THE SOUTHERN PLANTER; 

orttcultunr, auU the p?ouseItol& &rts. 



Scbotcti to atgrtcultuvc, 

V. 



A%ri<5ilture is the nursing raother of the Arts. 

Xenophon. 



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



C. T. BOTTS, Editor. 



Vol. IV. 



RICHMOND, JULY, 1844. 



No. 7. 



PATENT OFFICE REPORT. 

Report of the Commissioner of Patents for the year, l84o: 
Document No. 177, House of Representatives, 'Twenty- 
Eighth Congress, First Session: pp. 335. 

We have risen from the perusal of this Report 
with high satisfaction and pleasure. It is pre- 
pared with much ability by the Hon. H. L. Ells- 
worth, the Commissioner of Patents, who, as 
our readers well know, is one of the most faith- 
ful, useful and public-spirited officers in any de- 
partment of the Government. Our honorable 
members of Congress will excuse us, we trust, 
for saying that they will do much more essen- 
tial service for the " general welfare" by circu- 
lating this document, than some at least of the 
" speeches for Buncombe" with which the coun- 
try is inundated. 

We cannot omit this occasion to render to 
the American Congress the thanks due to our 
Representatives for placing it in the power of 
the Commissioner to make the office, which is 
now so ably filled, one of great value to the 
people. We can well remember when the Pa- 
tent Office resembled a toy shop and the reports 
which came from this department attracted but 
little notice. By the liberality which has cha- 
racterised modern legislation, the Patent Office 
has become well arranged and is attractive to 
the visitor : and the report of the Commissioner 
is full of varied, useful and interesting matter. 
And the power, now given to this officer to col- 
lect and distribute valuable seeds, cannot be too 
highly commended. We confidently anticipate 
that our people will be amply repaid for any ap- 
propriations to these important objects. We 
trust that we may take the liberty, in passing, 
to suggest that the packages of distributed 
seeds should be accompanied with printed di- 
rections as to their mode of cultivation. 

The limits of the Planter and the necessity 
of meeting the wishes of our readers with short 
and practical articles prevent us from giving the 
report the extended notice which we would de- 
sire. And we regret our inability to transfer to 
this journal the interesting explanations of the 
Vol. IV.- 19 



improveiiienffe'in 'the various departments of hu- 
'man industry and skill referred to in the report. 
We must confine our remarks to a mere glance 
at its pages, and more particularly to the Com- 
missioner's report in reference to agricultural sta- 
tistics and information. The other portions, 
however, of the report will fully repay the 
reader for the time devoted to the perusal, and 
he will be astonished no less than gratified at 
the almost incredible progress of improvements 
in the arts. 

Mr. Ellsworth has given a tabular statement 
embodying much curious and interesting statis- 
tical matter with reference to the amount of the 
crops of 1843. By comparison with similar 
information acquired from this and other sources 
in previous years a great and rapidly increasing 
improvement in the agriculture of our country 
is manifest. Noticing the causes operating to 
produce this improvement, the Commissioner 
justly enumerates farmers' clubs, agricultural 
associations and agricultural papers and books. 
Science, too, is lending its aid to this great 
cause, and truths heretofore known, and imper- 
fectly too, to the chemical philosopher are now 
rendered clear and familiar as " household words" 
to all, so that " he that runs may read." One 
of the greatest humbugs of any, even of the 
darkest age, was the silly prejudices excited by 
demagogues in agriculture (for these pests in- 
fest agriculture as well as politics) against what 
was termed book-farmers ; as if of all others the 
farmer was excluded from reading the great vo- 
lume of nature by the light of science— and 
the youth of our country were to believe that 
agricultural knowledge alone was to be acquired 
by instinct. On this subject we note the follow- 
ing remarks of Mr. Ellsworth ; 

" By the aid of chemistry, it is asserted that 
wheat growers in France have succeeded in 
doubling the product of wheal in that kingdom and 
now annually harvest more than is grown in 
Great Britain and the United States. Science, 
too, has enabled the agriculturists of England 
not only to cut twice as much hay on. a. piece 



146 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



of land now, as they did twent3^five years ago, 
but to keep twice as manj 7 cattle, sheep and swine 
on the same amount of food as they did; and, 
of course, to make twice as much beef, mutton, 
and tallow, wool, butter and cheese, from any 
given amount of vegetable food." 

Would that we had space (for the sake of such 
of our readers as may not have an opportunity 
of seeing the original) to make further extracts 
from this part of the report. We will, however, 
add the fact here stated, in proof of the advan- 
tages of the diffusion of useful knowledge in 
farming, "that under the immediate influence 
of the Highland Agricultural Society in Scot- 
land, wheat has averaged fifty-one bushels to th% 
acre, luhere but little luas formerly groivn." 

But we must hasten to endeavor to gather 
up other important facts stated in the report, 
under various heads.* 

Wheat. — In Virginia, the Commissioner states, 
"the average increase in 1843 of the crop for 
the whole State (increase from 1842) was near 
twenty per cent. . . . The Mediterranean wheat 
is highly commended, by many farmers in dif- 
ferent locations, as being free fiom attacks of the 
fly, and by some, as " proof against fly, rust and 
frost." Gen. Harmon, of New York, recom- 
mends the " improved flint." The General gives 
his mode of culture as follows : 

" Thirty years ago we were in the habit of 
ploughing in the most of our wheat on smooth 
land ; we used the common two-horse plough ; 
but we became satisfied that some of the seed 
was covered too deep ; the plough was given 
up, and the harrow has been used since. A 
few years since, I built me a three-cornered har- 
row, and, instead of teeth, I put in the common 
cultivator teeth, which I have used on my sum- 
mer fallows and for covering my wheat ; the 
last time in going over it, I go north and south. 
This leaves the land a little ridgy and protected 
from the cold north-west winds, which are se-- 
vere here in the month of March after the snow 
is off; when the roller is used after the harrow, 
it has been more killed out; and when the soil 
is made very fine, it is more liable to be winter 
killed. The common horse ploughs bury the 
seed too deep ; the lately constructed quadruple 
plough answers very well." 

On the subject of early sowing, the following 
remarks are made : 

" Two evils have been stated as objections 

* Let it not be forgotten by the reader that the sta- 
tistical and other facts stated in the report are de- 
rived from a most extensive correspondence, as also, 
from published sources, and the tabular statement 
referred to is made from accurate reports. _ ' 



against the early sowing — the Hessian fly; and 
the lodging of the grain, by premature growth 
of the head, while the stalk is not strong enough 
to bear the weight. It is suggested, however, 
that the autumnal attack of the Hessian fly 
may be prevented by rolling the field with a 
heavy roller, and thus destroying the insect in a 
worm state. The practice has been found, on - 
trial, to be very useful, and comes well recom- 
mended. The objection to rankness, or its lodg- 
ing, it is stated, may be obviated by turning in 
a flock of sheep to eat it down in dry weather 
in the early spring; it is added, that this will 
not injure, but benefit the crop, as the manure 
of sheep is well adapted to wheat. It is esti- 
mated by a writer whose means of judgment 
are not ordinary, that the wheat crop of this 
country is lessened by what is called winter- 
killing, at least one-third below what it might 
be otherwise ; and that this loss is also mainly 
owing to the practice of late sowing. The pro- 
per time for sowing wheat, or any other grain, 
must depend on the latitude and general climate; 
but it is thought that in almost all cases there 
would be an advantage in sowing wheat at 
least two or three weeks earlier than usual. — 
Late sowing is not merely otherwise not so be- 
neficial, but it also interferes more in the prepa- 
ration of the land, with trre general business, 
and the gathering of other crops, and is, there- 
fore, most expensive." 

On Jimount of Seed. — We learn " that two 
bushels to the acre is the right quantity — that in 
England two and a quarter to three and a half is 
sown." Pretty thick sowing ! ! We beg to 
say that many of the Old Dominion farmers 
think that something might be said on the other 
side of this question. We can't now " argue 
that point," however. 

On the subject of the diseases of wheat we 
must reserve the remarks of Mr. Ellsworth for 
a separate article, preferring to give them at 
length to abridging them. (See p. 38 of Report.) 

We are compelled to omit any notice of the 
very interesting remarks of the Commissioner 
with regard to rye, Indian corn, buckwheat, 
flax, &c. all of which we cannot too strongly 
urge on the reader's attention. The notices of 
tobacco, rice, and silk are equally entertaining ; 
and indeed almost every species of vegetable 
growth of our extended country appears to have 
engaged the attention of Mr. Ellsworth. But- 
ter and the productions of the dairy occupy a 
prominent place in the report, and much valua- 
ble information, not omitting the valuable results 
of Professor Playfair's experiments, is imparted. 

That portion of the report which is devoted 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



147 



to manures, will be read with much interest and 
profit. In Appendix, (No. 24, p. 176 to 185,) 
we have " Jauffrett's mode of making manure" 
noticed at length. Our readers will remember 
that the public attention has been attracted of 
late to the claims, real or pretended, of Bommer 
and others to the merit of a new invention of 
alleged great value. Mr. Ellsworth has given 
a copy of Jauffrett's patent, introduced into Eng- 
land under the name of Rosser, of which the 
American patent claims to be an improvement. 
Without discussing the claims of Bommer at this 
time, (of which the readers of the Planter have al- 
ready been fully informed,) we think we will do 
our readers essential service if we shall be able 
successfully to call their attention to " Jauffrett's 
experiments on manures." (See Report p. 179.) 
This portion of the document is a translation 
(in substance) of a pamphlet published by Jauf- 
frett in French a few years since at Paris. Mr. 
Jauffrett, it appears from his own account, was 
for years engaged with enthusiastic ardor in 
endeavoring to find out some method of making 
large quantities of manure with materials fur- 
nished by nature or art, without dependance to 
a great extent on animal manures. The his- 
tory of his experience is most entertaining: in- 
heriting his paternal estate of fifty acres, he 
greatly desired to cultivate it and restore its ex- 
hausted fertility. " In 1798 he felt the necessity 
of increasing the quantity of manure, for he 
had but two oxen on xohich to rely as a svpply for 
his land. He first established sewers along the 
road bordering his farm, into which he cast ve- 
getables and woody stalks, in order to soften 
and impregnate them in that liquid." From 
these humble beginnings after years of labor 
and toil, and with all the enthusiasm of the an- 
cient Alchemist in search of the Philosopher's 
Stone, he at length arrived at results which will 
no doubt prove a lasting benefit to the cause of 
agriculture. We hope at an early day to trans- 
fer to our columns the account of Jauffrett's ex- 
periments. 

We must again regret that we cannot extend 
this notice farther than again to commend its 
attentive perusal to our readers. His Satanic 
Majesty of the printing office, (vulgarly y'clept 
the " Printer's Devil,") admonishes us to come 
to a halt. But, if we can, more anon. 



The above, although written and printed in edito- 
rial form, is prepared by a friend, to whose pen we 
already stand much indebted. — En. 



For the Southern Planter. 



HOG GRAZING. 

Mr. Editor, — One of the greatest obstacles 
to raising pork is giving the hogs proper at- 
tention and food in summer. I had, till the last 
few years, the " Sand-hill" hog, so happily de- 
scribed in a recent number of the Planter. — 
They were great travellers, and some of them 
lived till autumn on pine roots and corn field 
depredations, but were wholly unmanageable 
as grazers. I have now fine fields of clover, 
and having no cross fences within my farm, I 
am trying this year (with Berkshires, however,) 
the grazing plan. For the first day or two they 
are a little unruly, but now, my hog minders 
(an old man and very small boy,) control them 
and confine them in their grazing operations, 
without trouble, to a very small spot, if neces- 
sary. I understand that Mr. H. E. Watkins, 
whose manager is a very successful hog raiser, 
grazes some one hundred and fifty or two hun- 
dred hogs, and the boy by his voice drives them 
to and from the field without difficulty, and that 
the hogs have learned to separate when they 
are driven to their pens at night, the sows and 
pigs to one pen and the other hogs to the other 
pen. There are many advantages in the graz- 
ing system with hogs : they injure the clover 
but little, if any ; you are enabled to raise large 
quantities of manure in your properly littered 
pens ; and you are saved the expense of feeding 
with corn. During the grazing season let them 
be well supplied with salt and ashes in troughs. 

T. F. V. 

Scott green, May 15, 1844. 



ROOT CULTURE. 

A paper on the Culture of Roots, read before the "Prac- 
tical Farmer's Club" by one of its Members, at their 
March meeting — Wilmington, Delaware. 

No crop is more important to the farmer than 
the root crop, and yet how very seldom in this 
section of country do we see it sufficiently ap- 
preciated. At the head of this valuable family, 
stands the ruta baga or Swedish turnip, being 
first, in my opinion, for the following reasons: 
The seed is put in the most readily, less liable 
to injury from the insect when young, requiring 
less expense in the culture, not injured by the 
early frosts, keeps better through the winter, 
and last, though all important, yields the most 
certain crop. 

