THE 



Southern P 



OUTHERN TLANTER 

DEVOTED TO 

agriculture.:horticulture,:live stock and the household. 

. Office, 26 WiDierson's Hall, Ninth Street. 

T. W. ORMOXD. ..... Proprietor. 

W. C. KNIGHT. - . - - Editor. 

W. C. JACKSON, ..... Advertising Agent 



46th Year. APRIL, 1885, No. 4. 

GOITTEITTS: 

Self-Supporting Employment for Ladies in the South 147 

The Necessity and Right Use of Manures 153 

How Portions of the Farm may be Profitably Used for Growing Fruits and Vegeta- 
bles 158 

Hnlling and Cleaning Clover Seed 161 

Sweet Ensilage.. 162 

Crowding Wheat... ', 163 

To Fatten a Lean Horse :.... 163 

Your Living a Profit 164 

Sketch of the Pines of the United States East of the Mississippi River 166 

Winter Manure 170 

To the People of Virginia '. 171 

Gex Cheese 17 7 

Virginia Agriculture 178 

Hard Times and Book- Farming 180 

The Negro — Parody on Poe's Raven 181 

Col. O'F'errall's Plan to Benefit Farming Community 182 

Nitrates are Needed 183 

It is Not True 183 

Farmers' Needs and Farmers' Organizations 184 

Scratches in Horses 188 

Some Suggestions upon Ensilage 189 

Betting on Race-Courses 191 

Editorial : 
The Corn Crop, 193; Plaster and Salt .....: 194 

Editorial Notes : 

Farm Implements; The Farmers' Convention ; The Faults of the Planter;' Our Sub- 
scribers; The Planter's Premiums: Work for the Farmer's • Convention ;* The 
Eureka Incubator ; Communications; Books and Magazines ; Catalogues; New 
Advertisements'; Renewals; Change of Advertisements 195-199 



Richmond : J. W. Fergusson & Son, Printers. 



Fourqurean,price,Temple&Co 

.429 E. Broad and 206 N. Fifth Sts, Richmond, 7a. 

DRY GOODS! 

LARGEST STOCKS SOUTH OP NEW YORK. PRICES TO COM- 
PARE WITH LARGEST MARKETS. 



SPECIALTIES : 

BLACK SILKS — Black Silk, 50c. 75c, 87>£c., $1-00 and $1.25. For $1.48 we are selling the best 
value you have ever seen— a rich, heavy Gros-Grain that has sold readily for $1.65 or $1.75. Samples sent on 
application. 

LADIES' COTTON AND CAMBRIC UNDERWEAR, well made, handsomely trimmed, 
and best styles, at lowest, quotations. This department is under the care of a competent and experienced' 
lady, and has the reputation of being the cheapest exhibition in the South. Information or sample gar- 
ments sent on application. Corsets, Hosiery and Merino Underwear in the same room, and can be bought 
of our lady assistants. 

BLACK GOODS.— Cashmeres, by the advance in the tariff, are much higher than for the past sea- 
sons. We are so fortunate as to have secured a very large stock at former quotations. We can now furnish 
All-Wool Cashmeres at 40c, 50e , 60c, 65c, 75c, 85c, 87^0., $1 00 and up to $1.75— cheapest line to be found. 

COLORED . DRESS GOODS.— We cater especially for a fiDe aud discriminating retail trade. In 
line plain, plaid and fancy woolen and silk and wool fancy novelties, our stock is complete. In Plain Cash- 
meres, worn more than ever before, we offer rare values, giving a good All-Wool Cashmere at 40c , 50c, 65c, 
75c, 80c, 87%c, $1.00 and upwards. Samples.and useful information furnished promptly. All the leading 
colorings in tashmeres at 12J^c ap tf 

[ESTABLISHED 1866. J 
Wm. H. Palmer, President. John Ott, Secretary. John Enders, Vice-President. 

Southern Fertilizing Co., 

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, 

— MANUFACTURERS OF — 

STANDARD FERTILIZERS. 

For the Spring demand we have : 

1.— The "Anchor Brand " Tobacco Fertilizer, both for Plant-beds and the gen- 
eral crop. (For Plant-beds this article is furnished in both 100 pound and 200 
pound sacks, as may be desired.) 

2. — The "Anchor Brand" for Cotton.— This article, like the Tobacco Fertilizer, 
has had nineteen years' continuous test in the field, and still holds its own against 
all comers. 

3. — The "Anchor Brand" for Peanuts. 

4.— The "Anchor Brand" for Trucks. 

5.— The "B. P." (Ammoniated) for Corn. 

6.— The "Anchor Brand" for Potatoes. 

7.— The " B. P." (Potash Mixture) for Grape Vines, Fruit Trees and for 
Composting. 

6.— The "F. B." (Flour South Carolina Bone). 

jQ^Apply to our representative at your trading point. If one is not found there ad- 
dress the Company direct ife 3t] JOHN OTT, Secretary. 






I 



•THE- 



SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



DEVOTED TO 



Agriculture, Horticulture, Live Stock and the Household. 

-• 



Agricult 
Tillage 


ure 
and 


is the nursing mother of the Arts. — Xenophon. 
pasturage are the two breasts of the State. — Sully. 


T. W. ORMOND, 
W. C. KNIGHT, 







Proprietor. 
Editor. 


46tu Year. k 




RICHMOND, APRIL, 1885. ' 


No. 4. 



SELF-SUPPORTING EMPLOYMENT FOR LADIES IN THE SOUTH. 



This is an excellent essay, which will be the last of the Blair series published by the 
Planter. Its author is Mrs. Eaima Bryan, of Harrisonburg, Va. 



The cares of the world, the pursuit of riches, the planning of ambitious 
schemes, and the turmoil of business may seem to beloDg entirely to man's 
sphere, from which, heretofore, the aim of the Southern gentleman has been to 
shield the female members of his family; but when man, (dying, has failed in 
his schemes,) or the temptations and misfortunes of life have wrecked him, leav- 
ing woman helpless on the world, the cry comes, " What must she do for a 
support?" 

Many pursuits open to women are deemed unfit (in the received acceptation of 
the word) for ladies, they who alone, of all human beings, are thrown suddenly 
on their own resources untrained and ignorant of the value of money or the 
labor by which it was gained. Employments of ease and gentility are few and 
very difficult to be obtained, but why women cannot work for money and be 
ladies as well as men under the same circumstances are gentlemen, is a theory 
formed entirely upon the usages of society and'whose reasoning women alone can 
understand and for which they only are responsible. 

It is they, themselves, who, by receiving in friendship only the comparatively 

idle, have placed the barrier in the way of their more unfortunate sisters that 

are beating out their lives against it in the vain endeavor to keep up appear. 

ances and surreptitiously " take in work" for a livelihood. No one can realize 

10 



148 SOUTHERN PLANTER. [April 

the dragging, gnawing, worry and make-shifts of the impoverished society-lady 
who endeavors to keep her place. It is this erroneous idea of a lady which 
debars mother and daughters from the active part in life that they might worth" 
ily and successfully perform. 

Possibly there are human beings in the world satisfied with idleness and tran- 
quility, but is it fair that women should be condemned to making puddings, 
darning socks, working ottomans, or playing the piano if she has no special taste 
or genius for such occupations ? Does she not need exercise for her faculties, 
a field for her efforts, as well as her more fortunate brother? Her brain stag- 
nates from the restraints imposed by society and there are hundreds of women 
in silent revolt in their lot in life, who, did they dare defy its prejudices, would 
venture with success in the busy marls of life and show the world that ladies 
can, work for their livelihood without degradation. , 

Not until there is a revolution among her sex can a lady be successful in the 
competing industries of the world ! Why should women seek only a support 
and not aspire to a fortune ! The truth is, that ladies only stoop to paid em- 
ployment in order to bridge over the time until a husband for either herself or 
daughters shall come forward. There are women who have boldly come forth 
with their business and made fortunes, though the fact of their having once 
been "in business 1 ' is a pretext for humiliating either them or their daughters, 
if perchance they adorn society and are more noticed by their peers. Women 
who have made money in the South by their own efforts, have been compelled 
to seek the society, for which their education fitted them, in other cities where 
the fact of their once having been in business would not militate against them. 
Why labor should be derogatory or why a women and her children in the mercan. 
tile trade are not as respectable as a mau in the same business, is a mystery passing 
the comprehension of man and can be solved only by the woman herself who 
spurns with contempt the " work-woman" that helps adorn her, who is far supe- 
rior to the gay butterfly passing her days in dressing, dancing,^tennis, and beaux. 
One undersands that the nobility of Europe can look down upon the bourgeois 
or tradesman ; but in America, where there are tradesmen and mechanics io 
every family, it is necessary to say with " Lord Rainford," (Howell's Woman's 
Reason), " The distinctions you Americans make in regard to different kinds 
of trade rather puzzle me. I don't see why cotton-3pinuing should be any bet- 
ter than shoe-manufacturing, yet I'm told it is; but if people go into trade at 
all, I don't see why they should'nt where they are all commoners together, go 
into one thing as well as another." 

There are" lady pirates" living luxuriously who would not, " for worlds," have 
it known that they " take in work," crochet, embroider, make articles of apparel 
for their colored washerwomen to sell, or paint for the decorative shops at any 
price in order to gain a little extra money for some coveted bijou of extravagance 
thereby cutting the prices of work so ruinously that the honest toiler, who forced 
to work for self-support, is compelled to do it at the same rates and is the one 
who suffers from the money greediness of her superior (God save the mark !) sister. 



1885.J SOUTHERN PLANTER. 149 

Woman, in these latter days, through the evils of intemperance, is thrown more 
upon her own resources, and as she recognizes herself a factor in the world's work 
and begins to show an interest in politics whilst she struggles with her brothers 
in the battle of life, perhaps she will learn independence, and as she sits beside 
her brother in the public school and polls her vote beside his, he will recognize 
that her work deserves as much respect as his, and that her place in the world 
is equally as important, then will these silly ideas of caste which have so much 
imbued the minds of ladies be eradicated. It is for this, that the working- 
women are battling, not that political enfranchisement will make every woman 
the equal of man, but that woman's work may be equally remunerated and re- 
spected is the object for which the female-suffragists appeal ; " the ballot in her 
hand will help mightily in the struggle for existence when thrown upon her own re- 
sources." That woman is the equaPof man, no one will assert, who understands 
her physical development. Man's structure being stronger, of course the dif-" 
ferent portions of his body may be more fully developed, therefore he can en- 
dure harder and prolonged labor and having a greater proportion of brain pur- 
sue his studies more closely and continously. Man need not be afraid in grant- 
ing co-equal education and enfranchisement that woman will deprive him of his 
work or emoluments; with the greater number it will be like the she-goats in 
the fable " who having obtained from Jupiter the favor of a beard, the he-goats 
sorely displeased made complaint that the females equaled them in dignity." 
«' Suffer them," said Jupiter, " to enjoy an empty honor and to assume the badge 
of your nobler sex, so long as they are not your equals in strength and courage." 
It i3 for the exceptional cases of talent that women want recognition and for 
the mass that they desire the badge that will give them equal dignity. In all 
age3 we have seen that women can be the peer of man in every path of life ; 
recall Artemesia, the female admiral of Xerxes ; Zenobia, Queen and Comman- 
der ; Joan of Arc, who led the defeated French to victory ; and a woman is said 
to have planned Sherman's " March to the Sea." In statecraft Queen Elizabeth, 
Isabel of Castile, Catherine of Russia, Maria Theresa of Austria. The hosts 
of female artists and sculptors from the earliest times are represented to day by 
Rosa Bonheur, Mary Halleck Foote and Harriet Hosmer. In architecture 
Sabina Von Steinbach assisted her father and also executed the ornamental 
work of the Great Cathedral of Strasburg. Even in brigandage, Onarata 
Rudiana was famous as the successful Captain of the Condottieri. In the pre- 
sent day many women equal their brother professors of language, science, and 
literature ; aad now that the colleges have thrown wide their doors, women will be 
foud making strides in physics, delivering scientific lectures, becoming members of 
the Academies of Science, writing books like Charlotte Bronte, George Eliot, Miss 
Mitchell and Mary Summerville, that will stand forever in the world's literature. 

The Reformation, with its two hundred years of war, narrowed woman's 
sphere by confining her to domestic duties and field drudgery. Exposed to the 
brutalities of the hordes that were ravaging Europe, men saw their women en- 
dangered, and in defending them, learned to protect their daughters as though 



150 SOUTHERN PLANTER. [April 

~ — /' 

they were somethiug very silly and frail, whilst boys were turned loose on the 
world as if they, of all beings, were the wisest and least liable to be led astray. 

Girls are taught that they should do nothing that other ladies in their circle 
do not do, the world would frown upon them, — " a woman should never be 
talked about." "She must walk through life, drilled on exactly the same pat- 
tern as her sisters, with sober mien, unruffled temper, eschewing all feeling, — 
mending socks, making baby clothes, scolding servants, obeying her husband ;'' 
always at home ready to greet him with a smile, no matter in what fault-finding 
temper he may be. To be sure, all this fills the passing hours, but does it fill 
her life and satisfy her mind even if happily married, and how much worse such 
a round of inane duties for a spinster! 

Those men, who boast of their chivalry, describing woman as " a tender plant, 
a thing of fancy, a dew-drop ready to melt at the sun's burning glance, an 
ethereal being fainting at the sight of a mouse or overpowered by the rattle of a 
window, too tender to cope with man in the rough battle of life," — a thing to 
be shielded from temptation, they are the chivalrous knights who advise her 
to " swap off her silks and satins for lawns and calicoes ; shut up the piano and 
dive into the wash-tub; — throw away the fancy needle work and tackle the 
husband's old breeches ; put down her painting and get her color over the 
kitchen stove." If ladies are so frail and delicate, how can they manage to do 
the work of a strong drudge? Let a man try for one day the wash-tub, iron- 
ing-board and cooking-stove and see how fresh and smiling he will look at the 
supper table. It is this same "delicate dew-drop and tender plant" that the 
man of chivalry, who prates of " breaches of custom" and " woman's sphere," mar- 
ries and ill-treats, as he comes reeling home from speech-making, trusting to her 
womanly instincts to bear and never divulge. It is this same " frail house-plant" 
that he consigns to the nursery and kitchen whilst he parades the streets in satin 
cravats and broadcloth, wearing out her life and strength in drudgery, and dying, 
leaves her to penury and want, too truly a frail, delicate, broken reed. It is then 
when thrown on her own resources, when untrammeled, she can think her own 
thoughts, comes the flash of truth that she was born for better things, and too 
late, her strength and energies exhausted, finds that she is incapable of coping 
with the stronger sex, is compelled to take the inferior place of an ill-paid seam- 
stress or worn out boarding-house keeper. For what else is she fitted ? Had 
she been educated and trained for some lucrative employment, as her brothers 
are, and then placed it aside to minister to the man she loved, there would al- 
ways be the happy thought, " I am ready to protect myself and children in any 
emergency," but instead, woman is taught too many things and none thoroughly; 
she is content, when she has to earn her livelihood, with mediocrity, learning 
just as little of a trade as will keep her in a situation'; a kind of make-shift , 
until the husband for whom she has been perpetually on the look-out, rescues 
her from the ignominy of working for a living to make her, perhaps " a lady," 
or more often, a household drudge. 

If a woman chooses a profession she would make it a part of herself, fitting 



1855.J SOUTHERN" PLANTER. 151 

herself for it so thoroughly, that she would be loth to relinquish, even for the 
lover, who swears to " protect, love and cherish her. Men whose professions 
absorb their whole lives to the entire exclusion of household duties, are not 
always great, then why require more excellence in a woman who, often, has to 
divide her profession with her family cares, which if neglected would bring 
down upou her the scorn of all mankind. A man may leave his family for 
years, on business pretexts, but a professional woman dare not for a day, even 
though her success be for the benefit of posterity. House-keepujg even can be 
carried to excess. Many a notable housewife has made her children miserable 
and neglected their morals in the one great endeavor to keep a clean house. 
Not a toy, not an atom of dust, not a string or shred, no fly-specks, every chair 
in its place and every curtain in its proper fold. Is not too much devotion to 
one profession as bad as another? What is reprehensible in a woman should be 
equally so in a man. 

If woman is not the equal of man in work which requires continued strength, 
as that of the machinist, she is well fitted for the arts and sciences, and though 
she is ashamed to see her name in juxtaposition with the words Dress-Maker or 
Milliner, there is no business conducted on a large scale more independent, 
beautiful and lucrative. Why are not the daughters of " Mrs. Smith, Dress- 
maker," when equally educated, as respectable as those of" Mr. Schaefer, Fash- 
ionable clothier," or the daughters of " Mrs Brown, Milliner," as good as those of 
"John Jones, Hatter?" Is it possible that those women, who havejrisen to 
the head of their professions, are not as well educated and refined as those men 
who served their apprenticeship? It would be a good thing to see ladies dis- 
pensing their wares, speaking the purest refined English, adding to it the benev- 
olence of training the young girls of their employ in the virtuous paths of life. 

Woman's non-success in business is owing to the contempt she feels for the 
work necessity has compelled her to "stoop to," and the' determination to save 
her daughters from the contamination of it. " Conventionality makes cowards 
of the best" of them. No milliner allows her daughter to trim a bonnet or stand 
behind the counter ; no dress-maker permits her daughter to fit a customer, 
and a boarding house keeper would be shocked at her daughter laying the cloth 
or sweeping a boarder's chamber. Such is the inconsistency of women ! How 
are they to succeed in any business with such prejudices ? The " Private Boarding- 
house" seems, to day, the only resource of decayed gentlewomen, yet it is ten 
times more degrading in its drudgery, the poor pay and insulting demands of 
the boarders than any other business in which women can^ngage. 

The general business success of the Jews as a class is to be attributed to the 
unity of the family — each one, wife, daughters and sons understand and help in 
the work and know its profits. Women, even without education, have been 
successful merchants — what more fitted for them than Jewelery, China, Fancy 
and Art Stores. Hundreds of clerkships are awaiting them when they are ready 
to be thorough and interested in their work and willing to be tabooed the society 
of the ignorant who think themselves superior to the female clerk, yet are will- 



152 SOUTHERN PLANTER. . [April 

ing to ogle and flirt with the masculine clerk at her side. Clerkships in the 
State Departments, Librarian or Amanuensis are considered a little higher in 
the social scale, b^ut they are few and not easily obtained. Telegraphy, Type- 
setting and Writing, Steonography, Decorative Work, Music, Teaching and Jour* 
nalism are opened avenues for self-support. Photography offers $, wide, plea- 
sant and refined field for her labor, in which she can combine art with work 
and maintain her dignity in beautified "Art and Photograph Parlors."^ 

There is no reason why women, especially those who have had experience in 
self-support, should not educate daughter as well as son for a profession and 
eradicate from her mind the idea of acquiring accomplishments only to "show 
off" in order to get " a good catch," because money making employments are 
considered derogatory in " good society." Accomplishments make her a "cul- 
tivated, agreeable girl, with bright talk on all sorts of pleasant subjects — merely 
and entirely a lady — the most charming thing in the world but the most helpless. 
Marion Harland, Virginia's author and matron writes, — " So far from the elec- 
tion and study of professions by woman acting unfavorably upou domestic life* 
I believe firmly, after a tolerably fair examination of arguments and examples 
on both sides of the question,that the highest and purest interest of the home 
are promoted by these. ..'She, who need not marry, unless won to the adoption 
of the state of wife by pure- love for him who seeks her, is likely to make a 
more deliberate choice of a husband than she who has done little since she has 
put on long clothes but dream and long and angle for her other half." 

Excepting Art and Literature, in which artists and authors " are born nor 
made," there is no self supporting employment in the city for ladies which does 
not require them to go abroad to daily labor or mix in offices with men, but in 
a country life, with a great deal of energy, a will to command, and the strength 
to oversee, as well as perform when requisite, there is every thing for woman's 
profit. 

Silk culture, bees with their honey, the market-garden, dairy and fruit bus- 
iness are all employments that ladies can supervise as well as personally engage in. 
iWday, one of the best farms in Rockingham county is managed by a lady, 
wf> sells her produce and supports handsomely her four children. Many 
ladies are successful cotton planters farther south. It was no uncommon thing 
in former days to see a Virginia matron, (whilst her husband attended to the affairs 
of the State) not only managing the whole farm, overseeing the seeding, plant- 
ing, etc., but superintending the house-keeping, the dairy, the weaving, dyeing 
sewing and ministefcg to the sick, as well as supervising the morals of her 
negroes. 

A small capital is*equisite for any occupation on a farm and the enterprise, 
par excellence, for ladies of small means, is that of raising poultry for the 
markets. "No alchemist ever produced from furnace or alembic so rare a 
treasure as you may obtain from the entrails of your hens, if you only know 
how to combine labor with delight." With a few acres of land and a large 
stock of hens they can easily be made to yield not only a support but a compe- 






. ■ 



1885.] SOUTHERN" PLANTER 153 

tence — a little farming must be added to the care of the poultry for corn, oats, 
grass, sun-8owerand hempseed, cabbage, lettuce, potatoes, and every thing that 
is nece33ary for the usual food of poultry must be cultivated. There is money 
in saving the feathers of the fowls dressed for market, to say nohing of the eggs 
and the pleasure of watching the anxious mother hen with her brood, the pretty 
little downy creatures obedient to her every call. Any interested woman can 
soon Wrn the culture of poultry, whose greatest foes are thieves and vermin. 
Let woman first learn that in honest, virtuous labor there is no degradation, 
and that for success she must have " a holy purpose and aim in life for which 
she should train herself and fight like] Sir Galahad and the other knights in 
quest of the Holy Grail." Throw aside the old " conventional prejudices of 
society and " whatever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might;" show by 
example, that in labor there is no deprivation of caste. " Be brave, self-reliant 
gentlewomen, afraid of nothing but dishonor, not fearful of small indignities or 
of other people's opinions^ Find what your one great talent may be, whether 
it is cooking, house-cleaning, dress-making, bonnet-making, farming, merchan- 
dizing, or professional work and take up that work, go through it with all your 
heart and strength," then, and not until then, will self-support be a success and 
woman will find no degradation in honest labor. f Rockingham. 



THE NECESSITY AND RIGHT USE OF MANURES. 

, [For the Southern Planter.] 

