in hay time. 

In winter he needs but little help, for when 
at home he chooses to feed his own cattle by 
throwing their hay into the racks ; and one of 
his horses pumps all the water for his stock 
by means of a fixed horse power, the cost of 
which was less than $20. The same horse, at 
the same time, and in the same gear, may turn 
a grindstone, an auger, a churn, and a washing 
machine. The churning and the washing are 
done on Monday morning. 



For the Southern Planter. 

MEADOWS. 

JYIr. Editor, — Above you will find three chap- 
ters from the work on husbandry by L. Junius 
Moderatus Columella, who, it appears, was a 
contemporary of Tiberius, who died A. D. 37. 
So the work dates about the commencement of 
the Christian era. I send them to you for two 
reasons, first, as an agricultural antiquity and cu- 
riosity; second, that those who are experienced in 
meadows may be induced to give us theirviews — 
for information upon the subject of grasses and 
meadows, in the part of the State in which I 
reside, is sadly wanting. Few sections, in any 
country, afford so much land fit for meadows, 
nor is there, I dare say, in the civilized world, 
anywhere such utter neglect of grasses. Se- 
veral reasons conspire to produce this effect; 
but, I doubt not, the chief reason is to be found 
in our utter ignorance upon the subject. To- 
bacco is the great Shibboleth of this region, when 
our necessities require that other things should 
not be neglected. We buy pork and horses 
from the drovers, and rely upon tobacco to pay 
for every thing. I should be much gratified to 
see something mature upon the subject of mea- 
dows in the Planter. Can you not enlist some 
successful grass-grower, and lay before your 
readers a full account of the subject? 

1. The best situation and soil. 

2. The best manner of preparing land for a 
meadow. 

3. The best kind of meadow grass for Middle 
Virginia. 

4. The best time for seeding a meadow. 

5. The best time for mowing it. 

6. The average quantity an acre of average 
meadow will produce. 

7. How many ox-cart loads of manure are 
requisite to an acre of ordinary meadow land; 
and a.s the chancery lawyers say, "such other 
and further" information as experienced men 
think useful. 

Most writers take it for granted that their 
readers know more than they really do, and, 
Vol. IV- 15 



therefore, omit just what puzzles the "green- 
horn." Whereas if they would write for the 
ignorant farmer, the well informed one would 
lose nothing. 

I am, sir, 

Your obedient servant, 

Philip A. Bolling. 

We are much obliged to Mr. Bolling for the 
pains which he has taken in supplying us with 
the extracts, but we think our correspondents, 
whose particular attention we invite to the sub- 
ject, can furnish him with information infinitely 
more practical, and much better adapted to the 
present state of agriculture than any thing he 
can find in Columella. The opinions expressed 
by the old Roman are curious and highly cre- 
ditable to the author, as showing what correct 
views were entertained by this distinguished 
husbandman even at that early period. 



GROOMING. 

Of this, much need not be said to the agri- 
culturist, since custom, and apparently without 
ill effect, has allotted so little of the comb and 
brush to the farmer's horse. The animal that 
is worked all day, and turned out at night, re- 
quires little more to be done to him than to have 
the dirt brushed off his limbs. Regular groom- 
ing, by rendering his skin- more sensible to the 
alteration of temperature, and the inclemency 
of the weather, would be prejudicial. The 
horse that is altogether turned out, needs no 
grooming. The dandruff, or scurf, which ac- 
cumulates at the roots of the hair, is a provi- 
sion of nature ta defend him from the wind and 
the cold. 

It is to the stabled horse, highly fed, and little 
or irregularly worked, that grooming is of so 
much consequence. Good rubbing with the 
brush, or the currycomb, opens the pores of the 
skin, circulates the blood to the extremities of 
the body, produces free and healthy perspiration, 
and stands in the room of exercise. No horse 
will carry a fine coat without unnatural heat or 
dressing. They both effect the same purpose ; 
they both increase the insensible perspiration : 
but the first does it at the expense of health 
and strength, while the second, at the same 
time that it produces a glow on the skin, and a 
determination of blood to it, rouses all the ener- 
gies of the frame. It would be well for the 
proprietor of the horse if he were to insist — and 
to see that his orders are really obeyed — that 
the fine coat in which he and his groom so 
much delight, is produced by honest rubbing, 
and not by a heated stable ami thick clothing, 
and most of all, not by stimulating or injurious 
spices. The horse should be regularly dressed 



114 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



every day, in addition to the grooming that is 
necessary after work. 