I have been cultivating them for the last 13 
years, from one to five acres annually, and like 
all other crops, with different success, but never 
uniil this last year an entire failure, when fiom 
some cause almost all our root crops were lost ; 
nor do I think I have ever raised much over 
600 bushels per acre, taking the whole crop to- 
gether; no doubt by selecting a few square 



148 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



yards of the best, as is too often done in reports 
of crops, and making the calculation at that 
rate per acre, I might have doubled this amount. 
Perhaps it may have been from want of proper 
culture, manure, or some other cause, that I 
have not obtained a larger yield, for we fre- 
quently see statements of crops reaching from 
1,000 to 1,500 bushels per acre. At page 61, 
Vol. I. of the Farmers' Cabinet, you will find 
the statement of a crop of one acre grown in 
this county, from which two tons of hay were 
cut before planting ; then $58 worth of manure 
spread on it, which, with the preparation and 
labor with the crop, &c, brought the expenses 
of it to $83 55, still the yield handsomely re- 
munerated it, being 850 bushels, which at 16 
cents per bushel, the price obtained for part of 
them, the balance being consumed on the farm, 
makes $136— two tons of hay sold for $34, 
and four tons of tops estimated at $8, makes a 
total of $178, from which deduct the expenses 
above, and we have a clear profit of $94 45 
from one acre ; besides which the land is left in 
fine condition for any other crop to follow. Also 
at page 171, Vol. II. same work, is an article 
from Mr. John Sandford, of New York, who 
says, "his business is to work, not to write," 
but he gives us his experience with the ruta 
baga in a very satisfactory manner; he planted 
three acres in drills on the 26th and 27th of 
June, hoed but twice, and the yield was 3,000 
bushels, being 1,000 bushels per acre — he adds, 
that " he thinks they draw more nourishment 
from the atmosphere, and less from the ground 
than any other vegetable ; leave the ground in 
finer condition, and cannot be too highly valued." 
He also adds, "let all raise according to his 
wants and means of feeding, depending on his 
own market, and omit raising a portion of other 
produce, which costs him five times as much, 
both in labor and land." The Rev. H. Colman 
obtained a premium in 1830 for his crop of 903 
bushels per acre; he "thinks the labor not as 
much by one-third as required for the potato 
crop," and that " three years experience has in- 
creased their value very much, as food for either 
fatting or store cattle, in his estimation." 

Mr. E. Tilden, of New Lebanon, who has a 
flock of 1,000 of the finest Saxony sheep, says, 
" we think ruta baga decidedly preferable to any 
other roots, and we raised about 3,000 bushels 
last season." 

So we might go on to multiply without num- 
ber, accounts of the great value of this excel- 
lent vegetable ; but let every one give it a trial 
for themselves, and I think I can safely predict, 
that having once made use of them, they will 
never omit having a good supply on hand. My 
method of raising the crop has been to have the 
ground in as mellow a state as possible, by a 
free use of the plough and harrow ; then to 
throw it into ridges about thirty inches apart ; 



spread the manure in the furrows, then split the 
ridges, throwing it back again into the furrow 
and covering the manure. I prefer this plan of 
manuring to putting it on broadcast, for with 
the latter mode (without it should be very short) 
it interferes more or less with the drill, for as a 
matter of course, in ridging the ground after 
ploughing in the manure, you cannot avoid 
throwing it up again, which brings the manure 
on the top of the ridge. A less quantity will 
also answer, as the roots strike immediately into, 
and have the whole benefit of it. I have a very 
light roller for one horse, to which I attach the 
drill, which finishes the operation, as the roller 
going before the drill levels it sufficient^ for the 
seed. About the last of June I consider the 
proper time for putting them in, and I prefer 
doing it at two different times, about two weeks 
apart, as you will not then be so much hurried 
in working them, giving you time to gel through 
with the first planting before the next is ready — 
it is also much better to put the seed in the 
same day you ridge the ground — with the drill 
it takes about three-fourths of a pound of seed 
per acre. As soon as the plants ■are up, go 
through them with the cultivator, and when 
they are large enough to be safe from the fly, 
go over them with the hand hoe, thinning them 
from ten to twelve inches distance, and hoeing 
over the strip not worked by the harrow ; keep 
the cultivator frequently at work and give them 
a second hand hoeing, so as not to allow a weed 
to start, and if the season is not very unfavora- 
ble, I will almost be willing to guarantee you 
at least 600 bushels per acre. Postpone ga- 
thering them as long as the season will permit, 
the early frost does not injure them. rVty plan 
has been for each man to pull two rows at a 
time, cutting off the smaller roots and top, and 
two of them throwing the roots together, in the 
intermediate furrow, making four rows together, 
which allows room for a cart to pass between 
in gathering them ; they may either be kept in 
a cellar or buried in the field, as is often done 
with the potatoes — do not keep too warm, nor 
on the contrary, allow them to be frozen, and 
they will be firm and good until May. 

Tn feeding, I cut them with a knife made by 
two blades crossing each other at right angles, 
fixed on a long handle, which makes very ex- 
peditious work, and is superior to anj' of the 
many machines I have ever seen invented for 
that purpose. Many object to feeding them to 
milch cows on account of imparting to the but- 
ter an unpleasant taste ; if given to them but. 
once a day there is no danger of that being the 
case, at least I have never found it so. 

Beside the saving to your corn crib you will 
also find your stock looking much better from 
the use of them, as it keeps them in a much 
more healthy state than when confined the 
whole winter on dry food, they also eat their 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



149 



hay and oiher provender much better from hav- 
ing a change. 

The sugar beet, mangel wurtzel, carrot, po- 
tato, and many others of this valuable family, 
all have their advocates and all are excellent, 
only be sure to raise some of them, which ever j t ou 
prefer. I have given rny experience with my 
favorite, and shall be gratified if I can induce 
some who have never yet done it, to give them 
a trial. 

If you do not wish to go to the expense of 
a drill, you can put them in very expeditiously, 
by levelling the ridge with a rake, making a 
small furrow with a stick, and sprinkling the 
seed in it from a bottle, having a quill through 
the cork, which can be regulated by the finger 
being kept on it, and then covered with the back 
of the rake. — Delaware Journal. 



From the Baltimore American. 
SCARLATINA— SCARLET FEVER. 

As this intractable disease, in its most malig- 
nant form, has extensively prevailed during the 
past winter, and still continues its progress, in 
our city, causing many tears to flow from ago- 
nized parents, who have had their darling little 



ones suddenly snatched from them by its ruth- 
less grasp, I would call the attention of those, 
whose homes have not yet been made desolate 
by its inroads, to the following prophylatic or 
preventive measure, which, among practitioners 
of medicine in Germany, has been used with 
such eminent success, but which in this coun- 
try, I believe, is scarcely known, out of the pro- 
fession. 

Dissolve three grains of the Extract of Bel- 
ladonna in one ounce of cinnamon water (tritu- 
rated together in a mortar) and of this solution, 
give three drops in a little sugar and water, to 
a child one year old, once a day, increasing the 
dose one drop for every additional year in the 
age of the patient. In this minute dose it can 
do no possible injury, whilst the mass of evi- 
dence in favor of its complete prophylatic power, 
is conclusive. 

Impelled by a desire to stay the further pro- 
gress of this fatal epidemic, it would afford me 
much satisfaction to have the above information 
disseminated, and it would be subserving the 
cause of humanity, lo allow it a corner in the 
columns of your valuable sheet. 

Medicus. 

Baltimore, March 23, 1844. 



For the Southern Planter. 
Spade labor, the perfection of good Husbandry" 




THE BOSTON CENTRE-DRAGHT PLOUGH, 

PROOTY & MAERS' SELF-SHARPENING PATENT. 



Mr. Editor, — I send you above a cut of this 
much and highly. approved plough, with new 
gearing, the invention of the Patentees, obtained 
after much labor and many experiments. By 
it, such a degree of power and steadiness of 
draught is communicated, that in a soil free from 
obstructions, it requires no one to guide it; a 
lad being sufficient to turn it m and out at. the 
ends of the land, performing the most perfect 
work : the furrow, both in width and depth, is 
determined by the wheel and gearing at the 



head of the plough, to the greatest exactness, 
and at a reduction of labor, both to man and 
team, amounting to about fifty per cent. By 
the present arrangement, the beam is secured 
from breaking: while the draught, extending 
back beyond the standard, gives a degree of 
pressure sufficient to keep ihe plough in the 
ground, in case of obstruction. The wheel af- 
fixed to the beam on its land side, enables the 
ploughman to carry the last or cleaning furrow 
without difficulty, as the wheel then passes 



150 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



along the open furrow to the left — an important 
consideration in ridge work. By elevating or 
depressing the rod by means of the hand screw 
on the top of the arc, the plough can be made 
to follow the team, whether large or small 
horses, mules, or oxen, without the troublesome 
and uncertain mode of altering the backhands. 

This plough when at work must not be set 
upright on the land side, but be permitted to 
take a bias or leaning towards the furrow, as 
when standing on a floor or level ground, by 
which the soil will be broken up, and turned 
completely over, with the precision of the spade. 
Should the point work loose, unscrew the share- 
bolt, and insert a small piece of paper under the 
neck of the point on the land side of the socket, 
and screw up tight. The coulter must be set 
in exact line with the land side of the plough 
from the point upwards, and on no account are 
its services ever to be dispensed with ; yet it 
need not extend lower than within three or four 
inches of the point of the plough ; it is enough 
if the surface of the land be cut three or four 
inches deep; the remainder of the furrow-slice 
breaking up easier than it can be cut. If the 
plough goes too much on the point, the furrow- 
slice will not fall completely over, but be set too 
much on edge ; in that case depress the rod by 
loosening the hand screw on the top of the arc, 
tightening it by means of the nut underneath ; 
and then the wheel must be raised — care being 
taken that no more pressure be thrown upon it 
than just enough to keep it on the ground — any 
depth, from three to ten inches, may be carried 
with the greatest regularity, without regard to 
the inequality of the surface of the land, or 
the extra aid of the ploughman. To change 
it from a two-horse to a three-horse-abreast team, 
loosen the nut of the main bolt that the beam 
may turn on it ; turn back the inside nut of the 
furrow handle, and draw up the handle by means 
of the outside nut, until the end of the beam is 
parallel with the land side of the plough, and 
shows no landing; then lighten the main bolt, 
set the coulter straight with the landside of the 
plough, place the rod in the notch on the land 
side of the beam, and bring it to the extent of 
the arc on the same side. To change it from a 
three-horse to a two-horee plough, loosen the 
main bolt, draw back the outside nut of the fur- 
row handle, and bring out the handle by means 
of the inside nut, until the end of the beam 
shows a landing of an inch and a quarter ; then 
tighten the main bolt, set the coulter in a line 
with the land side; place the rod in the middle 
notch on the furrow side of the coulter, and 
bring it to the centre of the arc. 

For a single or tandem team place the. rod in 
the notch on the furrow side of the beam, and 
bring it to the extent of the arc on that side. 
More or less land to the sixteenth of an inch 
can be given or taken, by changing the direc- 



tion of the rod to the right or left. From fifty 
to sixty acres of land, according to the nature 
of the soil, may be ploughed with one point and 
shave, at the charge of about one cent per acre 
for blacksmith's bill. The old points make good 
wedges for splitting wood. 

These ploughs, of several sizes and superior 
workmanship, may be obtained of D. O. Prouty, 
at his Horticultural and Agricultural Seed and 
Implement Warehouse, 176 Market Street, Phi- 
ladelphia. 

D. O. Prouty. 

We are inclined to believe that this plough 
deserves all the reputation it has acquired at the 
North, and we have, therefore, made arrange- 
ments with the patentees for a constant supply 
of them. 



SUCKERING CORN. 

Mr. Editor: Sir, — I have seen in your excel- 
lent paper repeated inquiries, whether by pulling 
off the suckers, the crop of corn is increased or 
diminished. To the farmer the inquiry is of 
considerable importance. Frequently it may 
make to him a difference of from five to ten 
bushels of corn to the acre, and that will well 
pay his annual subscription for your paper. 

The effect of cutting or pulling off the suckers 
I have observed for many years, in different parts 
of my garden. I have tried both ways in the 
same season. Where I cut or pulled off the 
suckers the main stalk appeared not to be in- 
jured, but the ear would be short, with two or 
three inches of the cob without a kernel of corn. 
This was the- case where there were two ears 
upon the stalk. Where the suckers were left 
to grow, the ears of corn, much more generally, 
were filled and rounded off to the top of the 
cob with kernels ; and the ears were longer than 
where the suckers were taken off. Even the 
small ear, in the case of two upon a stalk, was 
completely filled out to the top of the ear, espe- 
cially when the season was favorable. 

It has been supposed that the pulling or cut- 
ting off the suckers injured the roots or the 
main stalk. I think that does not account for 
the main injury done to the crop. I have ob- 
served that the tassel of the main stalk, some 
time before the ear has grown to the full length, 
has become dry and destitute of pollen, which 
is necessary to the formation of every kernel of 
corn. The sucker comes up with a fresh sup- 
ply of pollen at the time that the supply from 
the main stalk has ceased. Then, as long as 
there is silk on the end of the ear, there is pollen, 
to come in contact with it from the tassel on 
the sucker, and the kernels are formed and ma- 
tured to the tip of the ear. 

In the growth of the sucker, with the tassel 
and pollen to supply the deficiency by the failure 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



151 



of the main stalk, the design is perfect and beau- 
tiful. It teaches the cultivator, the laborer, to 
feel that in his toil he is walking with God. 

Some of jour readers, I observe, are often in- 
quiring for information upon various topics in 
agriculture. I am glad that there are so many 
intelligent men in the community giving their 
attention to a pursuit not only conducive to 
health, good morals, and true happiness, but ex- 
ceedingly interesting to the most cultivated as 
well as those less so. 

If. it be the object of the cultivator to raise as 
much grain as he can, he will let the suckers 
grow. Then the ears, instead of being dwin- 
dled to a point, with a long piece of naked cob, 
will be well filled. This year, in particular, the 
pollen from the suckers is wanted to continue 
the growth of the ear. As soon as the tassels 
fail to sprinkle upon the silk the golden dust, 
the growth of the ear is stopped. 