While soils remain covered by unbroken forests or prairies, they not 
only retain their fertility but actually grow richer from year to year. 
The vast amount of nutritive matter annually absorbed is ultimately re- 
turned with interest* In the forest the leaves and broken twigs and 
eventually the branches, trunks and roots give back not ouly what they 
have received, but much in addition which they have drawn from the 
atmosphere. On the prairies the luxuriant growth dies down each 
year, and adds very largely to the original matter which it abstracted 
by itsfapid growth. 

The productive power of soils subjected to c*ultivatiou is gradually 
exhausted by that process. Some of the alluvial lands of Virginia pro- 
duced large crop3 of corn and tobacco for more than a century, with 
out any return being made to them for the elements of fertility thus 
abstracted and these lands thus cultivated are now so poor as to be 
nearly valueless, but if the plan of rotation of crops, manuring, or rest- 
ing the land in grass, had been pursued, what different results would 
have been attained, and how very much richer the whole State would 
be now, and unless the farmers of the Great West and other newer por- 
tions of our country* profit by the experience of the farmers in the 
Eastern States their land will become exhausted in the same way; and 



154 SOUTHERN PLANTER. [ A P ril 



there is no doubt that the realization of this fact is to some extent 
causing the tide of immigration to turn its attention to the lands of the 
Southern States, or States that are nearer our great market centres 
than the rich prairie lands of the far West, as all good farmers know 
that u by a proper system of farming land that has produced good pay- 
ing-crops, can be made to do so again. In the State of New York sta- 
tistical tables prove that the yield per acre of the cultivated l^id has 
decreased considerably since 1844, when the records on which these 
tables are founded were commenced. In corn the decrease is nearly 
four bushels per acre, in wheat nearly two bushels per acre and in pota- 
toes twenty-two and a half bushels. The falling off would have been 
much greater had not deeper tillage, and a better system, and knowl- 
edge of agriculture furnished a partial offset to the decreased fertility 
of the soil. • 

The fruitfulness of a soil is decreased or increased according to inex- 
orable laws. With each ^crop that is taken from the ground a greater 
or less amount of fertility is removed, and if this process is continued 
year after year ultirJIte barrenness must result. There is no rem- 
edy but that of supplying, in the form of manures, what is thus taken 
away. The farmer must feed the land which feeds him, and so many 
others, or in the end, all must starve tqgether. I will now eudeavorto 
give a short description of the different manures, and in order to do so 
have arranged them in three classes, vegetable, animal and mineral. 

Vegetable manures are not so energetic in their action as those of 
animal or mineral Origin, but they are much cheaper and more dura- 
able in their effects, and the wise farmer will afail himself largely of 
the means of benefitting his soil which they afford. Plowing in green 
crops, such as clover, cow-peas, buckwheat or corn is one of the best 
modes of renovating and sustaining a soil. Wornout lands which are 
almost unsalable, can by this means be brought up to a high stat^of fer- 
tility and at the same time be made to remunerate the farmer for the 
outlay of labor and money by the crops that can be produced in the 
meanwhile. North of the Carolinas, clover is as a rule found to be 
best fitted for a green manure, but in some cases there are other special 
crops that can be used to a greater advantage, as for instance on all 
light lands, the cow pea will produce a much heavier crop, and act much 
more beneficially than clover will, while on heavy lands clover is by 
ar the best. At the South the cow-pea or bean is considered far the best, 
tilizer. The advantages of green manures consist mainly in the addi- 
tion of organic matter which they make to the soil. This matter aids 
in the liberation of those mineral ingredients, which are there locked 



1885.] SOUTHERN PLANTER. 155 

up and which on being set free act with so much advantage to the crop. 
The roots also exert a great power in effecting this decomposition, and 
their agency is far more efficacious than the intensest heat or the strong- 
est acid in persuading the elements to give v up for their own use what 
is essential to their maturity and perfection. By substituting a crop ■ 
for a naked fallow we have all the fibers of the roots throughout the 
field aiding the decomposition which is slowly going forward in every 
soil. Clover and most broad-leaved plants draw largely for their sus- 
tenance from the air, especially when aided by the application of plas- 
ter. By its long tap-roots, clover also draws from the subsoil in solu- 
tion such saline and mineral matter as are necessary for the maturity of 
the plant, which when utilized in the surface soil adds much to its fer- 
tility. The proper time to turn in all crops used as a green manure is 
at the season of blossoming, as in the green state the fermentation is 
rapid and by resolving the matter of plants into their elements, it fits 
the ground at once for a succeeding crop. Straw, leaves and vegeta- 
ble refuse, are readily decomposed by the addition of a small quantity 
of animal substance, or lime, and should be carefully composted, as 
they will add very much to the quantity of nutritive matter collected 
under the form of manure in a year. Turf, muck, mud, the cleanings 
of old ditches, etc., are very rich in vegetable matter and are exceed- 
ingly valuable to the farmer for use in composts and should be much 
more used and appreciated that they are now. 

Animal manures comprise the flesh, bones, blood, excrements, etc., 
of animals. They contain more nitrogen than vegetable manures and 
are far more powerful. The standard manure of this country is stable 
manure which is composed of the excrements of the domestic animals. 
Of these that of the horse is the most valuable in its fresh state, but is 
very liable by fermentation to lose much of its value. A good sprink- 
ling of salt occasionally will prevent this loss and add very much to its 
manurial value. The manure of sheep is next on the list, while that of 
the cow is of the least value, as the enriching substance of her food 
goes principally to the formation of the milk. The value of each of 
these manures varies with the food and condition of the animals from 
which it is obtained; the manure from well-kept cattle being far more 
valuable than that from those which are poorly attended to. All the 
urine of auimals should be preserved when possible, as it is very rich in 
nitrogen and the phosphates, and some writers on agriculture main- 
tain that its value if properly preserved and applied is greater than that 
of the dung. From an experiment made a short while ago, it appears 
that in rive mouths each cow discharges urine, which when absorbed 



156 SOUTHERN PLANTER. [April 



by loam furnishes manure enough of the richest quality and most du- 
rable effects for half an acre of ground ; or to put it in other terms, the 
the urine of three cows for one year is worth more than a ton of fer- 
tilizer, costing from forty tofifty dollars, and there are various methods by 
which this manure might all be saved if the intelligent farmer will only 
set his wits to work in a proper manner. One simple way which I 
have observed, is to obtain a supply of soil in dry weather and to store 
it away in some shed or outhouse, and use it as an absorbent under the 
bedding, removing the soil to the compost heap as often as it becomes 
necessary. But the waste of manures is not coufined to those of the 
liquid form : stable mauure is often left exposed to the action of the 
weather and to ferment until the greater portion of its most valuable 
elements have disappeared, and as it is always desired to retain these 
fertilizing elements, it should be sheltered from the sun and rain, and 
fermenting heaps so covered with turf or loam, as to prevent the es- 
cape of the fertilizing gases. Plaster will help very much in retaining 
the ammonia, which is one of the most necessary elements of plant 
food. 

The manure of all poultry should be carefully preserved, as it is ex- 
tremely rich in nitrogen and the phosphates. Professor Norton says 
that one hundred pounds of this material that has not been exposed to 
the rain or sun, is equal in value to five or six loads of stable manure. 
It must be kept dry, reduced to powder and applied as a top dressing 
or else formed into a compost with some matter to act as an absorbent. 

The flesh of dead animals, and the blood and offal from slaughter 
houses are among the most powerful of fertilizer; and yet it is not un- 
common to see horses or cattle that die from disease drawn out in 
the woods or fields to decay on the surface of the ground. Every ani- 
mal that dies should be made into a compost at once by covering with 
a few inches of turf or loam, as by that means decomposition goes on 
without the loss of the fertilizing elements, and a manure of the most 
valuable kind is produced. 

The value of bones as a manure is undisputed and they are begin- 
ning to be appreciated as they deserve to be by our farmers. They 
contain some of the most desirable and efficacious of the fertilizing ele- 
ments required by plant life, and no thoughtful farmer should suffer 
them to be wasted about his house. One simple way of making bones 
available as a fertilizer is to take sulphuric acid and dilute it with three 
times its bulk in water; Then place the bones in a tub or barrel and 
pour in the acid as diluted upon them. After standing a day another 
portion of the acid may be poured on, when they will be found to be 



1885.] SOUTHERN PLANTER. 157 

dissolved into a kind of paste, which is best applied by mixing thor- 
oughly with earth, ashe3, dried muck or some such matter. 

Mineral manures include lime, marl, plaster, salt, ashes, etc., These 
are very useful in supplying any inorganic matter that may be required 
to improve the fertility of the soil and are also very valuable to improve 
the conditions a soil may be in. 

Lime is applied to land in three different states — as quick lime, slaked 
lime, and mild or air slaked lime. To cold, stiff, or newly drained land it 
is be3t to apply quick or slake lime, while on light soils, mild or air- 
slaked lime is most beneficial. It is best to apply lime frequently and 
in small quantities, so as to keep it near the surface and always active- 
Marls are chiefly valuable as a fertilizer on account of the a mount of 
potash and carbonate of lime which they contain, and act very benefi- 
cially on light sandy soils. 

Plaster is one of the most powerful mineral fertilizers known, acting 
both as a direct food to plants, and also absorbing gases and making 
them available to plant food. When scattered over compost heaps, it 
will absorb the ammonia, and prevent the escape of it, and other fer- 
tilizing gasses. It is very beneficial when applied as a top-dressing to 
grass and clover lands, but should always be applied in wet weather or 
while the dew is on. It can also be used with decided advantage on 
potatoes, collecting the moisture and preventing them from rotting 
after they are planted, and in fact can be applied advantageously on 
almost all crops, and should be used liberally by every intelligent 
farmer. 

Common salt has been in use for ages as a fertilizer and its great value 
can not be disputed. As an ingredient in compost it is invaluable and 
operates on the soil with an influence which can be produced by no 
other stimulant, mineral or vegetable. It is very beneficial as a top 
dressing for wheat and grass lands, especially those of a loamy texture. 

Ashes are composed of the entire inorganic parts of plants and their 
great usefulness as a manure is evident and undisputed. The ashes 
from different trees differs materially in composition and value, but all 
are highly useful applications to every kind of soils and crops. Coal 
ashes are less valuable than wood ashes, but are by no means to be neg- 
lected by the farmer, being very useful, especially on stiff soils. 

In conclusion, let me say that every farmer can have the means of 
enriching his farm and himself if he will only obtain a knowledge of 
the way to make manure, to save manure, and to properly use manure, 

Henry W. Wood. 

Richmond, Va., Feb. 24, 1885. 



158 SOUTHERN PLANTER. [April 



HOW PORTIONS OF THE FARM MAY BE PROFITABLY USED FOR 
GROWING FRUITS AND VEGETABLES. 

HEAD BEFORE THE FARMERS' CONVENTION OF MARYLAND, HELD AT BALTI- 
MORE, FEBRUARY 24, 1885, BY PETER HENDERSON, JERSEY CITY HEIGHTS, 
N. J. 

An experience of over thirty years as a Market Gardener and Seeds- 
man has given me opportunities for observation that enables me to 
speak understanding^ on this subject. I believe it is safe to say that, 
of my own knowledge, there are hundreds of farmers in nearly all 
parts of the country each season who strike out from the old stereotyped 
crops of the farm, into growing a few acres of either fruits or vege- 
tables, and in many cases both, and not a few have abandoned the 
farm as a farm entirely and have devoted their whole energies to the 
growing of fruits or vegetables. Last week, I had a visit from a man 
living in the vicinity of Rochester, N. Y., who came to thank me for 
advice given him a dozen years ago in this matter, when he timidly made 
the attempt of growing half an acre of his 50 acre farm in vegetables 
for a village market. His venture was so satisfactory that he grad- 
ually increased his area, so that he has 30 of his 50 acres now used mostly 
in growing early Cabbages for the Rochester market. He further in- 
formed me that his net profits from the Cabbage garden was last year 
$6,500 or a little over $200 per acre, and that it was not a very good 
year for cabbages at that. We market gardeners in the vicinity of 
New York would not be content with a profit of $200 per acre on our 
high priced land, but it would be more than satisfactory to most farm- 
ers. Another marked case where a farmer in Maryland has been cul- 
tivating for six years past over 100 acres in Cantaloupe Melons, which 
are sold in New York at prices that give him over $5000 a year profit, 
from the same land that in Corn and Wheat did not net him one-tenth 
of that sura. Another instance came under my personal observation 
last year. A college bred man of 28, failing in health from office work, 
purchased a farm of 60 acres at Northport, L. I., three years ago. The 
second year he tried a few acres in vegetables and small fruits, which 
he found sale for in the village of Northport at most satisfactory prices. 
I was on his farm in the summer of 1883, and I must say that a man 
who had got his knowledge almost entirely from books, his venture 
Jooked as if it would be a complete success. I will say however that 
he buckled up his sleeves and worked from sunrise to sunset. I have 
but little doubt that he will yearly increase his area for vegetables and 
fruit, and that his farm, like hundreds more of those on Long Island, 
will be eventually converted into a market garden for vegetables and 
small fruits. 

The now famous Celery growers of Kalamazoo, Mich., were less than 
twenty years ago nearly all farmers, who could hardly make ends meet. 
Now the profits derived from the culture of Celery have made many of 
them comparatively rich, that is rich for tillers of the soil, for few such 
make mammoth fortunes, but we get added riches usually in vigorous 



1885.] SOUTHERN PLANTER 159 

health and placid minds. In a paragraph from the Philadelphia Ledger 
of last week I find the following in relation to Celery growing in 
Kalamazoo, Michigan : " What was a dozen years ago a swamp is to- 
day a vast Celery field, beside which a hundred acre lot is bat a gar- 
den. The shipping season begins in July, increases until the holidays, 
then gradually decreases until the crop is disposed of in the spring. 
Fifty tons daily are now being sent out, and the crop of 1884 will 
reach 5,000 tons. Twenty thousand stalks are raised upon an acre of 
ground." This is a very moderate estimate of the number of plants 
per acre and it is probably one-half more, as we grow nearly 30,000 
plants per acre, which averages 2c. per root wholesale, or a product of 
$600 per acre. The 5,000 tons shipped from Kalamazoo bring proba- 
bly $150,000 annually. 

Another case in point which has been communicated to me by a 
friend is as follows: His farm, in Pennsylvania, adjoined a village 
of 2,000 inhabitants. He had one year a large surplus of strawberries 
and sweet corn, and had many applications for the fruit and the corn 
by the village people. He conceived the idea of employing a man 
with a wagon to supply this unexpected demand in the village, and 
sold the whole of these products at such prices as paid a clear profit of 
$175 per acre, which was about five times as much as the average 
value of the farm crops. In addition, the sale of the strawberries 
created a large demand for cream, which was equally profitable. No 
doubt this example could be followed in the neighborhood of nearly 
every village in the country, 

It is not advised that any farmer should in the beginning embark 
largely in growing vegetables and fruits. Nearly all who have been 
most successful are such as those who, like my Rochester friend, started 
with a small patch, increasing the area as his means and the demand 
for the products justified. Those who can most advantageously use 
their farms for the culture of fruits or vegetables are such as are located 
near towns or hotels or summer boarding houses, for the fruits and veg- 
etables usually furnished to such places, when furnished at all, are such 
as are shipped from the large cities after passing through the hands of 
commission men — who of course must make their profit — and are usu- 
ally furnished in a stale and battered condition, costing three times 
more to the consumer than the original grower gets. As a matter of 
fact the vegetables and fruits usually served at first class hotels and 
fashionable summer boarding houses 50 or 100 miles from New York ; 
where the guests pay $3 and $4 a day, are no better than those to be 
found in the cheapest restaurants in the larger cities, though they cost 
the proprietors three times as much, and which they could in the great 
majority of cases get grown for half the money and served /resh from 
the ground daily, In a paper necessarily as short as this must be, no 
details of operations can be given, nor is it necessary, for all that need 
be said on these subjects have been given in the books on fruits and 
vegetables long since published. I will rnerety give a few leading in- 
structions of the best conditions, and to do this I will take the liberty 
to quote from a work that I have just written: " Whenever choice 



160 SOUTHERN PLANTER. [April 

can be made the land used for such purpose should be as level as pos- 
sible, and be of a nature what is known as a sandy loam; that is, a 
dark colored, rather sandy soil, overlaying a sub-soil of eand or gravel. 
All soils tbat have adhesive clay for their sub-soils are not so well suited 
for fruits or vegetables, besides requiring at least double the amount of 
labor for cultivation. Above all things necessary to success in grow- 
ing either vegetables or fruits is manure. It may be laid down as a 
settled fact that unless manure can be obtained in sufficient quantity 
the work is not likely to be half as remunerative as where plenty of it 
can be had. The quantity of manure used per acre by market gar- 
deners around our large cities is not less than 75 tons per acre each 
year, and if barn-yard manure is not accessible, concentrated manure, 
such as bone dust or superphosphates, should be harrowed in the land 
after plowing at the rate of not less than two tons per acre, if no other 
manure is use." Such large quantities of manure per acre will no 
doubt be appalling to the average farmer, as it is no unusal thing for a 
farm of 50 acres to get no more than we market gardeners put on a 
single acre; but every one who has had experience in growing vegetables 
or fruits knows that the only true way to make his business profitable 
is to use manure to the extent here advised. It is safe to say that the 
average profits to the market gardener in the vicinity of our large 
cities, where he sometimes pays as high as $100 per acre annually for 
rent, is at least $300 per acre. The usual amount of ground cultivated 
by market gardeners is ten acres, and they thiuk it is a poor year when 
their profits from that amount of land do not average $3,000 and that 
too when nearly all the products are sold to wholesale middlemen, in 
large quantities, and which before reaching the consumer, costs him at 
least double the original price paid. The farmer in most cases grow- 
ing vegetables or fruits has a great advantage in selling direct to the 
consumer, and the small amount of land necessary for growing these 
crops will cost him comparatively little, so that with proper attention 
I think there is every inducement for many farmers to add this profi- 
table branch of their farm operations. 

The kinds of garden products that would be found most profitable 
would be I think in small fruits, Strawberries, Raspberries, Blackber- 
ries and Grapes. In vegetables, Asparagus, Beans, Peas, Beets, Cab- 
bage, Celery, Sweet Corn, Cucumbers, Melons, Radish, Spinach, Squash, 
Tomato and Turnip. Much will depend on the locality what is best 
to grow. If grown to ship from a Southern point to a Northern one, 
then such vegetables as Asparagus, where there is a great deal of value 
in proportion to bulk, is the most advantageous to grow. I remember 
•a case of one of our New Jersey farmers, a shiftless sort of man, who 
never could make ends meet here, fell heir to a few hundred acres 
near Atlanta, Georgia. He had been near enough while living in Jer- 
sey to get a knowledge of how to grow Asparagus, and planted about 
an acre of his Georgia farm with it. He sent his Asparagus to New 
York, to the same commission firm that sold my vegetables and rea- 
lized nearly $1.00 per bunch for his whole crop, which was about 10 
times the price paid for Asparagus grown in this vicinity. The climate 



1885.] SOUTHERN PLANTER, 161 



of Augusta was probably not so suitable for Asparagus as that of New 
York or New Jersey, but nevertheless the extraordinary price he got 
amply made up for deficiency in crop. He told me that from 1857 to 
1860 his acre of Asparagus netted him a clean profit of $1,500 per 
acre. Asparagus has ever been one of the safest vegetables to grow 
with us, for it is rare indeed to see the market glutted with it. The 
reason is obvious ; it takes at least three years even under the most favor- 
able conditions to get a full crop of Asparagus from the time the seed 
is sown. Few cultivators can afford to wait so long for results, and 
hence less competition. As I have before said, it has a greater value 
in proportion to bulk than almost any other vegetable. Five-hundred 
Cabbages of good size "will make a load and sell for $80., but 2,000 
bunches of Asparagus will be about the same bulk and weight and 
average §200 per wagon load. The Asparagus which supplies New 
York is grown principally on Long Island, the beds when once estab- 
lished giving annually net profit of from $300 to $400 per acre. 

Of the varieties of the different kinds of vegetables or fruits, I will 
say nothing, as the kinds of one location may not always be suitable 
in another. A good rule where you go to a Nursery, Seed or Imple- 
ment Warehouse, if you are not well posted, is to ask the clerk what 
kind he sells the most of, be it fruit plants, vegetable seeds, or imple- 
ments, and you will be safe to choose such, if you have no particular 
choice, for it is most invariably the case that the general public find 
out what has most merit, and sucb too as would most likely be suited 
for most locations. 



HULLING.AND CLEANING CLOVER SEED. 

Editor of the Southern Planter, — During this bad weather I have 
been hulling clover seed by an entirely new method to me, and as I 
find it very convenient, there being no hullers in this vicinity, maybe 
my experience may be of benefit to some of your readers who have 
small crops to thresh and cannot obtain a good huller. I had the seed 
cured as clover hay, not rotted at all, but well dried, then threshed by 
a common wheat separator, which did not get the seed out of the chaff 
or hull, but only separated the pulp from the straw. The pulp is then 
run through a "Young America" corn crusher which hulls every seed 
and cracks none. I adjust the mill so as to make the grinding plates 
run about one quarter of an inch apart, so it is not possible to crack the 
seed at all. A boy with a quick horse can hull two bushel of seed in a 
day and no labor to the horse, except the walking, as a man can easily 
pull the mill. After the pulp is run through the mill it is fanned out 
as any other seed. With the mill under shelter the work may be done 
on rainy or snowy days when the team i& otherwise idle. I thresh my 
seedin the summer and store the pulpavvay in the barn to be ground out 



162 SOUTHERN PLANTER. [April 

when hands and team are not so busy. I find itis much better than buying 
seed, especially when I have known them to sell for twelve or fifteen 
dollars per bushel. You may not be afraid of damaging this huller by 
running gravel through it, as it will surely grind them to powder with- 
out injuring the delicate (?) machinery. I have also hulled millet seed 
by the same process. Don't you think I could obtain a patent on this? 
Very truly yours, C. W. G. 

Red Hill, Va., 



SWEET ENSILAGE. 

[For the Southern Planter.] 