When the weather will permit the horse to 
be taken out, he should never be groomed in the 
stable, unless he is an animal of peculiar value, 
or placed for a time under peculiar circum- 
stances. Without dwelling on the want of 
cleanliness, when the scurf and dust that are 
brushed from the horse, lodge in his manger, 
and mingle with his food, experience teaches, 
that if the cold is not too great, the animal is 
braced and invigorated to a degree that cannot 
be attained in the stable, from being dressed in 
the open air. There is no necessity, however, 
for half the punishment which many a groom 
inflicts upon the horse in the act of dressing; 
and particularly on one whose skin is thin and 
sensible. The currycomb should at times be 
lightly applied. With many horses, its use may 
be almost dispensed with ; and even the brush 
needs not to be so hard, nor the points of the 
bristles so irregular, as they often are. A soft 
brush, with a little more weight of the hand, 
will be equally effectual, and a great deal more 
pleasant to the horse. A hair-cloth, while it 
will seldom irritate and tease, will be almost suf- 
ficient with horses that have a thin skin, and 
that have not been neglected. After all, it is 
no slight task to dress a horse as it ought to be 
done. It occupies no little time, and demands 
considerable patience, as well as dexterity. It 
will be readily ascertained whether a horse has 
been well dressed by rubbing him with one of 
the fingers. A greasy stain will detect the 
idleness of the groom. When, however, the 
horse is changing his coat, both currycomb and 
the brush should be used as lightly as possible. 

Whoever would be convinced of the benefit 
of friction to the horse's skin, and to the horse 
generally, needs only to observe the effects pro- 
duced by well hand-rubbing the legs of a tired 
horse. While every enlargement subsides and 
the painful stiffness disappears, and the legs at- 
tain their natural warmth, and become fine, the 
animal is evidently and rapidly reviving; he 
attacks his food with appetite, and then quietly 
lies down to rest. — Sorratt. 



DEEP PLOUGHING. 
To the Editor of the Southern Planter: 

Sir, — Considering you as guardian of the 
agricultural interest of our State, I take upon 
myself the task of inviting your animadversions 
towards the destructive system of cultivation, 
practised by the farmers of Brunswick and Lu- 
nenburg. 

Our land is mercilessly cut down ; then the 
soil merely skimmed off, without breaking or 
loosening the bed of clay on which it rests: but 
this may be necessary for the crop of tobacco, 
which is first. Next, it is sawn with wheat, 



and then fallowed for corn, with ploughs cutting 
only from three to five inches deep. From this 
mode of cultivation, the natural inclination of 
the land to wash, is much increased, and in a 
few years, we find the hills sterile, and in a 
worthless condition. 

Is it not reasonable to suppose, that the num- 
berless galls and gullies on our farms are in a 
great measure caused by these slight and im- 
perfect ploughings ? For when the thin soil is 
thus made light, and left on the hard clay, im- 
penetrable to water, the rain not being absorbed 
immediately, collects in considerable streams, 
which pouring down the declivities, carry away 
the best and only productive portion of the land. 

But it may be objected, that the clay, turned 
up by deep ploughing, will injure the crop. In 
reply, I can scarcely grant that it does so to any 
extent ; if any, only for the first season, which 
will be amply atoned for in the next ; for the 
clay is in a short time pulverized, and rendered 
productive by exposure to the air, and becomes 
the richest and most lasting soil. This fact is 
proven by the exuberant growth on the banks 
of ditches and canals, where clay has been 
dug from three to twelve feet below the surface, 
thrown out, and in twelve months is covered 
with vegetation far surpassing that on our best 
improved lots. 

From these observations, I am convinced, 
were we to adopt the system of ploughing our 
lands deep and thoroughly, that our land would 
become richer and more fertile ; that the soil 
would be rendered deeper by every fallowing ; 
that instead of the crops suffering from drought, 
as they now do, the mellow loam would allow 
the roots to run and expand ; and by the noc- 
turnal moisture, which could then arise, they 
would be refreshed, and enabled to withstand 
the blaze of the midsummer sun ; and lastly, 
that our fields would no longer be washed and 
ruined by the autumnal rains. 

Grateful for the correct ideas received from 
your journal, 

I am, sir, 

Your obedient servant, 

E. H. E. 

Brunswick, Dec. 16, 1843. 

We will take the guardian's privilege of en- 
joining upon our self-constituted ward the prac- 
tice of his own excellent doctrine. The surest, 
if not the quickest, way to reclaim a neighbor- 
hood from the error of their ways, is to place 
before their eyes the practical result of a better 
system. 



FEEDING ANIMALS. 



Some very useful remarks, and important ta- 
bles of comparison, are given in a late number 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



115 



of the Royal Agricultural Society's Journal, 
from the French of M. Antoine. The most im- 
portant of these tables we may give hereafter, 
but at present we shall merely quote what is 
said about feeding animals. 

"A certain quantity of food is required to keep 
an animal alive and in good health ; this is called 
his necessary ration of food ; if he has more, he 
will gain flesh, or give milk or wool. An ox 
requires 2 per cent, of his live weight in hay 
per day ; if he works, he requires 2| per cent.; 
a milch cow 3 per cent.; a fatting ox 5 per cent, 
at first, 4£ per cent, when half fat, and only 4 
per cent, when fat, or 4^ on the average. Sheep 
grown up, require 3^ per cent, of their weight 
in hay per day, to keep in store condition. Ani- 
mals while growing require more food, and 
should never be stinted." 