If these remarks, shall assist the farmer to 
add to his gamer a few bushels of grain, it will 
be of more value to him than the price of the 
grain, or that, sum at interest. And it may con- 
tribute something to incite an increased gratitude 
to the God of the harvest. 

Yours, truly, I. Richardson. 

Hingham, August 10, 1843. 

The Hon. Mr. Richardson has our thanks 
for his ingenious explanation of the cause of in- 
jury to corn plants when the suckers are plucked 
off. We have much evidence that plucking off 
the suckers before the ear is filled is highly in- 
jurious to the grain, and the reason suggested 
above may be the principal one. 

It seems reasonable, also, to suppose that all 
the juices in every branch of the stalk are 
needed to fill out the ear and that draughts are 
made on every part at the time of filling. The 
tops should not be cut till the ear is somewhat 
hardened. 

The pollen of the top is absolutely necessary 
to fill up the ear as we may see when one stalk 
only stands in a field. The ears on that stalk 
are never half filled for there was not pollen 
enough flying about to impregnate the silk. 

But we had supposed that in a large field 
there would always be a sufficient supply for 
every thread of silk on the ear. We hope some 
more of our critical observers will look into this 
subject at this time, and see if a want of pollen 
is the cause of the long snouts, of uncovered 
cob at the top of the ear. — Mass. Ploughman. 



For the Southern Planter. 

CONTRIBUTIONS FROM A SOUTHERN 
PLANTER. 

Mr. Editor, — Chiefly " to set a good exam- 
ple" I propose to send you from time to time 
scraps of information, which appear to me to be 



useful to the farmer, giving you full permission 
to alter, amend, strike out, or indefinitely post- 
pone, as to you may appear proper. I know 
many men, who have the agricultural know- 
ledge and the rhetorical ability to communicate 
that knowledge, who could enrich the valuable 
columns of your excellent journal, by even an 
occasional contribution, and who yet suffer their 
"light to be hid under a bushel." Now, I am 
a "plain plantation man," (as the wags say of 
a very worthy and industrious public officer of 
my acquaintance,) and while I can impart no 
great light myself, I have thought that I might 
at least show my desire to aid you by now and 
then sending you memoranda of what I learn 
from others^or may have been taught by expe- 
perience. And as my name will carry no weight 
with it you will, I hope, allow me to communi- 
cate anonymously. I will add that what I send 
you will be chiefly what I learn from expe- 
rienced gentlemen. ' 

Solving Clover and Grass Seedivith Oats. — The 
propriety of sowing grass and clover with oats 
is doubted by many : they say, that the clover 
and grass being young when you cut your oats, 
it can't stand the heat of the then scorching sun 
and will "die out." This is often the fact. — 
But the evil may be remedied : when you sow 
your oats, let a sower of clover seed follow im- 
mediately after the person sowing oats, and sow 
the clover seed before you harrow or drag in your 
oats ; or it would be better, if you think the seed 
will be covered too deep by the drag, to sow af- 
ter the drag, and then draw a bush over the 
land ; though 1 think there is no necessity for 
this double dragging or bushing. Another im- 
portant matter to be attended to — plaster your 
land immediately after cutting the oats, and in for- 
ty-nine times out of fifty you will have a good 
stand of clover and grass. The harrowing or 
bushing is very important after sowing herds- 
grass seed. The root of this seed is a long 
wiry root, and lying on the ground, will be killed 
by the heat of the sun. The seed ought to be 
very lightly covered. 

Something more about Clover and Grass, Hay, 
<Sj-c. — If you wish to make a meadow, it seems 
to be the generally received opinion that you 
must sow your grass seed in autumn. The 
late Mr. Richard N. Venable (a great hay- 
maker) told me that from the 20th August to 
20th of September was the proper time to com- 
mence a meadow, so that the seed could become 
firmly rooted in the ground before winter, and 
you could cut a small crop of hay in the suc- 
ceeding year. But generally you desire to make 
your meadow where there is a crop growing in 
August and September ; for it is very important 
if not absolutely necessary to clean your land 
by corn, tobacco or some good hoe-crop. Even 
when you put your land down in wheat, even 
as late as November, you may then be successful 



152 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



in making meadows. Many, however, wish to 
make a meadow in land to be put in oats. If 
the plan proposed in this paper is adopted you 
will succeed. 

But, says neighbor B., I can't afford to buy 
grass seed, clover seed, plaster, &c. Yes, that's 
just what every one tells us who spend many 
hours of every day in singing Jerimiads over 
Old Virginia — telling you their lands were "born 
poor" — that you can't make clover and grass 
grow on our hills (which you have gutted by a 
most killing mode of cultivation.) Now, my 
friend set. down and make some arithmetical 
calculations. Suppose you give ten dollars per 
bushel for clover seed: that will sow, say, eight 
acres of land or less : sow it on your best tobacco 
lot: don't let your sheep, hogs, &c. eat it up 
root and all directly after you cut your wheat : 
keep every thing off one year: you may then 
cut hay enough to sell if you can, or feed your 
horses, and save corn enough to pay for five 
bushels of clover seed — and then in the improve- 
ment of your land you pay for your seed twice 
over. No, sir, if you will calmly set down and 
calculate what you make by clovering and 
otherwise improving your land, (by plaster, &c.) 
you can afford to buy clover seed at twenty 
dollars per bushel. But excuse this episode ; I 
have been reading one of John Randolph's 
speeches, hence my " matters and things in 
general." 

In sowing herdsgrass, don't be afraid of sow- 
ing too thick. Dr. Venable, of Mecklenburg, (I 
give the name, because he is known to be a 
great man for grass,) pursues the following me- 
thod in sowing : he cuts his hay when the grass 
seed is quite ripe; stacks it. or puts it in the 
barn; threshes out the seed in December, and 
beginning on the first snow after Christmas, he 
sows on every snow, by driving the wagon over 
his wheat land, and sowing from the hind part 
of the wagon the seed in the chaff so thick that 
the snow is black with the chaff. Now, it 
would appear from the very large crops of hay 
which the Doctor makes, that his is a good way 
of sowing seed. But I have no doubt that it 
would be better to get the seed out cleaner. — 
This sowing seed in the chaff is not so sure a 
method as sowing clean seed. " Speaking of a 
gun," (as the story goes) I see some one called 
on Dr. V. to give your reades his views on the 
"cultivation of the grasses from the seed to the 
scythe." Mr. Editor, I second that motion. — 
Don't let the Doctor off. 

It is well known that a herdsgrass turf is one 
of the best precursors of tobacco ; indeed many 
planters think it better than a good manuring 
from the farm-pen. One of the finest crops of 
tobacco I ever knew (made by the late Mr. Eg- 
gleston, of Cumberland,) grew on a field well- 
set with herdsgrass. He sowed the field with 
plaster (very good idea, by the way, the plaster 



hastening the decomposition of the turf,) and 
turned over (and under) the turf. I don't think 
the old gentleman put any manure. But you 
must, in order to have the full benefit of the 
herds grass turf, let your tobacco lots remain in 
grass two or three 3'ears. Have about five to- 
bacco scenes or shifts ; sow down your grass 
seed on your wheat thick — very thick ; sow 
about a bushel to the acre of plaster in broken 
doses (half a bushel at a time) ; subscribe to 
and pay for the Southern Planter, and you 
will ceteris paribus, (which, by a free translation, 
means, attend faithfully in other respects to your 
crop,) have a good crop of tobacco. 

Lights under a Bushel and all that sort 0' thing. — 
Have you ever been, Mr. Editor, to a Clay 
Club or a Democratic Association 1 You know 
the President or some member rises and says a 
good deal about " a gentleman who is present, 
who is a gallant and valiant soldier in the great 
cause (nothing less with both parties than "the 
cause of Civil Liberty, Constitutional Freedom," 
&c. &c.) in which we have enlisted," and so 
on, — and after lauding the aforesaid "soldier," 
the President requests the meeting to "unite 
with him in calling on Mr. Demosthenes Pitt to 
address the meeting," and the meeting of course- 
wont let Mr. D. P. off, and a speech they have. 
If nothing else is accomplished we are fast be- 
coming a nation of orators, and no doubt at this 
moment while I am scribbling by my fireside 
some "village Hampden" is eloquently urging 
the sovereigns to unite in defence of our free in- 
stitutions. As I am very sure, from what the 
papers tell me, that by voting for either of the 
candidates I shall vote for a second Washington, 
and as I am assured from these statements that 
the election of either will redound to the glory, 
and happiness, and all that sort of thing of the 
country, I feel a greater interest in the cause of 
agriculture than that of politics. Let us im- 
agine me to be President(! !) of a Virginia Agri- 
cultural Club, and it at this moment in session. I 
could say "I know gentlemen who can contribute 
greatly to advance the Great Cause of Agri- 
culture, by giving the public (through the re- 
spectable medium of the ' Planter') the benefits 
of the vast amount of useful knowledge which 
they have at their command — whom I know to 
be patriots— from whose sound, practical and 
experienced minds we might receive valuable 
information — who could verify, by teaching 
others, how to ' make two blades of grass grow 
where only one grew before,' and thus (Swift 
thought) would do more essential service to the 
country, than the xuhole race of politicians put 
together.'' I say, I know such men, and with 
your permission and begging their pardon for 
the liberty I am taking, I ask the members of 
the Great Agricultural Club in Virginia to unite 
with me in calling these gentlemen out to let us 
hear from them through the Planter. There is 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



153 



Mr. John R. Edmunds, of Halifax, who can use 
his pen admirably — is an excellent farmer, I 
learn. I call on Mr. Edmunds for an essay or 
essays " on making and applying manures." I 
do not know that Mr. E. has ever appeared in 
the agricultural prints ; but it is very probable 
he has unpublished memoranda on various far- 
ming operations. Let us hear also from " Old 
Flood," (no disrespect is meant in thus desig- 
nating J. Flood Edmunds, Esq. of Charlotte.) 
He's "Great" in every thing relating to to- 
bacco. Couldn't you get Mr. Richard or Mr. 
John Sampson to give you something on the 
" Wheat culture." And my most worthy friend 
Ed. Hicks, of Brunswick — we'll take an essay 
from him on " Fruit," from the strawberry up 
to pippins and peaches. 

"South Side," May 15, 1844. 

We rise to second the call of our friend from 
the " South Side." This idea of " calling gen- 
tlemen out" is a most capital one, and we sin- 
cerely hope that it will be acted on by others of 
our subscribers, who may know gentlemen par- 
ticularly qualified to impart information upon 
any pecular subject. Gentlemen so called on 
must, in common decency, take pen in hand, at 
least to return thanks for the compliment, and 
when they get at it, they will find it just as 
easy to comply with the call, as to apologise for 
not doing so. If in this way we can arouse 
the slumbering talent of Virginia, we believe 
we should indeed do more for the honor and in- 
terest of the State than we could effect in any 
other way. 

What gentleman is there, that thus politely 
requested to impart to others the knowledge de- 
rived from superior education, greater natural 
endowments, or a more extended experience, 
could find it in his heart to withhold it? The 
trouble of writing a few pages can surely be no 
bar to the great general good which may thus 
be effected, and we repeat, we hope that this 
example of calling gentlemen out may be gen- 
erally and judiciously followed. We will take 
especial care that the person addressed, whether 
a subscriber or not, shall receive the paper, and 
have his attention called particularly to the ar- 
ticle. We would always prefer that such a 
call should be made over a real signature. In 
this particular case, we will vouch for the iden- 
tity and standing of our "South Side" corre- 
spondent, who is well known to us and our 
readers. 



then keep without salt ; and the Irish have 
adopted, with success, a similar mode for expor- 
tation to the East Indies. 



The Arabs melt their butter over a slow fire, 
which expeb all the watery particles ; it will 
Vol. IV.^20 



GAPES IN CHICKENS. 

The following is an extract from a new Ame- 
rican work on poultry, entitled, "The American 
Poultry Book," by M. R. Cock ; published in 
New York by Harper & Brothers, 1843 : 

The diseases of the common fowl are, in this 
climate, few in number, and are usually con- 
trolled by adequate treatment. They may be 
divided into those which occur to the chicken, 
and those only known in the adult fowl. 

1. Diseases in the Young. — The most destruc- 
tive is what is called the gapes. This is known 
by the following symptoms: A few days after 
the chick is hatched, instead of running about 
in a lively manner, it droops and becomes stupid 
and stationary. It frequently raises its head 
and gasps as if for want of breath. From this 
symptom the disease is called the gapes. This 
is accompanied by frequent and violent sneezing. 
If the disease is allowed to run on, this state 
continues for a week or ten days, when the 
chick dies, quite emaciated. There is usually 
much fever, and the lip of the tongue becomes 
white and homy. The cause of this disease is 
the presence of small red worms, called fasciola 
tracker, in the windpipe. 

