THE SOUTHERN PLANTER; 

Seboteti to SlsricuUua, p>ovti£ulturc, anti tlic f^ouseUclti arts. 



Agriculture is the nursing mother of the Arts. 

Xenophon. 



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



C. T. BOTTS, Editor. 



Vol. IV. 



RICHMOND, SEPTEMBER, 1844. 



No. 9. 



For the Southern Planter. 

CORN... 

Mr. Bolts, — I comply this rnorning with your 
request to communicate to you the particulars 
of an experiment which I made in the year 
1842 in cultivating corn in the manner recom- 
mended by the late Judge Buel. The scene 
was an old tobacco lot of five acres of land — 
stiff clay soil — very rich and dry. The land 
was ploughed 'in March, harrowed and planted 
during the first week in April with the Mary- 
land twin or Baden corn. Rows five feet apart, 
arid the hills twenty inches distant from each 
other in the drill. The first dressing was given 
when the corn had put forth the third blade, by 
ploughing and hoeing. This operation was 
performed (as was the subsequent tillage) ivith- 
out pulling earth to the corn, niore than was ne- 
cessary to smooth the surface roiuid the stalk 
and remove what grass and weeds chanced to 
escape the plough. The second operation was 
to plough the whole space between the rows as 
deep as a strong horse could draw a coulter 
through it. This was done in order to deepen 
the tilth, the first ploughing being more superfi- 
cial than I desired. The after Cultivation was 
performed with a harrow and hand-hoe; the 
latter being used only to extirpate such weeds 
and grass as the former could not reach. The 
season was favorable and the growth of the 
corn rapid. About the first of July, when the 
corn was in silk, there came a hasty rain ac- 
companied with wind which laid the corn flat 
on the ground, breaking the roots entirely loose 
fro.Ti the earth on the windward side. The rain 
and wind passed off in a few hours, and I ex- 
pected to see the corn regain its erect position, 
the broken roots strike into the loose earth and 
grow with undiminished vigor; but in this I 
was disappointed. From this time until it was 
gathered it remained nearly as the wind had 
left it, being elevated just enough to keep the 
ears from resting on the ground. The broken 
roots dried and new prop roots put out from the 
under sides of the stalks and dipped into the 
earth, aiding probably the maturing of the grain ; 
but such a disturbance, occurring: at so critical 
a juncture, very obviously injured the health of 
the crop and lessened its final product. The 
yield was a fraction less than fifty bushels per 
acre, and five bushels less than I had raised the 
Vol. IV— 25 



preceding year on inferior land and with seasons 
less propitious. The rain and wind which oc- 
casioned this prostration of the corn were such 
as occur almost every year during the period 
when our corn is silking and tasseling, and not 
greater than I have had within fifteen days past 
without doing similar injury. From these facts 
and observations I infer that the mode of culture 
recommended by Judge Buel, and generally pur- 
sued, I believe, in the Northern Slates, where 
they cultivate dwarf varieties of corn only, is 
unsuitable here. 

Very respectfully. 

Your obedient servant, 

Wm. B. Easlet. 
Bluestone, Mecklenburg, July 12, 1844. 

We have long been of the opinion that the 
level mode of cultivation recommended by that 
excellent farmer. Judge Buel, was applicable 
only to the dwarf variety of corn raised at the 
North ; whilst the authority of his name has 
freqtienily recommended the practice at the 
South. The circumstance mentioned to us by 
Mr. Easley exactly confirmed these views, and 
to save others from the casualty to which he 
was subjected, we asked for the coir.munication 
to the Planter. 



For the Southern Planter. 
TOBACCO. 

Mr. Editor, — I ventured a few words for the 
Planter some lime ago upon curing tobacco; I 
will now give you the result of an experiment 
upon the same subject. 

About two years back, I built a new barn 
twentj' feet square, three firing tiers below the 
joists; I thought 1 would cut two doors opposite 
each other for convenience, which I did ; the 
barn was made very tight otherwise, and I cured 
tobacco in it the same year. By the time the 
next crop came in I found the top of rny barn 
or the roof was resting on a framed shed which 
was attached to one side. To remedy that I 
prized up the body of the barn twelve or eigh- 
teen inches, and placed blocks under each corner, 
which left a space of eighteen inches open at 
bottom. The tobacco began to come to the 
knife so fast that we had to fill the barn before 



194 



TEIE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



it was stopped or closed at boitom, and GOOi- 
menced firing the tobacco, only salting up, or 
rather propping some slab plank around, to pre- 
vent the winds blowing the fire about. A day- 
break fire was kindled under the tobacco, (a 
very large lot,) attended by an experienced hand. 
We had very weak fifes at first, thinking only 
to yellow and bring the tobacco to a proper con- 
dition to cure; but to my asionishment, by twelve 
o'clock that same day, the tobacco was drying 
up faster than I had ever seen before. I'here 
were only three cart loads of seasoneil wood at 
the barn, and by sunset the leaf of the tobacco 
was dry to the top of the barn, and but little 
over half the wood burned. Next morning I 
examined the tobacco and found it dried up, of 
the same color as when fire was put under it ; 
the stems were not dry more than half way. — 
In consequence of its curing up so rapidly, it 
was rather of a greenish color. T removed ihat 
tobacco to anoiher barn, and filled the same 
barn immediaiel}', still leaving the bottom as at 
first, and co.i.menced firing more cauiiouslj' than 
before, but the effect was the same; the tobacco 
dried very rapidly, wiih as little wooij burned. 
I removed that to another barn, and filled the 
same barn ihe third time, and the result was 
the same. Now I began to think of the cause, 
and finally came to the conclusion that it was 
by veniilaiing the barn at botiom and having 
two doors boih kepi open, only when the wind 
required one or ihe oiher lo be closed. I never 
buru green wood under tobacco. There was an 
oM iighi barn, iweniy-four by twenty feet, filled 
vviih lobacco, and it had only one door, and il 
required six loads of wood and two days to cure 
the tobacco in it. I wish oihers lo try the plan 
and see what will be the result I have been 
making tobacco forty years, and have tried many 
ways 10 improve ihe article, and finally conclude 
that the best way to profit by making it, is lo 
make a good article and that only, and from the 
present coiidiiion of our lands ihat can only be 
done by selecting proper soil and making it rich, 
As to the process of curing tobacco, there is no 
rule by whicn the planier is to be governed ; he 
must vary according to circumstances, and ex- 
perience is the best teacher. A great deal de 
pends on weather, the ripening, and ihe kind of 
soil, so that no certain rule can be laid down 
which can be followed; one thing ihough is 
certain; lo make good lobacco, the land must 
be rich anrl free. Sim cured tobacco is highly 
esieenied, but were we all to adopt that plan, 
the supply would be loo great for ihe demand. 
A word more to those who ofien fail in raisinir 
plants. Clean out your hen house once a fort- 
night, save the manure, carefully pick up all 
the hog manure round about iheir beds, &-c. ; 
yo'i will soon sel enough to manure your plant 
beds. Save all your hog hair when you kill 
your pork; beat it fine, and sprinkle it over 



your bed afier sowing, and the fly will rarely 
lonch the plants. Select moisl land for pianis, 
burn early, make rich, and you will haidly ever 
fail. 

N. B. — At least one-ihird of ihe Virginia lo>- 
bacco is cut before it is propeily ripe. If tobac- 
co be really ripe when cut it is easily cured rich, 
and of a good color. I have ofien let my to- 
bacco stand a foruiighi afier my neighbors ad- 
vised it 10 be cut. If lobacco is laige, eight lo 
ten planis is the proper number lo a slick; 
hang the slicks eight or len inches apart while 
curing. Let ihe lobacco yellow well before 
cured, and il will be a good ariicle. 
Your obedient servant, 

Trby Hudson. 

Brydcr^s Store, Va., June 15, 1&44. 



COLMAN'S AGRICULTURAL TOUR. 

Il will be remembered that we noticed about 
a year ago, that the Rev. Henry Colman, of 
Massachusetts, had underiaken the novel desij^n 
of making an agriculiural tour in Europe, in- 
tending 10 publish a journal of his observations, 
for the benefit of the agriculiui'al community 
both here and there. We are indebted to ihe 
kindness of a Norihein friend for a copy of the 
first number of this journal. We find thai the 
whole work will be comprised in ten nuuibers, of 
at least one humh'ed pages each, to be issued suc- 
cessively at intervals of two monihs. Terms. — 
Five dollars — two dollars to be paid on the de- 
livery of the first number — the other three on 
the delivery of the fifth. We shall be very 
happy to lend our assistance lo any of our 
friends who desire to obtain this work, who will 
forward us the required sum for the purpose. — 
The number which we have received is gotten 
up in very beautiful style, ornamented with a 
splendid steel engraving of the "English Cart 
Horse." 

The high expectations which we had formed 
from our own knowledge of Mr. Colman's abi- 
lities, have not been disappointed in this number. 
Being of an introductory character, it is more 
general in its nature, and contains less of the 
details of agriculture than we may hereafter 
expect. But his descriptions of the agriculiural 
community of England are intei'esting and gra- 
phic in the extreme. We think we cleaily per- 
ceive in this work evidences of the high inde- 
pendence and impartial fairness, which have al- 
ways marked the moral character of Mr. Col- 
man. He is not blind to the elegance and re- 
finement of the aristocratic classes, but he is 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



195^ 



feeari s'ricken, as every American citizen, as distances are great, ihey occasionally pass the 
every friend of human nature, shouM be, at the niglH at ttie p ace of work, and thrn lodge in 
degi-aduuon and misery to which her political barns, oranywhere else indiscrin,inaiel,y logeiber. 

. u-.j.u 11, r 10 talk of morals in snch a case is idle. One 

svsiem has subiected the common laborers ot ^ ^ i i . 