The production of ensilage is, I find, still on the increase, both in 
this country and England. There are estimated tobe over one thou- 
sand silos in America and over seven hundred in England and they 
will continue to increase, there is no help for it. When a man sees 
his neighbor use ensilage and finds there are so many advantages to be 
gained in its use he will be sure to fix up a silo and try it too. Then 
there has been so much found out by practical experience, that it has 
gotten to be as safe an investment as any other thing a farmer can do. 
A man no longer cuts his fodder-corn down half grown and expects it 
to make good ensilage any sooner than it would make good dry fod- 
der, for both it is worthless; but waits until he can find ears of soft 
corn in it fit to eat, and then he is safe in cutting it into ensilage. I, for 
two years, cut and hauled ray corn directly from the field to the pit and 
cut it up as fast as I could, covered and weighted as soon as possible, 
but I found it very acid when I began to feed it, so I concluded if some 
of the top could be gotten rid of, it would be better, and for the last 
two years I have cut my corn down and shocked it up, and let it stand 
for a week, and then hauled it to the pit, cut it up and put it in, only 
tramping it with one man, who stays in the pit to level it. I also took 
my time in hauling it up, frequently hauling one day and cutting up 
the next; in this way it heats slowly and never gets very hot; the 
highest was only 90 degrees F. The mass is not wet but only damp, 
and when opened it had a smell like good cider and no acidity at all, 
and my animals ate it ravenously; they are eating nearly as much 
again this winter as ever before. If the weather is as dry as it was 
last fall I think three or four days would be long enough to let it dry, 
but if seasonable weather one week is not too long. All this talk 
about letting it get to 130 or 150 degrees before closing up is, I think, 
useless. I put on stone for weight about one foot deep. Last win- 
ter I fed two mares on ensilage all the winter — two feeds of half bushel 



1885.] SOUTHERN PLANTER. 163 



each daily, and let them run in a lot and eat straw during the day, and 
they are kept very fat. They had no grain at all.. My beef cattle do 
better with two feeds of ensilage daily and four quarts of hominy, 
than they did with dry corn fodder or hay and eight quarts of hom- 
iny. I don't see now how I could do without ensilage in Winter. 
Manchester, Va. F. Guy. 



CROWDING WHEAT. 

Prof. Blunt, of the Colorado Agricultural College, states in a late 
paper that in 1875 he planted 7J pounds of hand-picked wheat on an 
exact square acre, in rows eighteen inches apart, and at harvest threshed 
out 67 bushels. In 1880 he planted on 40 square rods 32 ounces of 
fine selected wheat, and the product was 18 bushels, or nearly 72| bush- 
els per acre. The same year, on 76 square feet, he planted 76 kernels 
of extra fiue seed, weighing 45 grains, and the product realized was 
exactly 10J pounds, nearly at the rate of 100 bushel per acre. 

If the Professor has made no mistake in this, it would seem that the 
farmer can, if he will, induce such "reforms" into his business that his 
revenue may be greatly increased with actual less outlay. Does thin 
seeding contain the secret of heavy wheat fields? If it does, then the 
encouragement of the tillering process and of cultivation necessarily 
gives new vigor to the plant; consequently the maturity of the plant 
is retarded, and at the same time made better. When thickly sown it 
makes few if any tillers, and its tendency is to ripen earlier, with shorter 
straw, shorter heads and fewer kernels. The greatest enemy to wheat is 
wheat; it cannot bear to be crowded. — Field, Farm and Fireside. 



TO FATTEN A LEAN HORSE. 

To render a lean horse quietly plump aud pleasing to the eyes of 
the amateur, he is usually fed on half an allowance of hay, a few oats, 
and a large mash of boiled barley daily. To contribute, the good 
mellow coat, he may besides receive about a pound of linseed cake, and 
should be kept in a rather warm stable. The dealer treats the poor 
horse preparing for sale much as the farmer does his feeding cattle. 
Exercise is restricted to the amount sufficient to maintain a fair appe- 
tite, and prevent thick legs and other evils so apt to follow from a dis- 
turbance in the balance between food and work. A horse thus kept 
for six or eight weeks will appear plump, but he has no condition for 
work, and if senselessly put to hard work will not only quickly lose 
the beef thus laid on, but will also probably fail from disease of lame- 
ness. With more sense and safety a lean horse in good health may be 
tolerably rapidly improved in appearance, and also in working condi- 
tion, by liberal feeding and light work, and thus treated will be greatly 
more serviceable than if his beef and fat had been piled on him as if 
he had been a feeding ox. 
11 



164 SOUTHERN PLANTER. [April 



YOUR LIVING A PROFIT. 

It costs something to live; now much depends upon the manner and 
style, and how and where we procure it. Generally the farmer ought 
to be able to live better with less real outlay than any other class. He 
can raise the larger portion of what is consumed in the family, and in 
this manner the cost is greatly reduced. Yet we should not fall into 
the too common mistake of thinking that because it is raised on the 
farm it costs nothing, or that the farmer's living should not be counted 
in when considering the profits of the farm. To make a good living 
for a family is doing considerable, and if you have made that clear and 
without going into debt, you are better off than many business men 
who fail to make both ends meet. Yet we find many farmers who are 
not willing to consider this anything; they must make considerable 
over and above their family expenses in order to see that their farm- 
work has been profitable. 

A large class of farmers have little or no idea of how much it costs 
them to live. Such a large portion of what they eat and wear comes 
either directly or indirectly from the farm that they are apt to deceive 
themselves into thinking that their living is a very small item, and 
should not be considered in making up the profit of the farm. If such 
a farmer would take a little trouble to keep a household expense ac- 
count he would be surprised how rapidly these little items will add up. 
Credit the farm with all the produce in the shape of vegetables eaten 
or taken to the store and exchanged for other articles to be used for 
the same purpose; the butter and eggs used in the same manner; and 
the fruit and meat or poultry. Keep a close account of every article, 
whether consumed or exchanged for something else to be consumed or 
worn in the family. It will take but a short time to convince a farmer, 
if pains are taken to keep a correct account, that his living and that of 
his family amounts to considerable. And to me it always seemed right 
and proper that the farm should receive due credit. And mauy farmers, 
who at the end of the year are willing to declare that the farm was not 
profitable, would find that it paid fully as well as many other lines of 
business, with the same amount of capital invested. — Germantown Tel- 
egraph. N. J. Shepherd. 

Eldon, Missouri. 



If a curry-comb must be used, have the smoothest one that can be 
found, and use it but sparingly. In the hands of some men the curry- 
comb is a barbarous instrument of torture. Applied with a long, 
sweeping motion, without regard to the shape of the body, or the 
evenness with which it is held, it will make a poor animal shrink and 
shiver. The skin is often seriously hurt by the angles of the comb 
when carelessly and heavily handled. A short motion, back and forth, 
does the work more effectively aad humanely than the severe applica- 
tion of the comb described. The horse will learn not to dislike it if 
he finds he is not hurt. 



1885.] SOUTHERN PLANTER. 165 



[For the Southern Planter.] 

SKETCH OF THE PINES OF THE UNITED STATES EAST OF THE 

MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 

BY NATURALIST. 

The pines belong to the genus Pinus, of the natural order coniferea, 
which includes the cypresses, cedars, firs, hemlock, &c. — all cone- bearing, 
resinous, and mostly evergreen trees. Of the sixty or seventy species 
belonging to the genus Pinus, eleven or twelve abound in the United 
States east of the Mississippi river, and are variously distributed — no 
one species extending throughout this entire region. To avoid too 
frequent repetitions in the delineations of the species in our sketch, we 
will first give a generic description of the genus. 

Pinus. — Flowers Monoieious, that is male and female flowers on the 
same tree. Male flowers in aments or catkins, clustered on the branches 
at the base of the sprig of the spring's growth. Female catkins, soli- 
tary or aggregated, immediately below the terminal bud, or lateral (on 
one side of), on the young shoot, consisting of imbricated carpellary 
scales, each in the axil of a persistent bract, leaving a pair of inverted 
ovules (young seeds) at the base. Fruit — a cone or "bur," formed of 
the imbricated and woody carpellary scales, which are thickened at the 
apex or out end (except in white pines), persistent, spreading when 
ripe and dry; the two nut-like seeds, partly sunk in excavations at the 
base of the scale, and in separating carrying away a part of its lining in 
the form of a thin and fragile wing. Leaves or "shatters" in fascieles 
of two to five, needle-shaped, evergreen, some thin, scarious bud scales 
sheathing the base of the cluster. When there are only two leaves in 
the cluster, they are semi-cylindrical — that is, round on the back and 
flat on the inner side; when more than two they are triangular, or 
roundish on the back, with a keel or ridge on the middle of the upper 
side; their edges in our species serrulate or finely notched; the notches 
discernible under a good lens. Trees blossoming in spring, the cones 
or burs ripening only in the autumn of the second year. 

1. Loblolly, or Old-field Pine. — Pinus Taeda. — Leaves in threes, 
rigid, 6ix to ten (mostly eight) inches long, with close sheaths, about 
one-half inch long; cones lateral, three to five inches long, oblong- 
oroid or tapering; scales of the cone very thick at the end, and tipped 
with a stout incurved (sometimes straightish) spine. Sterile aments 
one to two inches long. A tree from fifty to one hundred feet high, 
with thick, rugged bark. It is confined to the wet or sandy lower dis- 
tricts along the coast, from the southern part of Newcastle county, 



166 SOUTHERN" PLANTER. [April 

Delaware, to Eastern Texas. The most inland localities, according to 
Ezelmann's Revision of the Genus Pinus, probably being the stone 
mountain near Atlanta, Ga., and Camden, in Arkansas. This is prob- 
ably the largest species of pine in the Southern States. It is the prin- 
cipal pine in Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. The term "old-field 
pine" is by some restricted to that thinly seeded, and consequently low 
and very branching forms found in some old fields, which, though 
differing somewhat in appearance as well as in quality of timber from 
that growing in primitive woods, is nevertheless specifically the same. 
The term doubtless had its origin from the facility with/which the 
species seeds in fields thrown out of cultivation. Timber moderately 
resinous, not as durable as the Southern Pitch or Broom Pine, Pinus 
australis, and perhaps some other species, but used in vast quantities 
for various kiuds of architecture. This species is also u=ed in immense 
quantities for wood, fencing, &c. The leaves of this pine, as well as 
those of some other species, afford a material for bedding for stock, 
superior, perhaps, to almost anything else. Being long and needle- 
shaped, and lying across each other, they form, as it were, a kind of 
lattice-work, and therefore do not clam together, as do the leaves of 
most trees. 

2. Northern Pitch Pine — Pinus rigida. — Leaves in threes, rigid, 
three to five inches long, from short, close sheaths; cones lateral, ovoid- 
conical or ovrate, one to three and a half inches long, more generally 
in clusters than in some other species; the scale tipped with a short and 
stout recurved prickle. Grows in sancty or spare rocky soil irom Maine 
to Western New York and southward. Tree thirty to seventy feet 
high, with very rough and dark bark, and hard, resinous wood. Sterile 
or male catkins, slender, from one-half to one and a half inches long. 
The wood is used in architecture for flooring, and in ship-building, and 
is excellent as fuel for steam engines. There is a variety of this species 
(Var. serotina), with cones remaining long closed. Grows mostly near 
the edges of swamps or ponds, and bears the common name of Pond 
Pine. 

3. Southern Pitch or Broom Pine — Pinus Australis. — Leaves in 
threes, rigid, ten to fifteen inches long, crowded at the ends of the 
branches with elongated, ragged, half-persistent sheaths; cones subter- 
minal, somewhat cylindrical, six to ten inches long, the thick scales 
armed with a short recurved spine. Grows in dry, sandy soil, covering 
the ridges along the coast from North Carolina to Florida within 120 
miles of the ocean." A lofty tree, with thin-scaled bark and very valu- 
able resinous wood, used at the south in vast quantities. The leaves of 



1885.] SOUTHERN PLANTER. 167 

this pine being very long and deciduous near to the ends of the 
branches, the spray has a tassel or broom-like appearance, especially in 
the younger trees — hence the term "broom-pine." The older trees are 
festooned with the long moss. Besides the tar, they yield nearly all the 
turpentine and resin of commerce. Sterile catkins very long (two to 
three inches), rose purple. 

4. Jersey, or Scrub Pine — Pinus inops. — Leaves in twos, short, one 
to three inches long, rigid; cones lateral, oblong-conical, sometimes 
curved (two to three inches long), the scales tipped with a straight or 
recurved awl-shaped prickle. Grows on barrens and sterile hills, New 
Jersey to South Carolina, westward to Kentucky. A straggling tree, 
fifteen to forty feet high, with spreading or drooping branchlets; young 
shoots with a purplish glancous bloom. Sterile catkins, linear oblong, 
about one-half inch long. This pine is sometimes called Spruce Pine, 
Short Shatters, &c. The bark is thinner than that of some species, and 
in some of the trees is rough and blackish, except very near the top. 
In others it is more or less smooth and grayish from just below the 
limbs upwards; therefore probably bearing some resemblance to the 
Southern Spruce Pine, Pinur glabra. There is a variety of this species 
(var. clausa) which Dr. Chapman calls Pinus clausa. It is distinguished 
from the species by narrower leaves, aud larger cones with shorter 
peduncles. Grows in Florida about Apalachicola, and on Cedar Keys. 

5. Gray or Northern Scrub Pines — Pinus Banksiana. — Leaves in 
twos, rigid, short (one inch long), oblique or with unequal sides, diver- 
gent; cones lateral, mostly erect, conical oblong (one and a half to two 
inches long), smooth, the scales soon pointless. Grows on rocky banks 
in Northern Maine, Northern Michigan, Wisconsin, and northward. 
A straggling shrub or low tree (five to twenty feet high); the sterile 
catkins similar to those of the Jersey Scrub Pine. Both this and the 
last are probably what their names indicate — scrub pines. 

6. Red Pine — Pinus resinosa. — Leaves in twos, slender, from long 
sheaths, elongated, five to six inches long, dark green, sheaths one-half 
to one inch long; cones terminal, orate-conical, smooth, about two 
inches long, falling soon after shedding the seeds, the scales slightly 
thickened, pointless sterile catkins, oblong-linear, from one half to 
three-quarters of an inch long. Grows in dry woods from about Cape 
Ann, Mass., to Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and northward. Tree fifty 
to eighty feet high, with reddish and rather smooth bark, and fine- 
grained, resinous, strong and durable wood. 

7. Southern Spruce Pine — Pinus glabra. — Leaves in twos, slender, 
two and a half to three inches long ; cones lateral, somewhat cylindrical, 



168 SOUTHERN" PLANTER. [April 

about two inches long, scale nearly pointless ; sterile catkins one-half 
inch long. Grows on the edges of swamps and on the knolls in them 
in South Carolina, near the coast. It probably extends throughout the 
lower part of the Southeastern States, as it is found in Mississippi. A 
tree sixty to eighty feet high, with smoothish bark and soft, white wood. 
Branches and branchlets smooth, whitish. 

8. Table Mountain Pine — Pinus pungens. — Leaves in twos and 
rarely in threes, stout, short, rigid, one to two and a half inches long, 
crowded, bluish, the sheaths short (very short on old foliage) ; cones 
lateral, ovate three and a half inches long, the scales armed with a 
strong, hooked spine, a quarter of an inch long. Grows in the Alle- 
ghany mountains, especially in the Blue Ridge, North Carolina and 
Virginia, near Charlottesville, to Pennsylvania, as far north as Port 
Clinton, near Reading. Sterile catkins from one-half to three-fourths 
of an inch long. Tree with rough and scaly bark, and gnarled spread- 
ing branches, twenty to thirty feet high. The cones are said to remain 
on the tree sometimes for twenty years. According to Dr. Chapman, 
this species extends in the mountains south to Georgia. 

9. Spruce Pine — Pinus mitis. — Leaves in twos and threes, from long 
sheaths, slender, three to five inches long; cones lateral, ovate or oblong- 
conical, barely two inches long; the scale tipped with a minute and 
weak prickle. Grows in dry or sandy soil from New Jersey to Wis- 
consin, southward to Florida, westward to Arkansas, and Missouri 
south of the Missouri river, where it is the only species of pine. A 
tree with rough bark, similar to that of the Loblolly pine, fifty to 
eighty feet high, straight, producing a fine grained, moderately resinous 
timber, valuable for flooring, &c. Sterile catkins linear, one-half to 
three-fourths of an inch long. The western form has more rigid leaves, 
and more tuberculate and spiny cones. This species is in some sections 
of the country called Yellow Pine, but the term is applied to so many 
different species throughout the country that we have deemed it best 
to apply it to none. Young shoots, often with a purplish, glaucous 
bloom. 

10. Slush or Blue Pine — Pinus Elliotlii. — Leaves in twos and 
threes, rigid, 6even to twelve (mostly about nine) inches long, sheaths 
from one-half to three-fourths of an inch long; cones lateral, peduncles, 
recurved, oval to cylindrico conical, three to six inches long; scales, 
with a short, stout, or rarely a slender, prickle. Sterile catkins, one 
and a half to two inches long. Grows in light, sandy, damp soil, 
among the sand-hills, near the sea-beach, and along the marshes near 
the mouths of rivers from South Carolina, on the sea-islands near 



1885.] SOUTHERN PLANTER. 169 

Charleston to Georgia along the coast, and sparingly as far as fifteen to 
twenty miles inland, but never far from the influence of salt water. 
Grows also in Florida, forming forests on the St. John's river. A large 
tree, 50 to 100 feet high, with reddish-brown bark. The timber is said 
to be excellent — heavy, very tough, and more resinous, even, than that 
of the southern pitch or broom pine. 

11. White Pine — Pinus Strobus. — Leaves in fives, very slender, 
glaucous, about four inches long, sheaths loose-scaled, entirely decidu- 
ous; cones terminal, long-stalked, narrow cylindrical, nodding, often 
curved, four to six inches long, falling soon after shedding the seed; 
their scale slightly if at all thickened at the end, and wholly destitute 
of prickle or point. Sterile catkins oval, nearly one-half inch long. 
Grows in cool and damp woods, Pennsylvania and northward, westward 
to the Mississippi river, extending in the Alleghany mountains south 
to Georgia. The White Pine is our tallest tree, often 120 to 160 feet 
high in a straight column in primitive forests, and is invaluable for its 
soft and light white or yellowish and durable wood, in large trunks, 
nearly free from resin. Bark smooth, except in the oldest trees. 

The leaves of the pines persist or remain upon the trees from two to 
six, or in some western species from twelve to fourteen years. But, as 
by the extension of the branches, they put on an abundance of new 
leaves every spring, so they likewise shed from the lower part of the 
branches an equal quantity of the oldest ones every autumn. They 
therefore afford an abundant material for filling cow-pens, and for bed- 
ding for other stock. Those leaves, in a half-rotten state in the woods, 
are largely used in trucking, in order to keep the land light, or in a 
friable condition. 

Hallwood Station, Accomae county, Va. 



The best cream globules rise soonest to the surface because they are 
the largest, and the flavoring oils rise with them because they are the 
most volatile ; hence it is that the finest butter is that which is made 
from cream that is skimmed before all of it that will rise has risen to 
the surface, while that which rises afterward but tends to reduce the 
quality. Cream is a singular product ; all of it will not rise — would 
not rise in a month, even if the milk could be kept sweet during that 
period — and some of the globules actually sink instead of rise, while 
others remain in suspension, going neither up nor down. Thus the 
specific gravity of the globules varies, not on account of size only, but 
also on account of composition ; but, in any case, the cream which, 
under ordinary conditions, rises in the first twelve hours will make the 
finest butter. 



170 SOUTHERN PLANTER. [April 

WINTER MANURE. 

BY COL. JOHN H. GUY. 

Editor Southern Planter: 

I think it advisable to haul out and spread niauure as fast as it accu- 
mulates in Winter, and it is convenient to do so. 

At this season hands and team are comparatively idle, and their em- 
ployment now in hauling and spreading manure prevents a heavy accu- 
mulation to be dealt with in Spring, when so much other farm work is 
always pressing. 

Unless, too, the manure is under shelter, the sooner it is spread on 
the land the less loss there doubtless is from leaching, caused by Winter 
rain and from escape of volatile matters; and even if the manure is so 
well sheltered as to be protected from material loss of any of its valu- 
able properties, yet there is something gained by having it on growing 
grass or wheat, in the protection it thus affords to the young plants, 
stimulating their growth even in Winter and bringing them to Spring 
in a condition of such vigor as to make the most of that their real 
growing season. Now as to the question, Where should the manure 
hauled out in Winter be put? 

First, I think it should not be put on ground^ that is yet to be fal- 
lowed for corn or other Spring crops, because, when the fallowiug comes 
to be done, a considerable part of the manure will probably be buried 
too deep to be available, and be in the end lost by sinking, as it rots, 
iDto depths beyond the ready reach of most crops. I would, therefore, 
put it either on ground already fallowed for corn, or some other Spring 
crops, or upon growing wheat, or upon growing grass. Either of these 
is a safe and good application to make; but in determining between 
them the weather is necessarily to be consulted, for sometimes freshly 
plowed land would be too soft or muddy to bear the hauling, while wheat 
land, sowed in early fall, might be well enough settled to do so; and at 
other times the wheat land might be much too soft, while a grass sod 
might still be firm enough to bear the weight of team and wagon 
without injury. If, however, the season be favorable, so that one's 
choice may be had, I think the manure had best be applied to such of 
the wheat land as has also been sown in grass. 

While the wheat and grass are growing together, there is a constant 
struggle between them to get from the soil as much food as each needs, 
and the joint demand they make upon the land is greater than any- 
thing short of uuusual fertility can meet. Land so taxed would seem, 
therefore, to be a point of such need as to have the strongest claim for 



1885.] SOUTHERN PLANTER. 171 



the additional aid of manure; and this claim is much strengthened by 
the consideration, that the food-supply in the land may, especially in 
an unfavorable season, prove so inadequate, as that a failure in both 
crops may result. Wheat, however, being more vigorous in its growth, 
generally masters the grass and keeps it under serious check, and the 
latter is left at harvest stunted and dwarfed and poorly able to cope 
with the burning sun and probable drouths of our Summer. And how 
the cruder portions of the manure which will not have rotted and been 
carried into the soil, will afford to the young grass what is often, at 
this time, its rnpst peculiar and pressing need, viz. shade and protec- 
tion. And thus the grass, after its unequal contest with the wheat, 
may rally and regain vigor enough to]maintaiu itself with another con- 
test which almost surely awaits it, with another companion as vigorous 
growth as the wheat, in form of a crop of weeds, which July and Au- 
gust will bring, and which will continue their plunder on its food-sup- 
plies until October. If, however, the wheat laud is not also in grass, 
and the question as to the application of the Winter manure comes up 
simply between wheat alone and grass land, then I would prefer to put 
the manure on the grass. 