Cure. — The most common remedy, and, as I 
think, the most absurd, is the introduction of a 
whole pepper-corn down the throat. This is 
varied by mixing ground pepper with butter, 
and forcing it down the throat. This is gener- 
ally supposed to burn out the disease; it may 
do that, but, as far as my experience goes, it 
burns out the chicken with it. Another remedy, 
which may act as a preventive, comes recom- 
mended on more reasonable grounds. It con- 
sists in mixing up a small quantity of powdered 
asafoetida with Indian meal. As this is an un- 
pleasant material to handle, the better way is 
to put a small quantity in a bag, and put it into 
the trough of water. I have been assured by 
those who have tried it that their chickens never 
have the gapes. Soap mixed with the food, or 
Indian meal mixed up with soap-suds, has also 
been highly recommended. The only sure and 
certain remedy is to resort to a simple operation. 
Take a small feather and strip off the web, ex- 
cept about an inch and a half at the tip ; wet 
the end and turn it back. Let a person hold 
the chicken on its back, extending the legs. — 
The operator takes hold' of the head of the 
chicken with his left hand, placing the thumb 
and fore finger on each side of the bill, so as to 
hold the mouth open. Draw the neck out gently, 
but firmly. Introduce the feather over the tongue, 



154 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



and watch when the chicken breathes, which 
opens the windpipe ; then enter it quick, and do 
not be afraid after the point is entered. Push 
down gently two or three inches, and then with- 
draw the feather, turning it with a cork-screw 
motion ; the worms will follow, and others will 
be loosened by sneezing. This may be repeated 
once more, but not oftener; the chicken may 
then be released, and in nine cases out of ten is 
cured immediately. ]f they should gape the 
next, day, repeat the operation. 

The cause of the appearance of these parasi- 
tic worms is not clearly known. They are 
more common in some districts than in others, 
and in certain seasons ; very wet and variable 
seasons are supposed to be favorable to their 
production. Upon this principle, many good 
hen-housewives give the chickens nothing but 
dry food ; and I think I have observed less of 
this disease when the food was given in this 
state, and water only allowed to the hen at brief 
intervals during the day. 

About three weeks or a month from the shell, 
chickens are affected with another disease known 
under the name of chip. The symptoms are as 
follows: the chicken sits in a crouching posi- 
tion, with its feathers drooping about it, appears 
reluctant or unable to move, and keeps up a 
melancholy chipping, as if in pain. I presume 
that this is a catarrh, accompanied by much fe- 
ver. The only treatment I have found effica- 
cious was to put them into some warm place, 
and allow them no food for twenty-four hours. 
If the disease was not too far advanced, they 
would, at the end of this time, become lively, 
and eat readily. Chickens with this disease 
should be shut up for some days, and only let 
out in warm, dry weather. 



REPORT OF DR. LEE, OF BUFFALO. 
When in the city of Albany, a short time 
since, we were fortunate enough to make the 
acquaintance of Dr. Daniel Lee, of Buffalo, 
and to his kindness and attention we are in- 
debted for the enjoyment of one of the most 
pleasant hours of our trip. The Doctor has 
lately made a considerable figure as an agricul- 
tural writer, and to our mind, he is one of the 
most ingenious and original thinkers that has 
turned his mind to this subject, which, from a 
late but proper appreciation of its importance, 
is fast monopolizing the talent of the civilised 
world. Like all great geniuses, the Doctor, it 
must be confessed, is a little, the least bit possi- 
ble, of a hobby rider, but many of his views are 
profound and well worthy the attention of the 
practical agriculturist. We make the following 
extract from a report, bearing the nervous im- 



press of his pen, to the last New York Legis- 
lature, of which the Doctor was a member, upon 
the subject of that part of the Governor's mes- 
sage relating to agriculture: 

From considerable experience, much study 
and reflection, your committee are of the opinion 
that the 1 1,00^,000 acres of cultivated lands in 
this Slate might be made to yield, wiihout any 
additional expense, an average of three dollars 
per acre more of the valuable fruits of the earth, 
than they now do. In other words, the same 
labor, which is now measurably lost through 
ignorance of the laws of nature, through inat- 
tention to the constituent elements of all culti- 
vated plants, and of the affinities that govern 
their chemical and organic combinations, in 
practical agriculture, might by the aid of plain 
and available science, secure to our farmers ten 
dollars' worth of agricultural producls, where 
they now get but seven dollars' worth. For 
what purpose does the husbandman toil so hard 
throughout the year? Is it not to transform 
certain elements of earth, air and water, into 
cultivated plants ; and these again into domes- 
tic animals, beef, pork, mutton, butter, cheese 
and wool? And what are these elements of 
earth, air and water, which the well or ill-applied 
labor of the farmer changes into wheat and 
oiher grain, into grass and roots? Where is 
the practical agriculturist to find the raw mate- 
rial of one good ripe wheat plant ; and how 
must the necessary ingredients be combined, 
and applied to the soil, so as to realize the 
largest crop at the least expense 1 

To say nothing of the gaseous and earthy 
elements necessary to make good firm wheat 
straw, we now take over 12,000,000 bushels of 
the raw material of wheat bread from our fields 
every year, and never stop to inquire whether 
this system of culture will or will not rob our 
wheat lands of all their bread-making elements. 
Not one particle in a thousand of the elements 
of bread, after entering human mouths, ever 
finds its way back again to the field from whence 
it was taken. If we are certain that the bene- 
volent Author of our being will create anew, 
annually, 12,000,000 bushels of those particular- 
ingredients which make the amount of wheat, 
and will keep good all the elements of straw 
not returned after the harvest, then perhaps our 
fields may not suffer from continuous cropping 
without renovation. But Heaven will not cre- 
ate one particle of matter for our especial benefit, 
though the two and a half millions of people in 
New York shall waste the raw material of 
50,000,000 bushels of grain every year, until 
they shall have no more to waste. 

To prevent farther loss, and regain all the 
fertilizing elements taken from our cultivated 
lands since their first settlement, are objects of 
great public importance. Man is indebted to 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



155 



agricultural science for the invaluable discover}' 
that not far from 97 per cent, of all the elements 
of cultivated plants exist in the air in exhaust- 
less quantities. These are carbon, nitrogen, I 
oxygen and hydrogen, the two latter forming! 
water. The combustion of wood and coal, the 
respiration of all animals, fermentation and the 
decomposition of all organic matter throw into 
the atmosphere a vast amount of the ingredients 
necessary for the reconstruction of vegetables 
and animals. To say nothing of water and its 
elements, which play an important part in all 
organic structures, carbon is the largest and most 
expensive element in the production of plants 
and domestic animals. It is the basis of vege- 
table mould — " the fat of the land" — and, com- 
bined with the constituents of water, forms ve- 
ritable fat and butter. It is some consolation to 
know that there are no less than seven tons of 
pure carbon diffused through the air over every 
acre of land, whether barren or fertile, upon the 
habitable globe. 

The earthy part of the wheat plant forming 
less than three per cent, of its solid substance, 
consists of silica, (flint,) lime, potash, soda, mag- 
nesia, alumina, (the basis of clay) chlorine, sul- 
phur, phosphorus, and a trace of iron. All 
these minerals are indispensable to the produc- 
tion of one good wheat plant. Hence, if a far- 
mer had an abundance of all other elements in 
his field to grow forty bushels of wheat on an 
acre, and it should be destitute of phosphorus, 
that defect would be fatal to the crop. There 
is good reason to believe that if a practical 
wheat grower will restore to his fields every 
year all the raw material of that bread-bearing 
plant, a large crop can be harvested from the 
same soil year after year, as well as to let it lie 
idle, or to cultivate other grain for three or four 
years and then grow wheat again. Persons 
unacquainted with the very compound nature 
of wheat are apt to imagine that the application 
of one fertilizing element, lime for instance, 
ought to suffice to produce a good crop. They 
are ignorant of the fact that every kernel and 
stern of wheat ha3 twelve other indispensable 
ingredients in its composition. Millions of days 
of hard labor are annually thrown away in New 
York alone, in a vain attempt to transmute one 
mineral into another. Our farmers are search- 
ing for some strange philosopher's stone that 
will change lime into potash, potash into mag- 
nesia, magnesia into flint, flint into cla}', clay 
into sulphur, sulphur into iron, iron into phos- 
phorus, phosphorus into nitrogen, niirogen into 
carbon, and carbon into oxygen. When a man 
can make the half of a thing equal to the whole, 
then he may raise a good crop of wheat where 
the soil lacks one-half of the elements of that 
grain. 

Your committee believe it practicable to in- 
crease the annual products of our present rural 



industry 32} per cent, without the aid of one 
dollar of additional capital ; that is, they believe 
that full one-third of all agricultural labor is li- 
terally thrown away by its misapplication. The 
uniform laws of nature will not vary nor ac- 
commodate the needless ignorance of man. — 
Hence it follows that man must apply his labor 
in strict conformity to the unerring laws that 
govern the changes of matter, or toil on through 
life giving two days work for those necessaries 
and comforts, which an understanding of the 
laws of nature would have secured to him in 
exchange for one day's work. The whole doc- 
trine of eternal hard work and penurious living 
as the best means of acquiring wealih or the 
comforts of life, your committee deem unsound. 
The inevitable effect of this popular system is 
to degrade and brutify, rather than to elevate 
our race. Mere muscular labor, mere mechani- 
cal power, no matter how great its force, without 
adequate knowledge to guide and direct it, is 
far more likely to act wrong than right, for the 
simple reason that there are five icrong ways to 
do almost every thing, where there is one right 
way. 

All men have intellectual organs that require 
development and peculiar nourishment, not less 
than stomachs need daily food. Mas not the 
Creator of man manifested his approbation of 
human efforts to acquire wisdom, even worldly 
wisdom, by making the ignorant in all climes, 
and in all ages of the world, the servants of the 
loise ? 

A knowledge of the arts of ploughing, sow- 
ing and reaping may do for the purpose of wear- 
ing out a productive farm, but something more 
is necessary to enable its owner to give back 
annually to each of his cultivated fields the pre- 
cise elements removed by the harvest, and that 
too at the least possible expense. 

Suppose a farmer now cultivates six acres of 
land in wheat, to harvest 1 1 bushels, how is he 
to manage so as to grow 133 bushels at the same 
expense? If he can raise 33£ bushels per acre 
on four acres, that will give him the amount de- 
sired and save the whole cost of cultivating 
two acres of land. This saving may be set 
down at $8 per acre, which will give $16 sur- 
plus to be expended in purchasing the raw ma- 
terial to produce the extra 66 bushels of wheat 
on the four acres to be culuvated by a new pro- 
cess. As about 94 per cent, of ripe wheat plants 
consist of carbon and water, charcoal must be 
an important element in fertilizing the soil. Of 
the other 6 per cent, about one-half is niirogen, 
and the other moiety is made up of silica, potash, 
soda, magnesia, alumina, phosphorus, sulphur, 
chlorine, and a trace of iron. Let the wheat 
grower take 100 bushels of charcoal, grind it 
fine in a bark mill or pulverize it well wiih flails 
on a ihreshinjr floor, and add thereto five bushels 
of ground plaster. This would not cost in most 



156 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



farming districts in this State over $7, and if the 
coal and gypsum be placed in a vat or large 
tub and saturated with the urine of cattle, or 
partly moistened with the liquid excretions of 
the human species, and have five bushels of 
leached ashes mixed with the mass, it will con- 
tain all the elements of 133 bushels of good 
wheat. In case the urine can not be had, the 
addition of four bushels of salt will give all the 
soda and chlorine that is needed, while the ashes 
will furnish all the potash, silica and magnesia 
required. The plaster will yield the sulphur 
and lime, and a bushel of bone dust will give 
the phosphorus. A little copperas will supply 
the necessary iron, and the charcoal will not 
only yield carbon, but it will also absorb ammo- 
nia, always found in rain water when it comes 
from the clouds. 

All these constituents of wheat can be best 
applied to the soil before sowing the seed ; but 
a top dressing of a compound of coal, plaster, 
ashes and salt, moistened with whatever urine 
can be collected, may be applied to winter or 
spring wheat in April or May, with signal be- 
nefit to the crop. Deep ploughing and thorough 
draining are important aids in wheat culture, 
for reasons which your committee will not stop 
to explain. 

The liberal use of freshly burned lime is very 
beneficial by the way of correcting any acidity 
of soil ; and also by absorbing carbonic acid from 
the air, to be given up to the roots of plants, and 
thereby promote their growth. A pint of hu- 
man urine contains ammonia enough to supply 
a bushel of wheat with all the nitrogen it needs. 
And it is worthy of remark that wheat well 
supplied with nitrogen in ammonia, will contain 
from ten to twenty per cent, more gluten than it 
would if it lacked that element, while the wheat 
that abounds in gluten will make from seven to 
fifteen per cent, more good bread than the same 
quantity of flour composed almost entirety of 
starch. In Flanders farmers pay forty shillings, 
or nearly ten dollars a year for the urine of a 
single cow for that length of time, to be used in 
the culture of wheat and other crops. Common 
sense would seem to teach every agriculturist 
that he should restore to his fields every particle 
of the liquid and solid excretions of all animals 
that feed upon his crops. 

A little study of the science of animal phy- 
siology would convince every practical farmer 
that not far from one-third of all the grass, hay, 
roots, and grain that enters the mouths of his 
domestic animals is needlessly lost, owing to 
some removeable defect in their organic structure 
Less than one-half of the solid matter taken 
into their stomachs is voided by the bowels and 
kidney. On an average, more than three-fourths 
of all the carbon that exists in all the food of 
respiratory animals escapes through the lungs. 
The action of these important organs, which 



never ceases night or day, governs the elabora- 
tion of muscle, fat, milk, and wool, in such do- 
mestic animals as ate kept for their strength, as 
the horse and ox ; their milk, as the cow ; their 
flesh and fat, as the pig ; and their wool, as the 
sheep. 



A RECIPE FOR HOUSEKEEPERS. 