■;,,_,; , , . I of the gang-masters, who has been an overseer 

England. To show how much sup Tior is our seventeen years, gives it as his testimony, under 
much abused, and much misunderstood, system ' oath, 'that seventy out of a hundred of the 
of slave-labor, we extract the following account of girls become prostitutes,' and the general account 
the nomiml freemen of this enlightened country: ' given of the operations of the system shows an 

I utter profligacy of mind in their general conver- 

" There are two practices in regard to agri- ' saiion and manners, when morals must follow 

cultural labor, not imiversal, by any means, iDut of course. If ihey go in the morning and stay 

prevailing in some pans of England and Scot-' only a little while, on account of ram, or oiher 

land, which I may noiice. The first is called ! good cause, they are paid nnihing. I'he day 



the ' Gang system.' In some places, owing to 
the size of farms being greatly extended, cot- 
tages being suffered to fall into decay and ruin. 



is divided into quariers, but no fractions of time 
are in any case allowed to them. Then the 
persons employed are required, in many cases. 



laborers have been congregated in villages, where to deal wiih the gang-masier for the supplies 
have prevailed all the evils, physical and moral,' they receive, in payment for their labor. '1 he 
which are naturally to be expected from alresulis of such a system are obvious. The 
crowded population, shoved into small and in- work being taken by the piece, the gang-master 
convenient habiiaiions, and subjected to innu- ' presses them to their utmost suengih. The 
merable privaiions. In this case the farmer fragmenis of days, in which work is done and 
keeps in permanent and steady employment no not paid for to ihe laboiers, are all to the benefit 
more laborers than are absolutely required for of the gang-master, who, in such case, geis a 
the constant and uninierrupied operations of the large amount of work done at no cost. These 
farm: and relies upon the obtaining of a large poor wreiches, being unable to contract for ihem- 
nurnber of hands, or a gang, as ii is termed, I selves, or to get any work but through him, he, 
whenever any great job is to be accompli.-hed, ' of course, detennines the price of ihe labor, and, 
that he may be enabled to effect it ai once and one may be sure, puts it dnwn to ihe lowest 



at the smallest e.xpen.se. Under these circum- 
siances he applies to a gang-master, as he is 



point. But bis advantages do not end here, for 
there is no doubt ihat he greis a high advance 



termed, who contracts for iis execution, and ^ upon ihe goods which he requires them to pur- 
through whom the poor laborers must find em- chase of him, and thus their wages aie reduced 
ployrneni, if ihey find it at all ; and upon whose ! still lower. No just or benevoleni mind, it would 



terii'S they must work or gel no work. 'I lie 
gang-masier has them then completely in his 
power, taking care to provide well for himself in 
his own commissions, which must, of course, be 
deducted fiotn the wages of the laborers, and 
subjecting them, at pleasure, to the most despo- 
tic and severe conditions. It is not optional 



seem, can look upon any such s^-siem in all its 
details, as given in ihe Commissioners' Re) ort, 
but with a profound sense of iis mjusiice, op- 
pression, and immorality. 

"One of the gans-miasters says, 'If they go 
to work two hours and a half, it is a quarier of 
a day. If they go a long walk, seven miles or 



with these poor creatures lo say wheiher so, and it comes on a wet da}', there is the walk 
they will work or not, but vv'heiher they will all for nothing. Children of the ages of four, 
work or die — ihey have no other resource — | five, and six, work in the gangs. 'J'hey earn 9d. 
change their condiiion they cannot — contract I a day, ihe big ones; the small, 4d.; childnnof 
separately for iheir l.ibor they cannot, becaufe' seven years old, 3d. a day.' 'li is ihe ruin of a 
the farmer confines his comracis to the gang- ' girl,' says a parent, oiie of the laborers, 'to be 
master; and we may infer from the Reports of in such a place as that.' 'My children's hands 
the Commissioners, laid before the Government, ' are so blisiered," says anoiher of the parenis, 
that the sysiern is one of oppression, cruelly, j ' pulling turnips, thai I have been obliged to lie 
and plundfr, and in e\'ery respect leading to them up every night this winter. Pulling tur- 
gross immoralities. The distance to which nips blisiers ihe hands very much^ihey are 
th^se laborers go is ofien as much as five or six I obligeii to pull ihem up — ihey must not take 
miles, atid this usually on foot, and to return at ; turnip crones (a sort of furk) for fear of da- 
nisrht. Children and girls are compelled to go' maginsr the turnips.' 

these distances, and consequently rrm.'t rise very j "'The jrangstr.an, or leader,' says another 
early in the morning and reach home at a very witness, 'pays the wages of all employed in 
late hour at niirht. Girls and boys and young the gang, and, of course, makes his profit en- 
men and women work imli.scriininately toireiher lirely from their labor, as the farnicr takes care 
When the di.=<iance lo whieh ihey go fur work that ihe gang sysiem shall not cost him more 
is ten miles, ihey are sent in carts. When the, than the common sysiem of individual laborers. 



T? 



96 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



The leader's profit, as I have heard, is some- 
times 15s. per day. The assembling of twenty- 
five and thirty women and children and lads, 
of all ages and conditions and characters, to- 
gether, has a most fatal effect upon their morals 
and conduct.' Another respectable and reverend 
witness says, ' The gang is superintended by a 
lazy, idle fellow, of profligate manners and a 
dishonest character — such, at all events, are the 
characters of two in my own neighborhood,' " 



TO KILL ALDERS. 

Have a large strong iron hook, made with an 
eye sufficiently large to run through it a strong 
draft chain. Put a yoke of oxen on to the 
chain, and place a hook around the cknnp with 
the point settled into the ground a little under 
the root. Let one person take hold of the tops 
of the bnshes and bend them over the hook, 
while the other starts the oxen, and thus hoitch 
them up by the main strength. In this way 
we once cleared several acres of thick alder 
growth, and they never started again. — Maine 
Farmer. 

Would not this plan be a good one for extir- 
pating SASSAFRAS, as Well as alders? 



skeleton or an entire worm in the second or third 
joint from the head and none in the unaffected 
May wheat. The worm, found generally just 
below the upper joint, in its exhausted state was 
contracted and not larger than a clipped sewing 
thread, about the fifth or sixth of an inch long, 
and made op of rings. The wheat bad been 
cut a month or moie. The position taken in 
the body of the communication is still insisted 
on, viz : summer heat is necessary to give the 
cause of rust its injurious or destructive agency, 
and therefore we may not expect probable suc- 
cess when sowing a wheat which ripens late. 

Graybeard. 
July 9, 1844. 



For the Southern Planter, 

RUST. 

Mr. Editor^ — You received a few days since 
a short communication (over the signature of 
" Graybeard,") on the subject of rust in wheat.* 
If that paper be considered worthy of insertion 
in the Southern Planter let the following suc- 
ceed as a postscript, containing, as many post- 
scripts do, the gist of the communication. 

P. S. — Since writing the above the writer 
called on a neighbor, who is a respectable, sensi- 
ble, steady, observing and prosperous farmer, 
and with whom he does not often meet in con- 
sequence of an intervening river. Conversing 
on various subjects connected with agriculture 
and rust, among others he said he was satisfied 
that a worm, or worms, was the cause of rust, 
and slated tint another farmer adjoining was of 
the same opinion. He stated that in ever}' stalk 
affected by rust he found a worm, and in bright 
stalks he found none. The writer considered 
the observation unsatisfactory and the conversa- 
tion passed on to the quality of the red May 
wheal, when a sheaf of it was sent for, to ex- 
amine. In this sheaf were accidental!}' several 
stalks of late wheat, nisicd, their color bearing 
evidence of premature cutting. He drew these 
out and each of us began the search for worms 
by splitting them down with our knives, when, 
to a perfect conclusion, we invariably found a 

♦ See page 180. 



GUANO, OR HUANO. 

The following facts relative to the singular 
properties of this manure, are extracted from a 
letter recent!}' received Ijy the Editor of the 
Southern Agriculturist, from his friei^d in Val- 
paraiso : 

" In your last you reminded me of nny pro- 
mise of sending you a small bag of ' Huano,' 
from Peru. I will now state the reason why I 
did not fulfil it. About the lime I received your 
letter, I had been applying the ' Huano' to my 
garden, which ended in the destruction of it, 
and so disgusted me, that I did not comply, and 
threw away what I had ; this is now three 
years; since which I have discovered the cause 
of its bad effects, which was partly owing to 
my ignorance in using it. I put a double hand- 
ful in about a quart of water, and found a por- 
tion of it dissolved and of the color of strong- 
coffee. I poured the liquor on a piece of ground, 
about eight feet by four feet square, in the back 
part of nriy lot, in which were planted a grape- 
vine, a peach and orange tree, with a few bulbs 
and flowers ; soon after, all my bulbs and flowers 
and even the weeds disappeared ; and now no- 
thing will grow on the spot ; where the Huano 
was put, the grape-vine has not flourished since, 
and the other trees are stunted. 

"1 now understand they use it in Peru, vary- 
sparingly, and that only on ground where irri- 
gation is required ; and not in countries where 
they have rain. It is said that after using it, 
the practice must be kept up, as the ground will 
produce nothing without, for it acts like opium 
on the human system, that is to say, after once 
using it, the stimulant is constantly required. I 
would advise my friends to be cautious how 
they apply it to any valuable land ; and very 
sparingly if at all. The Peruvians use it on 
corn land; at the time of planting, they have 
the corn in a bag tied round their waist, and the 
Huar:o in another; and with the thumb and 
forefinger, they take out a pinch and plant it a 
few inches from the corn, then cover the whole 
and irrigate the land. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



197 



"I have seen Huano retailed by the peck and [shipped by a company to the United States; it 
half peck at Callao, but never saw the mode of 1 is belter than ihe Chilian Huano ; this will give 
planting, only heard it described, and you ob- j^ou an opportunilj' to try its effects ; for you 
serve how liitle they apply to the ground. The can easily procure it by vessels coming to 
ship Orpheus, Captain Hill, is to load with four | Charleston, 
hundred tons of Peruvian Huano, which is \ Yours, &c. E. L. S." 



THE PATENT SAFETY REIN. 




We alluded in a former number to Miller's 
Safety Rein, of which we expressed a high opi- 
nion merely from the description given of it. — 
Since that time, we have procured one of them, 
probably the only one in America, and a trial of 
its pioperties has served to confirm the opinion 
formerly expressed that it is calculated to super- 
sede all other contrivances for governing an un- 
ruly horse. 

The cut, which is taken from the " Spirit of 
the Times," is an exact delineation of the fix- 
ture, and hardly needs description. The rein is 
attached to the headstall, between the ears. Em- 
bracing the neck is a strong cord, C, terminat- 
ing in two loops, or swivels, through which the 
reins are passed. When the rein is tightened, 
lhi.g cord moving freely upon it, settles upon the 
projecting part of the windpipe, where its pres- 
sure exerci.ses a very salutary and controlling 
influence over the operations of the horse. We 
shall be happy to lend our rein, as a model, to 
any gentleman who maj' desire it, and we can 
recommend to him a saddler in this city, who 
can get up the apparatus as well and as cheaply 



as any man in America. The following com- 
munication accompanies the cut in the " Spirit 
of the Times." 

Dear P. — You will, perhaps, deem worthy 
of a place in the "Spirit of the Times" the ac- 
companying diagram of the "safety rein" bridle^ 
and direction for its application to runaway and 
restive horses. For my own part I have bought, 
hired, borrowed and ridden horses under a cau- 
tion to " mind, he's a devil of a runaway !" but 
have rarely found one that could run fast enough 
and long enough. J. S. S. 

Washington, July 3, 1844. 

J. S. Skinner, Esa. 

Dear Sir, — According to your desire I send 
enclosed the drawing and paper description of 
the Scotch Safety Rein, "for the control of horses, 
under all circumstances^' which I received from 
Edinburgh a few weeks since. I hope yon will, 
as you intimated tome your wish, communicate 
the knowledge of this simple, b\it, in my esti- 
mation, most valuable invention, to the Editor 
of the " Spirit of the Times," in order that it 
may be at once known to those who will duly 
appreciate its value ; but a man must have been 



198 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



run away wiih and have a narrow escape with 
his life, as was my experience not very long 
ago, in order fullij to esiimate this invention. 

It is patenied, as you will noiice, for Scoiland, 
England and Ireland, and I iniended to have 
had it patented in this country, for ihe benefit of 
the inventor, but abandoned tjje idea on learning 
that the cost of doing so to a. foreigner or his 
assignee would be as high as five hundred 
dollars. 