According to this calculation, a sheep of 50 
lbs. weight would require 1 lb. 1 1 oz. per day ; 
and one of 100 lbs. weight, 3 lbs. 5 oz. Or it 
would require 199 lbs. of hay to keep the first 
sheep 4 months ; and 397 lbs. for the same time 
the last. This, it is believed, agrees very well 
with the experience of our farmers, who are in 
the habit of allowing about one ton of hay to 
every 10 sheep. It must be remembered, how- 
ever, that this calculation is based on the very 
best hay ; so that when the farmer whose sheep 
have had this quantity of thistle, johnswort, 
daisy, &c. &c, but all called hay, dealt out to 
them, finds his sheep dying off by dozens in 
the spring, he need not attribute it to an error of 
calculation. The great difference between hay 
of the first quality, and that of inferior kinds, is 
too much overlooked by the farmer. According 
to M. Antoine, if 100 lbs. of good hay is taken 
as the standard, it will require 120 lbs. of the 
second quality to keep an animal in as good 
condition as the first ; 140 lbs. of the third qua- 
lity ; and so on, until hay may be so poor as 
scarcely to support animal life given in any 
quantity. — Cultivator. 



For the Southern Planter. 

ARCHITECTURE. 

Mr. Editor ; — There are few subjects of greater 
interest and importance to the farmer than the 
construction of dwellings and other buildings, 
and, in Virginia at least, there are few subjects 
on which our farmers show greater apathy or 
indifference. It is to be regretted that the va- 
luable and entertaining pages of the Southern 
Planter have not been enriched by contributions 
from architects and others, who have it in their 
power to give valuable information in reference 
to designing, planning and constructing farm 
buildings. And why is it that so little attention 
i3 paid to architecture, both as an useful art and 
one intended to embellish and adorn the homes 



of our farmers 1 Surely we all delight to live 
in a commodious and comfortable and even beau- 
tiful dwelling. When a gentleman undertakes 
to build, instead of obtaining the views of a 
professional architect — one who has by study 
and practice prepared himself to give valuable 
aid to those who wish to build, he builds as his 
neighbor, or after the plan of some one who 
has not one correct idea of proportion, or taste, 
or convenience. 

But, Mr. Editor, my purpose to-night is not 
to give your readers a lecture on this important 
subject. I design building a cheap cottage on 
my farm, and, my means being limited, I feel at 
a loss about the construction of my dwelling. — 
I desire to build a plain, comfortable and pretty 
cottage — such a dwelling as would both suit 
my purposes and at the same time embellish 
my farm. The perusal of the most valuable 
and entertaining works on landscape, gardening 
and cottage residences, by Mr. Downing, (works 
which every man ought to have,) called my at- 
tention to the name of an accomplished archi- 
tect. I corresponded with him — told him my 
wants — limited him in the sum to be expended ; 
and the result of my application was the receipt 
of designs for one of the most comfortable, con- 
venient, and elegant cottages I have ever seen. 
He met my wishes in a most satisfactory man- 
ner — and has really given me a building with a 
greater number of rooms and closets than I im- 
agined could be constructed in the space in- 
cluded in the walls and for the small sum to be 
expended. I never saw the architect, but have 
had the pleasure of a very agreeable correspond- 
ence with him. He is a gentleman of intelli- 
gence and taste and a superior man in his pro- 
fession. 

With no desire or interest to make a puff, al- 
low me, Mr. Editor, to bring to the notice of my 
brother farmers the gentleman to whom I have 
referred. I allude to Mr. John Notman, Ar- 
chitect, Philadelphia. I can cheerfully and with 
unaffected sincerity recommend Mr. Notman. — 
I feel assured that those who may have occa- 
sion to obtain the very valuable <ad of Mr. Not- 
man will not regret that they have done so. 

Cannot you, Mr. Editor, or some of your cor- 
respondents (more accustomed to the pen than 
I am) do something for the cause of rural ar- 
chitecture and embellishment of our beloved Old 
Virginia — something to adorn our homes, and 
thus add to the materials of our happiness ? — 
Rely upon it, sir, if I am compelled to resort to 
the argument of dollars and cents, (the most ir- 
resistible of all modes of reasoning,) I can tell 
your readers that, in the end, it costs no more 
to build a house of good proportion and with a 
little embellishment as to architectural appear- 
ance, than a huge barn-like looking building. 
And I may be wrong, but it appears to me that 
it is almost as reasonable for an unskilled person 



116 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



to attempt to plan a house, as to conduct his 
own law-suit, or to make his own clothes. 

Excuse this troubling you with these thoughts, 
and do with this communication as -" to you 
seemeth good :" if it shall suggest to your at- 
tention a most neglected, though important, sub- 
ject of interest, hitherto unnoticed in the Planter, 
I shall not regret that I send this paper to you. 