First, because the wheat is to come off of the land so soon, that a 
large part of the manure cannot beVutilized by it, but must remain un- 
rotted and not yet brought into the reach of roots. And, secondly, 
because the shade and protection which the manure will afford in Sum- 
mer would, if it were applied to wheat alone, go chiefly to benefit only 
the succeeding crop of weeds, while, if applied to grass, the latter would 
secure these important benefits and also find constant additions to ita 
food-supply from the gradual decay of all the organic matters of the 
manure. 



TO THE PEOPLE OF VIRGINIA. 

The Executive Committee of the State Agricultural Society, having 
duly considered the subject, deem it an auspicious time to call an In- 
dustrial Convention, which shall have for its object the development of 
the material interests of this State. 

It is understood that such questions as divide the political parties of 
the day will not be discussed. 

For more than a century our best men have devoted themselves to 
the consideration of questions affecting our civil and political rights, 
yet we cannot claim preeminence for our State polity. We have given 
to the nation some of its ablest statesmen, purest jurists, and most dis- 
tinguished soldiers, yet in all that pertains to material greatness we 
have fallen far behind. 



172 



SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[April 



We have given a vast domain to the Federal government, and our 
eons and daughters have populated the continent, yet our fields are un- 
tilled, our mines unopened, and our resources undeveloped. The cen- 
sus of 1880 shows that 688,336 persons born upon Virginia soil were 
then living in other States and Territories of the Union. Of these, 
488,688 have emigrated to Southern States, which have sent us, in re- 
turn, 43,550 of their own citizens — not one for ten. In exchange for 
234,648 who have emigrated to Northern States, we have received only 
19,195 — less than one for twelve. For the unknown number who 
have gone to all other portions of the habitable globe, 14,696 natives 
of forein countries have come to fill up our depleted ranks. We boast 
of our hospitable firesides, our genial climate, our fertile soil, and our 
inexhaustible resources, yet one-third of all persons born upon our soil 
seek their homes and their fortunes in other parts of the world. 

The following table shows the migration between Virginia and 
other States: 



MIGRATION BETWEEN VIRGINIA AND SOUTHERN 
STATES. 


MIGRATION BETWEEN VIRGINIA AND NORTHERN 
STATES AND TERRITORIES. 


States. 


Born in 
JVa., living 
elsewhere 


Living in 
Va., born 
elsewhere. 


States. 


Born in 
Va.; living 
elsewhere 


Living in 
Va. , born 
elsewhere. 


Alabama 


24,279 

13,292 

642 

3,329 

14.606 

36.515 

21,321 

26,754 

28,816 

54,058 

19,486 

4,058 

38,059 

27,874 

135,599 


477 
110 
480 
130 
895 

2,087 
392 

7,942 

420 

474 

22,505 

898 

4,967 
332 

1,641 




5,906 

2,441 

1,722 

27,904 

24,538 

15,531 

15,336 

276 

4,766 

3,069 

1,901 

4,425 

486 

213 

4,789 

12,586 

51,647 

1,835 

20,189 

1,076 

137 

1,519 

32,356 


53 






12 






418 


Florida 




332 






330 






139 


Louisiana 


79 


North Carolina 


Maine 


346 

878 

255 

38 






10 






6 






234 
1,349 
5,382 


Total... 


448,688 


aa.ssn 


Ohio 


1,275 








23 






5,541 
118 




Vermont 


213 
179 






1,995 




Total 










234.648 


10,195 



Is it not evident from this showing that something is wrong in the 
conduct of our affair?? Can we afford to sit still aud allow the tide 
to drift longer in this direction ? Has not the time arrived when we 
should look carefully into the causes and consequences of this condition 



of things? 



1885.] 



SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



173 



We hear it said that a new era has dawned upon Virginia and the 
South, that the tide of prosperity is about to turn upon us. But ex- 
perience teaches that Providence only helps those who help themselves. 
The great Irish patriot, D. O'Connel, said : " Who would be free, them- 
selves must strike the blow." We must throw off the shackles of the 
past — we must man our boats and trim our sails, if we would reap the 
fruits of this prosperous tide. 

But let us Look again at the census returns, and see what we are 
doing for the development of our resources — how the results obtained 
compare with other and more progressive communities. 

From the foundation of the colony, agriculture has been the one great 
interest which has given employment to our people. Fifty-one per 
cent, of all our producers, and seventy per cent, of all capital, real and 
personal, in 1880, were employed in agriculture. Now let us examine 
the results, as exhibited by the following table: 



Virginia 

Maryland 

Pennsylvania 
N. Carolina.. 
New Jersey... 



R 




R 


o> 


o 


« 


U 


1 


c 


CO 

u 


ts 


3 


HI 


a 




rfl 






a> 


3 



- V 



I 



<3 



UJ —, 

*> s 

a "-1 



$ 94.343.600 $216,028,107 



220,916,900 

867,584,013 

51,519,300 

143,490,200 



165,503,341 
975,689,410 
135,793.602 
190,895.833 



1 


. 






60 


o 


a> 






S 












P-i 


o 


T3 


S3 


-a 




< 






3 


R 




o3 


a. 


a 




o> 


60 


OS 


c 


SS 


C, 


B 




*— 


fe 




ID 


u 


ro 


!*- 


T3 


as 


a, 


0J 


o 


03 


O) 




S3 


OJ 


J 




o 


$ 


3 




O 


3 




03 

> 


R 

o3 




T3 
O 


o 

CD 


<D 


fc 


o 2 


Ph 


* -; 




<*- 






m c 


60 2 


O 
0J 

a 


B 2 


o 

01 


So.2 

OS " 
u 03 


£2 ^ 


"5 




13 


£tf 


< 


> 
510 89 


Pi 

51 


s> 


«1 


$ 45,726,221 


$180 


SI 50 


28,839.281 


32 33 


28 


317 


196 


129,770,476 


49 30 


21 


431 


270 


51,729,611 


6 70 


75 


148 


151 


29.650,750 


65 16 


15 


501 


268 



0J 



$ 28- 
121 
161 

loss 8 
228 



Here are five States resting on the Atlantic seaboard, settled about 
the same time, subject to the same climatic influences, having substan- 
tially the same geological formation, except that Virginia, owing to its 
rivers, bays and harbors, enjoys superior commercial advantages, yet 
how striking the contrast! B*o not these figures show at a glance why 
Virginians emigrate? and is it not equally clear when we come to ex- 
amine them carefully, what 13 necessary to check this tide? With ag- 
riculture a3 almost our sole reliance, the difference in wages paid, the 
gross value of products per capita, and net profits accruing, must ne- 
cessarily drive our people to more inviting fields. 

Again, from the examination of the table above we discover that the 
larger the proportion of those engaged in agriculture in any Stale the 
les3 the value of farm lands per acre, the less the amount of wages 
paid and the value of products per capita. The converse of the propo- 
sition is equally true, that as you diminish the proportion of farm 



174 SOUTHERN PLANTER. [April 

workers and farm investments to those engaged in other industries, you 
enhance the value of farm lands, raise the price of lahor, and increase 
the value of products per capita. Hence Mr. J. R. Dodge, the Statis- 
tician for the Department of Agriculture, has formulated as a natural 
law, viz. : 

"Values in agriculture are enhanced hy an increase of non-agricul- 
tural population." In illustration of this fact he divided the States 
and Territories into four classes : 

1. Less than 30 per cent, engaged in agriculture. 

2. " 50 " " " 

3. " 70 " " " 

The last being almost entirely agricultural. 



No. employed in 
agriculture. 


Av. 


val. farm land 
per acre. 


Av. val. pro- 
ducts per 
worker. 


Av. val. 
wages 
year. 


15 States average 18 per cent. 
13 " 42 " 
13 " 58 " 

6 " 77 " 




$38.65 

30.55 

18.58 

5.18 


$457 
394 
261 
160 


$300 
275 
234 
158 



In the first class, eighteen farmers, besides feeding and clothing their 
own families, have eighty-two engaged in other pursuits to make pro- 
vision for. In the fourth class, seventy-seven farmers have twenty- 
three others to consume their surplus products. In the first case, the 
competition is between buyers and consumers; in the last case, the 
competition is between the sellers and producers. 

For two hundred and fifty years Virginia has been devoted to the 
production of raw material, and her surplus products have found their 
markets across the great seas, with the results which are before us. 
Now, is not the remedy apparent, and is it not within easy reach? 
We must 

DIVERSIFY OUR INDUSTRIES. 

If we would keep our sons and daughters at home, reeuperate our 
fortunes and restore fertility to our exhausted fields, we must open the 
mines which have lain dormant for generations. We must utilize our 
water power, establish manufactures, build up our cities and make 
home markets for our products. With such a diversity of employment, 
the principle of the division of labor can have full sway, and provision 
can be made for every variety of taste, talent and physical development. 
Each individual can be put in that position for which he is qualified by 
education and natural endowments. Then we shall have no non-pro- 
ducing consumers, and no one will be forced to emigrate that he may 
find congenial and profitable employment. 

Industries, like individuals, thrive in communities. There is an in- 
terdependence of one upon the other. Each one is a consumer of the 
products of every other, and hence the greater the number of indus- 
tries in any community, the more independent and prosperous its citi- 
zens. This fact is abundantly demonstrated by the figures above. 



1385.J SOUTHERN PLANTER 175 

"We would call then upon tbe patriot sons of Virginia, in every part 
of the State, to co-operate with us in this movement, which has for its 
object the fullest development of all our industrial resources. Meet us 
in Richmond on the 15th of April, aud let us organize our forces. Let 
us perfect plans for this work that will call to our assistance the press 
of the State, and in a manner that will not be misunderstood by our 
chosen representatives, who shall give to this movemeut the sanction of 
law. We are the sovereign people. We create the wealth and bear 
the burdens of government. We have the right to be heard in the 
counsels of the nation. We are not beggars, we do not ask bounties, 
nor do we seek any special rights and privileges — but we do ask that 
consideration which our own and the interest of others alike demand. 

Daniel Webster, the sage of Marshfield, said an enlightened agricul- 
ture is the basis of all National wealth ; the foster-mother of all the in- 
dustries; the hand-maiden of all the arts and sciences. But that able 
jurist aud pure statesman, Hon. J. G. Black, in recounting the unequal 
benefits and burdens imposed by our government, said that Issachar's 
blessing had fallen to the lot of the American farmer. 

We have a " Weather Bureau," with a Signal Service, and telegraph 
lines running all over the country. "Why should the merchant in town 
be told to take his umbrella when he leaves home iu the morning, while 
the farmer, with the labor of the year at stake, is left in blissful ignor- 
ance of the impending storm? How is it that all the enlightened and 
progressive States of this Union, as well as abroad, have well organ- 
ized and liberally endowed Departments of Agriculture, with experi- 
mental stations, conducted by scientific men qualified to auswer any 
question and to furnish any information desired by farmers, while we 
are left to grope our way in Egyptian darkness? Russia, standing on 
the outskirts of civilization, expended in 1882 $15,000,000 for the ad- 
vancement of agriculture ; France, sinking under a load of debt, ap- 
propriates $20,000,000 to lighten the toil of those who till her soil. 
The United States, with an overflowing treasury, has expended only 
$ 246,807 ; while the State of Virginia, for the support of a Department 
of Agriculture, Mining and Manufactures, appropriates $5,000 ! Is 
not this " penny wise and' pound foolish?" When we contrast this 
with the millions which are expended in other departments, which at 
best are merely ornamental, we are reminded of the bill which Prince 
Hal took from the pocket of Sir John Falstaff : 

Expenditures United States Government for Fiscal 
Year Ending June 30th, 1882. 

For Civil Expenses $ 18,012,386 

" Foreign Intercourse 1,307,587 

" Indians 9,736,747 

" Pensions 61,345,193 

" Military Establishment 43,570,494 

" Naval Establishment 15,032,046 

" Miscellaneous Expenditures 34,539,237 

" District of Columbia 3,330,543 

" Interest on Public Debt .' 71,077,206 

Total ordinary expenditures $257,981,439 



176 SOUTHERN PLANTER. [April 

Expenditures by Department of Agriculture, included in Mis- 
cellaneous Expenditures $ 246,807 

Expense collecting Customs Revenue 6,549,595 

" " Internal Revenue 4,097,241 

Total expense collecting Revenue $10,646,836 

Are we abreast of the times or have we fallen behind ? Let the 
figures which have been adduced speak. Have we not traveled the 
downward road long enough ? Confined to their narrow sphere, the 
blessing of Issachar will fall to the lot of the farmers; but educated 
and organized, they will take the position assigned to them by Mr. 
Webster. Individuals in our State have heretofore done much for the 
advancement of agriculture ; but conditions are changed, and it requires 
the active cooperation of the State itself to reach out and grasp the 
means of bringing prosperity to all the interests in the State, of which 
the very keystone is agriculture. We constitute the great majority of 
the sovereign people. The powers of the State are in our control. It 
is in the hands of those to whom we delegate authority to advance or 
retard the progress of the State; but we must remember that no gov- 
ernment can be better or wiser or more progressive than the people 
who make it. Therefore let each man set his own house in order. Tiet 
each one do his duty in his own sphere and station. Let him add to 
the wealth and property of the State by making his own work a suc- 
cess. Let us display that self-denial, that indomitable energy, and that 
determination which characterized our leaders in the past, who still 
speak to us in monuments upon our Capitol Square. 

Let us demand of our legislators that they keep pace with the pro- 
gressive measures of other States, that they foster our agricultural 
schools, and enable them so to conduct their model farms as to contrib- 
ute valuable information to our agricultural people. Let them support 
an Agricultural Department on a scale and with powers commensurate 
with its vast importance — if properly handled — to the general interests 
of our State. Let us then attach to it an Exposition Building, for the 
constant display of our varied productions, for which the material we 
have sent to the World's Fair at New Orleans can form the nucleus. 

Let them place under its control a Bureau of Immigration, with 
means and power to place before the world the advantages that Vir- 
ginia offers to the settler from every clime, and to inaugurate and carry 
out a systematic plan for inducing immigration and a general develop- 
ment of our varied resources. This all being done will inspire invest- 
ors with confidence in our future, and they will gladly turn their 
attention to our resources, and then none can outstrip us in our forward 
progress; for nothing is more true than that "to him that hath shall 
be given," and that progress begets progress. 

By order of the Executive Committee of the Virginia State Agricul- 
tural Society. 

Rich'd V. Gaines, Wms. C. Wickham, A. S. Buford, 

Committee. 
[Special rates for delegates to the Farmers' Convention, to be held in Richmond, Apri\ 
15, 1885: The Chesapeake and Ohio, Richmond and Danville (including the York River 



1885.] SOUTHERN" PLANTER. 177 

and Midland railroads), the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac, and the Richmond 
and Alleghany railroads, will sell tickets on the 13th, 14th, and 15th of April, good for 
ten days, at five cents per mile one way for the round trip; the Petersburg railroad at 
three cents per mile each way; the Richmond and Petersburg, Norfolk and Western, 
and Shenandoah Valley railroad will sell tickets at excursion rates. All roads from 
Lynchburg to Richmond will sell tickets at $6.50, and from Norfolk to Richmond at 
$3.50 for the round trip. The Weems line of steamers, on the Rappahannock river, and 
the James River Steamboat Company, one fare for the round trip. In all cases it will 
be necessary for the delegates to present certificates of their appointment, to secure the 
special rates, and to have the certificates stamped by the Secretary of the State Agricul- 
tural Society, as an evidence of their attendance at the Convention. — Ed. S. P.] 



G-ex Cheese. — The following is a description of the manufacture of 
a much-admired French cheese known as Gex, which could easily be 
made in this country, and possibly would command a ready market 
here. The milk when taken to the dairy is first passed through a fine 
sieve, through which it filters and runs into a circular receptacle. When 
cc^>l the rennet is added, and coagulation is effected in about an hour; 
but in summer this cooling is frequently hastened by placing in the milk 
vessels filled with cold water. The mass is then well agitated, the large 
lumps broken up, and the whole allowed to remain until the curd deposits 
itself at the bottom, when the whey is drawn off and the curd thoroughly 
drained. These lumps are next brokeu into small pieces by a cheese- 
spoon, and put into the mould, being weighted with a weight of some 
ten pounds to more completely separate the whey. As a rule, the curd 
from one milking will make a sufficiently large cheese, but when it is 
insufficient to do this, the curd of two milkings must be used, and the 
work proceeded with a3 follows : That from the first milking, when put 
into the mould, must be broken on its surface by the hand. The curd 
of the second milking is then worked, and placed on top of the other, 
with a suitable pressure above. The cheeses now remain in an apart- 
ment for twenty-four hours, being turned once during that time, after 
which the salting process is begun. For this purpose they are stood 
side by side in a wooden tub, and on top of them is sprinkled a quantity 
of salt. They are left for another twenty-four hours, after which time 
the tub is thoroughly cleansed with pure water. The cheeses are then 
replaced, the salted surfaces being downward, aud the opposite surfaces 
treated in the same way that they have been; this operation being re- 
peated daily, and the quantity of salt used gradually reduced, until the 
cheeses are fit to be taken from the tub, which will be when they partake 
of a somewhat firm and constant crust. They next are stood upon shelves 
in the ripening apartment, this having a northern aspect and being of 
such a construction that the cheese may be placed in contact with the air 
as it circulates through the building. Here they must be turned daily, 
and if they are carefully attended to they will undergo a special fer- 
mentation and take in the interior those marble veins peculiar to them 
and so well known to connoiseurs. Cheeses manufactured in the hotter 
seasons of the year can be taken out for sale in about three months. — 
Farm, Field and Stockman. 



178 SOUTHERN PLANTER. [April 

VIRGINIA AGRICULTURE. 

[For the Southern Planter.] 

Mr. Editor, — While looking over your February number of the Planter 
my attention was arrested by an article taken from the Journal of Agri- 
culture uudev the caption of" Outlook for Producers." The article is time- 
ly, and while I most heartily concur with the writer, I desire particu- 
larly to call the attention of my brother farmers of Virginia to the out- 
look before us as a body. While the unsettled values of wheat, corn 
etc. are creating financial troubles among Western producers, it is work" 
ing out for the farmers of Virginia the problem of their future exis- 
tence as such. It is far from my purpose in this article to discourage 
honest industry, but to view calmly and dispassionately our situations, 
surroundings, &o,, as a producing class. Oar staples or moneyed crops 
generally speaking, have been for the past century or more mainly 
of corn, wheat, oats and tobacco. To these we have looked princi- 
pally for the necessary funds not only to defray the expenses of pro- 
duction, but to pay our taxes, to keep in repair our fences and buildings 
and to support our families not luxuriously but comfortably. Those 
who keep actual accounts of their yearly outlay and income on their 
farms can best tell us whether or not at the close of a year's proceedings 
their accounts balance. It is a fact not to be denied that the farmers 
of Virginia, generally speaking, carry on their farms more or less stock 
enough at least to consume their rough food, from which they get in re- 
turn, besides manure, possibly- a sufficiency to defray the expense of 
feeding, iu the way of milk, butter, veals, &c, But after all, do your 
accounts balance at the close of the year's operations? Let us for a 
moment examine more closely this vital question which contains 
so much to our interests. It has been a question with the Virginia 
farmers, since the close of the late war, whether or not they should con- 
tinue their former modes of cultivation, and the production of their 
former crops. As a class they have differed widely on this point in 
sentiment. Many of them, notwithstanding, have tenaciously followed 
the old ruts, while iu exceptional cases some alterations have been made. 
Summing up the operations for the last twenty years, in the agricul- 
tural districts of the State, it will be seen that instead of thrift our 
farmers have been embarrassed. 

In almost every neighborhood we find the farms areou a downward ten- 
dency, and the farms, with but few exceptions, are becoming poorer 
each year whenever the owners rely entirely on the products of their 
farms for improvements. In addition we find the fences and buildings 
becoming dilapidated, fields growing up, washing in gullies and be- 



1885.] SOUTHERN PLANTER. 179 

coming more and more worthless to their owners as the years go by. 

In the greater part of Middle Virginia, a large proportion of those 
owning farms prior to the war, have curtailed their operations to a 
very limited extent, or abandoned agriculture altogether, either sell- 
ing or renting until a purchaser is found. Every farmer of ordinary 
intelligence knows what renting or leasing a farm to tenants means in 
its usual sense. This needs but little comment. Such a course, to say 
the least, costs the owners of such lands in the end much more than 
they receive as rent. 

What is the cause of these changes? Why is it that farming in Vir- 
ginia has fallen so far below par these latter years? Is it because 
our farmers have lost their vim, becoming negligent, fast livers, etc.? 
This cannot be. It is far to the contrary. As a people they have 
been put more thoroughly to the test, and have worked harder, both 
mentally and physically to obtain an honorable support since the 
w^r than ever before in their history. Then to what cause, or causes, 
shall we trace this depression? 

In my humble opinion, Mr. Editor, there are many causes, real and 
not assumed, some of which I shall undertake to enumerate as they pre- 
sent themselves to my mind. 

In the outset, I would say our farms, generally speaking, are too 
poor, too large and too unwieldly in every sense to be worked profita- 
bly. We endeavor to cultivate too much surface for our means. A 
farm consisting of 200 acres requires less labor, less team and less cap- 
ital to make it profitable to its owner than one of 500 or a 1,000 acres. 

If our farmers insist on placing and keeping their farms in direct 
competition with the wheat and corn-producing sections of the West, 
they must double the fertility of their farms and produce more corn 
and wheat per acre. But, says one, we lack the capital requisite for 
improvements. This is true in one sense, but let us look a little further 
into the matter. We need capital to adjust our farms to the demands 
of the times. Suppose each farmer throws one-half of his farm on the 
market, be it large or small, and devotes the proceeds to a systematic 
course of improvement on the remainder, thereby lessening his area 
and doubling the value or fertility per acre. This means, less team, 
less labor and capital for the production of a given quantity of grain. 
It means more grass, and the more grass the more rapidly and perma- 
nently will our lands be improved. It will be observed in the mean- 
time our population will have been doubled. In all thickly settled 
countries, it will be remembered, villages and small towns become num- 
erous. They are indispensable to the well-being of the people, fur- 
12 



180 SOUTHERN" PLANTER. April 



nishing, as they do, immediate supplies and ready markets for home 
products. 