I have had the rein made at Polkenhorn & 
Campbell's, on Pennsylvania Avenue, and use 
it constantly both with single and double har- 
ness. I have not tested its power on a horse 
running off, but from my experiments in " hold- 
ing up" a hard-mouthed, hard-pulling, high- 
spirited Northern horse, when excited and trot- 
ting at a speed of a mile in about three and a 
half minutes, I feel satisfied that all said of the 
Safety Rein by the inventor is true, and I am 
moreover assured of it from what I have been 
told b}' a Scottish clergyman who lately passed 
a few days at my house, who says that "Mil- 
ler's Safety Rem" is celebrated in Scotland, 
and that he has seen accounts in the newspapers 
of that countr}' of cases where its use has been, 
m all probability, instrumental in saving human 
life. 

I have found it much more convenient to have 
the rein attached to the driving reins instead of 
the splash board, by passing it loosely through 
two loops stitched to the driving reins about a 
foot forward of that part of the latter usually j 
held in the hand when driving; arranged in this 
way, I find it not at all inconvenient to carry 
the safety' rein, and not one person in ten of 
casual observers would noiice its presence. 
Very respectfully. 

Your obedient servant, 

Thomas Blagden. 



DIRECTIONS FOR USE OF SAFETY REIN. 

In putting on the rein for a gig, keep the 
buckle to the left hand, or near side; that will 
place the loop, which is on the middle of the 
rein, below the hook or head of the bridle, which 
prevents it from being thrown out by the mo'icn 
of the horse's head. For a pair of horses, keep 
the two short chapes outmost, and the loops on 
the middle downwards. For saddle, keep the 
buckle 10 the left hand. 

When the rein is used either for running, 
rearing, kicking or going backwards, it should 
be applied suddenly with a strong arm, keeping 
up the pressure until the horse is still ; it should 
then be relieved sudrienly, at the same lime mo- 
tioning the horse lo go on. If he is only a run- 
away he will obey it at once, such horses being 
generally of a willing good temper. But should 
he posse.=s the other vices, or any of them, it 
frequently proceeds from a stubborn, sulky tem- 



perament; with such horses the above proccsz 
may require to be repeated, until he is subdued, 
and obey the moiion, which will be effected, 
even in the worse cases, afier a few times. 

To derive the full benefit of this rem, it is re- 
commended after the hoise has been a few times 
firmly gripped with it, to use it occasionally, and 
it should frequently be used instead of ihe bit- 
rein to stop him on ordinary occasion ; this will 
remind the horse of his subjection, and will ac- 
custom the rider or driver lo the read}' and ac- 
curate use of it in case of an emergency. 

By attending to the foregoing directions, the 
most troublesome horse will, to a certainty, be- 
come quiet and manageable. 



POUDRETTE- 



-ITS EFFECT UPON TOBAC- 
CO PLANTS. 



We are much obliged lo Mr. Ruflin for the 
following communication. There is no one thing 
that oftener shortens the tobacco crop than the 
failure to obtain a good st'and of plants. It will 
be recollected that a similar statement of the 
effect of poudrette on the plant bed was obtained 
from Dr. M'Caw, of Powhatan, and published 
in the Planter, last year. The manufactured 
article undoubtedly costs too much for cotnmon 
purposes, but it is almost impossible to say how 
much the Planter could afford to give for the 
small quantity that would be required for his 
plant bed, if indeed it secures him a supply of 
vigorous and healthy plants. At any rate, a 
proper appreciation of its value will lead him to 
the scrupulous saving of the home production. 

Mr, Editor, — Last spring, you requested all 
who had tried, or were then trying, the virtues 
of [loudrette, of the manufacture of D. K. Mi- 
nor, of New York, to give you the results of 
their respective experiments. Mine was upon 
a limited scale, but I give you its result, as it 
may tend to exonerate Mr, Minor from the cen- 
sure which has been visited on him, and may 
promote more extended and beneficial irials As 
you ask testimony, it is proper that I subscribe 
my name. 

Last fall, I ordered, and received from New 
York seven barrels of Minor's pouilreite, which 
I meant to use upon my plant beds. In all the 
month of January, I burned sixteen hundred 
yards of plant land, of the quality usually found 
in the forest of the souihwest mountiains — gra- 
velly, dark, abounding in virgin mould, free from 
clay, and tolerably moist. It was burned too 
hai-d, and rather late. The weather was dry at 
the lime of sowing the seed, and ihey were not 
well got in, in consequence. Immediately upon 
sowing, I divided each bed as equally as 1 could. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



199 



and on one half of each I sowed poudreiie, at 
the raie of half a bushel to ihe hundred yards ; 
leaving the balance for stable manure, which 
was afterwards applied. The whole was co- 
vered with brush, but so thinly put on, that the 
seed which came up first, all perished, and 1 
"feared I should have no plants. The beds 
around me were quite forward and flourishing, 
■when mine were bare. At last ihey came up 
again, but as fast as they showed themselves, 
they were eaten down by the fly. At this 
stage, about the first of May, I again applied 
the poudreite to the whole in the same propor- 
tion as before. A shower shortly followed, and 
I cannot conceive a more rapid and healthy 
growth than my plants instantly took. They- 
come on in full tiime for planting my whole crop 
of eighty thousand hills, and were by far the 
best plants I ever saw. Something is no doubt 
attributable to the thinness of the beds, but much 
more, I am persuaded, is due to the poudrette. 
I did not wait for these plants, but planted about 
half my crop of small, but early plants, from 
the luxuriant beds of a friend. The balance 
and the replanting rny own supplied; and I 
v/ouid have found my advantage in waiting a 
week longer to plant the whole from thein. 

A barrel of poudrette, equal in size to a com- 
mon flour barrel, v.'eighs about as much as dirt. 
My supply, delivered at my landing on the Ri- 
vanna, cost about two dollars a barrel. This is 
evidently too cosily to justify its application to 
common purposes. But my experience of its 
benefits on tobacco plants, of the economy in 
hauling it to a distance, and the still greater 
economy in weeding plants, manured with an 
article which does not contain the seeds of a 
single weed, induces me to think it cheap for 
this particular purpose at the price I gave. 

CURING HAY. 

Whilst the pen is in my hand, I will give 
you the result of an experiment in hay making, 
suggested to my mind by a communication m 
the first volume of Buel's Cultivator. 

In cutting my late crop of clover hay, I put 
up a part of it in cocks as soon it was cut. It 
had not fallen, nor become crisp from the action 
of the sun. The rest was treated in the usual 
way. The interval between cutting and stack- 
ing was showery, and some of rny hay was in- 
jured. 'I'he part which was cut and cocked up 
green stood the rain well, and was fine hay. It 
had cured in the cock. I was so well satisfied 
with this, that in cutting my timothy hay 1 pur- 
sued that plan throughout. I did not permit it 
to lie in swaths for a longer time than was ne- 
cessary to allow a horse- rake to get room to 
work. As soon as that could go, it collected 
the hay, which was put into cocks by hands 
that followed, and was thus left to cure. In 
that way with eleven ordinary hands I cut and 



got up in one day five or six acres of heavy 
timolhy meadow. On ricking it, it proved to 
be as fine hay as I ever saw made in any other 
way; and my overseer, whose judgment about 
it is better than my own, thought it the finest he 
had ever seen, though he was at first very much 
opposed to the plan. It sttiod two showers. 

This aniong other things may account for the 
advantages of the plan : the leaf is not parched 
as when exposed to the sun, but becomes wilted 
and lies flat over the clover or other hay, thus 
aifording a sort of cover from sun and rain. 
Respectfully, your obedient servant, 

Fkanic G. Ruffin. 

Shadwell, Jllabemarle, July 6, 1844. 



For the Southern Planter. 

EMIGRATION. 

JVfr. Editor, — With the re-establishment of 
the monetary affairs of the country and the con- 
sequent ability to make sales of their property', 
the desire to emigrate to the West begins to 
manifest itself again amongst our people. Not- 
withstanding the repealed warnings and the re- 
peated disappointments they have encountered, 
the demon of restlessness and the love of change 
urge men to exchange property here, which 
only needs the application of an improved hus- 
bandry to render them prosperous and indepen- 
dent, for all the hazard and all the privation 
that are attendant upon the life of an emigrant. 
If this infatuation injured only the subjects of 
it, it would not be so had, but by every removal 
those that remain are deeply afi'ecied. We lose 
the sociel}' of good neighbors, of kindly friends, 
and in short, all the^ advantages and all the 
blessings of a dense population. I think some- 
thing may be done to stay this tide of emigra- 
tion by those who are determined to abide by 
" Old Virginia," and who believe that more can 
be nnade by improving an exhausted acre than 
by clearing and reclaiming a new one. The in- 
tended emigrant must sell before he can start, 
and nine limes oat of ten he finds a purchaser 
in one of his neighbors. Would it not be well 
for our farmers to agree amongst themselves to 
buy no more land, and thus bind these runaways 
to their homes. It has beconie the fashion of 
the day to subdue a prevailing evil by means of 
the powerful effect of association, and I propose 
to counteract this besetting and destructive love 
of extended domain, by the formation of an anti- 
land-acqtjiring society. But in sober truth, I 
was more than ever struck with the double im- 
policy of extending our farms by the expulsion 
of our neighbors, from a conversation that passed 
in my presence between two of my friends. Mr. 
L. and Mr. E, live upon adjoining estates, and 
started in the world under very similar circum- 
stances. By a system of management, economy 



200 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



and industry, Mr. L. has brought his farm to a 
high state of improvement, and has accumulated 
a money capital of three or four thousand dol- 
lars. Mr. E., on the contrary, by an entirely 
opposite course of conduct, has exhausted bis 
land, and involved himself in debt. He is very 
desirous of selling cftid thinks he can do much 
better in the West. He offered his land to Mr. 
L. at a very low rate, and urged upon him the 
propriety of making this investment of his capi- 
tal. It was the good sense of his reply with 
which 1 was struck. " It is," said he, " by great 
econom}' and by bestowing all the means 1 could 
save upon the improvement of my farm, that I 
have been enabled to accumulate a little sum of 
money. This sum is devoted to the further im- 
provement of the land I already possess, and 
experience has thoroughly satisfied me that it 
is by far the best investment I can make of it. 
But suppose, instead of this, I devote it, as you 
would have me, to the purchase of your land ; 
What is the consequence ? I shall only be 
lending my assistance to deprive mj'self of a 
kind and useful neighbor, whilst I encumber 
myself with an extensive landed property, a 
considerable debt, and am totally without the 
means of improvement. No, Mr. E., take my 
advice ; let your wife and children stay amongst 
those who love and honor them. Turn your 
attention to a- more judicious system of hus- 
bandry — seek, in agricultural works and in agri- 
cultural newspapers, the most improved modes 
of cultivating the earth ; use one half of the 
economy, and suffer one half of the privations 
to which you will be subjected in the West, and 
you will soon be, not only out of debt, but as I 
am now, with every thing smiling, happy and 
cotnfortable around you.". 

It is not only the advice but the example of 
Mr. L. that I commend to your readers. 