Junior. 

J Cottage, March 30, 1844. 

There is nothing within the compass of our 
small abilities that we will not do, to assist our 
correspondent in giving to our Virginia homes 
the only charm they lack, that of outward em- 
bellishment. 



For the Southern Planter. 
FOUNDER IN HORSES. 

JYIr. Editor, — I had a fine horse last summer, 
badly foundered. He could barely hobble about 
and seemed to suffer from the slightest move- 
ment. I recollected a remedy recorded in the 
Planter, and, after bleeding the horse copiously 
from the neck, I applied your correspondent's 
prescription. Heating hog's lard to boiling heat, 
each hoof was inserted in the vessel filled three 
or four inches with the oil, which hissed upon 
the hoof. Nothing more was done, and the 
next day the horse was entirely recovered. 

T. Y. D. * 



ANIMAL POISONS. 

The venom of the bee and the wasp is a li- 
quid contained in a small vesicle, forced through 
the hollow tube of the sting into the wound in- 
flicted by that instrument. From the experi- 
ments of Fontana, we learn that it bears a 
striking resemblance to the poison of the viper. 
That of the bee is much longer in drying when 
exposed to the air, than the venom of the wasp. 
The sting of the bee should be immediately ex- 
tracted; and the best application is opium and 
olive-oil ; one drachm of the former finely pow- 
dered, rubbed down with one ounce of the latter, 
and applied to the part affected by means of 
lint, which should be frequently renewed. No 
experiments upon whjch we can rely have been 
made on the poison of the spider tribe. From 
the rapidity with which these animals destroy 
their prey, and even one another, we cannot 
doubt that their poison is sufficiently virulent. 
Soft poultices of fresh flesh, bread and milk, or 
in the absence of these, even mud, are excellent 
applications to the stings of insects, and even 
the bites of the most venomous snakes. The 
specifics, recommended in such cases for internal 
use, are not to be compared in efficacy with the 
timely application of a poultice of the flesh of 
a chicken or other animal recently killed. The 



flesh of the rattlesnake itself, in some parts of 
America, is reckoned to possess specific virtues, 
and doubtless will answer nearly, if not quite as 
well, as any other good soft and moist poultice, 
which will seldom fail to effect a cure when 
promptly applied and frequently renewed. In 
this way the irritation and inflammation induced 
by the poison in the part bitten, is ofien arrested 
at once, and prevented from extending to vital 
parts. These conclusions are the results of ex- 
periments made with the poison of the rattle- 
snake, in which the most celebrated Indian and 
other specifics were used with little if any ad- 
vantage. — Farmers' Encyclopedia. 



From the Farmer's Gazette. 
PROTECTION AGAINST DROUGHT. 

JVIr. Wood, — The severe drought this summer 
has destroyed a great many young trees in this 
city — some even that had been planted several 
years. This is a serious evil, and much greater 
than the loss of a portion of our garden vegeta- 
bles, or shortening the crop of potatoes and 
grass; because the latter may be produced an- 
other year, whilst many years and much care 
are necessary to repair the loss of trees of any 
considerable growth ; and it is, therefore, an in- 
quiry of interest to every one who has a young 
tree, how he may protect it in a season of 
drought. The method which I have practiced 
xoith unfailing success for several years ma}' be 
new to some of your readers, and I will, there- 
fore, relate it. In the summer, when there has 
been no rain for some time and vegetables begin 
to droop, I put a coat of ground tanner's bark, or 
tan, (as it is called,) about the trunk of my 
young trees, from eighteen inches to three feet 
in diameter, and two or three inches thick ; and 
if the drought continues long I wet the tan oc- 
casionally — perhaps once in ten or twelve days. 
The tan prevents the rapid evaporation of mois- 
ture from the ground, and the soil beneath it 
will remain moist and light if not wet for two 
or three weeks. I set out fourteen elms about 
my lot in a very sandy soil in April last, and in 
June, on the first appearance of drought, I put 
some tan about them, which I wet but once af- 
terwards ; the trees have grown finely the whole 
time, and now look better than any I have seen 
which were planted this year. 