To make blue wash for walls, get a pound 
of blue vitriol from a drug store, and have it 
powdered in a mortar. Provide also two quarts 
of lime. Take six cents worth of glue, boil it 
in a quart of soft water till thoroughly dissolved. 
Put the powdered vitriol in a wooden bucket, 
and when the glue water is cold, pour it on the 
vitriol, mix and stir it well. When the vitriol 
is dissolved in the glue water, stir in by degrees 
the two quarts of lime. Then try the tint of 
the mixture by dipping a piece of white paper 
into it, and when it dries you can judge if it is 
the color you want. It should be a clear, beau- 
tiful blue, if too pale, stir in a little more pow- 
dered vitriol. It is well to provide an extra 
quantity of each of the articles, in case a little 
more of one or the other should be required 
upon trial of the color. — American Farmer. 



For the Southern Planter. 
GREEN CROPS INTENDED FOR IMPROVE- 
MENT. 

Mr. Editor, — I have been a subscriber to your 
valuable paper from its infancy, and I would not 
be debarred from a regular perusal of its con- 
tents for five times the price of subscription. — 
The "Southern Planter" has certainly done 
more towards arresting the tide of emigration 
from Virginia to the howling wilderness of the 
western world, than all the other means resorted 
to by our statesmen and patriots. The love of 
systematic improvement inspired by the circula- 
tion of your useful and instructive periodical, 
will prove the strongest link in the chain which 
binds our citizens to their native soil. 

Persevere, Mr. Editor; your unwavering en- 
ergy and untiring devotion to inspire us with a 
zeal for the improvement of our native land, 
will one day be properly appreciated, and will 
secure for you an everlasting monument of gra- 
titude. 

Being a young and inexperienced farmer, I 
am incompetent to give advice to the agricul- 
tural world, but I seek to improve my farm so 
as to make a decent living from it, through the 
medium of the Planter, notwithstanding the con- 
temptible light in which "book farming" is held 
by some of my neighbors, whose heads have 
grown grey in washing away their soil by the 
old-fashioned practice of ploughing their land 
up and down hill. 

There is another practice which, in my opi- 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



157 



nion, much retards the tide of improvement in 
this county; I mean the plan of applying all 
the manure to our tobacco lots. At any rate, I 
am determined to try the experiment of keeping 
up my tobacco land by seeding down oats wiih 
clover, and applying my manure to my corn 
and wheat field. I have seeded down one lot 
in oats, about two bushels to the acre ; next 
spring, I shall put the same lot in oats and clo- 
ver. Will you or some of j'our practical corre- 
spondents be kind enough to give me some in- 
structions 1 I arn advised by some to roll and 
plough the oats under as soon as the grain is 



properly matured; others think they should be 
rolled and permitted to remain as a protection to 
the land from the scorching summer's sun : the 
latter opinion I am disposed to adopt; nature 
herself seems to dictate that our land should be 
covered in summer with vegetation. If I am 
wrong, I shall be obliged to your correspondents 
to controvert my opinions, and I am ready to 
yield them to well established facts, or substan- 
tial arguments. 

Yours, respectfully, 

T. B. Hamlin. 
Hampstead, Dinwiddle Co., Va. 



AN ORNAMENTAL FARM HOUSE 




We are especially anxious to introduce some 
improvement in the rural architecture of Virgi- 
nia. The contrast between the tasty cottages 
of the North and the sombre gloom of our own 
country dwellings, is too striking to be agreeable 
to a Southern eye ; and we shall labor unceas- 
ingly until we dot our smiling fields with home- 
steads more congenial to their verdant aspect, 
than the unpainted, time-worn dwellings, that 
disfigure them now. In the first place, there is 
lack of taste in the shape of our buildings, that 
18, considering the progress we have made in 
the arts, truly astonishing. The unbroken uni- 
formity of wall that every where meets the eye, 
is extremely unpleasing. When a house is to 
be erected, it i.s just about as cheap to build it 
in one shape a:-s another, and we would heartily 



recommend to any gentleman about to erect a 
country dwelling, before he agrees with the vil- 
lage carpenter for a four-sided box, to consult 
Mr. Downing's new work on " Cottage Resi- 
dences," from which the cut above is copied. — 
He will readily perceive from the sketches he 
will find there how very pleasing to the eye are 
properly proportioned projections and irregulari- 
ties. By the exercise of a little taste, he may, 
for the same money that would build a shape- 
less, unsightly mass, erect a tasty, charming 
cottage, the just and beautiful proportions of 
which will delight the eye of every beholder, 
even without the aid of foreign ornament. In 
such a house, the wife and the daughter will 
take an honest pride, and soon a thousand evi- 
dences of female taste will ornament and adorn 



158 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



it, and it will be to the husband and the father 
a fit temple in which to enshrine those holy do- 
mestic lies, which are the boast and the happi- 
ness of our people. 

A few weeks since, we were indebted to the 
politeness of the hospitable owner for an inspec- 
tion of one of the most elegant villas that we 
ever beheld. It is situated on the banks of the 
time-honored Hudson, and the beauty of the 
prospect is only equalled by the elegance and 
magnificence of the building. It is built in the 
Gothic style, and the exterior is as striking as 
the interior is convenient and elegant. An inch 
added to or substracted from any part would de- 
stroy the proportions and unity of the whole. — 
This splendid mansion was erected at a cost of 
sixteen thousand dollars, whilst many a gentle- 
man in Virginia has paid twenty thousand for 
a building that in point of architecture was 
hardly fit for the eye of a Hottentot. We hope 
to be enabled shortly to obtain a cut that will 
afford our readers an idea of the exterior ap- 
pearance of this elegant mansion ; in the mean 
time, we will furnish such of our friends as may 
entertain the idea of erecting a handsome dwell- 
ing with the address of the architect: it. is, 
"Alexander I. Davis, Esq.. 93 Merchants Ex- 
change, New York." Mr. Davis, we understand, 
would be pleased to have an opportunity of dis- 
playing his unrivalled powers either in furnish- 
ing designs, or in erecting a building in Virgi- 
nia, and we believe that even in a pecuniary 
way, any gentleman would consult his own in- 
terest in engaging him. 

Mr. Downing accompanies the cut we have 
furnished with the following judicious and ap- 
propriate remarks : 

In designing this farm house, we have had 
two objects in view ; first, to offer to the large 
class of intelligent farmers a plan of a house of 
moderate size, somewhat adapted in internal ac- 
commodation to their peculiar wants; and se- 
condly, to give to the exterior, at little additional 
cost, some architectural beauty. The first ob- 
ject, it is evident, must ever be the principal one 
in a farmer's dwelling, and therefore every thing 
should yield to such an interior arrangement as 
will give the greatest amount of comfort, and 
the maximum of convenience, in performing in- 
door labor. But beyond this, there is no reason 
why the dwelling houses of our respectable far- 
mers should not display some evidences of taste, 
as well as those of professional men, or persons 
in more affluent circumstances. The farmers 
are really the most independent men in our 



community, as their wealth is less liable to fluc- 
tuation than that of any other class; and if the 
amount they wish to expend upon a dwelling, 
be less than that within the means of others, 
they are generally able, on the other hand, by 
having abundance of stone or timber on their 
own premises, to build at a greatly reduced cost. 
By bestowing some degree of ornament on farm 
houses, we shall hope to increase the interest 
and attachment, which the farmer and his fa- 
mily have for their home, and thereby to im- 
prove his social and domestic slate. A man 
who is content to live in a clumsy, badly con- 
trived, and uncouth habitation, will generally be 
found to care lit lie for his home, or to have in 
his heart but a scanty flow of general domestic 
sympathies. This love of home, and wiih it 
all the tender affections bound up in that en- 
dearing word, will be sure to grow with every 
step we take to add to its comforts, or increase 
iis beauty ; and if we feel a species of affection 
for the goodly trees we have planted, which, 
growing along wiih us, seem like old and fami- 
liar friends, we must acknowledge a still greater 
attachment to a dwelling that we have built, 
and which becomes our own home, whether it 
be a coitage or a mansion, if there is an air of 
taste lurking about it. and breathing out from 
vine-covered porch or open window casement. 
We are especially anxious that the farmer 
should cultivate a taste for improving his home, 
including under this term his dwelling, and his 
garden or grounds, as we are confident that in so 
doing he will unconsciously open to himself and 
his family new sources of enjoyment, beyond 
such as are directly derived from their beauty 
and convenience. It is unquestionably true, that 
we learn to appreciate the beauty of nature, in 
proportion as we become familiar with the beauty 
of art. Now, although we do not expect far- 
mers to possess a gallery of pictures or statuary, 
yet they have a scarcely less instructive field 
open to them while tastefully disposing their 
gardens and grounds, in studying the various 
developments of beauty that occur, and become 
familiar to the mind in these and all other em- 
ployments, unfolding the order and harmony of 
a well regulated home. And we will venture 
to assert, that no person, however small his ori- 
ginal knowledge, has followed these occupations 
thoughtfully for half a dozen years, without 
having his appreciation of the beauty of all 
nature, and especialfy the beauty of trees, forests, 
hills, and rivers, a thousand fold increased. 



CARROTS FOR HORSES. 

We were lately told by the proprietor of one 
of the most extensive livery stables in this city, 
that he has had an experience of several years 
in feeding the common yellow carrots to his 
horses, and that he considers them the most va- 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



159 



luable article for winter feed that he has ever 
used. He considers a peck of carrots and a 
peck of oats worth more for a horse than a 
bushel of oats alone ; and for horses that are 
not constancy employed, the carrots alone are 
far preferable to oats. He would purchase car- 
rots for his horses in preference to oats, even if 
the}- cost the same by the bushel ; the price of 
carrots, however, is generally about half that of 
oats. His horses eat the carrots with a far bet- 
ter relish than oats ; so much so, that, if a peck 
of each are turned into the manger, they will 
eat all the carrots before they taste the oats. — 
When fed constantly on carrots, a horse will 
drink scarcely a pail of water in a week. The 
culture of carrots is recommended to our farmers 
as worthy of their attention. 

Connecticut Farmers' Gazette. 

Our own experience which has not been very 
limited fully sustains the opinion of the livery 
stable keeper in New Haven. As an altera- 
tive when green food is not to be had, and for 
its healthy influence upon the horse at all times, 
we have never seen the food that excelled the 
orange carrot. There is some trouble in raising 
and gathering a crop of this root, and we had 
hoped from the representations given of it a year 
or two ago that the white or Belgian carrot, 
whilst it was free from these objections, an- 
swered all the purposes of the long orange; but 
later developments have satisfied us that it is in 
every way inferior to its great original. There 
is no crop we know of that will add so much 
to the health and comfort of the farmer's stock 
as two or three well cultivated acres of carrots. 



exhausting plan. Thus it is obvious, this state- 
ment being admitted, that one-fifth of the land 
now cultivated might, with a different system, 
produce as much as is at present grown in the 
country. It is also evident, on the supposition, 
that agriculture might be made five times more 
profitable, and assuredly the pleasure and honor 
of the profession might be signally augmented. 
Thorough manuring, deep ploughing, good seeds, 
timely planting, proper rotation of crops, and neat 
culture, would work wonders in our agriculture. 
The intellectual enjoyment and real moral of 
improved husbandry, are not to be overlooked. 
In consequence of the loveliness of a gaiden, 
the abode of the just in the next world is deno- 
minated paradise, a garden, or a heaven, and 
when it is remembered the whole farm can be 
made as interesting as a finely cultivated garden, 
there is something truly enchanting in the far- 
mer's profession. A rich and well tilled field 
affords the most lovely scenes ; but a poor field, 
with an indifferent crop, is certainly discourag- 
ing. Time will be when this subject will be 
duly appreciated with the farming world. 

T. F. 



From the Tennessee Agriculturist. 
SMALL FARMS. 



Perhaps the greatest mistake in the farming 
of America, is the practice of attempting to cul- 
tivate more land than can be well tilled. This j 
system may be properly styled surface culture, 
and it has been the means of impoverishing 
more land than any other cause. In the great 
South-west, as well as in the South-east, thou- 
sands and thousands of acres have been worn 
out, and abandoned to the growth of broom sedge, 
by this ill-directed mode of procedure. It re- 
mains no longer doubtful, that a hundred bushels 
of corn can be grown upon the single acre of 
ground, and with little more labor in tillage than 
is required for cultivating an acre that yields 
but twelve or fifteen busheb. The secret of 
permanent success in every thing, is to do all 
well that is attempted. Five acres, well pre- 
pared, and well cultivated, will produce at least 
as much a3 twenty-five acres on the common 



For the Southern Planter. 
HOG HAIR. 

This is one of our best but most neglected 

: manures. I made a fair experiment this sprirfg 

'of its value. All good tobacco planters now-a- 

days manure their plant beds. I (in imitation of 

good planters) do so; and this spring I had hog 

hair, from mj' last year's pen and killing, put on 

my patch, extending over only about one-third 

! of a ver}' large patch. The part covered with 

the hog hair produced large and early plants, 

while the remainder of the plant patch, though 

a good yield, heing on good land, did nothing 

like as well. Hog hair is a very good manure 

for most vegetables. 

Tobacco Stalks. — Instead of throwing these 
away after you have finished stripping your 
crop, put them in your stables and let them re- 
main there till they are well rotted, and you will 
have the best sort of manure for your spring 
manuring of tobacco plant beds. 

Wishing the Southern Planter and its Editor 
much success. 

1 am, Mr. Editor, 

Your obedient servant, 

John Smith. 



From the American Farmer. 
REMEDY FOR FILMS ON THE EYE. 