Your obedient servant, S. H. 

Louisa, July 10, 1844. 



From the Boston Cultivator. 
DESTROYING LICE ON CATTLE. 

Messrs. Editors, — About a year ago, if I 
rightly remember, I read in your paper an article 
on the means of destroying these troublesome 
insects, by applying a mixture of lime and ashes 
to the floor on which the cattle stand and rest. 
My cattle doubtless like all others, have ever 
been more or less infested with this hateful spe- 
cies of vermin. I have tried various expedients 
for their extermination, such as Scotch, or yellow 
snuff, lard, decoction of tobacco, &c., none of 
which have ever proved sufficiently adequate to 
effect the object intended. 

Last fall when my cattle came to the barn, I 
resolved upon trying lime and ashes, as a pre- 
ventive of lice amongst thera. Accordingly I 



mixed them in about equal quantities, and spread 
them upon my stable floors, directly under my 
cattle's forefeet. When what I had applied at 
first was exhausted, I then made another appli- 
cation of the same mixture and so continued to 
do during the winter. 

As to the effect this practice has had in pre- 
venting lice amongst my cattle, I can candidly 
stale that they were never more free from thera, 
than they are this spring. 

1 will mention one fact in confirmation of the 
utilily of this application for destroying lice. 

In February last I purchased a pair of four 
year old cattle that were exceedingly lousy. I 
was particular to keep the floor upon which they 
stood well strown with these ingredients, and 
upon examining them several weeks after, I 
could not discover a solitary individual of the 
numerous host remaining. 

The lime of which I made use, had lain open 
to the action of the atmosphere until it was re- 
duced to a powder, or nearly so before usinar. 

M. 

Editorial Remark. — The above seems to 
be a veiy simple and effectual remedy, and it 
may be practi.sed without the least injury to the 
cattle, which is not the case with some remedies 
used, such as mercurial ointments, a decoction 
of tobacco, oil, &c. In cold weather oil has a 
bad effect, as it keeps the hide moist for a long 
time, readil}' conducting off the animal heat and 
producing a chill. As vermin are so destructive 
to the peace, comfort and thrift of cattle, no 
pains should be spared in guarding against them 
and applying a remedy wherever they make 
their appearance. 



ANIMAL IMPROVEMENT. 

We listened to some very interesting remarks 
from Dr. Lee on this subject at an agricultural 
meeting in Albany, last spring, and made some 
notes of them which we intended for publica- 
tion. If we understood the Doctor correctly, 
his idea was this: That the domestic animals 
were valued for certain functional properties that 
they possessed, as the cow for her property of 
secreting milk, the sheep for his wool producing 
ability, &c. These products are elaborated from 
the food consumed, and their elements should be 
sought in the food with which the animal is fed. 
The ox cannot elaborate muscle and fat from 
the same constituents which afford wool to the 
sheep. By a proper selection of food not only 
is a greater quantity of the constituents for the 
required product afforded, but an additional sti- 
mulus is constantly given to the particular or- 
gan, whereby its action is greatly improved and 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



201 



developed: and ihis with judicious crossing ihe 
Doctor thinks must constitute the basis of ani- 
mal improvement. But, here he is in the co- 
lumns of the American Agricuhurist ; let him 
speak for himself: 

ORGANIC IMPROVEMENT OF DOMESTIC 
ANIMALS. 

Sheep and other animals were subdued and 
domesticated long before their biped captors and 
masters were able to keep a record of their do- 
ings- for the benefit of their posteritj^. Hence 
we know little of the original stock from which 
our domestic animals have descended, and less 
of the early treatment they received at ihe hands 
of our own progenitors. Nor is this information 
important. It concerns us mainly to understand 
how a change of food, temperature, and of all 
surrounding circumstances, will either improve 
or deteriorate the organic structure and natural 
functions, which transform for the practical far- 
mer his cultivated plants, their seeds and roots, 
into wool, beef, pork, milk, lard, butler, and 
cheese. That there is a wide difference in the 
results obtained, by the operation of this living 
machinery in different animals, no observing 
man can doubt. Of two cows of equal weight, 
and consuming equal quantities of food precisely 
ahke, one will elaborate for its owner eighteen 
quarts of milk in twenty-four hours, while the 
other can form but nine quarts in the same length 
of time. A pig, whose organization is appa- 
rently nearly perfect, will elaborate from a given 
amount of raw material, twice as much flesh 
and fat, as another whose respiratory and assi- 
milating machinery are very defective. Expe- 
rience and science alike demonstrate the truth 
of the remark that it takes fifiy per cent, more 
food to produce a given amount of ixiuscular 
strength and power of locomotion in one horse 
or ox, than is required in another. Animals 
that had a common parentage ten general ions 
back, now posse.3s not only widely different 
forms, but organic and constitutional peculiari- 
ties, of great importance to those that rnay be- 
come rich or poor, according to the well or ill 
management of iheir herds and flocks. Emi- 
nent success alone attends skill in ihe breeding 
and keeping of domestic animals. This valua- 
ble skill is acquired by close observation, and 
studying the uniform laws of nature that govern 
the grov.'th, rrraturity, and decay of organic be- 
ings. The most important and material changes 
in the development of the organs of animals, 
and in the function of each organ, are made 
during the period that elapses from the first for- 
mation of the embryo, to the maturity of each 
living complex structure. 

"As the twig is bent the tree 's inclined." 

The plasticity of young animals and plants, 
Vol,. IV.— 20 



and the extreme changes that may be wrought 
in their forms and habits are truly wonderful— 
The human brain itself can be moulded in in- 
fancy into any shape to suit the whim or taste 
of a " Flat-Flead" or a "Round-Head" Indian. 
Nor is there a single mental or physical function 
in the human system, that may not be either 
improved or impaired by the good or bad influ- 
ences which may be brought to bear upon it.— 
The science of physiology is a noble science. 
It enables cultivated reason to trace results — the 
products of animal life, such as flesh, fat, milk, 
and wool— back to their known causes and 
elements. 

I can hardly expect to give you even an out- 
line of the organization and workings of this 
complex vital machinery. There are, however, 
a few cardinal points in this matter, which I 
will endeavor to make clear and intelligible. — 
One is, that no aniinal or plant can possibly 
transmute one simple elementary substance into 
another. If a hen be fed on food that is quite 
destitute of lime, the organs of her sj'slem can 
not form an eggshell, so if a child, calf, or colt, 
be kept on food that lacks phosphate of lime, its 
bones will be soft and cartilaginous. No other 
minerals can be changed into lime or phosphorus. 

Animp,l fat is a compound made up of carbon, 
hydrogen, and oxygen ; and no other simple ele- 
ments can possibly make it. Lean meat and 
wool contain the same elements, with the addi- 
tion of nitrogen, stdphur, and several other earthy 
ingredients in minute quantities. 

Knowing that no animal can create anew 
one particle of matter, and that each compound 
product has its peculiar constituent elements ; 
knowing also how much of those elements is 
contained in any article of food, we can judge 
of its fitness or unfitness lo produce either bone, 
muscle, fat, milk, wool, or any other animal pro- 
duct. In other words, we can wisely adapt our 
means to the ends we have in view. 

Suppose a farmer had one hundred hens in his 
poultry-yard, and he desired them to lay as many 
and perfect eggs as possible. Would it be an 
unreasonable prescription ' to say to him that 
"3'ou must feed them liberally on food which 
contains not only lime, but all the elements of 
the contents of an eggshell in a concentrated 
form? Deny not the raw material, if you ex- 
pect ihe bird to elaborate for your table, or for 
market, a large product of this article of human 
food." 

Is it anything extraordinary that a race of 
cows, whose mothers for many generations have 
had their milk-forming orirans largely developed 
by being fed on food well adapted to that end, 
should secrete far more milk from a given amount 
of raw material, than a race of wild cows, whose 
lacteal glands had been denied all the advan- 
tages that result from quietude, rich pasture, and 
regular dry milking? 



202 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



A sheep consumes several pounds of food 
daily.- Of this, at least eig-ht ounces are com- 
posed of the constituents of wool. Now if the 
capillary organs of this animal transform only 
two per cent, of these elements into wool in 
twenty four hours, then in one hundred days the 
sheep will grow one pound of this valuable pro- 
duct. This will give a fleece which will weigh 
SyYir lbs. in 365 days. Is it not practicable so 
to improve the vital action of the wool-forming 
machinery of our twenty millions of sheep in 
this country, that this machinery shall transform 
four instead of two per cent, of the raw rriaterial 
of wool into that substance'? That this organic 
machinery is perfect no one pretends; or that it 
has already been greatly improved, is not denied. 
The manufitcture of wool out of its constituent 
elements, is a branch of science of great impor- 
tance to the fanners of the United States. They 
possess an inexhiiusiible quantity of the raw ma- 
terial of wool, and enjoy every advantage for its 
profitable production. To develop the capdlary 
organs of the sheep, the animal should have a 
warm, or rather a comfortable, well ventilated 
apartment in winter — should be kept quiet 
throughout the year; that is, it should not be 
compelled to travel too much to find its food. It 
should have the organs that form this animal 
product at all times stimulated to a preternatural 
action, by having the arteries that convey nour- 
ishment to these organs, preternaturally loaded 
with the elements of wool. A plant grows best 
in a soil rich in the elements of such plant. So 
too an animal, and especially a young animal, 
elaborates the most flesh and fat when its blood- 
vessels are best supplied with the elements of 
those products. 

Clover, oats, turnips, beans, peas, and other 
leguminous plants, contain njore of the consti- 
tuents of wool than timothy, herdsgrass, potatoes, 
and corn. All aniinals should be fed regularly, 
and particular attention should be paid to their 
he^ilih and comfort. It is, perhaps, needless 1o 
say, that every improvement in the practical 
workings of ail this living machinery can be 
transferred from parent to offspring by judicious 
breeding. 

The action of the respiratory organs in all 
domestic animals has a material influence upon 
the formation of fat, muscle, milk, and wool. — 
The lungs never cease night nor day lo expel 
more or less of the elements of animal food 
through the winrlpipe into the air, in the form of 
carbonic acid and vapor. The organization of 
some animals is so defective that they consume 
in this way a much larger quantitj' of the con- 
stituents of flesh, fat, milk, and wool, than is 
necessary or profitable. The more an animal 
exercises, the faster he breathes, and other things 
being equal, the poorer he becomes; because, 
instead of nourishing and supplying the waste 
in the system, the elements of the food escape 



in a larger ratio fromi the assimilating organs. 
The food of animals consists essentially of car- 
bon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. The first 
escapes through the lungs, the second and third 
escape in vapor, perspiration and urine, and the 
last (nitrogen) also escapes by the kidneys. — 
Hence, a cow when driven twelve miles a day, 
never gives as much niilk as she does when 
consuming the same amount of food and re- 
maining quiet in a pasture or stall. It is an 
easy matter to enlarge or diminish the size of 
the blood-vessels that convey the elements of 
milk to the lacteal gland of the cow, or the ves- 
sels that convey the elements of wool to the 
capillary organs of the sheep. It is not difficult 
to increase both the size and strength of the 
muscles of a colt, or of a young bullock. Like 
the enlargement of the muscles in the arm of a 
blacksmith, judicious exercise must come to the 
aid of judicious keep. 