My garden is situated on high ground, with- 
out the protection from wind or sun from any 
quarter, and naturally a very thin and sandy 
soil ; and yet I have not in four years lost a tree 
from drought, out of a large number planted 
every .year, having protected them in this man- 
ner. The trees and shrubs in the burying- 
ground have been preserved through the drought 
by watering and cutting the grass and putting 
it about them. This is a very effectual protec- 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



117 



tion but attended with more trouble than my 
method, as they require watering much oftener. 
A nurseryman, near Boston, once said to me, 
" never water a tree after it is planted out.'" This 
rule will not always answer in our soil, if it 
does in Boston ; but many trees are certainly 
injured by improper watering, and I should, 
therefore, say, when you water a tree put something 
about it to check evaporation and keep the ground 
from " baking" and in my opinion tan is the 
best material for that purpose. I have also put 
tan about strawberry plants newly set out, with 
decided advantage — not only protecting them in 
dry weather, but keeping the fruit clean and 
preventing them from being " winter killed." — 
The only objection which I know to its use on 
strawberry beds, is that it prevents many of its 
runners from taking root. This, with rare kinds 
which it is desired to increase rapidly, is an ob- 
jection to covering the whole space between the 
plants, but it may be obviated by putting it a 
few inches about each plant, leaving the re- 
mainder of the ground uncovered. I set out a 
large bed with about two hundred of Hovey's 
seedlings in August and September last, with 
tan about them, and did not lose a single plant. 
They were every one in fine order in the spring, 
and did not even wilt during the severe drought 
this summer, although they were not watered 
at all. 

Yours, respectfully, S. D. P. 

SYew Haven, Aug. 11, 1843. 



CURE FOR SPAVIN. 

Mr. E. D. Worbasse, of New Jersey, writing 
to the Editor of the Cultivator, says, " The fol- 
lowing I have found would cure a bone spavin 
in its first stages, if properly applied. Add to 
two table-spoonfuls of melted laid, one of can- 
tharides, made fine or pulverised, and a lump of 
corrosive sublimate, as large as a pea — all melted 
up together, and applied once a day till used up, 
confining it to the callous. This quantity is for 
one leg, and may be relied on as a cure. It 
will make a sore and the joint will be much 
weakened while applying the medicine. No 
need of alarm ; it will all be right when healed 
up." 



A HJNT TO HOUSE OWNERS AND 
BUILDERS. 

No portion of a house is so important to its 
preservation as a good roof; and yet, strange to 
say, although a poor uncivilized Indian can 
with common bark, cover his cabin or wigwam 
so effectually a3 to prevent, a leak, the generality 
of t: modern roofers," with the aid of a choice 
of materials — tin, copper, zinc, &c. — seldom are 
found ingenious enough to prevent a roof from 
leaking. The leaks most common to newly 



built houses are found about the chimneys, or 
wherever the material of which the roof is 
made, comes in contact with brick work. This 
arises from not properly covering the edge of 
the roofing. In tin roofs, the usual custom is 
to carry the sheets of tin some foot or six inches 
up along-side the brick work, and to putty, or 
plaster, or cement the seam ; but after a short 
time, either by shrinking of the rafters and other 
wood work of the roof, or a settling of the chim- 
ney, this putty, cement, or plastering, is found 
to show a crack, by the tin being drawn from 
its position, and the water enters and runs down 
under the tin. 

In other cases the upper edge of the tin is 
bent and inserted in the brick work, but the 
shrinking and settling above alluded to, produce 
the same result ; the tin is drawn from its posi- 
tion and a leak is sure to follow. This causes 
more putty and plaster, and "paint skins" are 
also resorted to, but after a few showers and hot 
days they all prove ineffectual. Ask a roofer, 
and he will tell you " these leaks can't well be 
prevented ; it always has been so and always 
will be, as long as wood shrinks or chimneys 
settle." 

Now, a very simple plan cannot fail to prove 
a complete protection against leaks. When the 
chimney is built, let the mason be instructed to 
insert between the second and third tiers of bricks 
above the roof, a strip of sheet lead, say six 
inches wide, leaving about four inches projecting 
outward, the other two inches being firmly ma- 
soned in the brick, and leave it there. Then 
the roofer, when he is completing his w T ork, will 
carry the sheets of the roof up the side of the 
chimney nearly to this lead, which he will then 
bend down over the upper edge of his work, 
and batter it smoothly and snugly down. There 
must be no soldering or nailing the two together. 
With this arrangement the shrinking of the 
wood work of the roof may draw the tin or 
other metal of which the roofing is composed, 
or the chimney may settle, but no leak can oc- 
cur there in consequence. 

If this plan is to be applied to houses already 
built, the hood of lead can be inserted in the 
brick work of the chimney by cutting out the 
pointing and plastering of the brick, and secur- 
ing the lead with new cement. 

Any man who builds a house and desires to 
have a tight roof, should insist upon having this 
lead hood inserted firmly in the work that rises 
above the roof, so that when the roof is put on 
there is a covering ready to be bent down over 
the roof work, when it joins the brick or stone 
work of the house. — JY. Y. Com. Advertiser. 



NOVEL METHOD OF WORKING BUTTER. 

A correspondent of the American Agricul- 
turist, writing from Montpelier, Vermont, says, 



118 



TEIE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



"A very useful and ingenious mode of extract- 
ing whey from butter, was recently related to 
me by a gentleman who had resided many years 
in the grazing districts of France; and he in- 
formed me that a similar apparatus is at present 
in successful operation, near by here, in this 
State, although I have not yet seen it. He de- 
scribed it in a manner that could not fail to be 
understood by any farmer in the Union. 