Such a change in the affairs of the State, will enable our farmers to 
diversify their crops and will throw around each a safeguard and an 
ample protection in the pursuit of any of the various branches of ag- 
riculture to which their taste may be best suited. 

Let us take courage and set our minds and hands to the accomplish- 
ment of the task which is before us. M. 



HARD TIMES AND BOOK FARMING. 

It has always been the fashion among a large class of our Canadian 
farmers to decry " book farming" as being altogether the opposite of 
practical farming. The farmer who year after year blunders along in 
a hap-hazard sort of way, making up in a great measure by plodding 
industry what he lacks in intelligence, is pointed to as the practical 
farmer, while the man who goes about his work like a rational being 
and insists on thoroughly understanding it is called the "book farmer." 
Now it often happens that for the first few years of the careers of two 
farmers of these widely differing types the so called " book farmer" 
appears to have considerably the worst of it. They are on new farms 
perhaps, and as the soil is of apparently inexhaustible fertility the one's 
care in saving manure is to all appearances thrown away, though of 
course it tells in his favor in the long run. In the meantime the 
" practical" man is skinning his farm and putting the proceeds into his 
pocket in the shape of dollars. And in the matter of stock "book 
farmer" is spending his money in laying the foundation of a well-bred 
herd of cattle and valuable flock of sheep, while the "practical farmer" 
is contenting himself with " scrubs" that cost him a mere trifle. To 
all appearances the latter has much the best of it, but any one who 
visits them ten years after their start in life will see that while the book 
farmer has been laying deep and sure foundations of a prosperous 
career, the so-called " practical" farmer has been absorbing his re- 
sources in making a mere show of prosperity. 

The present season of unexampled agricultural depression in Eng- 
land has shown the value of " brains" to the farmer. Times are so 
hard there that it is only what we are pleased to call " book farmers" 
who can succeed at all. Every pound of manure has to be saved, and 
every foot of land made the most of, so that it is easy to see how 
quickly the so-called " practical farmer" would be left out in the cold 
in the practice of a pursuit based on such accurate calculations as to 
cause and effect. — Canadian Breeder. 



The Farmers' Gazette (Ireland) claims that the operation of dishorn- 
ing cattle made the animals much more valuable, and that it made the 
dishorned animals more tractable, gentle and less dangerous to man 
and each other. 



1885.] SOUTHERN PLANTER. 181 



THE NEGRO.— Parody on Poe's Raven. 



FOUND AMONGST THE MANUSCRIPT PAPERS OF AN OLD SOUTH CAROLINA PLANTER. 



Once upon an evening dreary, from my fields I'd come in weary, 
And sat pondering life's dark problem as I'd often done before. 
While I sat engag'd in thinking — the present, past and future linking, 
Thro' the twilight I saw blinking a dusky figure at my door — 
A figure huge and dark and dusky, black as Desdemona's Moor, 

Peering in my chamber door. 

Tho' the twilight dim, uncertain, hanging like Plutonian curtain, 
Threw no trace nor shadow of his form upon my floor, 
I could see the looming figure, like a giant's, only bigger, 
Of a dark and dusky nigger, whom I'd often seen betore — 
Seen in times, when hat in hand, Sir, the nigger stood without the door — 

Times now gone forevermore. 

Now with greedy eyes he's standing stark within my doorstep landing 
All forgetful of his manners — his cover'd head within my door, 
One eye I saw was at me leering, the other on my viands peering, 
While my anger nothing fearing, his greed intent upon my store — 
Intent to beg or steal his rations from my very scanty store — 

This his purpose, I was sure. 

Then upon my hearth-place spying, where my ham and eggs were frying, 
I beheld a poker lying, by my hearth upon the floor, 
And with most determined vigor, prone I hurl'd it at that nigger; 
But he bent his supple figure and it fell upon the floor — 
Mis3'd the head at which I aim'd it and fell harmless on the floor — 

Bark'd his shin and nothing more. 

But with hungry eyes still looking where my ham and eggs were cooking, 
He with step determined walking, stalk'd across my chamber floor, 
Never made the slightest bow, Sir ; then I saw there'd be a row, Sir, 
Por I made a solemn vow, Sir, I'd kick that nigger from my door 
All despite the Freedman's Bureau, kick him from my chamber door, 

Independence in him I'd cure. 

Having done so I relented and of my hasty act repented, 
For I coul i not think of turning a hungry creature from my door. 
So, said I, tho' you're a freedman you seem run so much to seed, man, 
I'll give you now a hearty feed, man, as you look so very poor; 
Only split a turn of lightwood lying there without the door, 

Quoth the nigger, nevermore! 

Much I marvel'd this ungainly nigger should refuse so plainly 
On such terms to sate his huDger — hunger that must press him sore, 
For he cannot help agreeing, that no living human being 
Should refuse to labor seeing hunger pressing on him sore — 
Should refuse to earn the dinner he sees cooking from my door, 

Tho' he eats one nevermore. 



182 SOUTHERN PLANTER. [April 



Some-time I sat engaged in musing, what he meant by thus refusing ; 
" Doubtless," said I, " that huge creature once consumed enough for four 
When upon a rice plantation he out-ate the whole creation 
And never made a calculation what his rations cost, I'm sure. 
Free-rations then old master furnished in the good old days of yore — 

Days now gone forevermore." 

Now unless that nigger's crazy, however much he may be lazy, 
I'll shame to a sense of reason before he quits my chamber door! 
" Sir," said I, " have you uo feeling? Do you mean to live by stealing 
Or by work and honest dealing? Tell me, tell me I implore, 
Will you ever work for wages as mankind have done before — 

Quoth the nigger, nevermore. 

" Be that our ever sign of parting," I in anger cried upstarting, 
Get you back into the marshes ! Let me see your face no more — 
Get ye gone, you ugly demon — nigger still if slave or freedman ! 
Joiu the army ! Go to Texas — never come back here to beg us — 
Ne'er return again to vex us ! Let me see your face no more ! " 

But he stood there as before. 

And that darky still is standing in my entry on the landing — 
Standing listless oti the landing with his back against the door; 
And his eyes are ever spying where my ham and eggs are frying, 
But my poker still is lying near at hand upon the floor, 
And so long as I can lift it from its place upon the floor 

I'll feed that nigger, nevermore ! 



COL. O'FERRALL'S PLAN TO BENEFIT FARMING COMMUNITY. 

Represenative O'Ferrall is engaged upon a scheme that will be of great ben- 
efit to the people of the western part of Virginia, and will be duly appreciated 
by them. It is a plan to extend to them the advantages of the observations 
and predictions of the United States Signal Service. The great value of the 
weather bureau, especially to those engaged in agricultural pursuits, has been 
abundantly established. Col. O'Ferrall is assured of the hearty co-operation of 
the officers in charge of the Bureau and is confident that he will succeed. His 
plau is to have the various signals, indicating clear weather, rain, frost, &c, 
displayed at all stations, on the Virginia Midland, Shenandoah Valley and 
Valley railroads. Thence they will be communicated to other points, covering 
in the aggregate a very large part of the territory. The Signal Service has 
reached a stale of such perfection that during the past two years about 85 per 
cent, of its predictions have been verified. Millions of dollars have been saved 
to the farmers by its warnings, in the harvesting and handling of their crops. 
Col. O'Ferrall tells me that a year or two ago, two of his friends lost in a sin- 
gle night, by frost, $15,000 worth of tobacco A day's notice of the expected 
frost, such as are now given by the Bureau, would have enabled them to save 
the whole. He is very much in earnest about the matter, believing that he 
can thus do a great service to the people in that part of the State. — Special 
Washington Correspondence of Staunton Vindicator. 



The breeding of horses in Iowa is proving a profitable business. From Ma- 
haska county alone there were sold during the season of 1883 $225,000 worth 
of horse stock. 



1885.] SOUTHERN PLANTER. 183 



NITRATES ARE NEEDED. 

Early in spring, the conversion of the nitrogenous matter of the soil, 
or of manure, into nitric acid, is exceedingly slow. It needs heat and 
moisture, bacteria and lime. In moist land, during hot weather in sum- 
mer and autumn, the conversion takes place most rapidly. This is an 
advantage to the grower of winter wheat or winter rye. The growing 
wheat or rye plants in the fall take up the nitrates. I cannot go into 
the subject now. What I wanted to say is this ; ordinary farming can 
avail itself largely of the natural fertility of the soil. "We can grow 
crops of corn, and wheat, and grass, for many years without manure. 
But not so the market gardener. No soil in the world is naturally rich 
enough to grow garden crops to advantage and profit. Why ? Not 
because garden peas require any more or different plant-food than field 
peas, or garden beets any more than mangel wurzels. It is because 
the gardener desires early crops. He desires to get the growth at a 
season of the year when little or no nitrates are formed in the soil. 
To attain his object, he puts into the soil a monstrous quantity of ma- 
nure. To grow a crop of early cabbages, or early cauliflowers, it is 
almost impossible to make the land rich enough. At any rate, we find 
that the richer the land is made, the earlier and better the cabbages, 
and the more profit. We have to furnish three or four times as much 
manure as the crop needs. Why? Because the soil is cold and no 
nitrates are formed. We try to furnish the plants with all needed 
nitrates by an excessive application of manure — better apply the nitrates 
direct. This is not theory. I have been trying for years to grow 
good celery plants in the open ground. I could succeed only where 
the ground had been excessively manured for some years past. I have 
plowed in, the previous autumn, seventy-five to one hundred tons of 
the richest, well- rotted manure, and had "fair to good" celery plants. 
Now, by the use of nitrate of soda lean get celery plants earlier, larger 
and every way better, at less than one quarter of the cost. There is 
mystery about this. I presume we apply more nitrates than three hun- 
dred tons of manure per acre would furnish early in the season. Later, 
of course, when the manure commences to decompose an abundance of 
nitrates would be formed, but then early garden crops want the nitrates 
while the soil is so cold that nitrification cannot take place. — Joseph 
Harris, in American Agriculturist. 



IT IS NOT TRUE. 

" Why Farming is so Little Liked" is the heading of an article 
which has been "going the rounds;" but after reading we look in 
vain for any ^substantial reasons, because there are none to be offered, 
why farming is not liked. For ourselves we deny the proposition. 
The fact that three fifths of the population of the country are engaged 
in farming puts a stopper on any such nonsense. It proves that no 
business i3 more liked than the cultivation of the earth, and none yields 
so sure a living, and provides with more certainty for the wants of old 
age when our work-days are over. There are lazy people engaged in 



184 SOUTHERN PLANTER. [April 

farming, as in any other calling, who are always ready to try their hand 
at something else which to them seems to promise as much or more 
gain with less labor. But we all know, who have paid any attention 
to these changes, how seldom any one betters his condition. On the 
contrary, how frequently — in fact, how generally — they fail entirely 
and disastrously. It is perfect folly, after working at a pursuit a num- 
ber of years, and becoming well acquainted with it in all its parts, and 
doing well enough, to abandon it and begin anew some other busi- 
ness of which we know nothing. And we see the result of this folly 
all around us. The industrious, temperate, careful man, who pursues 
farming as the vocation of his life, becomes ardently attached to it and 
never fails to do well by it. We say never, because such a man can- 
not help but succeed, unless overwhelmed with misfortune; but even 
in such case it is not often permitted to be ruinous in these days of 
good will and benevolence. 

In a word, there is no business of life that a man engages in for the 
support of his family that is sure of accomplishing its object — or that 
upon the whole better liked — than that of tilling the soil ; and there is 
no people, take them as a whole, who are more respected or held in 
higher repute by the rest of mankind. — Grermantown {Pa ) Telegraph. 



I FARMERS' NEEDS AND FARMERS' ORGANIZATIONS. 

| AN OPEN LETTER TO COLONEL ROBERT BEVERLEY. 

Dear Oolonel, — Some time last winter I promised to submit certain 
views, which had been suggested to me by your Address to the "Agricul- 
tural Congress" last fall. I had hoped to prepare this paper prior to 
the meeting of that " Congress" in New Orleans in February, but 
sickness in my family and professional engagements prevented. 

As there is to be a " Farmers' Assembly" or " Convention" held in 
Richmond on the 15th of April, I will submit, through the Planter, a 
brief outline of what has occurred to me, in the hope that the sugges- 
tions now made may constitute a "starting point" for future organiza- 
tion and action. 

Let me premise by saying that a very large proportion of thetaxes, 
both State and Federal, are paid, either directly or indirectly, by the 
farmers, and yet neither the State or the Federal Government con- 
tributes any but the merest pittance — in proportion to the magnitude 
of the interests involved — to the advancement of agriculture. 

The most efficient means of correcting this great evil and injustice 
is what all farmers should desire, and I therefore submit the following 
suggestions for consideration : 

First. Let the farmers throughout 'the State, in " General Assembly" 



1885.] SOUTHERN" PLANTER. 185 

convened, ascertain and agree upon what are their wants, to be de- 
manded from the State Government. 

Second. Let the farmers throughout the United States, in " General 
Congress" assembled, determine what the farmers of the Union demand 
from the General Government. 

Third. Let the farmers in each State form such an organization as 
will best promote the ends sought to be accomplished. 

The State to be acted upon directly by the " State Farmers' Assem- 
bly," the United States to be acted upon by a "Federal Congress," 
composed of representatives sent by each " State Assembly." 

Under the first head I submit three propositions: 

First. Our State Department of Agriculture should be reorganized, 
and at least §10,000 per annum should be demanded for its support. 
This sum is small, but with the judicious management of the present 
able Chief of that Department much good could be accomplished, and 
as the Department is enlarged, this amount might be increased. The 
proper reorganization of the Department of Agriculture is a matter of 
detail, and I will not now even attempt any suggestions under that 
head. I trust, however, that the Assembly which meets on the 15th 
of April will appoint a committee of earnest workers, who will prepare 
a plan for its reorganization, and submit it either to that Assembly, or, 
if there be not time enough, submit it to the next Assembly, which 
should be held in September, or early in October. The present head 
of the Department, Colonel R. Harrison, should be a member of that 
committee. 

Second. There should be established in this State at least three Ex- 
periment Stations, for the purpose of making experiments pertaiuing 
to agriculture. 

It is true that a good deal of money is necessarily expended at such 
Stations without any apparent benefit. But failures in experiments 
judiciously made are but the " signboards to success;" for to ascertain 
what roads are not to be taken is next in importance to ascertaining the 
right road. Private citizens should not be expected to try experiments 
except to a limited extent. The State should make the experiments, 
and make known the results. 

To attempt to establish one independent station would not be too 
much; but by making use of institutions already established, then 
such Stations could be maintained at much less cost than one indepen- 
dent one, and would do much more efficient work. 

The College at Blacksburg is a State institution, and is an "Agricul- 
tural College." It is situated in the heart of the finest grazing region 



186 SOUTHERN PLANTER. [April 



of Virginia. Let one Station be located at Blacksburg, the experi- 
ments at that Station be confined to the breeding and raising of horses; 
the breeding, raising and fattening of cattle, sheep and hogs; the best 
methods of feeding, the best foods, the nutritive value of different 
foods — to be ascertained, not by chemical analysis, but by actual ex- 
periment. 

Let another Station be established at the University of Virginia, also 
a State institution, and which now has an Agricultural Department 
with an annual income of $6,000. The University is situated in the 
centre of the Piedmont country, that portion of the State well adapted 
to the production of all the cereals, tobacco, the grasses, and especially 
fruits, including the wine grape. Let the experiments at this Station 
be confined to the propagation, cultivation and distribution of the best 
varieties of cereals, grasses and fruits, the best means of culture, the 
best fertilizers to be used, the best means of applying them, and the 
comparative cost of each. 

The Hampton Normal School is not a State institution, but it is aided 
by the State, and I know from personal observation that General Arm- 
strong is in an eminent degree " the right man in the right place." 
Hampton is situated in the region of the peanut and cotton, and in the 
very midst of that grand but scarcely developed interest — the "salt 
water food-fishes." Let " Hampton " take charge of experiments in 
the culture of the peanut and cotton, and in the preservation, propaga- 
tion and distribution of fish and oysters in and along our numerous 
salt water bays, rivers and creeks. Let the result of all the experiments 
at each of these stations be published by the "Department" annually. 
Let a sum of not less than $5,000 per annum be demanded for each of 
these Stations, to be expended exclusively for the purposes indicated 
above, and to be strictly accounted for in their annual reports. This 
sum might be considerably increased by sales, at a moderate price, of 
the surplus productions of these Stations. 

Third. Let the Farmers' Assembly demand from our State legisla- 
tors some protection from the unjust discrimination made by our trans- 
portation companies against our own citizens — a discrimination amount- 
ing to almost direct robbery. 

In regard to the second general head, viz. ; " What the Farmers of 
the United States Should Demand of the Federal Government," the 
subject is too large for this letter, suffice it to say that the Farmers' 
Assembly should send delegates to the next Farmers' Congress, and it 
would be well to appoint a committee, with Robert Beverley at its head, 
to prepare a statement of the wants of the farmers of the Union, which 



1885.] SOUTHERN" PLANTER. ' 187 

should be demanded from the Federal Government, such statement to 
be submitted to the Farmers' Congress. Let this committee also have 
in charge the duty of urging the farmers of other States to unite in an 
effort to have justice done. 

Fourth and lastly — but more important than all — Let the farmers 
organize. At present they are raw militia, wholly without organiza- 
tion, without officers, without arms or ammunition. They are fighting, 
or about to fight, regular troops, well organized, drilled, officered, 
armed and equipped. These are the great transportation companies 
and other corporations, the great monopolies, the great monied institu- 
tions, and the stock, grain, cotton and other rings, with their hoard of 
the most reckless gamblers the world ever saw. 

Let the farmers in each county form a permanent, not temporary, 
organization; let them send delegates to the Farmers' Assembly — not 
too many. When this Assembly meets, appoint a committee to ascer- 
tain and report the wants of the farmers, so far as the State govern- 
ment is concerned. If that committee can't prepare this report at the 
April meeting, give them until the next meeting. When they do re- 
port, let the Assembly discuss, amend and agree upon what the farmers 
want. Let these wants be moderate. When these wants have been 
ascertained and agreed upon by the Assembly, have them put in the 
form of demands and published. Whenever there is to be an election 
for members of the General Assembly of Virginia, let it be the duty of 
the county chairman of each county to submit these printed proposi- 
tions to the candidates of each of the political parties making nomina- 
tions, and ascertain in writing whether these candidates are willing to 
work in good faith and earnestly for carrying out these views. If the 
candidates of both the great political parties agree to sustain them, then 
let the farmers vote according to their political preferences. If the can- 
didate of one party fails or refuses to agree, and the other candidate 
does agree, then vote for this latter despite his politics. If the candi- 
dates of both parties fail or refuse to respond favorably, then and only 
then let the farmers nominate a candidate of their own. Do this and 
you will avoid the rock upon which some former farmer organizations 
have gone to pieces, namely, that these organizations drift into political 
organizations; for it cannot be claimed with justice that the farmers 
have organized for the political advancement of certain farmers and not 
for the interest of all farmers. 

A similar plan might be adopted when members of Congress are to 
be nominated, the Farmers' Congress having determined upon what 
the farmers of the L T nion want from the National Government. 



188 . SOUTHERN PLANTER. [April 

Finally, let the farmers have patience ; let them organize and learn 
" to labor and to wait," and in a few years they will have secured all 
just demands — they should have none other from the State and Federal 
Governments. 

I omitted to state in its proper place that the Farmers' Assembly 
should demand that a substantial fire-proof building should be built on 
the public square for the use of the Department of Agriculture. 

Trusting that the "Assembly " soon to meet may be the punetum 
saliens of great good to the farmers, I remain, 

Very respectfully and truly yours, 

Sunny Side, Va. R. T. W. Duke. 



SCRATCHES IN HORSES. 

E. E. P., Franklin county, Maine : This complaint often occurs in 
animals whose blood is impure, and is much more frequent in Fall and 
Spring than at other seasons. For an internal remedy, to three-fourths 
of a pound of sulphur add one-fourth of a pound of pulverized saltpetre 
and mix thoroughly, so that every spoonful that is taken up will con- 
tain three parts of sulphur and one of saltpetre. Give a tablespoouful 
in the feed every night for a week, then every other night for another 
week. Wash the leg affected with scratches with carbolic soapsuds, or, 
if that is not conveniently obtained, use castile soap and add two table- 
spoonfuls of carbolic acid crystals to each gallon of water. Rub dry 
with soft cloths after bathing, so as to avoid taking cold, which would 
aggravate the difficulty. If there is much heat and swelling in the leg, 
take one pint of good cider vinegar, a half-pint of alcohol and two 
ounces of pulverized blue vitriol. Put into a bottle and let the vitriol 
dissolve. Shake thoroughly, then with a sponge wet with the mixture 
spat the affected part of the leg lightly, being careful to wet all the sores 
thoroughly morning and night. This will help reduce the inflamma- 
tion and cause the sores to heal. Should the skin be dry and covered 
with scruf after the sores have healed, add to a bottle containing six 
ounces of glycerine one ounce of carbolic acid in crystals, and when 
thoroughly mixed by shaking. apply a light coating once a day, wash- 
ing it off every few days with warm carbolic soapsuds or castile soap- 
suds with carbolic acid added, as suggested. Be careful not to have the 
animal stand where a cold draught of air will come in contact with its 
heels, also be particularly careful to remove all voidings as soon as 
dropped. One fourth of a teaspoonful of cayenne pepper two or three 
times a week, given in a bucket of water, or at night in feed, will have 
a beneficial effect, as it serves to promote digestion. — American Culti- 
vator. 



The amount of nitrogen supplied in manure is very much in excess 
of the amount recovered in the increase of the crop. 



1885.] SOUTHERN" PLANTER. 189 



SOME SUGGESTIONS UPON ENSILAGE. 