D. Lee. 
Albany, April 30, 1844. 



From the Albr.ny Cnllivaior. 

CHARCOAL FOR PEACH TREES. 

Messrs. Editors, — A friend of mine has just 
; informed me of the success he has met with, by 
I the application of charcoal to his peach trees; a 
few years ago he had some fine trees in his gar- 
den which invariably had wormy fruit ; and the 
trees full of gum ; when the fruit was about the 
size of marbles, he had the earth removed from 
each tree about two feet around and three inches 
deep, and filled up with charchoal ; the result 
was that the fruit grew to a fine size free from 
worms ; and every 3'ear since, the fruit has been 
good, and the trees became healthy and free 
from gum; while two trees left without the 
charcoal, continue to bear wormy fruit, and the 
trees unhealihy. As this will be in titne for the 
readers of the Cultivator lo make a trial this 
year, and should it prove as good with oihersas 
in this case, it will certainly be of great benefit 
to the fruit grower. 

If farmers will plant their pumpkins, melons 
and other vines on land that brought corn the 
past year, (hey will never be troubled with the 
striped bug. This course has been practised 
here for many years, and has always proved suc- 
cessful, when vines planted on land that had 
any other crop, even vines the year previous, 
are destroyed by the bug. 

H. R. ROBEY. 

Hopewell, Va., May ] 0, 1844. 



HINT TO CORN PLANTERS. 

The advantages of deep ploughing in planting 
Indian corn, is well exhibited in the following 
article, first published more than twenty years 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



203 



ago, and which can now be read whh benefit 
by many. — JSIer. Journal. 

" Dr. Moore, of Mar3-l.ind, who has written a 
treatise on agriculture, asserts, that agriculture 
is- more followed and less understood, ihan any 
other mechanical branch in the United States. 
He says, if ground is cultivated in a proper 
manner, every person may plant two hills of 
corn for one he does now, on the same ground — 
and the corn will be equally as good, which is 
a double crop. He further sajs the general 
average depth of corn ground as broken up and 
planted is about three and a half or four inches, 
and that one week's hot sun after the ground 
becomes droughty, will dry the ground and 
scorch the corn so as lo stop its growth. But 
to plough up jour ground eight inches deep, 
your corn will stand growing a three weeks 
drought, and if jou plough twelve or fourteen 
inches deep, it will grow every day during a 
six or seven weeks drought. 

"I have made an experiment, and I think with 
success, and have saved a large portion of the 
labor of deep ploughing, and gained some of its 
advantages. I break up and strike out my corn 
ground in the old usual way — the furrow I plant 
in, I run a single coulier ten or twelve inches 
deep in the centre of the furrow, and plant on 
that mark. When my corn is up, I run a bar- 
shear once round in each corn row, and make 
my coulter-plough follow in the same furrow as 
deep as formerly. Thus every corn row has 
three coulter furrows, fourteen or fifteen inches 
deep around the whole. 

" The Doctor asserts, that corn roots run no 
deeper than you break and cultivate the srround 
and th's gives pasture for the roots. With this 
small addition of labor in a corn crop, such a 
dry summer as last was, this plant will give a 
third, fourth or fifth more corn. .Mtention al- 
ways ought lo be paid in laying by corn the 
last ploughing, never to plough every row, but 
every other one, throughout the field in dry wea- 
ther, then turn and plough up those left. But 
do not act the fool, and cut all the roots the 
same day, and stop the growth of your corn, 
as there is no doubt but one hundred thousand 
barrels of corn are destroyed every season by 
ploughing every row." 



SMUT. 



It is astonishing how slowly the most valua- 
ble discoveries in agriculture make their way 
amongst the great mass of the farming commu- 
nity. We have heard great complaints this 
year of smutty wheat. W^hy should the farmer 
permit his hopes as well as his grain to be 
blighted by this pestilential fungu.=, when there 
13 a preventive so sure and so well established 



as the use of brine and lime? For the twen- 
tieth time we repeat, that numberless experi- 
ments, reported upon the most unquestionable 
authority, establish the fact, that if you will 
soak 3'our seed wheat in a strong brine, and 
then, havmg spread it upon your bam floor, sift 
over it about one-twelfth of its btjlk of freshly 
slacked lime, raking it in well, your crop will 
be freed from even the semblance of smut. 



RECIPES. 

A lady whose culinary abilities are well known 
to all hei friends, has sent us the following 
recipes : 

TURTLE SOUP AND CALF HEAD SOUP. 

Your turtle must be cleaned and prepared for 
the soup the day before you make it. Let the 
meat lie in weak salt water all night ; early in 
the morning put in on the fire, about two gallons 
of water to a moderate sized turtle. Let it boil 
steadily but very slowlj' about four hours. Then 
put two potatoes, two sinall onions, one turnip 
and one carrot, all cut up very small, (these 
should be put in a cloth,) and let them boil until 
you put in the thickening. A tea-spoonful of 
cloves and as much ground black pepper, if not 
strong, a small table-spoonful. A tea-spoonful 
cayenne pepper, a lable-spoonful of salt and the 
same of sweet marjoram, summer savory and 
thyme. If this is not enough to your taste, add 
more, two middle sized nutmegs. Boil all 
these until the soup is reduced one-half; then 
take out the cloth of vegetables and the turtle, 
and pick the latter clean, cut it into pieces large 
enough to eat with 3'our soup, and return it to 
the pot, and afterwards mix three or four table- 
spoonfuls of browned flour, \vith half a pound of 
butter; add this to the soup — let this be very 
smooth, or your soup will be covered with small 
black floating p;iriicles. Put two table-spoon- 
fuls of catsup and one-half a pint of while wine. 
I'hese last must be to your taste. 

Make calf head soup exactly in the same 
way; this quantity of seasoning will serve for 
a large calf's head: the brains must be tied up 
in a cloth and boiled in the soup, but not added 
until just before the last boil, before seasoning. 

In making ttirile soup the lower shell should 
be boiled with the soup. For calf head or tur- 
tle soup either, if the latter has no eggs, boil 
the yolks of two hen's eggs very hard, mash 
them with a silver spoon in a little water, add 
flour sufficient to form a stiff paste; roll it the 
size of marbles, add them before the last boil; 
do not allow them to be in more than five mi- 
nutes before going to the tahle. 

With either soup have always forcemeat 
balls ; to make which take a pound and a half 



204 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



of veal not cooked, chop it fine, put a small 
quantity of beef, salt, some crumbs of bread, say 
half as much as meat — season the mixture 
highly with sage, sweet herbs and pepper, nut- 
meg and salt, roll the balls round and then flatten 
them and fry them in butter a light brown, and 
when the soup is ready to be served drop them 
in : either celerj^ tops or parsley in small quantity 
is an improvement to the soup ; they must be 
cut very small. 

RKCIPE FOR TOMATO CATSUP. 

Put ripe tomatoes in a pot with only enough 
water to keep them from sticking to the bottoin 
of the pot. When they have boiled sufficiently 
to split the skins and make their juice, strain 
through a sifter. 

To one gallon of juice put two pounds of 
brown sugar, two table-spoonfuls of flour of mus- 
tard, a good handful of black pepper, (allspice 
and mace, if you v/ish, may be added in small 
quantities,) let it boil until it thickens. Just be- 
fore you take it off pour in a quart of sharp 
vinegar and salt, to your taste. 

GINGER BEER. 

Lump sugar 4 a pound. 
Cream of tartar ^ an ounce. 
Bruised ginger 1 ounce. 
Boihng water 1 gallon. 
Ferment 24 hours with yeast. 



MANURE, 

It is well known that in a close stable, where 
there are a good many horses, there is a very 
pungent smell affecting the eyes and nose, more 
particularly when the stable is being cleaned 
out. This smell is occasioned by the flying off 
of ammonia, which is the essence and value of 
manure and which volatilizes or flies off at a 
very low temperature: even the warmth of the 
manure in a stable will send it off, and it goes 
off in great quantities by the coiumon heat of 
the manure in a farm-yard whether thrown up 
in heaps or not. There is, however, a very 
cheap and simple remedy for this. Before you 
begin to clear out your stable, dissolve some 
common salt in water; if a four horse stable 
say four potmds of salt, disso:ved in two buckets 
of water and poured through the nose of a wa- 
tering pan over the stable floor an hour or so 
before you begin to move the manure, and the 
volatile salts of ammonia will become fixed salts 
from their having united with the muriatic acid 
of the comiTion salt, and the soda thus liberated 
from the salt will quickly absorb carbonic acid, 
forming carbonate of soda, thus you will retain 
with your manure the ammonia that would 
otherwise fly away, and you have also a new 
and most important agent. — JV. E. Farmer. 



EDUCATION, 

The following brief but beautiful passage oc- 
curs in a late article in Frazer's Magazine: 

'•Education does not commence with the al- 
phabet. It begins with a mother's look — with 
a father's nod of approbation, or a sigh of re- 
proof — with a sister's gentle pressure of the 
hand, or a brother's noble act of forbearance — 
with handfuls of flowers in green and daisy 
meadows — with birds' nests admired, but not 
touched — with creeping ants, and almost imper- 
ceptible emmets — with humming bees and glass 
beehives — with pleasant walks in shad}' lanes — 
and with thoughts directed in sweet and kindly 
tones and words, to nature, to beauty, to acts of 
benevolence, to deeds of virtue, and to the sense 
of all good, to God himself 



For the Southern Planter. 
REAPING MACHINE. 

Mr. Editor^ — I saw in one of your back ma- 
gazines, (March, I think,) an account of a 
"Reaping Machine," patented by Mr. M'Cor- 
mick. Can you mention in your next Planter 
whether this machine can be used on hilly, un- 
even, or stony ground, and with what success ? 
I also read an advertisement of Mr. M'Cormick's 
in one of the Washington papers, in which he 
guarantees his machine to reap from fifteen to 
twenty acres per diem. Can you let ixie know 
the results of your experience in the above ■? as 
reaping season will soon be at hand, and oblige 

Agricola. 

JVew York, July 21, 1844. 

Experience is the best teacher, and the unani- 
mous approbation of those who have thoroughly 
tested them has satisfied us of the efficiency 
and duration of M'Cormick's reaper. We con- 
fess we were a little afraid of this machine at 
first, and were rather inclined to give the pre- 
ference to Hussey's. But all inference must 
yield to facts, and we are now satisfied from the 
testimony of some of the most judicious farmers 
in the State, that our fears were entirely ground- 
less. It is only necessary to refer to the nume- 
rous certificates in the Whig and Enquirer from 
those who have used them, which are too long 
to be transferred to our columns, to satisfy us of 
the utility of this machine. 