A correspondent of the New England Farmer 
gives the following recipe for removing films 
from the eyes of animals, of the efficacy of 
which we have no doubt. Several years since 
a son of ours had films formed on his eyes, 



160 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



which we removed by dropping a small portion 
of molasses on his eye-lids when asleep, for 
three or four nights in succession. He was so 
restless, and resisted the application so resolutely 
when awake that we had to avail ourself of the 
opportunity afforded by his slumbers to apply 
the remedy: 

" Perhaps all your readers do not know the 
easiest, as well as most effectual remedy for re- 
moving a film from the eye of an animal. It is 
simply to put a tea-spoonful of molasses on the 
eye-ball. I have relieved oxen, horses, cows 
and sheep in this manner, and know of no other 
equal to it." 

Gknburn, Maine, Dec. 5, 1S43. 



GOOD MILKING. 

Be very cautious how you treat heifers when 
you first attempt to milk them. If you take 
the proper course they will not kick, not one in 
fifty. 

In the first place tie them strong — then sit so 
close to them that if they raise the foot they 
cannot kick but merely press against you. Let 
your left arm always bear against the cow's leg, 
sit close, and milk gently ; and always be cau- 
tious to see that the teats are not sore. 

Massachusetts Ploughman. 



For the Southern Planter. 

HOW POOR MEN MAY MAKE POOR LAND 
RICH. 

Mr. Editor, — I will now endeavor to redeem 
my promise, in your June number, of showing 
the mode by which poor men may improve their 
soils. No man can attain riches, either in land 
or money without the necessary implements with 
which to work. A frugal wife is the first and 
indispensable point; the others are a self-sharp- 
ening plough, which does as good work as any 
and at less than half the cost, besides the time 
saved in going to the shop; a three-hoed pul- 
verizer, or common three-hoed plough inverted, 
so that three teeth leave but one furrow ; a good 
harrow ; a horse rake to rake up pine beards, 
with which I can rake up more in one hour 
than I can with six men ; a meadow rake to 
gather grass, that neither time r\oxhaij be wasted; 
a good cart and a mule, not a horse ; no poor 
man should ever own one if he has to go in 
debt for a swap, as two mules can be kept with 
the food of one large horse. The irons for these 
ploughs, &c. will not cost above six or seven 
dollars, and let the farmer amuse himself wood- 
ing them on rainy days. 

Thus equipped, one man is as good as two 
on the old plan, which you perceive is one hun- 
dred per cent, added to his capital at once. 



Lime* is indispensable. What; a poor man 
lime his land! Yes; "but what will it cost? 
I have no money." Well, that shall not hinder 
you ; take a load of wood to some oyster-house 
and they will give you two loads of shells for 
it — the oyster boats jump at it. Carry the ex- 
tra load to the lot of some friend, and thus, 
whenever you have an occasion for a trip, bring 
back shells. Make a brush-heap, large and 
compact, throw fifteen bushels on as diffusely 
as you can ; burn more brush on top until you 
see all the shells red, and then they will cool so 
as to crumble with a slight stroke of the shovel; 
the next day spread them and plough in, or mix 
one bushel in each load of manure. You may 
not see the good effect of lime, but you will feel 
it in increase of weight in every crop. Add 
some plaster certain : this }'Ou will have to buy, 
but the difference of yield in half an acre of 
Irish potatoes rolled in it, will pay for two casks 
of plaster. Not so much in the growth of the 
potato, that I know, as in the uniformity and cer- 
tainty of their coming up. In the production 
of manure I find great economy in keeping each 
animal stalled and littered, so as to keep them 
clean. To those who intend to build or alter 
their farm lots, I suggest that the stalls for cows 
and mules be made with a road between them 
so that they may stand tail to tail, each in their 
separate house; and thus the accumulations 
thrown out in alternate layers may produce a 
better article than either separate. My animals 
produce forty to fifty cart loads each, a year. — 
This might be increased if there was help 
enough to do the carting. Now for the appli- 
cation. Haul out fifty loads on an acre, turn it 
in, sow one bushel of corn, harrow it once when 
four inches high — turn this all in in October, 
and then sow one and a half pecks of vetches 
per acre, which if seasonable will be shoulder 
high by the 25th of May, and ripe enough to 
seed again for the next year. They will not 
sprout all summer, but put up about frost, and 
furnish a crop again next year. Turn in the 
vetches every year, and on the back of all this, 
plant corn. Thus from year to year go on upon 
fresh acres, and no more need be added to the 
first, but let it rest, in its rotation. Land that 
will bring clover knee high will bring vetches 
as high as rye, and as thick as they can stand. 
I send you some native vetches, which I am 
using ; I also have procured some from England, 
and will give you in time the result. By the 
bye, would your readers like to hear what Ar- 
thur Young says about them ; if so, you shall 
have it? 

Now, Mr. Editor, all theorists allow that lime 
will make peas grow. Vetches are but minia- 
ture garden peas, and if turned in will make 

* I have some observations on this subject, which 
you can have if you desire them. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



161 



30m grow ; one crop of corn will not take out all 
die manure. And thus an impetus will have been 
given to the soil that corn could not overtake, and 
as each turning in gives back to the soil the pro- 
'ij best adapted to its own re-production, certainly 
the theory must be good/ And now let your 
readers tear it to pieces, but I will try it as fast 
as seed will let me, and be the result what it 
may, you shall have it. No wheat grower 
should think of sowing vetches, at least natives, 
as the tares would grow among the wheat and 
ruin- it. I have a belief that vetches are equal 
to oats ; if so, all the time now spent in their 
production will have been saved for improving. 
What an acquisition ! 

T am, however, drawing out this communica- 
tion to too great a length, and, therefore, desist. 
Your friend, 

J. H. D. Lownes. 

P. S. — For " spires" in my last, read pounds. 

J. H. D. L. 



FARM HORSES. 

In a very interesting description, in the Far- 
mers' Cabinet, of " Scotch farming in the Lo- 
thians," we find the following upon the subject 
of farm horses : 

Such an abuse as three horses to a plough, ex- 
cept to the subsoil plough, is unknown. The 
universal compliment for one hundred acres, I 
found to be, two pair of horses, two ploughmen, 
and one laborer; the number of women and 
children varying with the particular crop, per- 
haps, six or eight, during the season. 

In this small allowance of horses, it must be 
remembered, that the ivhole one hundred acres is 
arable, there being no permanent pasture. 

The winter keep of the horses is a mixture 
of one-half chopped straw, or chopped any thing, 
and one-half, steamed turnips, or potatoes ; and 
this feed is found not only much cheper than 
hay and oats, but the horses are kept in better 
condition, and enjoy better health. No horses 
could look in finer condition than they did. 



For the Southern Planter. 
THE EARBERRY BUSH. 

Mr. Editor, — I wish to know of you and 
J'our correspondents whether the barberry bush 
(a shrub that is found in some of the old gar- 
dens in Virginia) will give wheat the rust. If 
0, to what extent will its contagious and blight- 
ing influence be felt. I arn aware that the po- 
pular impression, is, that it will give the rust to 
eat. I must confess if such be the fact' I 
ana wholly unable to account for it upon philo- 
sophical principles. I have a very large one in 
Vol. IV.— 21 



my garden, which has been there for the last 
century. My wheat has been destroyed by the 
rust every year since I have been a resident of 
Louisa county. I have been credibly informed, 
however, that the crops of wheat upon this es- 
tate were not injured by the rust in former years, 
maugre the presence of the barberry bush. In 
1S42 I had the most promising crop of wheat I 
ever saw, but it was taken with the rust shorily 
after it had headed, and the wheat was injured 
to such an extent as to render it unmerchanta- 
ble. I was disposed, however, to attribute the 
failure in my crop of wheat to the heavy floods 
of rain which fell about the time the wheat was 
in bloom. In 1843 my crop was totally de- 
stroyed by the rust. This year I plastered my 
wheat in the month of April, during a damp 
and moist spell of weather, and it was attacked 
so soon afterwards by the rust, that I attributed 
it to the plaster of Paris. The rust in this in- 
stance made its appearance at an earlier stage 
than I had ever before known. Before the wheat 
had headed, the blades and stalks were com- 
pletely coated with the rust, and many of them 
were totally blasted. I would here inquire, en 
passant, whether there is any thing in the phy- 
sical genealogy of wheat to justify the belief 
that the rust is hereditary. I throw out the 
suggestion because the seed that I used for this 
crop was materially injured by the rust. I 
have observed that the rust has invariably made 
its appearance first on the wheat contiguous to 
the barberry bush and gradually extended its 
blighting influence over my entire crop; the 
greater portion of which lay remote from my 
residence, and was separated from the field which 
extended to the barberry bush by a road thirty 
feet in width. It is true, many of my neigh- 
bors suffered like myself from the same cause, 
even at the distance of six or eight, miles. I 
cannot believe that "its fell blast" swept over 
the crops to that extent. The rust when it at- 
tacks a field continues to spread until it covers 
the entire field. Fromwhat cause this proceeds 
I am unable to say. Whether the rust is con- 
tagious or its spread is the result of like causes 
producing similar effects, I must submit for the 
solution of physiologists and farmers of closer 
observation and more practical information than 
myself. 

The last fall I received a small portion of 
wheat from a friend in Orange county which he 
said was rust proof. I gave it to my gardener, 
with instructions to sow it in my garden near 
the barberry bush. He did as I directed him. 
It came up well and grew off finely and pro- 
mised well ; but ahout the 10th of May the fell 
destroyer made his appearance on .the wheat, 
•proximate the barberry bush, and in the space 
of ten days blasted the entire square. I had it 
mowed for hay. I have remarked during the 
last three years, that the rust has invariably 



\ 



162 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



made its appearance first in the wheat nearest 
the barberry. It has already made its appear- 
ance on the borders of a field about, seventy or 
eighty yards distant from it ; and 1 fear will 
eventually pervade the entire field ; as I believe 
it will doubtless spread, let it proceed from what 
cause it may. I have always been a sceptic as 
to this influence attributed to the barberry bush ; 
but I must confess the evidences which have 
passed in review before my own eyes within the 
last three years have very strongly assailed my 
scepticism and well nigh made me a convert. — 
The present season has been very favorable to 
the wheat crop. It has been generally cool and 
dry. There has doubtless been nothing in the 
season calculated to generate the rust. But to 
attribute it to the influence of the barberry bush, 
in the absence of any satisfactory reason, would 
appear childish and ridiculous in the extreme. 
I, therefore, sir. appeal to you and your corps of 
correspondents for your opinions upon this sub- 
ject, and should you render a verdict against the 
barberry bush, highly as I prize it, because of 
its beauty and antiquity, I shall unhesitatingly 
lay the axe at its root and abate it as a nuisance. 
In haste, yours, most respectfully, 

Clayton G. Coleman. 
Jerdone Castle, Louisa, May 24, 1844. 

We know that practical and scientific men 
are divided both in this country and in Europe 
upon the subject of the blighting influence of 
the berberis vulgaris, or common barberry. It is 
not philosophical to infer that that does not exist, 
the reasons for which we do not perceive. Our 
perceptions are too finite to authorise us to de- 
clare that the relation of cause and effect does 
not exist because we cannot trace the interven- 
ing links of the chain. The evidence upon the 
subject is at least sufficient, in our opinion, to 
give to the axe a bush no more valuable than 
the barberry. 



A NEW IMPLEMENT. 

Capt. Chandler has made a new implement, 
without a name. It is constructed as follows : 
A beam of strong hard wood is made, about 6 
feet long, and about 6 inches square; into this 
are put 12 teeth, about b\ inches apart, extend- 
ing below the beam about the common length 
of long harrow teeth ; these teeih are flat, with 
a sharp edge forward, and they are made at the 
lower part, or point, with a moderate curve for- 
ward, that they may incline downward into the 
soil. Handles are fastened to the beam, and 
with bars of iron it is fastened to the axle of a 
pair of wheels; the forward wheels of a wagon 
will answer for this purpose. 

Thus constructed and hung to the wheels, it 



is drawn by a horse, or oxen will do, and the 
person holding can bear on the handles, or step 
on the beam and ride there, or to relieve it when 
coming in contact with a fast substance, he can 
readily raise it over the impediment. When 
going from place to place it may be turned up 
on the axle and safety ride there. The object 
of this implement is to cut to pieces sods and 
turfs, and finely pulverize them, which it will 
do more effectually than a harrow, as the teeth 
are sharper ; besides, as it covers a small space 
of ground, the teeth being all in one line, the 
holder has complete command of it; and as the 
teeth bend forward and run under the soil, they 
raise it and leave it lighter, down some depth, 
than a harrow, which is often dragged over the 
soil and makes it more heavy. This important 
implement will doubtless answer a good purpose 
in cutting up old grass lands, disturbing the 
roots and loosening the soil, and allowing a top 
dressing of manure to work down among the 
grass roots, assuming in this respect the purpose 
of a scarifier. — Boston Cultivator. 



HENRICO AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 

This Association held its annual fair at God- 
din's Spring on the 22d day of May, and there 
is no disguising the fact, that the thing was a 
total failure. In the way of stock, to be sure, 
we had Mr. Stevenson's Ayrshire bull and cow, 
and Mr. Joseph Mayo exhibited some very su- 
perior cows of native breed. Mr. R. B. Haxall 
also exhibited some young Ayrshire stock, one 
of which, in particular, promises to do great 
credit to her public spirited owner. From the 
garden of Mr. Charles Marx we had a show of 
early vegetables that would have done credit to 
any exhibition of the Horticultural Society of 
Philadelphia ; but with these exceptions, a more 
interesting exhibition may be found any morn- 
ing at either of our market houses. The only 
thing to give eclat to the scene was an able and 
eloquent address from Mr. James M. Wickham, 
who fully justified the high expectations his an- 
nouncement had excited. 