" The machine, he represented as made of 
wood, in form not much unlike a grindstone, 
closely fitted into a trough, leaving a space be- 
tween the stone and bottom of the trough not 
exceeding a sixteenth of an inch in thickness. 
The trough is first filled with clean water sa- 
turated with salt, one end of which is crowded 
full of the newly-churned butter. Then the 
stone is put in motion by means of the crank or 
otherwise, and the butter is drawn beneath it, 
and comes out at the other end of the trough in 
thin sheets, not more than one-sixteenth of an 
inch in thickness, almost entirely freed from the 
whey, and for common use requires no further 
salting. The brine thus prepared, has another 
very important office to perform. It imbibes, by 
chemical affinity, all the whey with which it 
comes in contact, and leaves the butter by itself. 

"Although this apparatus is extremely rude 
and simple, it is obvious to an ingenious me- 
chanic, how easily such a machine could be 
improved upon, and answer a tenfold purpose. 1 ' 



ashes ; I have used leached ashes with uniform 
success ; I have no doubt that lime will do as 
well or better than ashes. By exposing the 
roots to the sun and air, the propagation of the 
worm is checked, it gives birds (particularly a 
kind of wood-pecker or sap-sucker) a chance to 
peck them out. If the first attempt does not 
relieve the tree, repeat it ; search for the worms 
and destroy them or the tree cannot flourish. — 
My old trees are as healthy at this time as 
young trees can be, and if next year be a good 
year for fruit, they will no doubt yield abun- 
dantly. 

Your obedient servant, 

Lewis Sanders. 
Grass Hills, Ky., Nov. 10, 1843. 



PRESERVING ROOTS. 
In a communication from our friend Mr. Be- 
ment to the Central New York Farmer, we find 
the following: 

" Carrots and sugar beets are equally tender 
with the potato, and as liable to be affected by 
frost, consequently they will require equal atten- 
tion, or the crop may be lost. In gathering 
them, care should be taken to cut off their tops 
about half an inch or so above the crown, as 
they will not keep so well when cut too close, 
for which reason some prefer wringing them off 
with the hand." 



PEACH TREES. 
To the Editors of the Louisville Journal: 

Gentlemen,— I recollect seeing a short time 
ago, in some paper, an article about peach trees, 
recommending to cut them down or dig them 
up, when affected with the yellows ; this pre- 
scription is like cutting the throat of a sick ani- 
mal, fearing lest it should die of the disease. If 
the cause of the yellows is removed, and the 
sick animal cured by proper remedies, natural 
health is restored to each. 

The only enemy of the peach, as I believe, 
is a small whitish worm with a brown head, 
about an inch and a quarter long. Destroy the 
worm in any way you may, and the health of 
the tree is restored. 

I have some Heath peach trees, obtained from 
Mr. William Morton, of Lexington, Kentucky, 
now more than twenty years old ; from neglect 
they occasionally have had the yellows, but de- 
stroy their enemy, and the health of the tree is 
restored. Scoop the earth from about the root 
of the tree, so as to form a bowl eight or nine 
inches deep; the tree in the centre; the out 
edges of the bowl to be eighteen to twenty-four 
inches from the tree ; do this about the first of 
September ; let it remain so until the first of 
December ; then fill the bowl level with wood 



MILLER'S SAFETY REINS. 

These consist of gut covered with leather, 
and are, therefore, proof against fracture ; and 
being round, and of neat light appearance, form 
a rather ornamental and sporting-like appendage 
to harness or saddle. They are mounted in this 
wa y : — They pass through a hook placed on 
the head of the harness-bridle, and through a 
leather loop on the head of the riding-bridle, and 
come down on each side of the neck. About 
middle-way down the neck is a coupling with 
two swivels, which receive the reins from the 
head, and they then pass through the dees of 
the harness, and through the turrets of the har- 
ness-saddle, and along to the front of the splash- 
board to a rein-holder, by which they are held 
always ready for use. The head of the horse 
and the turrets of the saddle being both higher 
than the throat, and the coupling being short, 
and having leave to traverse the reins on each 
side of the neck, it settles on that part of the 
throat at which the reins, on being pulled, exert 
the greatest force, when, the windpipe being 
forcibly compressed, the horse becomes affected 
in his respiration, and, therefore, stands still, or 
slackens his pace for breath, which he imme- 
diately obtains on the reins being slackened. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



119 



Thus, feeling he is mastered, the horse shows 
no farther inclination to run off again ; but in 
case he should renew symptoms of starting off, 
a few firm grips of the coupling on the throat 
will let him feel the futility of his attempts. 