In answer to our correspondent, we have to 
say, that the machine can be successfully used 
upon hilly, uneven, or stony ground, provided the 
hills are not too steep, and the stones too large. 
The knife cuts a swath of about six feet in 
width ; any obstacle projecting more than nine 
inches from the surface would present an impe- 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



205 



diment to its passage, and would have to be 
avoided. On a hill side where a cart can travel 
easily the machine will work well. We have 
it from the best authority, that this machine will 
cut from fifteen to twenty acres a day with great 
ease.; its great merit, however, is not only in 
the quantity of labor performed, but in the clean- 
ness of cut. In this respect it is so far superior 
to the old mode of cradling, that many have 



reckoned that the saving in a large crop would 
more than repay the expense of the machine. 

Since the receipt of the letter above we have 
seen some very strong testimonials from farmers 
in New York to whom Mr. IVrCorrnick has 
been exhibiting it. In fact, it wins golden opi- 
nions wherever it goes, and we sincerely hope 
that the ingenious and enterprising inventor may 
pocket a great many of them. 



HARROW 

[Fig. No. 3.] 




In an old number of the Cultivator we find 
the following description of an implement, that 
we know by experience to be a very useful one: 

J. Buel: 

Dear Sir, — The drag or harrow, here de- 
scribed, is the best implement for the cornfield, 
market garden and " truckpatch," I have ever 
seen. It is preferred to and takes the place of I 
the culhvator, where both are known, the supe- ' 
riority consisting mainly in the circumstance of | 
its getting deeper into the ground and leaving it ' 
in a situation much less likely to bake. I ob- 
tained a drawing and description from my bro- 
ther in Maryland for the benefit of this State; 
a copy is annexed for the benefit of mankind. 
Yours, with much regard, 

G. FiTZHUGH. 

Madison, la., Jan. 1, 1839. 

DESCRIPTION. 

The frame is made of good oak timber, 3 
inches broad on top, by 3^ inches deep. The 



middle piece is 8 feet 2 inches long — the clevis 
hole seen at 4 is 4^ inches from the end ; the 
front tooth in the same piece is 10| inches from 
the end, and seen at 2 in a square long plate 
with a round hole for the neck of the tooth, to 
come through ; at 2j inches from the hind end 
of same piece is a vertical mortise, 2^ inches 
long and 1 inch broad, for a post to support the 
handles — the post is made of strong timber 2^ 
by 3 inches square, and is 19| inches long — it 
has a tenon 3| long by 2^ broad and 1 inch 
thick, to fit into ihe mortise at 1 — at 11 inches 
from the shoulder of the post, commences an- 
other mortise (in a different direction of the ten- 
on) 2f inches deep and 1 inch wide, into which 
is to be fitted a cross to support the handles, 
tapered and rounded to go into the handles, 
which fit on both sides of the cross, with -J hole 
about 2 feet 3 inches from their lower ends, and 
extend back about the same distance, having a 
round behind the cross to confine them together, 
at 1 foot 5 mches from the upper ends, and are 



206 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



1 foot G inches wide at the round. The side 
pieces are 2 feet 6 inches long, and join the 
middle piece opposite the clevis hole, and are 
united to the centre piece by a slat 3| inches 
broad at one end, and 3 inches the other, I inch 
thick and 18 inches long, the mortise for it to 
commence 7^ inches from ends of side pieces. 
The teeth are placed in these at the distance of 
5J inches from the ends as in the number 2. — 
The teeth are niade of best bar iron l^ by } 
inches — the necks are 5 inches long, and are at 
the shoulder 1^ inches by f square, and are ta- 
pered and rounded at the top for a strong screw ; 
in the side pieces they must be placed obliq\iely, 
that their tracks may be parallel with the mid- 
dle. They must have strong plates for the bot- 
tom, say 5 inch thick, 2-| broad, 4^ long, and 
well nailed on ; the top plates much lighter, and 
the holes for the teeth in the bottom plates must 
fit ihe necks well, and of course must be cut 
into the sides obliquely to give the proper direc- 
tion as before intimated — the shoulders of the 
teeth must fit well; with a cold punch, indent 
the numbers respectively behind the shoulder of 
each tooth, and on each plate and nut, to distin- 
guish their places. 



For the Southern Planter. 

Boydton, July 4, 1844. 

At a joint meeting of the two Agricultural 
Clubs of Mecklenburg county, held this day, 
pursuant to previous arrangement, on motion of 
Mr. Towns, A. C. Morton, Esq. was called 
to the Chair, and H. E. Lockett appointed Se- 
cretary. 

After the meeting was duly organized, the 
Clubs proceeded to the Court House, where a 
considerable audience, composed principally of 
the farmers of the county, was in attendance. 
The Declaration of Independence was read by 
H. E. Lockett, and an address, distinguished 
alike for its force of argument, iis beauty of 
composition, and its practical information on 
agriculture, was delivered by Mr. Charles T. 
Botts, the Editor of the Southern Planter, who 
was present in accordance with an invitation 
from the two Clubs. 

Whereupon, it was unanimously 

Resolved, That the thanks of this meeting be 
tendered to Mr. Botts for the very able, instruc- 
tive, and interesting address which he has de- 
livered. 

Resolved, also. That this meeting reco.mmend 
the Southern Planter, edited by C. 'I\ Botts, Esq. 
to the agriculturists of Mecklenburg, as a work 
well worthy, for its cheapness, its intrinsic merit, 
and the locality where it is published, of the 
patronage of the Clubs, as well as the public 
generally. 

Resolved, further, That Charles T. Botts, Esq. 



be elected an Honorary Member of the two 
Clubs of Mecklenburg. 

Whereupon, Dr. Jones and Dr. Venable were 
appointed a committee to wait upon Mr. Botts 
and inform him of his election, and that he is 
invited to attend the annual meetings of the 
Clubs. 

On motion, 

Resolved, That Dr. Jones, H, E. Lockett, Dr. 
Venable, and Richard Boyd, Esq., be appointed 
a committee to examine the books of the two 
Clubs, and report to A. C. Morton, Esq., the 
President of this meeting, such matter as to 
them may seem of general interest, and that he 
be authorized to condense, and report such to 
the Southern Planter for publication. 

On motion. 

Resolved, That H. H. Buiwell, Esq. be re- 
quested to read the Declaration of American 
Independence, and the Hon. Wm. O. Goode to 
deliver an address on agriculture at the irext 
annual meeting of the Clubs of Mecklenburg. 

On motion. 

Resolved, That the Agricultural Clubs of 
Mecklenburg will hold their next annual m.eet- 
ing in Boydton, on the 4ih day of July, 184.5, 
and that the Corresponding Secretaries of the 
Clubs be required to give sufficient notice, that 
the ladies, especiali-y, and the public generally 
be invited to attend. 

On motion, 

Resolved, That the proceedings of this meet- 
ing be sent to the Editor of the Southern Planter, 
with the request that he publish them. 

On motion. 

Resolved, That this meeting do now adjourn. 
A. C. Morton, President. 

Henrv E. Lockett, Secretary. 



REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF 

PATENTS. 

We will make some extracts from this report 
and accompany them with such comments as 
we may deem pertinent. 

DITCHING. 

Mr. Ellsworth says : 

" Bjf a valuable machine, with ten yoke of 
oxen and five hands, a ditch of suitable depth 
for draining lands, (fourteen inches deep, and 
twenty-eight inches wide at the top,) ten miles 
may be excavated in one day, at an expense, 
by contract, of not more than three cents per 
rod. A larger machine, with a greater number 
of oxen, will excavate a ditch three feet deep. 
The great importance of such an instrument on 
the prairies of the West will at once be seen 
and acknowledged." 

There are two or three varieties of this ma- 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



207 



chine ; one of ihem, that of Mr. Schermerhorn, 
was described in an early number of the Planter. 
All we have seen have been cosily and compli- 
cated, and however adapted they may be to the 
"prairies of the West," ihey are certainly un- 
suited to any biU a loose, free soil, entirely clear 
of roots and stones. 

WHEAT. 

We select the following paragraph from a 
long and interesting report upon the wheat crop, 
as particularly worthy of attention: 

"A new variety of wheat, which has been 
verj' highly recornmended, is the improved flint. 
Some of this has been obtained from the pro- 
prietor. General Harmon, of Wheatland, New 
York, and distributed to the menibers of the 
national legislature and various distinguished 
agriculturists, by which means it will undoubt- 
edly be tried very extensively hereafter through- 
out the whole country. Gen. Harmon's account 
of it is as follows: 'The improved flint wheat 
has been improved from the old flint, by selecting 
the purest examples, and sowing them on sandy 
and gravelly limestone land, so that the berry is 
now Icirger and whiter, and the bran or hull 
very thin ; the heads are longer ; and the straw 
too is stiffer, and not as subject to lodge as for- 
merly. This is the most valuable variety grown 
in this section of country. It bears a good 
yield, producing a beautiful berry, weighing 64 
lbs. to the bushel, and producing more superfine 
flour to the bushel than any other variety I am 
acquainted with. It is not affected by the Hes- 
sian fly as much as many other varieties.' The 
same gentleman has paid very considerable at- 
teniion lo the culture of different varieties, and 
makes a remark which deserves consideration, 
'The greatest objection lo new varieties from 
warmer latitudes, is, that they are not hung to 
stand our winter. I have sown the white May 
Virginia for five years ; the first two years I was 
pleased with it ; since then, it has been failing; 
it has not withstood the winters well, and the 
heads are growing shorter, and the berry more 
red.' He also thus speaks of his mode of cul- 
ture: ' Thirty years ago we were in the habit 
of ploughing m 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 teelh, 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 nor'h-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 lo be winter 
killed. The common horse ploughs bury the 
seed too deep; the lately constructed quadruple 
plough answers very well' " 

PROPER DEPTH OF SEED. 

"As the result of some experiments respecting 
grain of different kinds — wheat, rye, barley and 
oats — in Germany, it is said that ' from two- 
thirds to three-fourths of the grain planis had 
their root stalk only one inch under ground, and 
exactly these produced the most stalks; one- 
fourih of them had their roots only 1| inch deep, 
and had only half as many stalks as the first; 
at 2 inches deep, there were only 4 in 100 ; and 
at 2^ inches deep, only 9 in 1,00U; but only 
one of them produced stalks, while in the first 
rye and wheat showed only 2f to 4} stalks. — 
Winter wheat at 1 inch gave 765 root-sialks 
out of 1,000 as remaining in the larih, of which 
2^ produced stalks; at 1 to l^ inch, of ],L0O, 
gave 215 root-stalks, of which 2|- produced 
stalks; at 2 inches, only 17 root-stalks of 1,000, 
of which only I produced stalks. From this, 
it is clear that shallow sowing, if the seed is 
only so far covered as to -sprout, and the germ 
is protected from immediate contact with the 
air, is preferable to laying the seed deep, because 
it springs up quicker, and acquires a sti'onger 
growth, and has hardier plants.' 'The climate 
and period of sowing, as well as the weather, 
will of course be considered in determining the 
depth. The warmer', dryer, and especially the 
more windy the climate, the deeper (other things 
being equal) the seed must be laid. Wet and 
cold weather requires a shallow sowing; a dry 
and hot season a deeper bui^ying up of the seed.' 
'A shallow sowing is one which covers up the 
seed only half an inch thick ; a modcralely deep 
sowing, 1^ inch thick; and if from 1-^ inch to 
3 inches in depth, it is called deep soiuing.'' The 
choice of seed is ver}' important ; and the re- 
mark may be repeated here, made in the last 
report, that the grain which is most suitable for 
nutritious bread, on account of containing the 
largest portion of gluten, is not ihe best for the 
seed. The neglect lo observe this may have 
sometimes contributed lo influence the crop. It 
is also well ascertained that grain threshed by 
threshing machines yields seed far less suitable, 
on account of its being broken, than that thi-eshed 
by the hand-flail. The amount thus obtained 
too from the sheaf is supposed lo be one-third 
less."* 

RUST. 