In view of the very probable erection of a large number of silos 
during the coming season, I venture to make one or two suggestions, 
whicb have occurred to me after opening my own silo and witnessing 
the opening of those of Mr. Abel Smith, M. P., during the past week, 
for there are two or three points which have often been treated as of 
minor importance, but which in my judgment have immense influence 
on the result. For the sake of a proper comparison I will take my own 
case first. The silage is made from exceedingly coarse grass, which 
Professor Fream, to whom I sent samples of all the plants unknown to 
me, kindly shows is entirely destitute of any one of the best grasses. 
The meadow only taken in baud last year, and which is to be ploughed, 
was divided into two parts. Eight acres were made into hay and nine 
were mown for the silo. The grass was coarse and wiry and the silo 
was filled in two days. Not being chaffed [finely cut, we suppose — E. 
S. P.], it did not pack well, and was most uneven in spite of extra 
treading and pressure. The sides were unusually well trodden and 
weighted, and the body of the silo was weighted with bags of stones to 
the extent of eighty pounds per square foot placed upon three-quarter- 
inch boards. The walls of the silo were par.tly of brick and partly of 
wood, the wooden sides being lined with Willesden paper, which is 
stated to be water proof and air-proof. The floor is of beaten earth, 
and the roof that of the barn. After opening the silo I found that the 
bottoms of the bags had completely rotted in spite of the dryness of the 
boards, and when moved the stones fell through. The springiness of 
the grass had prevented its packing close at the sides, and consequently 
the spoiled edges were thicker than is usual with ensilage which is 
chaffed; and the same may be said of the top. The fodder next the 
wall is quite rotten, while that immediately adjoining is only half de- 
stroyed, and is eagerly eaten by' pigs. Then comes a dry piece (these, 
sections as it were, being of course very small), which is not fragrant 
but somewhat musty in smell, although when chaffed it is readily con- 
sumed by the cattle. The whole of the remainder is equal in fragrance 
to the finest sample of clover hay I ever saw, and is ravenously eaten, 
not only by cows, but by pigs, calves, and horses; and yet, be it remem- 
bered, this is made from grass of so common a description that of itself 
is not worth growing, the hay from the same field being almost refused 
bv the cows, which infinitely prefer good oat-straw. The wooden sec- 
tion I find quite as successful as the brick, although most of the paper 
lining is completely saturated with moisture, and is apparently of little 
use in excluding either water or air. 

Mr. Smith's silos, three in number, are about fourteen feet deep (be- 
ing five feet below ground), massively built of brick within a barn, and 
smoothly faced with cement, the two-foot doors, from the floor to the 
top, being sealed up by concrete blocks. These pits were filled with 
vetches and rye, vetches and oats, meadow grass, clover, and maize 
respectively, and every sample was of the finest description, the clover 
being very sweet and fragrant, and the maize as perfect as the many 



190 SOUTHERN PLANTER. [April 

samples I have seen abroad. The tares and oats were sour ensilage, 
the tares and rye distinctly sweeter, and the grass fragrant and good. 
The whole of these fodders were chaffed fine, and the solid walls they 
present, after being well cut, are a most convincing proof that, however 
successful one may be with unchaff'ed silage, there is no comparison as 
between the one system and the other, for there is a decided risk of a 
large percentage of loss in the one and none in the other. In one of 
the silos of vetches the food was perfect right up to the very wall, and 
in the others the spoiled edges were very small. The same may be also 
said of the tops, which were covered with two-inch planks and weighted 
to the extent of 112 pounds to the foot with hard bricks. I regard a 
success of this kind with such a food as tares as of immense importance 
to the stock-feeder. Mr. Smith kindly told me that one lot of tares 
was from five acres, and that it yielded fifty tons of eusilage. I have 
considerable faith in this fodder, and hope to grow maize after my 
spring vetches, when, should I be fortunate enough to get ten tons an 
acre, followed by fifteen or twenty tons of maize, I shall more than 
ever think that our means are being apportioned to the exigencies of 
the times. But it is possible to go beyond this, for I have seen as heavy 
a crop as thirty-five tons to the acre, which was grown after vetches. 
At this rate there is no knowing what stock good land will carry. 

My chief object, however, in making these remarks, is to state that, 
in spite of opinions to the contrary (and I have felt bound to change my 
own), I believe it is by far the most economical system to chaff every- 
thing that is put into the silo. The fodder in this case occupies a 
smaller space, it cau be packed evenly, and the sides can be made 
almost perfect, which, more than anything else, tends to prevent a very 
large loss. I believe, also, that the walls should be thoroughly well 
cemented and smoothed, and then there is little or no fear of loss of any 
kind. A small sum of money, ,too, expended upon weighting material 
will be well laid out; and although stones and guano bags cost a mere 
nothing, I would infinitely rather have used concrete blocks with han- 
dles fixed in in making, pig iron, or hard bricks. These are much 
more cleanly, present greater facilities in working, permit of far more 
even weighting, and are always worth their money. I hope some of 
the many gentlemen who have tried trifolium, tares, lucerne, and such 
grasses, will give readers of the Live Stock Journal the result of the 
experiment in preservation of its value as food for dairy cows. On 
behalf, too, of the Ensilage Committee of the British Farmers' Associa- 
tion, I would ask any gentleman who has had special experience with 
ensilage in connection with milk in any form to give the public the 
benefit of it. — James Long, in London Live Stock Journal. 



When potatoes are fed to cows they ought to be given in connection 
with other feed. The average ration of potatoes ought not to be more 
than one fourth to one-third of the entire feed. Raw potatoes ought to 
be cut in slices, and boiled potatoes ought to be crushed. 



1885.] SOUTHERN PLANTER 191 



BETTING ON RACE-COURSES. 

If our legislators understood the difference between encouraging 
gambling and regulating or controlling it, such an understanding on 
their part would be greatly to the advantage of the community. They 
know well that where one man is ruined morally or financially by bet- 
ting on horse-races, hundreds are lost through betting on the price of 
grain, produce, or stocks which they never really own, handle, or even 
see. Yet, in the face of all this, our legislators pounce upon betting on 
horse-races and make it an offence against the law of the land, while 
gambling in stocks, produce, and grain is not only permitted, but pro- 
tected by law. 

An amusing little story is told, which will perhaps illustrate how 
utterly ignorant the great head and front of the anti-betting crusade 
was of the subject upon which he took such decided and really import- 
ant action. He was walking up King street one evening, when in 
passing Thomas' Chop House he heard what he thought to be an auc- 
tion in full blast. "Dear me," he remarked, "I didn't know Mr. 
Thomas was in difficulties, but here they are, selling him out, it 
seems." 

"Oh, no ! Thomas is all right; it's only old Quimby in there selling 
pools on the election," explained his friend. 

"Pools," said the future father of the pool bill, "Pools! Is that some 
new device for corrupting the electors?" 
"No; pools are usually sold on horse-races." 

In due time it was explained to this ponderous moral regenerator 
that pool-buying was not a species of gambling popular among pew- 
holders in the more evangelical churches, and that it was not a habit 
that was very wide spreadln business circles generally. It was a good 
question upon which to rouse moral enthusiasm, as comparatively few 
of those who make political or business capital out of their morality 
knew anything about it. Young men who went amiss through vices 
so scandalous in their nature that they were ashamed to avow them 
were fond of laying the blame on pool-buying, though many of them 
never bought a pool in their lives; while the wreck of others, who 
ruined themselves through gambling in stocks, was carefully laid at the 
door of the pool-box by the pious old stock-gamblers, who " rigged the 
market" so that the inexperienced young speculators outside of the 
ring could not fail to fall into the trap and meet their ruin. _ The ma- 
jority of those who voted for the act, the only effect of which was to 
embarrass legitimate horse-racing and open the door wide for all sorts 
of knavery, really thought they were taking a step which would crush 
out gambling in every form. 

Now, if legislators could only make up their minds to look at this 
question with that boldness and honesty of purpose which should 
always characterize the action of men who aspire to the proud title of 
statesman, a really great moral reform might be speedily effected, while 
so legitimate and productive an industry as horse-breeding would be at 
once relieved of one of its most serious embarrassments. 



192 SOUTHERN PLANTER. [April 

Let not only pool-selling but book-making be confined to the prem- 
ises of regularly organized and legally chartered jockey clubs and 
racing or trotting associations. Let it be absolutely under the control 
of such clubs or associations, and let each club or association be directly 
responsible to the Government from which it receives its charter for the 
rectitude of all its officers, as well as for the good faith in which all 
racing, trotting, pool-selling, and book- making are conducted on its 
premises. 

The Canadian people are very fond of horse racing, and our country 
has already proved itself well adapted to the breeding of race-horses 
and trotters, but so far as racing aud trotting are concerned a singular 
fatality seems to follow us. First, our sport must needs be dragged 
through the mud by a gang of knaves, when lo! a lot of that other 
class of people who shall be unmentionable, but who are proverbially 
more dangerous than knaves, must come to its rescue, and matters be 
straightway made much worse than they were before. 

As everybody knows, the nearest approaches to perfection are most 
speedily attained and most surely maintained through the medium of 
exaggerated types. The trotter is the intensified roadster, just as the 
race-horse is the intensified saddle-horse and hunter. The first is the 
outcome of the trotting turf; the second is the outcome of racing. The 
race-course is the spot where the highest qualities of these animals are 
to be tested, and yet our legislators are doing all in their power to 
legislate these high equine types out of existence. It is quite true that 
Mr. Robert Bonner paid high prices for Dexter, Edwin Forrest, Rarus, 
Grafton, Maud S., and several others, with no intention of allowing 
them to trot for money ; but, on the other hand, had they never trotted 
for money how many of them would have ever developed anything like 
the speed that has made them famous, and which alone brought them 
under Mr. Bonner's notice ? And for a moment let us see what is 
represented by the running turf. Luke Blackburn, Ten Broeck, and 
Longfellow are three racing stallions bred on this side of the Atlantic, 
neither of which could be bought for any sum that has been paid for 
any single horse in this country; while, so far as imported stallious are 
concerned, we will quote three purchases. Mr. J. R. Keene paid 
$25,000 for Blue Gown and had the ill luck to lose him in bringing 
him across the ocean; Mr. P. Lorillard paid $25,000 for Mortemer; 
while Rayon d'Or cost Mr. W. L. Scott over $40,000, delivered at his 
breeding-farm, near Erie, Pennsylvania. It is quite true that we can 
not point to any such importations by Canadian importers, but with 
fair play there is no reason why our horse-breeders could not come to 
the front as rapidly as our cattle-men; and it is not too much to hope 
some Canadian horse-breeder might yet show the outside world that 
Canada can win fame with race-horses, just as Mr. Valancy Fuller has 
shown them what we can do with Jerseys in Canada. 

But, aside from prospective successes, it must be admitted that we 
have much to gain and nothing to lose by placing all sorts of turf 
speculation under the immediate control of thoroughly reputable and 
responsible people, and to do this some radical changes must be made 
in the present enactments concerning betting. — The Canadian Breeder. 



1885.] SOUTHERN" PLANTER. 193 



Editorial. 



THE CORN CROP. 

The Spring has come, and with it the necessary consideration of the 
planting and cultivation of this, the most important grain crop of the 
United States. Its consumption is increasing annually throughout the 
world, and when not produced in any other country it is mainly imported 
from ours. Our production has reached the enormous quantity of 
two thousand millions of bushels, worth, at the average price of forty 
cents, $800,000,000. Its money value is the greatest of all farm crops 
except, possibly, hay. These crops constitute the basis of food for live 
stock and all domestic animals, and, to a large extent, for mankind. 

If farmers do not care to worry their minds about the effect of agri- 
cultural productions on the general wealth of the country, they will 
admit the fact that they have a pleasurable feeling when, in the month 
of April, they can look into their corn cribs and see that their supply 
is sufficient for the year, and that there will be no stint of bread for 
their families, or of grain for their animals. This feeling is incentive 
enough for them to regard this crop of great importance to them. It 
is useless and unwise to bother their minds about a prospective market 
price, for, up to the point of a necessary farm supply, it will make no 
difference whether corn will be worth ten cents or one hundred cents 
a bushel. The surplus, after an ample farm supply, is a net gain to all 
farmers, but a deficiency is a serious and inconvenient loss to them. 

It ought to be assumed that all American farmers do understand how 
Indian corn should be cultivated, for it was found here when the first 
colonies were settled, two hundred and eighty years ago, and has been 
an abiding and increasing staple ever since.. But the most casual ob- 
server of the present day will see that its cultivation by many farmers 
i3 sadly indifferent and unyielding. Fall and Winter plowing, as a rule, 
is much neglected on clay lands, so that the pulverizing effects of frost 
are lost and a good tilth impossible; whilst light and loamy lands 
may be best plowed in the Spring, just before planting, yet the work 
on these is generally hurried and badly performed. The most damag- 
ing mistake in either case which farmers make is, that they measure 
their crop by the extent of the mrjace laid out for cultivation. They 
fail to see that ten acres, well prepared, manured and cultivated, will 
make largely more than fifty acres badly prepared and cultivated with- 
out manure. The case, fairly stated, will stand thus: Ten acres, forty 
bushels each, 400 bushels; fifty acres, five bushels each, 250 bushels. 



194 SOUTHERN PLANTER. [April 



This presents a gain of nearly one hundred per centum in the crop, 
whilst the ten acres, thus cultivated, have doubled their value, and the 
fifty acres have depreciated. And the further thought and fact comes 
in, that the labor expended on the excess of forty acres was equal to all 
the demands for the extra cultivation and manuring of the ten. 

The substance of what we have said of corn applies to all other crops, 
and it is well for farmers to consider earnestly (making experiments to 
ascertain facts) how they may be benefitted by thorough cultivation and 
manuring — limiting surfaces in these respects — and also by rotation and 
drainage, which are fundamental factors in successful agriculture. 



PLASTER AND SALT. 

We have the following inquiries from a reader of the Planter in Fau- 
quier county, this State : "Is a mixture of common salt and land-plaster 
a good fertilizer for the cost? If so, what proportions should be used, 
and what chemical changes will result from the combination?" 

As these questions are put, it might be supposed that the enquirer 
thought that the combination mentioned would be a complete manure, 
and yet, from his known intelligence, this cannot be so. "We, there- 
fore, narrow them down to one : What is the value of salt and plaster 
mixed together before application to the land in proper proportions ? 
Both salt and plaster are valuable fertilizers when properly used, but 
we cannot see that a mechanical mixture of them before applied to the 
land would lead to any chemical combinations, either advantageous or 
otherwise. The combinations which may occur after application to the 
land, it would be impossible for any chemist to define. 

A mixture of the two in equal quantities, not exceeding two bushels 
each, will be a valuable broadcast dressing to grass in the Spring, and 
we have seen and read of the value of the application of two bushels 
of salt to the acre on wheat as it commences its Spring growth. As to 
plaster and its uses, we would advise the close reading of Sir J. B. 
Lawes' communication published in our February issue of this year. 

That the mixture of these two articles cannot constitute a complete 
manure is evident, for there would be wanting other important ingre- 
dients — mainly, the phosphates, potash and ammonia. 



Potatoes may be assorted in the cellar on the stormiest days in 
Winter, even when the thermometer is below zero. This is one ad- 
vantage of storing in cellars rather than in pits. Doing this now will 
save much more labor in the Spring. 



1885.] 



SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



195 



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EDITORIAL NOTES 



FARM IMPLEMENTS. 

We can supply our subscribers with one 
or two hundred dollars worth of farm im- 
plements at a liberal discount from manu- 
facturers' prices, which will be sent direct- 
ly from dealers' hands. 



THE FARMERS' CONVENTION. 

To Meet Here on 15th April. 

This Convention may, and probably will, 
prove of great advantage to the agricultu- 
ral interests of the State. It is therefore 
worthy of the attention of farmers in every 
county, who should see that they are fully 
represented. The full text of the address, 
which defines its objects, is printed in this 
issue of the Planter, to wbich is appended 
an editorial note giving information in re- 
spect to reduced transportation rates offer- 
ed to delegates. Our exchanges indicate 
movements as to delegations from many 
counties of the State, so that it is expected 
that the Convention will be largely attend- 

13 



ed by representative farmers ; and we hope 
no county will be luke warm with regard 
to representation. 



THE FAULTS OF THE PLANTER. 

A subscriber in Nelson county, this 
State, in remitting his subscription for the 
present year, takes occasion to commend 
the Planter in such terms that our modesty 
forbids us to repeat, but, at the same time, 
rebukes it in the following terms : " There 
is only one alteration I could desire in the 
Planter to meet my ideal of a perfect peri- 
odical for my use, and that is to print more 
about fruit, grapes especially, and less 
about wheat." 

Now we would beg our friend to remem- 
ber that wheat furnishes bread to more 
than one-half of the inhabitants of the 
world, and is one of the most valuable ex- 
ports from our own country, so that it can- 
not be ignored by a journal which circu- 
lates in all the States. As to grapes and 
other fruits, which are rapidly increasing 
in production, and are already a source of 
great national wealth, we will say. that our 
columns are open to every communication 
which may be sent us in respect to them ; 
and for such communications we should 
look with most confidence to Nelson and 
Albemarle counties. Several months ago , 
Mr. Ott, of Nelson, called on us and prom- 
ised an article on grapes, but it is not yet 
forthcoming. 



OUR SUBSCRIBERS. 

We extend our thanks to those of them 
who have made remittances siuce receiving 
bills which were sent with our January and 
March issues. The largest number are 
those who have not remitted, and what 
puzzles us most is the fact that some of the 
oldest and best friends of the Planter, and 
of ourself personally, are several years in 
arrears. They seem to forget that what to 
them is a trifle is in the aggregate much to 
the working resources of the paper. It is 
probable that many publishers suffer under 
this neglect by subscribers, for we see the 
subject frequently mentioned in other 
papers. 



196 



SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[April 



There is another point which seems with 
some subscribers to put their minds at rest 
as to obligations if a paper is sent to them 
after the period for which they have paid. 

On this point we will quote from another 
agricultural journal : 

"Vert Important— Read This.— Parties 
often complain that we send their paper 
after the time has expired that they paid 
for, but how are we to know that they do 
not want it unless they notify us, or direct 
their postmaster to do so? 

We ordered a miller here in the city to 
send us a bushel of meal the first of the 
week, and he did so, and continued to do 
so for four consecutive weeks. We ate up 
his meal and he presented his bill for the 
four bushels of meal, and we had not or- 
dered but one bushel, yet as we had ate his 
meal, we felt honor bound to pay him for 
the four bushels, and we did it." 

"Newspaper Decisions. — 1. Any per- 
son who takes a paper from the post-office, 
whether directed to his name or another's, 
or whether he has subscribed or not, is re- 
sponsible for the payment. 

2. If a person orders his paper discon- 
tinued, he must pay all arrearages, . or 
the publishers may continue to send it un- 
til payment is made, and collect the whole 
amount, whether the paper is taken from 
the office or not. 

3. The courts have decided that refusing 
to take newspapers and periodicals from 
the post-office, or removing and leaving 
them uncalled for, is prima facie evidence 
of intentional fraud." 

The summing of the matter is, that those 
of our subscribers who are most delinquent 
must be dropped, and their bills sent to 
collecting officers. 

The Planter's Premiums. — In order to 
encourage, as far as possible, beyond the 
circulation of our journal, an active and 
energetic movement in the farming inter- 
ests in our own State, we offer a premium 
of $10 cash, or its equivalent value in a 
gold medal, for the best essay on each of 
the following subjects : 

First. On the best rotation of our staple 
crops of corn, wheat and oats, tobacco, 
cotton, and grass. The methods of culti- 
vation, manuring, drainage, &c-, to be de- 
fined, but either crop mentioned may be 
omitted in sections where it is not habitu- 



ally grown. The general object is to show 
the value of rotation in the production of 
crops and in the improvement of the land. 
Second. On the diversification of crops 
which may not be subject to systematic ro- 
tation. 

Third. On special crops; and these may 
include fruits and vegetables. 

Fourth. On the thorough cultivation and 
manuring of any crop on a surface limited 
to such conditions, and the advantages 
over large surfaces with ordinary or fair 
cultivation without manure, or but a slight 
application of it. 

Rules to be observed in respect to these 
premiums : 

1. Authors must prepare and forward 
their essays to the Editor of the Southern 
Planter before the 1st of June next, and 
each essay must have an anonymous signa 
ture, but it must be accompanied by a 
sealed envelope, containing the full name 
and post-office address of the writer. These 
envelopes will not be opened until a com- 
petent committee of three persons have 
made the awards. Authors will number 
the envelopes, or wrappers, containing their 
essays, 1, 2, 3, or 4, so as to indicate the 
subject discussed. It is desirable that es- 
says shall not be too lengthy, but as much 
condensed as the subject will admit of. 

2. The premium essays, and others of 
merit, will be published in the Planter. 

The successful authors will be notified 
as soon as the awards are made, and they 
will at once receive the premiums after no- 
tice whether they desire payment in money 
or a gold medal. 

figfThe papers in this State which ex- 
change with the Planter will please notice 
these premium-offers, so that they will b» 
brought to the attention of as many farmers 
as possible. 

Work for the Farmers' Convention. — 
The committee appointed to prepare for 
the organization and suggest business for 
the Farmers' Convention, to meet in this 
city on the 15th of this month, met on the 
17th and 18lh of March, and recommended 
the Hon. A. Koiner, of Staunton, for Pres- 



1885.] 



SOUTHERN" PLANTER. 



197 



ident, and a number of prominent farmers 
in different parts of the State for Vice- 
Presidents. Committees were then ap- 
pointed, to report to the Convention on 
the following subjects : 

1. A plan for a permanent organization 
of an Agricultural and Industrial Associa- 
tion for the State. 

2. To prepare the draft of a bill for 
amending and re-enacting the present law 
establishing the Department of Agriculture 
to insure its greater efficiency. 

3. To prepare a bill to establish a De- 
partment of Immigration, Labor, and Sta- 
tistics. 

4. To submit a plan and bill for one or 
more Agricultural Experimental Stations. 

5. To submit additional subjects for the 
action of the Convention. 



The Commencement exercises of the 
Richmond Medical College take place on 
the 2d of this month. 