• In explanation of the origin of the invention, 
Mr. Miller stated that he was a farmer's son, and 
that, in his youth, he used to be employed at 
times to assist in catching horses at grass, by 
means of surrounding them with a rope, borne 
by a person at each end of it. He remarked 
that,, in this service, although no restraint was 
laid upon the horses when the rope rested on 
their chests, yet, whenever it could be got upon 
their throats, they instantly stood still and al- 
lowed themselves to be taken. The idea which 
this recollection suggested, of the probable effect 
of pressure on the throat in stopping a runaway 
horse, led Mr. Miller to the contrivance of his 
safety reins. In his first experiment, the band 
which connects the reins under the neck was j 
attached to the headstall by hooks and straps ; 
but it has been considered an improvement to 
allow it to move freely upon the reins, on which 
it settles in contact with the throat, in a proper 
position for use when required. 

Our communications with Mr. Miller im- 
pressed us favorably in regard to his contrivance; 
but, wishing to see it in practice we availed 
ourselves of an offer by him to afford us an op- 
portunity of judging of it in operation. We, 
accordingly, on a clay appointed, accompanied 
him in a carriage drawn by one horse, for the 
purpose of trial; and we witnessed as specta- 
tors, as well as made ourselves, repeated tests of 
the reins, with the horse going at a smart can- 
ter, both on a level road and on a descent, and 
we invariably observed that the tightening of 
the reins caused the horse immediately to stop. 
No injurious effect seemed to be produced on 
the horse by the interruption of his respiration. 
He always appeared to breathe freely, and to 
be ready to resume his work, as soon as the 
tension of the reins was relaxed. 

Upon the whole, therefore, we consider Mr. 
Miller's invention to be a neat and simple, as 
well as, to appearance, an effective contrivance 
for the accomplishment of its important object, 
in the prevention of the disastrous accidents 
which not unfrequently occur from horses run- 
ning away ; and we think it reflects much credit 
on the ingenuity of its inventor. 

We know of no more ridiculous or helpless 
situation in which a poor devil can be placed, 
than to be pulling and tugging at the mouth of 
an ill-natured brute, who has got the bit be- 
tween his teeth. Many plans have been devised 
to cruard the defenceless occupant of a wheel 
carriage from the dangerous propensities of an 
ill-broke horse ; but none seern to us likely to 



prove effectual and so simple as these safety 
reins. Another mode has been adopted in France : 
the safety reins are attached to the blinds so as 
to enable the driver to draw them at pleasure 
close over the eyes of the horse : this is said to 
be an effectual stoppage to his career. We had 
rather depend upon choking than blinding. 



From the American Agriculturist. 

CULTURE OF RUTA BAGA. 

Hereford Hall, near Albany, \ 
September 27, 1843. J 

I have about nine acres of ruta baga, which 
1 sowed broadcast, and I verily believe it to be 
the best system of growing them. I have tried 
every new and fashionable experiment, but after 
all I prefer the old one, when you have men 
that understand hoeing them, and I can soon 
teach a person, if he is willing to work and ob- 
serve ; the only difficulty is they leave them too 
thick. 

I can grow a greater weight per acre, and 
my manure is spread regularly over my soil for 
the succeeding crop. I ploughed a piece of sod 
the early part of last fall, cross-ploughed just 
before the winter set in, leaving it as rough and 
as much exposed to the weather as possible. — 
Early in the spring, I harrowed it thoroughly, 
raked up all the conch and burnt it. I ploughed 
it the third time the latter part of May, and 
gave a second dressing with harrows and rakes, 
and burnt all the refuse. I then put on about 
thirty loads of good rotten manure per acre, 
which had been turned in the mine in the course 
of the winter and well mixed together, and all 
pernicious seeds decayed. I ploughed it under 
about four inches deep, and sowed the seed on 
a fresh furrow. They have grown luxuriantly, 
and are a very profitable crop for a breeder. 

Sir John Terrill, in answer to Mr. Everett's 
remarks in England, said the climate would not 
allow us to grow Sweeds (ruta baga) in Ame- 
rica. I say that better Sweeds can be grown 
here than in England, under the same culture. 
I have grown better, and more weight to the 
acre, and 1 have cultivated them extensively in 
both countries, more especially in England. 
William H. Sotham. 



BROOM CORN. 

Broom corn is much cultivated, and with suc- 
cess, in some towns on the Connecticut river, in 
Massachusetts. The amount produced on one 
acre, varies from eight hundred to one thousand 
pounds, besides sixty or seventy bushels of seed. 
The brush is said to be worth four or five cents 
per pound ; in 1837, it was worth twelve and a 
half cents per pound. The seed on an acre, at 



120 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



thirty-three cents a bushel, is said to be equal to 
a crop of oats. In Northampton, and its vici- 
nity, not less than one thousand three hundred 
acres are thus cultivated, worth, for the brush 
and seed, $100,000. The seed usually weighs 
forty pounds per bushel. The manufacture of 
brooms in a small town, Hadley, in Massachu- 
setts, is estimated at $160,000 ; eighty thousand 
brooms were manufactured by one man in a 
year. To a limited extent, this culture of the 
broom corn and its manufacture, might be yet 
more extensively engaged in with advantage. 
The process of cultivation is similar to that of 
maize or Indian corn. — Berkshire Farmer. 