On this subject we have the following : 

" The question as to the best methods of pre- 

* The machines which induced this estimate must 
have been of a character very inferior to those used 
in this country. — Ed. Planter. 



20S 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



venting the diseases and attacks to which the 
wheat crop is exposed, is one of deep interest to 
the agricultural community ; and some sugges- 
tions on this subject may not be inappro- 
priately subjoined to the account of this crop. 
The time when the field is struck with rust, 
seems to be just at the time of ripening. A 
remarkable fact on this subject is stated in a re- 
port to the New Jersey Agricultural Society. — 
An extraordinary field of wheat, supposed to be 
out of danger, on a hot day became drenched 
by a sudden shower, which came on between 
one and three o'clock, P. M. All was still ; and 
on the passing away of the shower, the sun 
came out intensely hot. The owner went into 
his field to examine his wheat, which he found 
much pressed down by the shower : he imme- 
diately perceived a continued ticking, or snap- 
ping noise, in every direction. The straw was 
fine and bright; but, on examining it, he found 
it bursting in short slits one-quarter of an inch 
long, and the sap exuding from it. A day or 
two after, the whole field was darkened with 
rust, and the wheat nearly ruined. Another in- 
stance of the same kind is also related. The 
conclusion stated is — that the loss of the sap, 
running out and becoming dried on the straw, 
occasioned the rust. 

" Mildew and rust are said to be more com- 
mon now than before the Hessian fly made its 
appearance. 'Previous to that time, the wheat 
was sown the last of August and the first 
of September, tillered largely, obtained great 
strength of roots, and was but little injured by 
winter frosts ; the effect of which was to pro- 
duce strong bright straw, with but few leaves; 
the consequence of which is but little mildew 
and rust.' 

"To avoid the fly, manuring high at seed- 
time and sowing late was resorted to. This 
was attended hy mildew and rust. Being sown 
so late, the plants had no time to tiller, or mul- 
tiply and strengthen their roots and stalks ; of 
course, the winter weakened and thinned the 
plants, which made the wheat still later in the 
season ; and, when highly manured, the straw 
was full of leaves, very succulent, usually mil- 
dewed, and almost rusted. ' The means of pre- 
vention are— first, a good dry, loamy soil, well 
prepared by cultivation, and not loo recently 
manured, that by cultivation there may be a 
good assimilation of manure to the soil: the 
more complete, the better. Cover the seed about 
two inches deep, either with drill or plough, that 
it may have good hold of the soil, and not be 
thrown out by winter frosts.' It is also said the 
French chemists, having witnessed the blighting 
of human food, have suggested the use of char- 
coal, to absorb the excess of the ammoniacal 
and other salts, which, taken with the plant in 
excess, during the warm showers, when the 
berry is growing, cause the stalk to burst open, 



its juices to exude, and the seed to shrink. The 
result is stated to have been satisfactory. The 
mode of using the charcoal, as suggested, is by 
strewing it, well crushed, and as soon as possi- 
ble, over the land ; and that it be well moistened 
with soft water, by means of a watering-cart. 
Ashes have likewise been recommended by Lie- 
big and others. Some suppose they, or some 
alkali, are necessary to dissolve the silicious sub- 
stances, to furnish strength to the stalk. Liebig 
supposes it to furnish a silicate of potash — an 
important ingredient in the growth of wheat. — 
Some soils, peculiarly free from rust, it is said, 
are supplied with unusual quantities of potash. 
It has also been recomniended, as a means of 
securing a good crop, notwithstanding rust, 
when the plants appear thin on the ground, in 
the spring, to sow spring wheat among the fall 
wheat. This plan has been resorted to with 
good success in Canada. 

"Bone manure is likewise mentioned as very 
useful for grain, as bone is said to contain imany 
valuable principles, such as fat, gelatine, carbo- 
nate and phosphate of lime. A striking experi- 
ment in confirmation of this is mentioned. The 
distinguished Eerzelius, in 1817, is said to have 
analyzed a soil which had yielded crops of grain, 
from time immemorial, without manure. It was 
found to contain small fragments of bone ; and 
after it had been boiled a long time in water, 
afforded a solution which yielded a precipitate 
to the infusion of galls. From this result, he 
conjectured that the ground had once been a 
field of battle." 

SMUT. 

From amongst several expedients to prevent 
the wheat from smulHng, we copy the following 
which we know to be eflicacious : 

"The wheat, after being thoroughly washed, 
to be soaked ten or twelve hours in salt water, 
as strong as it can be made. It is further said 
that no injury will result if it lies in the brine 
for several days, provided it be in a cool place. 
After thus soaking it, let it be limed. Another 
person recommends that the seeds, when placed 
in the brine, be stirred up thoroughly, so that 
the light seeds may rise to the surface, and be 
skimmed off"; afterwards, that the brine be 
drained into a tub, and the seed thinly spread 
on the floor, and sifted with quicklime, at the 
rate of one gallon to a bushel; and, after care- 
fully stirring the lime through the seed a few 
times, it is allowed to remain a few hours, and 
then sown. The seed which underwent the 
perfect cleaning gave a return of pure wheat ; 
and that which was sown in its natural state 
was infected with smut, and had a mixture also 
of chess. In a Northumberland report on agri- 
culture, it is stated that Mr. Culley, who grew 
annually from 400 to 600 acres of wheat, had 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



209 



but one insiance of smut in foriy years, and 
this was when the wheat was not steeped. An- 
other experiment was iried on seed, in which 
were a few balls of smut — one-third being steeped 
in chamber lye, and limed ; one-third steeped in 
ihe same, and not limed ; and the remainder 
without steeping or liming ; and the result was, 
that the seed pickled and limed, and that pickled 
and not limed, were free from smut, but the 
other had smiuty ears in abundance. Another 
experiment was tried, by takmg a peck of very 
smuttj' wheat, of which one-half was sown in 
its n.itural state, the other half washed as clean 
as possible, in three waters, soaked two hours 
in brine strong enough to bear an egg, aivd 
dashed with lime: the result was, two-ihirds of 
the unwashed was smutty, but of the pickled 
and liuied seed there was a fidl crop, without a 
single ear of smut. A similar experiment, some- 
what varied, is the following: Of four sacks of 
smutty wheat, one sack was soaked in strung 
brine only ; one prepared with lime only; one 
was soaked in strong brine, and then lay in 
lime all niirht ; and the fourth was sown with- 
out anything : the result was, where brine only I 
was used, now and then there was a smutty 
ear, but not many; where lime only was used, 
there was about the same quantity of smut; 
where lime and brine were used, not a single 
smutty ear could be found ; and where nothing 
was used, it was a mass of smut. In another 
experiment, however, mentioned in the Southern 
Planter, wheat salted at the rate of a quart of 
salt to a bushel succeeded efFeciually in pre- 
venting smut." 



We are self-constituted agents for the 



Val- 



ley Farmer." What club of twenty will send 
us a ten dollar note for the Editor 1 



THE VALLEY FARMER. 

We welcome to our list of exchanges with 
fraternal affection this younger son of the Old 
Dominion. The Valley Farmer has just been 
ushered into existence at Winchester, Virginia, 
and is a very promising bantling of four pages, 
that promises to show his face to the world once 
every week, for fifty cents a year. This is our 
first acquaintance with Mr. Bentley, the Editor, 
but the manner in which his first number is 
gotten up is sufficient to inspire us with great 
confidence in his ability to fill the delicate, pe- 
culiar, and responsible station of Editor of an 
agricultural paper. We will lake the liberty of 
an elder brother to say to him, that if he will 
devote his columns to short practical statements, 
eschewmg all the long-winded essays that will 
be poketl upon hirn by learned farmers, that buy 
every thing and have nothing to sell, he will 
meet with a generous support, not only in the 
Valley, but in Eastern and Western Virginia too. 
Vol. IV.-27 



STRAWBERRIES. 

One of our correspondents a short time since 
wished us to publish something furiher on the 
strawberry culture. The following from the 
Farmers' Cabinet by S. IJ. Martin is beautifully 
condensed and explicit : 

"I noticed a piece in a late number of your 
paper upon the cultivation of strawberries, in 
which the writer appears to doubt whether there 
are male and female plants. It is known to bo- 
tanists that all the plants of sirawberries have 
both male and female organs upon each flower. 
But upon one plant the male organs will so pre- 
dominate that it will rarely bear any fruit j this 
for practical purposes, 1 call the male plant. It 
is easily distinguished — is a larger, stronger 
plant ; has larger and rougher flowers than the 
other; all the runners from it produce the same 
kmd of plants, with the like kind of flowers. — 
The male plant being stronger and not reduced 
by bearing, spreads rapidly over the ground and 
smothers the bearing plants, and the strawberry 
bed becomes barren. Where strawberry beds 
are mixed in this way, with barren and produc- 
tive plants, it can certainly be told when th^ey are 
in bloom what parts of the bed will bear. Lcl 
those who would have productive straivbirnj beds, 
not neglect to set out a majuriiij of f^male plants, 
whatever may be said by botanists and horticul- 
turists to the contrary. One male to a dozen 
females will be sufficient. Mr. Longworib, of 
Cincinnnti, I think, first called the sttention of 
the public to the above facts. I have known 
them for about twenty years, and have had pro- 
ductive beds. I have seen beds v\here a single 
female flower coi:ild not be found : and in the 
season for fruit, twenty strawberries could not 
be found upon a rod of ground. I had four dif- 
ferent kinds of strawberries brouohi from your 
ci'y some years ago, and every plant of each 
kind was a male plant ; consequently they have 
never produced any fruit, worth speaking of." 



WHEAT.-RED MAY AND MEDITERRANEAN. 
Mr. W. B. Sydnor, of Hanover, resolved to 
test the value of these two rival u'heats. Ac- 
cordingly he sowed two lots of about five acres 
each of equal quality and similar in every re- 
spect, the one with the Red May and the other 
with the Mediterranean. The former yielded 
seventeen and the latter twenty bushels'to the 
acre. Mr. Sydnor did not observe any superior 
invulnerability to the fly or rust upon the part 
of the Mediterranean. On the contrary, they 



210 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



were boih slightly afFecied by ihe fly as well as 
the rust. His next object was to ascertain the 
flour making qvialiiies of the two. For this 
purpose he sent to Mr. Govan's mill five bushels, 
by measurement, of each. The lied IMaj' 
weighed 317 lbs., the Mediierranean 308 lbs. — 
From the Red iVIay he received 199 lbs. of flour 
of I he first quality, and 28 lbs. second quality. 
From the Mediierranean he got 173 lbs. of the 
first and 32 lbs. of the seconrl quality. 