The Eureka Incubator. — The Great 
Poultry Show at the World's Industrial and 
Cotton Centennial Exposition is now over. 
The Eureka Incubator was awarded the 
First Prize, Gold Medal, for the best Incu- 
bator that was ever exhibited, hatching 
967 chicks from 1,000 eggs, a record that 
never was equalled in a public exhibition 
or anywhere else. Thousands saw it, and 
saw the chicks. 

This wonderful hatch was made on ac- 
count of the perfectly regulated heat, and 
the great care used by The Clocks in turn- 
ing the eggs without having to take the 
eggs out of the incubator. This hatch was 
made in a 1,000 egg machine, and a single 
No. 2 burner kept up the heat. 

The advertisement of this incubator has 
been seen in the Planter for more than a 
year. 



We are in receipt of circulars from 
Messrs. W. H. Fay & Co., of Camden, N. 
J., setting forth the merits of their Manilla 
goods used for building purposes, and also 
circulars descriptive of their Carpeting and 
Rugs made of the same material. From 
the numerous testimonials given Messrs. 
Fay & Co., and from the large use to which 
such material can be put, we should judge 
these goods have met and would still con- 
tinue to meet a most hearty welcome, the 
expense being only nominal, and in some 



kinds of their goods only one-half the cost 
of the usual materials for which they are 
substitutes, such as tin and slate for roofs, 
and for plaster on walls and ceilings. 
Messrs. Fay & Co. offer to send a 16-page 
circular, with samples of their goods, free 
of charge to those who desire them. 



Communications. — We have several 
lying over, and we again call the attention 
of correspondents who desire their articles 
to appear promptly to the fact that our 
forms are closed from the 10th to the 12th 
of the month preceding the date of its 
issue. 



BOOKS AND MAGAZINES. 

We have received from United States 
Commissioner Loring, the Report of his 
Department for 1884. It is full of valu- 
able information, statistical and otherwise, 
of the agriculture of the country, diseases 
of cattle and fowls, entomology, &c. We 
are glad to see a marked improvement in 
the Department by furnishing the public 
with its Report with the close of each year. 
Formerly these Reports came out a year or 
two after date, when the subjects of them 
had passed into history and had no present 
application. 



We have from the Department of Inte- 
rior, by the courtesy of Congressman O'- 
Ferrall, a Report on the Cotton Production 
of Virginia, with a brief discussion of the 
agricultural features of the State, by W. C. 
Kerr, Ph. D., State geologist of North 
Carolina, Special Agent. There are ten 
counties mentioned as producing cotton, 
and none of them have an average of more 
than a half bale (475 pounds), to the acre; 
and other products mentioned, such as to- 
bacco, wheat, corn, potatoes and oats are 
not more prolific. 

Our farmers in this section must look 
closer to cultivation and manuring. 

The North American Review for this 
month is received. It is impossible, with 
our limited time, to give a full notice of 
this issue of a valuable journal. We must 
permit our eyes only to rest on such arti- 



198 



SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[April 



cles as are most striking and appropriate 
to our own publication. Such we mention 
as "The Law's Delay," "The Agricultural 
Crisis in England, and "How to Reform 
English Spelling." 

Published at No. 30 Lafayette Place, 
New York, price, $5.00 per annum, pp. 96. 

Harper's Monthly for this month has 
much interesting matter in reading and il- 
lustrations. It is especially so to Virginians, 
and to Richmond people in particular. 
The article headed "Some Richmond Por- 
traits " is an interesting pen-sketch of dis- 
tinguished men and women, with portraits, 
commencing with Col. Wm. Byrd, the 
founder of the city and the owner of the 
Westover estate ; and then follow Evelyn 
Byrd, his daughter, Jno. Mayo, Abigail 
Mayo, Mary Mayo Scott, Maria Ward, 
Mrs. John Wickham, Mrs. Joseph Gallego, 
Mrs. John Bell, Elizabeth R. Barksdale, 
and John R. Thompson. 

Godey's Ladies' Book for April. Our 
lady friend, to whom we handed the April 
Godey, writes us : " Godey for April, in all 
respects, maintains its high position among 
the Monthlies. The frontispiece 'Prayer' 
is a gem, and we pause before it, a little 
anxious, we confess, ere we turn, girl-like, 
to look at the ' Spring Styles.' Could any- 
thing be more exquisite than the ' Hats?' 
And the ' Fashions — are they not just 
grand? The reading in Godey, we think, 
is of the best character of light Literature, 
always pointing a good moral, and teach- 
ing good and useful lessons." 

The Century for March is full of inter- 
esting history and illustrations. Its lead- 
ing illustration is a portrait of Daniel Web- 
ster, the great statesman, which is followed 
by a brief biography. Then we note among 
its other valuable matter (illustrated) 
"Some Recollections of Charles O'Con- 
nor," "The First Fights of Iron-Clads," 
"Memoranda of the Civil War," with un- 
published letters of Generals B. S. Ewell, 
Fitzhugh Lee, G. T. Beauregard, &c. 

Published by the Century Co., New York 
city. $4 per year. 



The Popular Science Monthly for this 
month is a valuable number, In its table 
of contents we have read with interest 
"A Chapter on Fire Insurance," "Liquor 
Legislation," "Aristotle as a Zoologist" 
''Apiculture as a National Industry," 
" Chemisty of Cooking" (continued), &c 

Published by D. Appleton & Co., New 
York. $5 per annum ; and will be clubbed 
with the Planter at reduced rates. 



CATALOGUES. 

Chas. C. McColgan & Co., Baltimore, 
Md. Seeds, Plants, Roses, Fruits, &c. 

Ellwanger & Barry, Rochester, N. Y. 
No. 5. Selected Roses. 

Lewis Roesch, Fridonia, N. Y. Grape- 
vines, small Fruit Plants, &c. 

Matthe w Crawford, Cuyahuga Falls, Ohio . 
Small Fruits. 

I. H. Bell, Harrisonburg, Va. Fresh 
and reliable Seeds and Flower Plants. 

Jno. S. Collins, Moorestown, N. J. 
Fruits, Flowers, &c- He makes a specialty 
of the Comet Pear. 

C. S. Medary, 36 Wall street, N. Y. 
Proprietor of the New York and New Jer- 
sey Carp-Fisheries. 

Sedwiek Bros., Richmond, Ind. Wire 
Netting, Fences, and Gates; also Russell 
Wind- Engine, "Boss" Poultry Coop, &c. 
Geo. S. Joselyn, Fridonia, N. Y. Amer- 
ican Grape- Vines, small Fruit Plants, &c. 
Lang's Live Seeds, F. N. Lang, Baraboo, 
Wis. 

I. A. Everett, Watsontown, Pa. Farm, 
Garden, and Flower Seeds. 

H. A. Staples & Co., this city, Land 
Agents, containing list of Farms and city 
Houses and Lots for sale. 

Ashton Starke, this city. A beautiful 
and comprehensive enumeration of Farm- 
Implements and Machinery. 



NEW ADVERTISEMENTS. 

A. B. Farquhar, York, Pa. The "Key- 
stone Corn-Planter." Through Alden & 
Bro., agents, Cincinnati, Ohio. 

Kentucky Stock Farm, 16-page monthly. 
Through Lord & Thomas, Chicago, 111. 



1885.] 



SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



199 



Elder Publishing Company, Chicago, 111. 
Engravings of our Presidents. Through 
Ayer & Son, Philadelphia, Pa. 

B. M. Wooley, M. D., Atlanta, Ga. 
Opium and Whiskey Habits Cured. Alden 
& Bro., Cincinnati, Ohio. 

E Van-Norden & Co., Boston, Mass. 
Incubator. Through Edward Brady, Ad- 
vertising Agent, Boston. 



RENEWALS. 

Fourqurean, Price, Temple & Co., lead- 
ing Dry-Goods men of this city, offer their 
Spring Goods, and we call especial atten- 
tion to their advertisement, and to the fea- 
ture by which purchases can be made by 
sample. 

The Peabody advertisement, c ming 
through Dauchy & Co., Advertising Agents, 
New York, is renewed for one year. 



CHANGE OF ADVERTISEMENTS. 

Messrs- Allison & Addison make a change 
of their Tobacco Fertilizer from tobacco- 
beds to the growing crop. 

Messrs. Travers, Snead & Co, to Spring 
Crops. 

Ashton Starke introduces a cut of the 
celebrated •' Deere-Wheel Cultivator." 

Watt & Call to seasonable Implements 
and Machines. 

S&~ These changes we ask especial at- 
tention to. 

Sawing i&fade Easy. 

HOHARCH UGHTHING SAV7IHG MACHINE 

SEKTT ON 

so :e>_a.-x-s> 

TEST TRIAL. 




For lOTgin^ e?nips. wood -yards, farmers getting out 
Etove wood, and all sorts of log -cutting— it is unrivaled. 
Thousand* rviri yenrlu . A boy of 16 can saw logs fast and 
easy. Immense saving of labor and money. Write 
forelegantly ihu?trated catalogue in 6 brilliant colors, 
also brilliantly illuminated poster in 5 colors. All free. 
Agents Wanted. Bi'i Tnw>*'j jvwde quirkly. 
BKWARCH MFG CO., (A) 206 State St, Chicago, HI. 
Ie5t 



LAIVIBOftlM ROAD MACHINE 




LIGHT, STRONG, SIMPLE, DrRABlE. 

UMBORN ROAD MACHINE CO.. Limited. MEDIA, PA. 



VtRGlNIAHOG^HOLERA CURE^ 

fc IS-*T H E ON LY, ABSOLUTE C U R E',?F0 R V 
- HO G';.:GHOLERAVIT:COMPLETELX v ERAPlCATES\'!; 
' .THECISEASE-AND^FATTENS'IfHOGS. V 
; V IT CURES'CHICKEN CHOLERA. : 

■ IN ci/e'«^ -"AGENTS WANTED '-uliubWE 5 * 1 ' , 
. W-Yf.RTi COUNTY. IN THE SOUTH-ANU .'.. 1 

■ :.'V ■ '': .SEND FOB PARTlCUl-ARg-^cU.p. J 

js' . NORFOLK.VA. , v, 




je ly 



Send Ten Cents and get a sample 
copy of the 

Southern Poultry Guide 

A monthly journal devoted exclusively to 
Fancy Poultry, Pigeon and Pet Stock. It 
is interesting to both old and young, and 
should be read by every one interested in 
the improvement of poultry. To adverti- 
sers it offers extra inducements. The cir- 
culation is large, and it is the only journal 
of ihe kind published in this part of the 
Southern States. The subscription price is 
only $1.00 per year. Address 

E. B. McARTHUR & CO., 
tf Meridian, Miss. 

ADDI7C SeDd six cents for postage, and re- 
riBi&Ca ceive free, a costly box of ~ 



which will help you to more money right away than 
aoythiDg else in this world. All, of either t.ex, suc- 
ceed from first hour. The broad road to fortune 
opens before ihe workers, absolutely sure. At once 
address, TKUE & CO., Augusta, Maine. mh 6t 



300 CHICKENS H 
ECLIPSE INCUBATOR 



ATCHED 
AT ONC 



E 



Simplest, Cheapest, 
and Most Reliable. 
Price Lists Free. 
E. VAN NOOKDEN & CO.,BOSTON,MASS. 



ap 2t 



Fine. Teas > . speedy 

803M^5t^Z &JDcoict«JL 



BLAIR 



Mr. JOSEP 



Having had a long experience in buying 



FANCY 



GROCERIES 



He is fully competent and capable of selecting only 
those goods that are 

FREE FROM IMPURITIES AND ADULTERATIONS 



PRICES AND SAMPLES WILL BE CHEERFDLLT SENT TO ANT ADDRESS 



SEED CORN! 

I have an excellent corn which I will sell for seed. This corn is very prolific, and weighs when well 
matured sixty pouDds to the struck bushel. Brings on the market two and three cents more than any other 
corn. This corn is suitable for bottom lands and heavy clay soils — a hard, white flint corn, standing more 
water than any corn known. I have oft times had it flooded with but little or no damage. I never average 
less than fifty bushels to the acre, and this amount on land running in corn from seven to thirty years. In 
1881 1 measured 105 bushels shelled corn from one selected acre. I can supply any person wanting good 
Seed Corn for bottom lands or table lands, or more elevated heavy clay soils, at 81 per bushel, delivered on 
the cars at Bremo, if bags are furnished free by purchaser, or will ship through Messrs. Simpson, Bass & Co. 
or Messrs. Sublett, Cary & Co., of Richmond, Ta., I furnishing bags, at $1.15 per bushel. 

fe tf B. H. BRAGG, Bremo Bluff, Fluvanna Co., Va. 

THE 

UPPER JAMES RIVER VALLEY. 

All things considered, the advantages of this section cannot be well over-estimated. 
The advantages are, viz. : Health and salubrity of climate, good and productive soil, 
^abundant supply of pure water, excellent timber, an inexhaustible supply of the staple 
minerals (coal and iron), accessible to the best markets with rapid transit. These lands 
are now cheap, yet must rapidly increase in value, and make sure and speedy fortunes to 
those who secure them at present prices. Send stamp for pamphlet, giving full particu- 
lars. Address, W. A. PARSONS, 

fe Maiden's, Goochland Co., Va. 




HARNESS THE WIND 



BY USING THE 



MANVEL 

WIND ENGINE. 



Carrying Wind Mills on hand at Boston, New York City, Roch- 
ester, N. Y:, Philadelphia, Pa., and many other points, operating 
our experienced men to plan and execute work from these points, en- 
ables us to do superior work promptly, thus insuring satisfaction to the 
buyer. We contract to force water from wells or springs to any point 
for Farmers, Dairymen, Gardeners, Florists, Villages, Private Residences, &c. We can 
refer you to parties using;. Write for our Catalogue and Power Engines, Pumps, Tanks, 
■Ac, giving us an idea of the kind of work you want done. Address all communications 
to B. S. WILLIAMS & CO., Kalamazoo, Mich. 

fe4t 




DAIRYMEN and FARMERS 

should use only the "Arm and Hammer" brand 
for Cleaning and Keeping Milk Pans Sweet and 
Clean. It is the Best for all 
Household Purposes. 




; HOC DISEASES.— The "Arm and Hammer" 
i brand Soda and Saleratus is used with great 
' success for the prevention and cure of HOO 
\ CHOLERA and other diseases. 
, Mix with the animal's food. 



"ARM & HAMMER BRAND" 

To insure obtaining only the "Arm & Hammer" brand Soda 
or Saleratus, buy it in '* pound or half pound " cartoons which 
bear our name and trade-mark, as inferior goods are sometimes substituted for the "Arm & Ham- 
mer brand when bought in buli. Ask for the "Arm & Hammer" brand SALSOOA (Washing Soda). 
jan4t 




J. W. FERGUSSON & SON, 



BOOK AND JOB PRINTERS 



3i-o ) Jlr 



o o ^ — "' 



stm&w 



Corner of Main and Fourteenth Streets, 



B. TA. 



THE SCIENCE OF LIFE. ONLY SI. 

BY MAIL POSTPAID. 




HOME INDUSTRY! 



KNOW THYSELF. 

A Great Medical Work on iv anhood. 

Exhausted "Vitality, Nervous and Physical Debili- 
ty, Premature Decline in Man, Errors of Youth, and 
the untold miseries resulting from indiscretion or 
excesses A book for every man, young, middle- 
aged and old. It contains 125 prescriptions for all 
acute and chronic diseases, each one of which is in- 
valuable. So found by the Author, whose expe- 
rience for twenty-three years is such as probably 
never before fell to the lot of any physician. 300 
pages, bound in beautiful French muslin, embossed 
covers, full gilt, guaranteed to be a finer work in 
every sense — mechanical, literary and professional — 
than any other work sold in this country for §2.50, 
or the money be refunded in every instance. Price 
only $1 by mail, postpaid. Illustrative sample, 6 
cents. Send now. (iold medal awarded the author 
by the National Medical Association, to the Presi- 
dent of which, the Hon. P. A. Bissell, and associate 
officers of the Board, the reader is respectfully re- 
ferred. 

This Science of Life should be read by the young 
for instruction, and by the afflicted for relief. U 
will benefit all. — London Lancet. 

There is no member of society to whom The 
Science of Life will not be useful, whether youth, pa- 
rent, guardian, Instructor or clergyman — Argonaut. 

Address the Peabody Medical Institute, or Dr. 
W. H. Parker, No. 4 Bulfinch Street, Boston, Mass., 
who may be consulted ou all diseases requiring skill 
and experience. Chronic and obst ina te diseases that 
have baffled the skill of all II P A I other 
physicians a specialty. Suc h ^1 Ci A% Lb treat- 
ed successfully without "f ■■ ^^ ^* p B p 
an instance of failure. I I V9 mm Lb I 

Mention this paper. ap ly 

HARD WOOD ASHES as a Fertilizer. 

150 car-loads for sale. Can be delivered at any 
railroad station in the Eastern. Middle, or Southern 
States in car-loads of 14 tons. Dry, unleached ashes 
from 25c. to 30c. a bushel ; leached ashes from 15c. to 
18c. a bushel, accoiding to location. 

JAME-i HARTNESS, Detroit, Mich. 

Thos. B Giles, Agent, Seaford, Del. ap (it 



rs 



MANILA 



NE.ST 



k^VX&YVi.'^ Y&<o^\ 




Is CHEAP, STROMi, easy to apply, does 
not ru»t or rattle. Is also A SUBSTITUTE 
FOR PL.A.STER, at Half the Cos! ; out- 
lasts the building. CARPETS AM) KC<;S 

of same, double the wear of oil cloths. Catalogue and 
•toples^Vee. W. II. FAT <fc CO., Camden, N.J. 
— mh 7t 




Water Wheels & Millstones - 

Best and Cheapest in the^&\w§3 
World, Manufactured by 

A.A.DeLoacu&Bro.,Atlanta 1 ba.' 

46 page Catalogue Free. 




aply 



DIXIE SHIRTS! 

"ACME" DRAWERS 

FINE DRESS SHIRTS a specialty. 

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

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

H. T. MILLER 8l CO., 

MANUFACTURERS, 

Coiv Ninth and Main Sis., Eictoonil, Va. 

[oct ly] 

J. T. GATEWOOd] 

DEALER IN 

Fine Groceries 

LIQUORS AND FEED. 

116 E. Broad Street, Richmond, Va. 

Famiiies having a surplus of anything produced 
in the Dairy, Barnyard or Garden, will do well to 
advise with me. Correspondence solicited, ja ly 

Real Estate Agent, 

P. O. Box 216, CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. 

Buyers of Real Estate are directed by this Agency 
to the very greatly favored sections of Virginia, em- 
bracing the Piedmont couniies, the James River 
Valley west of Richmond, and the Valley of Virginia 
at)d West Virginia contiguous to the great C. & O. 
Railway DOLIN'S LAND ADVERTISER free. 

Correspondence solicited with buyers and sellers 
of Real Estate. 1K5,Enclose postage stamp. 

T. W. WOOD, 

Seedsman and Florist 

1518 E. Main St., Richmond, Va. 

All kinds of Seeds and Plants. 

Agent lor Lister Bros.' standard Fertilizers. 

Catalogues mailed free on application. 

Mention l/ie Planter. fe ly 



UNPRECEDENTED LOW PRICES FOR 

Farm Implements for 1885. 

ASHTON STARKE, Richmond, Va, 

"Iron Age" Cultivators, 
Malta Shovel Plows, 
^^^ "Deere" Wheel Cultivators, 

^0>^y\ Lever Straw Cutters, 

aglSi|r- Smoothing Harrows, Broadcasters, 




Bg agj jfflig all 



Sulky Plows, Wheelbarrows, 
Churns, &e. 

"Buckeye" Pumps" will force water 
anywhere. 

Iron Fencing for sections and yards put 
up in the country. 



New improved " Wood's" Mowers and Binders. 
Thomas' Hay Rakes and Tedders. 

TP A |£ C WJ 4^ T" [ ^^ C T Don't buy a single implement until you have 
I fllVfi ■ « \J I I \^ C ■ gotten our prices. We know we can sell you. 

" OLD HICKORY " WAGONS, BUGGIES, &c 

[fe 6t] 



Corner of Ninth and Grace St., Richmond, Va. 



'f 



STRICTLY FIRST-CLASS IN ALL ITS APPOINTMENTS 



This Hotel fronts upon the beautiful Capitol Park — the most elevated, central and 
fashionable portion of the city. 

TERMS: $2.00 AND $2.50 PER DAY. 
STEPHEN HUNTER, - - Proprietor. 

THE KEYSTONE-——— 

OVER 300,000 IN ACTUAL USE 

And nil el vine perfect satisfaction. U, 

AGENTS WANTED. 



WASHER. 




Will wash Cleaner, Easier, and with Less Injury to 
Clothes than any other in the World. We challenge 
any manufacturer to produce a better Washer. 
Every Machine Warranted FIVE Years. 

and Satisfaction Guaranteed. The only 
Washer that can be clamped to any sized 
tub like a Wringer. Made of malleable 
iron, galvanized, and will outlast any two wooden 
machines. Agents wanted. Exclusive Terri- 
tory . Our agents all over the couutry are making 
from $75 to 3200 per month. Retail price, $7. 
Sample to agents, $3. Also our celebrated 

KEYSTONE WRINGERS AT LOWEST WHOLESALE PRICES. 

Circulars Free. Refer to editor of this paper. Address F. F. ADAMS & CO.. Erie. Fa. 
nov 6t— alt 




QUEEN 1 SOUTH 

PORTABLE 

FARM MILLS 

For Stock Feed or Meal 
for Family use. 

IO,000 in Use 

Write for Pamphlet. 

Simpson & Gault 

M'F'C CO. 

SUCCESSORS TO 

jSTKATJB MILL CO. 
S CINCINNATI, 0. 

Complete 4 Cheap Flour Mill Outfits. 



fe 3t 




CATALOGUE 



ALL TESTED 

TRUE TO NAME 

Immense Stock. 

(1885) telling all about 
_ OLD and NEW varie- 
ties, full UES« KIPTIOMS profusely I El VS- 
TBATBD, much valuable INFORMATION. 

Sent to all applying FREE. Large stock Fruit 
Trees, Small Fruits and Vines. 
fe 3t J. C. EVERITT, Lima, Ind. 

TO FARMERS AND SHIPPERS. 

THE 

American Co-Operatiye Dairy Co. 