The following day was enlivened by a very 
interesting ploughing match. The contest was 
eager and animating, exciting the most lively 
interest in the spectators. The favorite of 

the day was Mr. Chamberlayne, a 

deaf and dumb gentleman, to whom, greatly to 
the gratification of the crowd, the second pre- 
mium was awarded : the first was bestowed 
upon Mr. Eubank, and the third upon Mr. 
Francis Staples. Eubank and Staples were 
unsuccessful competitors last year, and although 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



163 



greatly admired for their skill and adroitness 
then, the evident improvement in their style of 
ploughing evinced the good effect of the emu- 
lation these noble contests are so well calculated 
to inspire. By the end of another year, we 
should not be afraid to match either of these 
men against any ploughman in the Union. 

We regret very much the evident falling off 
in the character of this exhibition ; something 
perhaps is to be attributed to the unfitness of 
the season, but much more to the blind apathy 
of the citizens of Richmond. If every man 
who has been benefited to the amount of ten dol- 
lars per annum through the influence of this 
Society, (and in this category would be included 
undoubtedly every housekeeper who attends the 
Richmond market,) would only contribute one 
dollar to its support, it would easily maintain its 
career of usefulness. When its loss is felt, its 
value will be appreciated, and those who re- 
fused the pittance necessary for its support, will 
be the first, when it is too late to reanimate it, 
to regret its decay. However, we are happy 
to say that a few members with whom, "the 
blood more serves to rouse the lion than to start 
the hare," seemed only encouraged by defeat. 
Several spirit-stirring appeals were made, and a 
resolution was unanimously adopted, that we 
would hold another fair in the fall, which should 
eclipse any of the very interesting exhibitions 
that have preceded it. Will not the farmers of 
Henrico; will not the citizens of Richmond; 
will not the mechanics ; above all, will not the 
ladies, with their admirable handiwork, assist 
us in so "rood a cause ? 



OATS FOR COLTS. 

In reading over the " Report of the Committee 
on the Florse," made to the "Newberry Agricul- 
tural Society," South Carolina, from the South 
Carolina Temperance Advocate, we notice the 
following caution — "Do not let them (mare or 
colt) be turned into a lot where there is green 
oats. It i3 poisonous to the colt." 

We had the misfortune this fall to lose the 
finest colt we ever had, and until this time could 
have no idea what caused his death. He was 
about two months old when he died, and was 
in as fine health and as playful as any colt at 
mid-day, when we turned an older colt with him 
into a lot to exercise — that night he died. Could 
it be possible the oats killed him? We saw 
hirn eating the oats ourself, and hope, if it be 
certain, that this note may guard others, who 
may be as ignorant as we are. Certain it is, 



we lost our fine colt, and to make the matter 
worse, refused some two weeks previously, over 
three hundred dollars for him — and unless the 
oats proved injurious, we know of no cause. — 
We ask of those conversant with these matters, 
for facts; and add, that if this thing of green 
oats being poisonous to colls be true, we think 
giving it to our readers, even secondhand as it 
is, to be worth to each one who knew it. not be- 
fore, double the price of every farming paper in 
the Union. So, }<ou that are benefited, pay for 
this, if you have not, and subscribe for another. 
We are almost led to believe it, and one hundred 
dollars would have been a cheap price for us to 
have paid on the 1st of September for this know- 
ledge. — South- Western Farmer. 

Oats may sometimes kill a coir, but we know 
that sometimes they don't ; for we have turned 
them in upon an oatfield often and over again 
for a green bite in the spring, and they never 
failed to derive great advantage from it. 



BARN-YARDS. 

We have before us the well written and prac- 
tical address of Mr. Mather, before the Middle- 
town (Connecticut) Agricultural Society, Octo- 
ber, 1843. The following extract will show 
the manner in which he manages the important 
subject of manures: 

"Of the methods which I have tried, I con- 
sider the following as the most economical. — 
The barnyard should be excavated in the centre 
in the form of a dish, leaving a margin on all 
sides sufficiently broad for the comfort of the 
stock, and convenier.ee in feeding. In the fall, 
the yard may be covered to the depth of ten 
inches or a foot, with materials from the swamp, 
the bottom of ditches, or with turf from the road 
side. To this should be added all the weeds 
and refuse of the farm. And I am strongly of 
the opinion that here is the most profitable place 
to spread all the lime, ashes, plaster and salt 
which we design to apply to the land in the 
coming spring. The liquid from the stables 
should be led into the middle of the yard, and 
the manure from the stable, as fast as it is made, 
be equally spread over the whole, that the qua- 
lity may be uniform. No water should be per- 
mitted to come into the yard, except what falls 
directly upon it. By the treading of the cattle 
during the winter and spring, the whole will be 
incorporated into a uniform mass, and in a suita- 
ble condition to apply to the land. By pursuing 
substantially this course, I have more than dou- 
bled the quantity and value of the manure on 
my farm. A Dutch farmer, it is said, built his 
barn directly over a small creek, leading into the 
Hudson, that the stream might carry away all 
the filth. We are not quite so improvident as 



164 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



the Dutchman, but there are some farmers who, 
in order to secure a dry yard for the stock, are 
very particular to leave a drain to carry off the 
wash. They might as well cut a hole in their 
pockets" — JYeiv England Fanner. 



POUDRETTE. 

We negligently omitted to say in our last 
number what we should have said of this article. 
In the city of New York we fell in with Mr. D. 
K. Minor, who increased the already high re- 
spect we entertained for him by the extreme 
sensitiveness he exhibited to the imputations 
made in Virginia against the article of poudrette 
furnished by him. Mr. Minor seemed to be 
much more anxious, as a gentleman would, to 
stand fair amongst honorable men, than to reap 
any pecuniary advantage from establishing the 
character of his poudrette. Indeed, we have 
reason to believe that the demand is already 
greater than he can supply ; we, therefore, could 
attribute to him no sinister motive when he re- 
quested us to take home and distribute some 
pamphlets containing the strongest testimonials 
of the successful results obtained elsewhere ; 
these are now ready for any who may have a 
curiosity to examine them, and Mr. Minor par- 
ticularly requests that they may be placed in 
the hands of those with whom it failed last 
year. We are aware of the utter hopelessness 
of any attempt to obtain another trial for pou- 
drette in Virginia, until the strong, and certainly 
not unfounded, prejudice against it has in some 
measure worn off: at this time all the odium of 
an exploded humbug is hanging to it, and no 
one was more thoroughly convinced of its worth- 
lessness than we were. But we must confess 
we saw enough at the North to shake this opi- 
nion, and we doubt now if the unaccountable 
result in Virginia was not more unfortunate for 
the agricultural community here, than for the 
proprietor. Both in Philadelphia and in New 
York we witnessed large sales made in the 
agents' office, and the gentleman who has charge 
of it in Philadelphia, the Editor of the "Far- 
mers' Cabinet," informed us, that, it was impos- 
sible to keep a supply on hand, such was the 
demand, principally from the plainest and most 

practical farmers of the vicinity, who had given 

it a thorough trial the year before. 

Mr. Minor is quite an enthusiast upon the 

subject of poudrette — he views it with the eye 
of a devoted friend of agriculture, and declares 



when its value is properly understood, the farmer 
will as soon think of letting his silver dollars lie 
scattered about his yard, as leave neglected his 
receptacles for human ordure. He volunteered 
us an essay upon the subject with directions for 
the preparation of poudrette, which he says can 
be readily manufactured by every farmer foi' 
himself. We hope he will not forget us, 



For the Southern Planter.- 
FRUIT TREES. 

Mr. Editor,— On the last page of the iasS 
number of- the Planter you give us from the 
New Hampshire V\ hig a new method of raising 
fruit trees, by which (we are assured) we shall 
have fruit precisely like the parent tree. That 
this paragraph should have gone the rounds of 
the political and religious press from Exeter to 
Richmond is not to be wondered at ; but that it 
should have crept into even a corner of the 
Planter is at least sufficient to authorise us in 
correcting the error. Suppose these two best 
farmers of New Hampshire or any others should 
turn up a root under an " Elk Horn" cherry 
that had been budded on a Morello, or a " wine- 
sap" apple that had been grafted on a wild crab, 
I venture to guess they will look a little sour 
when they come to eat the fruit. The fact is, 
the most of our best fruit trees are either budded 
or grafted, and consequently a tree raised from 
the root of such will not bear fruit precisely like 
the top. P. B. W. 

JYoiioioay, May, 1844. 

We do not see why the paragraph alluded to 
should not have " travelled from Exeter to 
Richmond," or why it should not have " crept 
into a corner of the Planter." Nothing is 
more reasonable than that an upturned root con- 
verted into a tree, should "bear fruit precisely 
like the parent tree." It did not need P. B. W. 
nor a Philadelphia lawyer to inform us, that if 
the parent tree had been grafted, the root could 
not be expected to bear fruit like that of the 
craft. 



From the Albany Cultivator. 

SEEDING GRASS LANDS— PROPER TIME 

FOR CUTTING AND METHOD OF 

CURING HAY. 

Having been requested to make known the 
experiments I have tried and fully tested, I now 
submit them pro bono publico, with all due defer- 
ence to the opinions of my seniors in agriculture. 

When preparing a meadow or upland, I usu- 
ally seed on wheat, sowing in the fall half a 
bushel of timothy seed to the acre, which is 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



165 



limed at the rate of three hundred bushels ; and 
the following spring, after a moderate fall of 
snow, one bushel of clover seed, top dressed 
-with charcoal dust, and rolled. From land so 
treated, I cut, last season, three tons of hay to 
the acre. My practice is to commence cutting 
when one-third of the blossoms of clover have 
turned brown, and the timothy just parting with 
its bloom. The grass thus cut is drawn imme- 
diately into the barn, and one bushel of fine salt 
spread by hand thinly over each alternate layer 
composing a ton, as stowed away in the mow. 
The salt prevents mow burning, molding, &c, 
and the stock are induced to eat it as greedily 
as they would new mown grass, which it nearly 
resembles, as its most nutricious juices are pre- 
served, being diffused through the stem of the 
entire plant at that period of its growth. If left 
on the ground until the seed ripens, the saccha- 
rine juice of the plant is lost. 

The principal desire of the farmer should be 
to preserve the green appearance of his hay, 
and at the same time make it tender and pala- 



table to his stock. The fermentation which en- 
sues after it is housed, secures that object, and 
prevents the inevitable injury to his meadows 
which follows ripening grasses. By* early har- 
vesting he obtains a luxuriant growth of after- 
math or rowen, almost as nutritious as the first, 
and as much relished by cattle, but peculiarly 
adapted to sheep. 

It is now supposed by chemists, that the plan 
of keeping a large stock of horned cattle for the- 
express purpose of manuring a farm, is an erro- 
neous one on this account. 

The ash of all grasses contains, by analysis,. 
in greater or less proportion, according to the 
varieties, potash, soda, lime, magnesia, alumina, 
oxide of iron, oxide of manganese, silica, sul- 
phuric acid, phosphoric acid, and chlorine, many 
of which substances are required in the animal 
economy, to form muscle, blood, horns, hoofs. 
&c, and are forever lost to the farmer. 
Yours, respectfully, 

R. L. Pell. 

Pelkam, Ulster Co., Jan. 21, 1844. 



For the Southern Planter. 



AN OX BREAK 




Mr. Bolts, — The cut above will give you some 
idea of a method of breaking young oxen adopted 
pretty generally in this neighborhood. 

A, i-: a post 4 feet high and firmly planted in 
the ground. B B, a pole 20 feet long with a 
two inch auger hole bored in it at C. The top 
of the post, is trimmed down at C to 2 inches, 
and the pole fitted on loosely so as to turn round 
easily. Draw your ox up and fix his neck in 
the bow at D — fasten his tail by means of a 
rope to the pole and let him run, walk or lie 
n as he pleases. In a few days he will be- 



come tired of his circular motion and will readily 
move straight forward by the side of another 
ox to a cart. P. B. W. 



From the Alexandria Gazette. 

REMINISCENCES OF THE OLDEN DAYS 
OF VIRGINIA. 

ORIGIN OF THE TERM CAVENDISH TOBACCO. 

There lived in the County of Mecklenburg, 
and Colony of Virginia, some seventy and five 
years ago, a Col. Cabanis, a successful planter 



166 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



and " prosperous gentleman." Now, in those 
ancient days of Virginia, the habit was to ex- 
port the tobacco grown in the colony to the mo- 
ther countiy, to be manufactured, and there to 
be re-exported to Virginia, there to be masticated 
and spirted upon its native soil. 

Our worthy Colonel was the first to start do- 
mestic manufactures in the South on his own 
hook, by the erection of a private establishment 
for the manufacture of chewing tobacco on a 
small scale. And a prime article was turned 
out from this infant, and, we may say, isolated 
manufactory of the olden time. And the good 
Colonel, who was a member of the House of 
Burgesses, would at every annual visit to Wil- 
liamsburg, put into his saddle-bags a choice 
twist for each of his brother members and chew- 
ers of the House ; and anxiously, indeed, was 
his advent, or rather that of his saddle-bags, 
looked for, while many a smacking of lips, as 
well as shaking of hands, greeted the arrival of 
the manufacturer of Mecklenburg at the capitol. 

Now the Cabanis twist beat all competition ; 
it had the taste, the twang, the real game flavor, 
and many and earnest were the inquiries as to 
the modus operandi by which such an exquisite 
article was produced. At length the Colonel 
divulged the mightysecret — " He always pressed 
his prime, the real Cabanis, in an old bee gum !" 