EFFICACY OF BATHING IN CERTAIN 
MORBID STATES OF THE MIND. 

Judging from the beneficial effects of cold 
and warm water bathing in case of mental ir- 
ritation caused by cerebral disease, I should feel 
disposed to consider that the steady use of these 
remedial agents would, in incipient derangement 
of the mind, be accompanied by the happiest 
results. It is much to be lamented that the 
practice of regular systematic bathing is not re- 
commended and adopted in this country. The 
state of the mind is closely dependent upon the 
condition of the cutaneous secretion. I would 
advise those who ate subject to mental depres- 
sion, hypochondriasm, vapors, ennui, or by what- 
ever term it may be designated, to try the effect 
of bathing. I feel assured that in many cases 
violent attacks of insanity may be warded off 
by the use of the warm or cold bath. In cere- 
bral irritation, evidently the result of vascular 
excitement, bathing the head regularly every 
morning with cold water, or vinegar and water, 
will be found highly serviceable. — F. Winsloxo's 
Health of Body and Mind. 



NEW MODE OF PROPAGATING FRUIT 
TREES. 

The New Hampshire Whig says, "Two of 
the best farmers within our knowledge secure 
their fruit trees thus: they dig at some distance 
from the body of a favorite tree until they find 
a root, which they cut off. The part disjointed 
from the tree is turned up so as to appear above 
ground. This sends forth shoots the first sea- 
son, and bears in a few years fruit precisely like 
the parent tree. Let those whose trees are de- 
caying, or who wish to increase good varieties, 
try the experiment." 



ASPARAGUS OUT OF CUCUMBERS. 

Some time since, on the authority of a cor- 
respondent, we recommended that cucumbers be 
dressed in the same way as asparagus and a 
dish would be produced equal to the latter. We 



have tried the experiment, and find that our cor- 
respondent is correct — many thanks to him. 

The Savannah Republican notices the sug- 
gestion, and states that the article has been 
served up on toast at the Pulaski House, Savan- 
nah, for the last six years ; and says that if the 
cucumbers be sliced lengthwise, and fried in 
butter, they will be found an excellent substitute 
for fried oysters. — JWew York Sun. 



AN INSECT TRAP. 

Scoop out the inside of a turnip ; scollop the 
edge of the shell, and place it downward on the 
earth. The insects will pass into it as a place 
of retreat, through the holes ; and the beds of 
squashes, melons, cucumbers, &c, may thus 
soon be cleared of them. 



ENGRAVINGS. 
The continued indisposition of our Engraver 
deprives our readers of the usual illustrations for 
the present number. The Editor is now absent 
at the North chiefly for the purpose of securing 
a continued and bountiful supply of choice en- 
gravings for the Planter. 



CONTENTS OF NO. \\ 

Pipe Clay — Information wanted, p. 97. 

Poultry — How to fatten, p. 98. 

Peas — A great fertilizer, p. 99. 

Feed for Stock — Comparative value of ha}', vegeta- 
bles and corn, p. 100. 

Corn — The best mode of cultivating desired, p. 100. 

Lime — Practical dissertation on, p. 101. 

Agricultural Papers — Value of, p. 104. 

Asfies — Should be given to stock in fattening, p. 104. 

Fecundity — Extraordinary cases of, p. 104. 

Hemp— Water-rotting, preferable, p. 105. 

Report — Of the Upper Hole and Corner Club of 
Mecklenburg, p. 107. 

Tobacco — Greatly deteriorated in value, p. 107. 

Corn — A great yield, p. 108. 

Report — Of the Upper Hole and Corner Club of Al- 
bemarle, p. 109. 

Farm — A judiciously managed and profitable farm, 
p. ill. 

Grooming — Proper mode of, p. 113. 

Meadows — Value of, p. 113. 

Galls — Deep ploughing a preventive for, p. 114. 

Animals — Table for feeding, p. 114. 

Agriculture — Its importance, p. 115. 

Horse — Remedy for founder in, p. 116. 

Animal Poisons — To cure, p. 116. 

Drought — Protection against, p. 116. 

Spavin — Cure for, p. 117. 

Architecture — A hint to builders, p. 117. 

Butter — Novel method of working, p. 117. 

Peach Trees — Mode of preserving, p. 118. 

Roots — Should be protected from frost, p. 118. 

Safely Reins — A valuable invention, p. 118. 

Ruta Baga — Culture of, p. 119. 

Broom Corn — A profitable crop, p. 119. 

Bathing — Its efficacy in certain morbid states of the 
mind, p. 120. 

Fruit Trees — New mode of propagating, p. 120. 

Cucumbers — A substitute lor asparagus and fried oys- 
ters, p. 120.