INCORPORATED MAT 24, 1884, 



CAPITAL STOCK OF $100,000. 

Offer extra inducements for consigners of 

Batter, Eggs, Beans, Cneese, Poultry, 

Game, and all hinds of Farm 

Produce. 

This companv is duly established by law, and far- 
mers shippers 'or dealers can depend upon prompt 
and honest returns for all consignments 

For particulars address . I. W. >\ HI r E, sec y, 
31 Beach street, Boston, Mass. 

fe 3t Mention the Planter. 




Chester White, Berkshire 
and Poland-China Pig». 
Fine Setter Dogs, Scotch 
. Collies, Fox Hounds, ana 
=si Beagles, Sbeep and Poultry, 
rgsasaP bred and for sale by w- 
GIBBONS & CO., West Chester, Chester county, 
Pa. Send stamp for cir cular and price-list, ie ij 

THE NEW ENGLISH COMPANY, 

FOR THE 

Sale anil Purchase of Land in Virginia, 

Have many enquiries for the purchase of 
farms and real estate, and have already 
made extensive sales at good prices. 1 nose 
wishing to sell or buy land, or. farm prop- 
erty, should apply at once to G. B. Lynes, 
Ivey depot, Albemarle county, Va. 

Parties wishing to look at farms can be 
boarded by adverser. Q> R LyNBS< 

mh 7t ^ — 

OEDERICK'S HAY PRESSES. 

is i_ u t. r» » w .-» g, the customer 

»t 6 <J X%6 e.** »6**!^, ^V keeping the one 



DAVID B. PROSSER, 

Manufacturer and Wholesale and Retail 
Dealer in 

Saddles & Harness 

Of all Grades and Prices. 

Large Stock of Sad- 
dles, Harness, Bri- 
dles, Collars, Hames, 
Horse Blankets, 
Whips, Spurs, &c. 




Repairing of every 
| description cheaply 
y and ntatlydone. 

No. 1328. cor. 14th and Main, Richmond, V a 
Mention the Planter. fe 3t 







Order on trial, address for circular and location ol 
Western and Southern Storehouse! and Agents. 

■■ p. K, , DEDER.IOK & CO., Albany, N. Y. 

myly 



A FRAGRANT BREATH. 
TVEEADE & BAKER'S 

Carbolic fflontb Wash 

An essential requisite for the Toilet. Heals all 
diseases of the Gums. Disinfects decayed Teeth. 
An excellent gargle for Sore Throat. A delicious 
and fragrant Mouth Wash. Purines the breath. 

Prepared only by . 

T ROBERTS BAKER, Pharmacist, 

919 east Main street, Richmond, Va. 
FOR SAEE BY ALL DBlIGGiSXS. 
Price, 50 cents a bottle. . fo i„i Q 
Caution.— Beware of worthless imitations ot style 
of Wipper, bottle and label. Ask for Meade & Jo- 
ker's, and take no other. nol ' it 

HJRCELL HOUSE, Norfolk, Va. 

Conveniently located and alt modern improve- 
ments. PHILIP F. BROWN & BRO., Prap'rs. 

Blue Ridge Springs, Va., 

BOTETOURT CO., "VA. 

The celebrated Dyspepsia Water and charming 

PHIL. F. BROWN. 



ok 

u! i'7.\f. "[).',' Atlinti Gft- 



summer resort,. 
jetl 



OPHJ^s 



.-..( nvnt pain. Boo 
i;irti--Hi;.r- s.-nt Free, 



ap 



Baelrea Mai 

AMD 

fflCOI AWARD 




STEAM ENGINES, 

LB.FAEQUHAR,Tork,Pa, 
Cheapest and best for a'.l pur- 
poses — simple, Etronj.i-nJ du- 
rable. Also Horse Pow- 
ers and Gin Gear. 

Saw, Geist and Cob 
Hill 1 *, Gins, Peesses 
asd JlACHraEr.T c^ner- 
r.lly. Jnquiriesproiaptly 
ans\vcr;d. 

TertioalEnginer3,witli err? 
wheels, very tonven!- 
ent, economical and 
compl e to in every de- 
,tail, best and 
.cheapest Vert- #«■ 
ical in tho (ifMll 
■world. Pig. '^ 
\l is engine „^ 
/innse»Flg. Vf«! 
= 2ready for ^(j|_ 
Iroad. ^ ^,q T% 

The Parqufcar Separator 



OF KESlT 

at xr 
CENTENNIAL 

Send for Catalog**. 







ESHIST FBJSE (%lJll'^^#-l SH.VEE -HAT, 

AWARDED WtMWm^ „ .. „ AT 
SEPABATOSS. ^S^^^fe*' PjTlS EXPOSltiCJ 

VU for lUoitrated Catalogue. Jr^'r-jj.l.r. Far^u/iar, Tork,P* 

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Dana's White Metallic Ear Marking Label, stamped 
to order with name, or name and address and num- 
bers. It is reliable, cheap and convenient. Sells at 
Bight and gives perfect satisfaction. Illustrated 
Price-List and samples free. Agents wanted. 

C. H. DANA, West Lebanon, N. H. 

Orderthrough the Southern Planter. 

ROCKFORDWATCHE S 

Are unequalled inEXACTIXO SERVICE. 
_ Used by the Chief 

■a-^CT) Mechanician of the 
^aH^Tu U. IS. Coast Survey : 
™tby the Admiral 
commanding; in the 
V. a. Naval Observ- 
atory, for Astro- 
•iiomica] work ; and 
-by Locomotive 
Engineers, C on- 
Jductors and Kail- 
,,/Twaynien. They are 
'>%W recognized as 
.tor all uses in which close 
time and durability are re- 
quisites. Sold in principal 
::il ies and towns by the COM- 
PANY'S exclusive Agents 
Heading Jewelers. ; who give a Full Warranty. 

jyiy 




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SedgwiGkSteel Wire Fenca 




Ii the on); general purpose Wire Fence in use, being a 
Strong Net-Work Without Barbs. It will turn dogs, pigs. 
sheep, and poultry, as well as the most vicious stock, 
without injury to either fenoe or stock. It ip jUBt the fence 
for forms, gardens, stock ranges and railroads, and very 
neat for lawns, parks, school lots and cemeteries. Covered 
with rust-proof paint (or gat van ized) it willlast a life-time. 
It is Superior to Boards or Barbed Wire in every respect. 
We ask for it a fair trial, knowing it will wear itself 
Into favor. The Setlgrwieh date*, made of wrought- 
lron pipe and steel wire, defy all competition *iu neatness, 
strength and durability, we also make the best ana 
Cheapest All Iron Automatic or Self-Opening Gate, also 
Cheapest and Neatest All Iron Fence. Rett Wire 
Stretclier and fotl Auger. Also manufac- 
ture Rusnell's excellent Win*! Engines for 
pumping water, ur geared engines for grinding 
and other light work. For prices and particulars aa£ 
|V>idw!>rp dealers, or address, mentioning pappr. 
*EI><j1 WICIi ISRO». mrro..Bichmond Snd. 

je ly ^^ 

THE BEST CATTLE FASTENING. 

Mill's Self-AcUnstiiig Swing Stanchion. 

The only practical Swing Stanchion in- 
vented. Thousands in use. Illustrated 
circular free. Manufactured by BROOKS 
& PARSONS, Addison, Steuben Co., N. 
Y. A&hton Starke, Richmond, Va. , Ag't. 

mvly 








=EUREKA!= 

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

Dr. GEORGeTr "sTEElT 



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



DISSOLUTION, 

The partnership formed October 1, 1872, between George Watt, Sr , and Manfred 
Call, under the firm name of Watt & Call, was dissolved December 31st, 1884, by the 
death of Mr. George Watt, Sr., which occurred December 25th. 

The business will be conducted by the undersigned under the old firm name of 
Watt & Call, at same place — 

ISIS and 1590 FRANKLIN STREET, 

embracing the manufacture of the 

WATT CAST & OTttLIB PLOWS 



PLOW CASTINGS, 

and the sale of 

Agricultural Implements of All Kinds. 

The agricultural community may rest assured that their wants will receive the same 
careful attention, and that the business will be conducted on the same principles as in 
the past. 

Thanking the patrons of the old firm for their liberal patronage in the past, I trust 
by prompt and careful attention to the wants of all, fair dealing, and a continued effort 
to please, to merit a continuance of the same in the future. 

Very respectfully, 
ap It MANFBED CALL. 




FABQ17HAB 2E7ST0HS COEM PLAOTE2 

Warranted the beet corn dropper and most 
|perfect force-feed fertlUer distributor In tUa 
I -world. Send 

fob Catalogue 
Add re s a 

i. B. 

FAEQUHAS, 

York,**. 



Send for Large Illustrated Catalogue. 

ap It 




YEARS lit THE 

POULTRY YARD, 

Kdition. 10.* Fjfres, explain- 

: entire business. Gives 

symptoms and btst remedies for 

it'li diseases. A 50-paue Illustrated 

Catalogue. - A " for 25c. in stamps. 

A. Bl. LANG. 
Cove Dali-. Lewis Co. Ky. 



ap It 



FREE. 



SAMPLE COPY OF THE 

KENTUCKY STOCK-FARM. 

A 16 page weekly representative. Stock-Farm and Fire- 
side Paper. Gives the horse news ofthe BlueCrass 
Region. Published at Lexington, Ky. Onlyjlayear. 
ap It 

A PRESENT/*$4rRY» 

inches, of all "Our PRESIDENTS" (including 
Cleveland), Free to any one sending ns names of 2 
Book Agents, and 1 2c. in stamps for wrapping and 
postage. Atrents Wanted for "The Liven and Graves 
of Our Presidents." Address ELI) Ml Pub. Co., Chicago, 111. 

ap It 



MILL GAUGE 




Address, TAYLOR MFG. CO. 

ij>uaat Mention thu Paper.) Chambersburg, Pa, 

m y iy — alt 

LUCERNE OR 

ALFALFA CLOVER. 

The best forage crop for the lands of the South. 
Produces larger yields and stands a drouth better 
than any other crop. 

All kinds of CLOVER and GRASS SEEDS. 

Prices on application. 

HENRY W. WOOD, Seedsman, 

fe 3t Sixth and Marshall Sts., Richmond.Vft. 

Strawberry 

Raspberry 

Blackberry 

#s- Currants, Crapes, Fruit 

I Trees, &c. All BEST old sorts and 
_JNEW. IIATKINB, JIARI,KOKO, (OtIKT, -*av, 

i/^'-a/KARI,* ( I.L'STKK, MAUAHA, KIKr'FER. Set 
Mi jrVatalogue Free. J. 8. CULLINH, Hoorestown, 8 . * 

oc 7t 




999,999 



EfiM 



Fronvsfll varletils/Cf Poultry. Sefcil 

lOc/or Poultry putDE.Circulars £?ee 

Hysa f ITH da.C QA StonyJBrookJ jfcg? 







bOcS 



'O 

J 2 
1-1 r 3 



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02 



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CT3 

« a 



BEST STOCK) 
IN THE 

WORLD 



J^k QUARTERS, wl l\rl I El IfaP 

SMALL, FRUITS AND TREES. LOW TO DEALERS AND PLANTED*. EVERYTHING FIRST, 
CLAWS. FREE CATALOGUES. G EO. S. JOSSELYM. FKEDONIA. N. Y 

jan 6t 



J 



FV "STAR (§Lj|\ BRAND" \3 

S !F *m CJ I -A- T" i 

TOB ACCO MAN URE. 

The manufacture of this Fertilizer is attended with the greatest 
care and prepared by us under our own immediate personal supervi- 
sion, especially for growing FINE BRIGHT TOBACCO. 

We believe that more Fine Tobacco has been raised in the States 
of VIRGINIA AND NORTH CAROLINA, with the "Star Brand" 
Special Tobacco Manure, than with all other Commercial Fertilizers 
combined. 

Crop3 raised with it bring the highest average prices in all mark- 
ets of Virginia and North Carolina. 

The fact that it is made in Virginia, in the centre of the tobacco region, by men 
of great experience in the manufacture of fertilizers and thoroughly familiar with 
the wants of the tobacco plant (having- been largely interested in both the culture 
and manufac ure of tobacco;, is the best guarantee of its being properly prepared of 
the most suitable materials, and that it will furnish just what the planter needs in 
order to make the very best crop his soil and the season will admit of. 

For sale by Agents at all important points in Virginia, North and 
South Carolina. „ _ _. . ... 

ALL/SON & ADD/SON, Manufrs, Richmond, Va. 

wwKwwmmst @t vm#iim 

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

The Institution is organized in separate Schools on the Eclectic Svstem, embracing 
FULL COURSES OF INSTRUCTION IN LITERATURE AND SCIENCE, and in 
the PROFESSIONS OP LAW, MEDICINE, 

ENGINEERI^S- AND AGRICULTURE. 

THE EXPENSES of the student (except such as enter the practical laboratories) ex- 
clusive of the cost of text-book3, clothing and pocket money, are from $356 to $391, ac- 
cording to Schools selected ; or, for those who economize by messing, these expenses 
are from $266 to $300. No charge for tuition candidates for the ministry unable to mee 
the expense. 

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



SALT 



HIGGIN'S EUREKA ENGLISH HIGH GRADE 

DAIRY A1ND TABLE 

Ha3 no equal for Purity, Strength, Flavor, Uniform Grain of Crystal, Keeping Qual- 
ity, Perfect Dryness and Cheapness. Butter and Cheese salted with it carried the High- 
est Premiums over everything else, wherever put in competition. The Queen of Eng- 
land uses it. Hotels and Families should use no other. Salt is the cheapest article in 
the household. Why not use the best? 

FOR SA.X.E B~5T 

Importers and Dealers in Fancy Groceries 

RICHMOND, VA, 

[dec ly] 



L1ISTM & WHITE, 



VIRGINIA STATE 

INSURANCE COMPANY. 

OFFICE: 1006 MAIN STREET, RICHMOND, VA. 

INCORPOEATED I3ST 1865. 

CASH CAPITAL, - #300,000. 

Insures Dwellings, Stores, Merchandize, and other property against loss or damage by fire 
DIRECTORS.— J. L. Bacon, President ; Thos. W. McCance, Vice- 1 resident. Wm. H. Haxall, Jame 
Alfred Jones, Thos. Atkinson. 

Ko. E. Richardson, Sec. Jno. B. Grant, Jr., Ass't Sec. W. G. Maury, Solicitor. 

tt5»Agents in all the prominent Cities, Towns, and Villages of Virginia seply 

BELMONT STUD & STOCK FARM 

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

S. W. FICKLIN. 

Near Charlottesville, Va., Jan. 1st, 1884. ap ly 



Send for 

Catalogue 

and 

Prices- 




ATI AC^EUE 



WORKS 



INDIANAPOLIS. IND., U. S 

MANUFACTURERS OF 

STEAM EWGINES& BO ILERS. 

Carry Engines and Boilers in Stock 
for immediate delivery. 




jy 12t 



AWl f i liSi 




WASHINGTOlSr, TD_ G. 



The undersigned offers a fine stock of the following: New Pears, New Peaches, New Cherries, New 
Grapes, New Strawberries, &c, P'ruit Trees of all kinds. 

An extensive stock, viz. ; Plums, Cherries, Apricots, Apples, suitable to the South, &c. Grape Vines, 
Strawberries, Raspberries, &c, new sorts Evergreens, New Ornamental Trees, New Shrubs, Ac, Small sizes, 
suitable for Nurserymen, as well as large stock in great variety. 

DUTCH BULBS — Large importations direct from the leading growers in Holland. First quality Bulbs, 
Hyacinths, Lilies, Tulips, &c. New and rare Greenhouse Plants, Winter Blooming Plants. 

NEW KOhES— Bennett's Hybrid Teas, Queen of Bedders, New French and English Roses, &c 

tut Everything at low rates. Catalogues mailed to applicants. 

no 6t JOHN SAUL, "Washington, D. C. 






If yon are sick or ailing no matter what your complaint, write 
to us and we will send you On Trialono of our large JQlcctric 
Medicated Appliances to suit your case, provided you 
agree to pay for j t, if i t cures you in one month. If i t does not core 
you it costs you nothing to try it. Different Appliances to cure Dys- 
I pepsin, Iihf:i/matisni,Liverand Kidney Diseases, Piles, Lung Diseases, Asthma, 
Catarrh, Lame Bach, Ague, Debility, and many other diseases. Remem- 
ber we do not ask you to buy them blindly but merely to try them at 
j our risk. 76,000 Cures made during 1883 in cases where all other treat- 
I ments had failed. Price very low. Illustrated book giving full partio- 
I ulars and blank for statement of your case sent free. Address at 
once. ELECTRIC M'F'G CO., 564 State St„ Beooklyn. N.Y. 




FARMERS, USE 

ORCHILLA GUANO! 

The BEST and CHEAPEST for ALL CROPS. 

That ORCHILLA GUANO positively and permanently enriches the land; that it in- 
creases the crop and improves the quality of the land; and that it never fails to ensure a 
luxuriant growth of grass for succeeding years, are ,/acfe winch 10,000 farmers, who are 
using it in the States of Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania are willing 

t0 ThRVuano is found on the Orchilla Island, in the Carribbean Sea, and comes to us di- 
rect by vessels, and all we do to it on arrival is to screen out the lumps and bag it. 
We guarantee Orchilla to contain from 35 to 45 per cent. Bone Phosphate Lime 
And not only does it furnish, in high percentage, this most valuable of all fertilizing 
elements, but (unlike acid Phosphate, which has its sole merit in the smal percentage of 
ohosphoric acid which it contains), Orchilla furnishes, as shown by an exhaustive analy- 
sis by Prof J' W. Mallett, of the University of Virginia, a number of other valuable 
fertilizing substances, comprising Magnesia, Chloride Sodium, Chloride Potassium, 
Se=aui Oxide Iron, Carbonate Lime, Sulphate Lime, and others, making up the entire 
on- hundred parts; giving the farmer 2,000 pounds of actual fertilizer m every ton he 
buys; and in a combination, formed in nature's laboratory, that cannot be attained by 
any manipulation. 

THE CHEMISTS ENDORSE IT. 

Every cargo of Orchilla is analyzed before leaving the Island, that we may be sure that 
none is brought away below our guarantee ; and this analysis is vended by another anal- 
ysis after the arrival of the vessel in port. These analyses have always been confirmed 
by the State Chemists, and others who have analyzed it subsequently. 

We refer to Doctors Gascoyne and Taylor, of Virginia; Dabney, of North Carolina ; 
White, of Georgia, and Leibig, Lehman, Williams, Toney and Wilson, ot Baltimore, 
who have all made separate analyses of Orchilla. 

ORCHILLA lb LOW-PRICED— because we have left off the cost of manu- 



facture. 



.cture. . . ., , . . c i_ 

ORCHILLA IS SUCCESSFUL— because it is Nature s own provision for her 

exhausted fields. 

\nd by its wonderful clover-producing qualities, it converts the cheap and 

barren high lands, like those of Eastern and Southern Virginia, into soil as fruitful as 

the Valley of the Shenandoah. All who have ever used Orchilla say, that as a grass 

grower it has no equal. 

ORCHILLA FOR CORN AND COTTON. 

These crops require warm weather and yet sufficient moisture. A hot summer pro- 
motes dryness, and the ammoniated and acid goods in use only "add fuel to the flame" 
of a dry summer, by their inherent heat. Orchilla has a remarkable property of retain- 
ing moisture, and is the only fertilizer we know of that will keep Com and Cotton preen 
in dw wccitfiCT' 

Apply it broadcast, never in the hill. From 300 to 400 lbs. pays best. In the fall, 
seed the same land to wheat, rye or winter oats, and the grasses, without any additional 
fertilizer, and you will thus make three good crops from a single application, and have 
your land permanently improved. 

BALTIMORE, Js/LID. 

TRAVERS SNEAD & CoTiJorters' Apt, 1326 Cary St., RicHoiA Ya. 

We sell Orchilla at a low price. Send for our LITTLE BOOK, giving testimonials of 
farmers who Lave used it for years. nov ly 



»b@ijmi®i i@i mm 

AT COMPETITION PRICES. 

Watt Cast and Chilled Plows, 

Single- and Double- Shovel Plows, 
Iron Age and Planet Jr. Cultivators,' 

Planet Jr. Horse Hoes, 
CORN PLANTERS, with and without fertilizer attachment 

Planet Jr. Seed Drills and Wheel Hoes. 
Buckeye Riding and Walking Cultivators. 

Buckeye Plow Sulky can be attached to any plow 
The Johnston Light Twine Binder 

The Johnston Combined Reaper and Mower. 
The John P. Manny Independent Reapers and Mowers 

Red Bird and Taylor Rakes 
E. & W. Hay Tedders. 

FARM WAGONS, all sizes. 
Ross Giant Fodder and Ensilage Cutters 

HARROWS, CORN SHELLERS, CIDER MILLS, &c 
All interested in the use or Sale of Agricultural Implements are invited to corresoond 
with us and visit our warerooms. Descriptive ci.culars mailed to any addrTss P 

WATT & CALL, 1518 and 1520 FranKIiii S treet, RICHMOND, 7a. 

ASHLEY PHOSPHATE GO. 

"CHARLESTON, S. O.:: 

FLOATS AND KAINIT MIXTURE of best materials, thoroughly 
mixed by machinery, containing Bone Phosphate, 25 to 30 per cent : 
bnlph Potash, 12 to 14 per cent, besides Magnesia and Soda and 
Lime, &c. 

SOLUBLE GUANO- ... Highly Ammoniated. 

DISSOLVED BONE- Very High Grade. 

ACID PHOSPHATE- For Composting. 

ASH ELEMENT- ' . . . For Cotton, Wheat, Peas, &c. 

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

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

GENUINE LEOPOLDSHALL KAINIT. 

of ^tfeSS'iS'cK.S &HoS£ *** " Sh ° W " »? *' °^ *** . 
Ash°Ei? m Tnt; ffnt^tsfZ^ **"*"> M g °° d A ' ticIe8 °" P1 ° at8 ' Pea3 and 

ASHLEY PHOSPHATE COMPANY, 

to orcW CL'aferTals" 6 "' 8 *' ^ ^^ Sp6Cial Form ^ -ade carefully 



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NON-cin:iwiNG 



'993