Gentle readers, who are masticators of the 
weed, rejoice ! After the lapse of three-quarters 
of a century the truth, tfee mighty truth, is out 
at last. So let us hear no more of Cavendish 
tobacco, but of " Cabanis No. 1, real Bee Gum," 
and no mistake ! 

CjESAR and the razor-strop. 

During the vice-royalty of Lord Botetourt, 
there lived and nourished in Williamsburg, a 
black barber named Caesar, a queer old fellow, 
and famed through all the country around for 
the bluntness of his wit and the keenness of his 
razors. Now Ccesar's shop was, in those an- 
cient days, as the barbers' shops are in modern 
times, the focus of all the news and scandal of 
the place. And thither would the then mag- 
nates of Virginia repair to enjoy the gossip of 
the Capital, and to have their "chins new 
reaped" by Caesar's incomparable sharps. Even 
Col. Bird, the mirror of the taste and fashion 
of Old Virginia's gallant and joyous day, would 
discard his crowd of valets and go to the barber's 
shop when he wished to indulge in the luxury 
of a smooth shave. 

The Colonel determined to inquire into the 
mystery of these superior sharps, and said, 
" Ccesar, you old villain, surely the devil must 
strop your razors for you or how do they acquire 
such an edge 1 Here am I importing year after 
3'ear strops of great price and celebrity, my ras- 
cals are continually stropping, and yet we cannot 
raise an edge comparable to yours. Here's a 



guinea, come show me your strop." The mys- 
terious barber took the gold, eyed it with great 
complacency, pouched it, and then displaying 
his ivory from ear to ear, observed, " Well, rnassa 
Bird, go you send home for strop, hey, and still 
Caesar's razors beat all ! he, he, he. See here,, 
massa," and going to a box, he produced as 
"old bridle rein nailed to a piece of wood." — 
The astonished Colonel cried, " what the devil 
is this, Cresar ! As the boys say, sure you are 
poking fun at me." To which the barber of the 
ancient regime, making a bow, that for grace 
and dignity would not have shamed the vice- 
royal court itself, laid his hand upon his heart 
and remarked, "Ton my honor, dat is all my 
strop ;" then continued, " but mind, massa Bird, 
it must be ' old plough-bridle reign, de more 
sweat and dust, de better.' " 

Col. Bird took the hint. He ceased his im- 
portation of foreign strops, while his vast estate 
furnished a great choice of the domestic mate- 
rial ; and often would he relate to his visiters at 
Westover, the story of the famed old Barber of 
Williamsburg, and the discovery of " the Magic 
Strop." 

Jlrlington-House, March 8, 1844. 



ARTIFICIAL MANURE. 

At a meeting of the New York Farmers' 
Club Dr. Valentine observed that the chemical 
salts were at a low price, and might be profita- 
bly employed in a judicious way. He proposed 
to exhibit to the Club at the next meeting the 
formation of an artificial guano that would not 
cost more than one-fifth of the imported, and 
equally effective. The following are the ingre- 
dients : 

Nitrate of soda, 20 pounds. 

Sal ammonia, 10 " 

Carb ammonia, 5 " 

Pearlash, 5 " 

Sulphate of soda, 8 " 

Sulphate of magnesia, 5 " 

Fine bone, 60 " 

Salt, 10 " 

Sulphate of lime, 2 bushels. 

Meadow mud, or street manure, 1 cart load. 
Carbonate of iron, 2 drachms. 

Manganese, 2 " 

Sea-weed, sand, dirt, &c. are very valuable, 
the first particularly, for its fertilizing quali- 
ties. Reference for analysis of it was made to 
Thompson's Chemistry, Vol. IV. page 298. It 
is found to contain eighteen different ingredients, 
according to M. de Chaubry reported as above. 
Dr. V. observed, that when manure collects 
about barn-yards in puddles, the greater part of 
it is lost. Decomposition is always going on, 
and consequently the ammonia and carbonic 
acid so necessary to vegetation are constantly 
passing off into the atmosphere. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



167 



To prevent this it is necessary to put sufficient 
ashes in the puddles to form a paste as thick as 
mortar, and then add sufficient unslaked lime or 
sulphate of lime (plaster of Paris) to bring the 
whole to a dry powder. This powder is then 
to be taken out and put in a dry place until it 
is wanted for use. As the puddle again collects 
it is to be treated in the same way. By this 
process you collect a large quantity of manure 
in a dry state, capable of being kept any length 
•of time — the essence of which would otherwise 
be lost in the atmosphere. — Selected. 



LIME AND CHARCOAL. 
Mr. William Partridge, in an essay read 
before the Natural History Department of the 
Brooklyn Institute, remarks : 

"I would advise our farmers, until something 
better offers, to persevere in the use of charcoal 
and lime, as these are to be obtained in any 
quantity and in most situations at a very trifling 
cost. The lime will supply carbon and oxygen 
to the plants during their growth, and the char- 
coal will take up and supply them with all the 
ammonia necessary to their full development 
without any over-supply. Charcoal will also 
afford to plants sufficient moisture during long 
droughts from its hydratic quality of saturating 
its pores, and from its great retentive power. It 
also lightens the soil, permitting the sun and air 
to penetrate to the roots of the plants, and letting 
all the rain percolate freely through it that is 
not required for its own saturation." 



be an adequate yearly supply for each adult" 
hen, and that by allowing the fowls "an hour's 
run for exercise before retiring for the night, 
high health and productiveness will be secured." 
David dishing keeps 25 hens, and feeds them 
with oats, corn-meal, broom-corn seed, and re- 
fuse meat, and supplied with ashes, pounded 
shells, &c. They were confined to a warm but 
airy room during winter. His account current 
is as follows : 

Poultry Establishment, Dr. 
To investment of stock and fixtures, $50 00 

Interest, 3 50 

Feed, a large estimate, 25 bush, oats, 20 cts. 5 00 
Attendance, 5 00 



Total, 



By 75 doz. eggs, 12 cts. sold early, 
By 200 chickens, 10 cents, 



Leaving a nett balance of $15 88 

On an investment of $60 00, or, an inteiest of 
more than 25 per cent, on the capital employed. 
Mbamj Cultivator. 



Cr. 
$9 38 
20 00 


$13 50 


$29 38 


$29 38 





YOUNG TURKEYS. 

A writer in the Cultivator says young turkeys 
should not be fed for at least twenty-four hours 
after hatching. After the first day, a little curd 
or boiled egg may be scattered upon a board or 
flat stone. If the weather is cold or wet, it is 
well to season their food with pepper. Very 
little, if any,4ndian rneal should be given. If 
used, it should be wet up some hours before be- 
incr fed out. 



PROFITS OF POULTRY. 

From the Report of a Committee on Poultry, 
of the Wayne County (New York) Agricultural 
Society, we gather the following items : 

Charles P. Smith, of Ontario, keeps 120 hens 
and two cocks. Attached to his hen-roost is a 
yard containing one-fourth of an acre, enclosed 
with a picket-fence six feet high. From the 
first of March to the tenth of October, he had 
6,000 eggs, and 115 chickens. 

John J. Thomas, of Macedon, states that care- 
fully conducted experiments have led to the con- 
clusion, that a " bushel and a half of oats will 



CASH SYSTEM. 

" Live and learn." We are not a cash people ; 
that is certain. After having tried the cash and 
credit plans, we abandon the former now and 
forever. We have returned to the old sixty day 
rule, and we mean to adhere to it. Our reasons 
for this, although of a private nature, we choose 
to expose to the public. 

There are a great many persons to whom it 
is not exactly convenient to pay the dollar at 
the moment the opportunity for subscribing of- 
fers ; and our old subscribers, who intend to re- 
new, from habits of procrastination that belong 
to human nature, postpone it until it is too late. 
Moreover, gentlemen, who have been paying us 
in advance for two or three years, think hard of 
it to have their paper stopped because their dol- 
lar is not paid up to the day ; and we must con- 
fess that it appears to be a little too exacting for 
our own notions of liberality. Thus, we lose 
some of our best subscribers, and excite a state 
of feeling that we would not provoke for the 
whole value of the paper. 'Tis true, that the 
credit system carries with it a certain degree of 
loss, as we know by experience, but we are also 
well satisfied that a cash paper cannot live, in 
Virginia at least. We have, therefore, issued a 
new prospectus, (which we will mail to each 
subscriber, with a respectful request that he 
will fill it with names,) in which it will be seen 



168 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



that we return to the old plan of allowing sixty 
days for the payment of the subscription, and 
we shall hereafter continue to send the paper to 
every gentleman who orders it, until he directs 
it to be stopped. 



TOMATOES. 
We have been requested by an old subscriber 
to re-publish the following ; he says he tried the 
recipe to his entire satisfaction last year: 

Patent Office, July 10, 1841. 
Hon. J. S. Skinner: 

Dear Sir, — The medicinal qualities of toma- 
toes have greatly increased their cultivation, and 
every new preparation of the article is deserving 
consideration. A sample of " tomato figs" has 
just been deposited at the Patent Office, of a 
very superior quality. From the taste, I should 
suppose all the good qualities of the fruit are 
retained. In appearance, the drum of tomatoes 
resembles one of figs so nearly that they might 
easily be mistaken for the same. 

The sample is deposited by Mrs. Steiger, of 
this city, and the recipe transmitted with it is 
enclosed for publication. It is deeply to be re- 
gretted that since the periodicals of the day are 
open to communications, that so many valuable 
improvements are lost to the world barely for 
the want of publicity. Others may have dried 
the tomatoes with a recipe, however less suc- 
cessful. 

Very respectfully, 

H. L. Ellsworth. 

Take six pounds of sugar to one peck (or 16 
pounds) of the fruit. Scald and remove the 
skin in the usual way. Cook them over a fire, 
their own juice being sufficient without the ad- 
dition of water, until the sugar penetrates and 
they are clarified. They are then taken out, 
spread on dishes, flattened and dried in the sun. 
A small quantity of the syrup should be occa- 
sionally sprinkled over thern whilst drying; af- 
ter which pack them down in boxes, treating 
each layer with powdered sugar. The syrup 
is afterwards concentrated and bottled for use. 
They keep well from year to year and retain 
surprisingly their flavor, which is nearly that of 
the best quality of fresh figs ! The pear shaped 
or single tomatoes answer the purpose best. — 
Ordinary brown sugar may be used, a large 
portion of which is retained in the syrup. 



thus put up, it cures rapidly in the cock, requires 
less handling afterwards, and loses less in weight, 
than if put up when cold and wet with dew. 

The horse rake has recently been introduced 
among us with good results, enabling one man 
with a horse to do the work of five or six with 
small rakes. We have also a broad hand rake 
for cleaning after cocks and raking after carts, 
with which one man can do as much as two 
with small rakes, and with less fatigue. With 
these and other improvements, hay is now got 
in, well cured, at $ 1 75 to $2 25 per ton. A 
few years ago the cost was estimated at three 
to four dollars per ton. — Albany Cultivator. 



SUFFOCATION. 
A wet silk handkerchief, tied without folding 
over the face, it is said is a complete security 
against suffocation from smoke ; permits free 
breathing, and at the same time excludes the 
smoke from the lungs. It has been effectually 
tried. — Selected. 



CONTENTS OF NO. VII. 



HAY-MAKING. 



The practice of leaving uncured hay until 
near night, before it is cocked, is a bad one. It 
should invariably be put up by four o'clock, at 
which time the dew begins to collect. When 



Patent Office — Report of the Commissioner, p. 145. 
Hogs — The grazing system recommended, p. 147. 
Roots — An essay upon the culture of roots, p. 147. 
Scarlet Fever — A preventive, p. 149. 
Ploughs — A description of Prouty & Mear's improved 

centre draught, p. 149. 
Com — Effect of suckering, p. 150. 
Clover and Grass Seed — How and when they should 

be sown, p. 151. 
Essays— Calls made upon different gentlemen for in- 
formation, p. 152. 
Chickens — To cure the gapes, p. 153. 
Report — Of Dr. Lee, of Buffalo, to the Legislature of 

New York, p. 154. 
Blue Wash for Walls — Recipe for making, p. 156. 
Green Crops — How should they be used as improvers'? 

p. 157. 
Rural Architecture — Plan of an ornamental farm house, 

with a cut, p. 157. 
Carrots— Highly recommended for stock, p. 159. 
Small Farms — Advantages of, p. 159. 
Hog's Hair — Recommended as a manure, p. 159. 
Films on tlie Eye— Remedy for, p. 159. 
Milking — Directions for, p. 160. 
How poor men can make poor land rich, p. 160. 
Farm Horses — Remarks upon, p. 161. 
Barberry Bush — Its effect in producing rust, p. 161. 
A Neip Implement — Described, p. 162. 
Exhibition — Of Henrico Agricultural Society, p. 162. 
Oats — Its effect on colts, p. 163. 
Barn-Yards — Management of, p. 163. 
Poudrette — Northern opinion of, p. 164. 
Fruit Trees— Grafting on the root, p. 164. 
Grass — Proper time for cutting and mode of enring, 

p. 164. 
Ox Break— Described with a cut, p. 165. 
Tobacco — Origin of the term " Cavendish," p. 165. 
Manure — To make artificially, p. 166. 
Lime and Charcoal — Recommended, p. 167. 
Poultry — Profits of, p. 167. 
Cash System — "No go" in Virginia, p. 167. 
Turkeys — Directions for managing young turkeys, p. 

167. 
Tomatoes — To make tomato figs, p. 168. 
Hay-Making— Directions for, p. 168.