From this statement it would appear ihat the 
five measured bushels of Red May, yielded 26 
lbs. more of good flour than an equal quantity 
of Mediierranean — this at 2^ cents a poimd, 
would amount to 65 cents, or 13 cents a bushel. 
Against this we must offset the 4 lbs. excess of 
second qualiiy in favor of the Mediterranean, 
which jnay be worth 1^ cents a pound: this 
would leave a clear difl^erence in favor of the 
Red May of nearly twelve cents a bushel. But 
this, as Mr. Sydnor remarks, is the miller's and 
not the farmer's business. I'he Mediterranean 
is undoubtedly the most productive wheal, and 
as long as he can get the same price for it per 
bushel, he is determined to make it constitute a 
large portion of his crop. 



From the American Agriculturist. 
CULTURE OF ASPARAGUS. 

Since the Spanish meihod of cullivaiing as- 
paragus by ihe seashore has become known in 
England, a complete change has taken place in 
the manner of growing it ihere, sail being added 
now in moderate quaniiiies to ihe manure used 
to enrich ihe beds; it is also spread broadcast 
upon ihem, at the raie of one lo three pounds 
per square yard, afier forking them over in ihe 
spring. This makes it much njore palatable 
and tender. The month of April in this climate, 
as soon afier the frost is well out of ihe ground, 
is ihe best lime to apply the salt dressing to ihe 
beds. A compost of horse manure, mixed with 
leaves and vegetable mould from ihe woods, to- 
gether with a litile charcoal, is one of ihe besi 
manures we ever made use of for enriching the 
asparagus bed. 

Visiiing Dr. King's fine farm at Perth Am- 
boy, last summpr, wc were walking wiih him 
one moinmii alonor its boundaries on ihe bay, 
when within a few yards of ihe waier on a 
slight ridge of sand, which was subject lo be 
wet by ihti sail spray, and inundaied by a high 
tide, Dr. King pointed out to us a natural aspa- 
rncrus bed ; and although il was late in ihe sea- 
son fjr I'lis verreiahle, and most of ihis before 
us too much grown for good cuitings, upon our 



mentioning lo him the Spanish meihod of culli- 
vaiing it, he directed i^ome of ihis to be cut and 
cooked for dinner. To our surprise, notwiih- 
sianding it was so old, it proved very delicate 
and palatable, and completely saiif-fied us that 
its superior taste was owing lo the salt dressing 
it received fiom the sea water. Gardeners, in 
the interior of the country, will do well to try 
the experiment here recommended with salt ; it 
will cost but a trifle, and do no harm if il pro- 
duces no good. \'N e scarcely recollect eating 
delicate asparagus in the vallej' of the Ohio ; it 
was generally of large growih, tough, and bit- 
ter, and none that we ever tasted at the West, 
did we find to possess ihe peculiar flavor of that 
growing naturally at Dr. King's. 



OUR FRIEjN'DS. 
We should be wanting in common courtesy 
if we did not thank our friends for their success- 
ful exertions to increase our subscription list. — 
The many kind and flattering expressions with 
which ihey have accompanied the lists sent in, 
have a hundred fold enhanced their value. One 
gentleman has sent us a list of twenty, another 
of eighteen, and so on, until altogether they 
have added about five hundred subscribers to 
our book, within the last sixty days. For this 
increase we know that we are solely indebted 
to the exertions of the best and kindest friends 
that ever came to the support of a pnper. We 
are now so arranging our domestic concerns as 
to enable us to spend the greater part of our 
time hereafier in the midst of those scenes it is 
our business to describe. The hospiialitj' of 
Virginia renders such a life a most agreeable, 
even if it should not prove a very profitable, one. 



TREATMENT OF ANIMALS. 

We give the following valuable suggestions 
on the authority of the celebrated Denton OfTuit, 
and recommend them lo the atienlion of gentle- 
men engaged in renring stock: 

TO MAKE GENTLE COWS. 

First halter ihem with a strong rope to a suit- 
able place, then commence salting and feeding 
them from the hand. Afterwards rub ihem all 
over at different times, for three days, feeding 
and watering them three times a day. Do not 
feed them hiiih, but keep them alwa\s ready to 
receive food and water, l^ub ihem every linne 
you feed. Do not strike them one blow, as that 
will make them fearful; nor will cattle milk 
kindly that are beaten or rouizhly used. 

The above tre;itment will n ake the worst 
cows gentle. A little attention to calves, when 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



211 



very young-, will make them ever afier manage- 
able. He says, and we subscribe to the doc- 
trine: "Remove fear and give confidence, to 
make gpiiile horses and cattle." 

TO TRAIN A HORSE TO STAND FIRE-ARMS. 

First flash the gun before the horse ; then rub 
hiin in the face the way of the hair, and let him 
smell the powder; and repeal it until he becomes 
gentle. If very bad, put him in a sirong stall 
or pen, and fire before him and all around him, 
until he is free from fear. 

So wiih an umbrella. Go to him with it 
shut; then rub him in the face with the um- 
brella, still at a lilile distance. ,Do this four or 
five times. Then get on him, raise it, and hold 
it as high as pos.-ible; ride him about uniil he 
is used to it — but not in wind or rain. Repeat 
this ihe next day, and by these means he will 
soon be safe. 

TO BREAK A HORSE OR OX FROM THE HABIT 
OF LYING DOWN IN THE GEARS. 

Tie him down with a rope, so that he cannot 
get up for ten hours. Then, when he gets up, 
work him for one hour. Give him water from 
your hand, and feed him, as ;his tends to make 
him like you — removing fear and restoring con- 
fidence. 

If your horse has been "baulked," as it is 
termed, and ■will not pull, place him in a good 
team, and when on smooth ground, si op ihe leam, 
and, at the word, touch him up several times. 
In a short time he will pull kindly. If ihe horse 
has been whipped, be kind, and be stire not to 
touch him behind, but on ihe face and legs. 
JVIississi/ipi Valley Farmer. 



ALMANAC OF THE AMERICAN AGRICUL- 
TURIST. 

We have received from ihe Edilor, Mr. A. B. 
Allen, a copy of the American Agricultural Al- 
manac for 1845. It is offered for 6^ cems sin- 
gle — $4 per hundred — $15 per thousand. In 
addiiion to the usual statistics, which are very 
full and complete, it contains a great variety of 
agricultural information making it emphatically 
ihe almanac for the farmer. 



From the Farmers' Cabinet. 

FOOD FOR CATTLE. 

At this time, when the correct principles of 
farming and feeding, as arscerlained by chemical 
analysis, are a suVjject of general inquiry, I have 
thought the following arncle on '• Food for Cat- 
tle," would be interesting to the readers of the 
Cabinet. It appears to rne that a far crreaier 
value has been attached to some esculents con- 
taining a very large portion of water, such as 



lurnips, beets, carrots, potatoes, &c., than they 
deserve; whilst oihers, in which the proporiions 
of organic maiter are verj' greai, sue h as jieas, 
beans, oais, bailey, wheai-bian, &c , have been 
too much neglected. It is quite contrary to the 
received opinion, that 100 lbs. of the skin of 
wheat, — bran — is as valuable for caiile food, as 
100 lbs. of almost any article that can be given 
to them. But this may account for the obser- 
vation that we have often heard niade, that 
"millers' horses and hogs are always fai,'' as 
they are generally fed liberally on wheat offal. 

J. L. 
Milverton, First 7nonth \2th, 1844. 

Extract from Dr. Playfair's Leclure, delivered 
to the membeis of the Koyal Agriculiuial So- 
ciety, in December last : 

The food of cattle is of two kinds, azotized 
and unazoiized, vviih or without nitrogen. The 
following table gives the analjsis of \-arious 
kinds of food of cattle in their fresh state : 

100 lbs. Peas, 

100 lbs. Beans, 

100 Ibj. Lentils, 

100 lbs. Oats, 

100 lbs. Oat-meal, 

100 lbs. Barley-meal, 

100 lbs. Hay, 

100 lbs. Wheat-straw, 

100 lbs. Turnips, 

100 lbs. Swedes, 

100 lbs. Mangold-wiirtzel, 

100 lbs. White carrot, 

100 lbs. Potatoes, 

too lbs. Red beet, 

100 lbs. Linseed-cake, 

100 lbs. Bran, 

A glance at this table would enable a person 
to estimate the value of the articles as dirt. — 
Thus every 100 tons of turnips contained 90 
tons of water. But the value of inorganic niat- 
ters which these foods contained, clifTeTi-d. Thus 
Mr. Rham slates, that 100 pounds of hay were 
equal to 339 lbs. of u angold-wunzel. It would 
be seen that that quantity of hay contained 76 
Ib.-i. of organic matter, whilst the mangold-wurt- 
zel contained only 34 lbs. 

One result on feerling animals on foods con- 
taining much water is, that the water abstracts 
from the animal a large quantity of heat, for 
the purpose of bringinsr it up to the temperature 
of the body, and in this wa}' a loss of material 
took place. The mode proposed by Sir Flum- 
phrey Davj', of ascertaining the nutritive pro- 
perties of plants, by mechanically separating 
the gluten, is unsusceptible of accuracy. The 
more accurate way is, to ascertain the quantity 
of nitrogen, which being multiplied by 6.2, will 
o-ive the quantity nf albumen contained in any 
given specimen of food. 

The follow mar table shows the equivalent vti- 
lue of several kinds of food, with reference to 



'ater. Orsr 


Matters. 


Ashes. 


16 


80i 


3i 


14 


82i 


3i 


16 


81 r 


3 


18 


79 


3 


9 


89 


3 


15i 


82i 


2 


16 


76J 


Ik 


18 


70 


3 


89 


10 




85 


14 




89 


10 




87 


12 




72 


27 




89 


10 




17 


754 


71 


14i 


80i 


5 



212 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



the formal ion of muscle and fat, the albumen 
indicaiing the muscle-forming prmciple; 

Albumen. Unazolizcd Matter. 
100 lbs. Flesh, 25 

U;0 lbs. Blood, 20 

100 lbs. I^eas, 22 61^ 

100 lbs. Beans, 31 .52 

100 lbs. Lenuls, 33 48 

10 J lbs. Potatoes, 2 . 24^ 

100 lbs. Oats, 10^ 68 

lOOlbs. Barley-meal, 14 68 

100 lbs. Hay, 8 68^ 

100 lbs. Tuinips, 1 9 

100 lbs. Carrois, 2 10 

100 lbs. Red beet, 1^ 8 J 

The analyses in this table, are parlly the re- 
sult of Dr. Playfdir's, and Boussingauli's ana- 
lyses. The albumen series indicates the flesh- 
forming principles, and the unazolized series 
indicates the fat-forming principles. By com- 
paring this table with the former, it will be seen 
which fouds contain not only the greatest quan- 
tity of organic matter, but what proportion of 
this organic matter is nutritive, and which is 
faiieiiing, or that which furnishes combustible 
material. In cold weather, these foods be given 
which contain the larger proportion of unazo- 
tized matters, in order to sustain the heat of the 
body. Thus it will be seen, that potatoes are 
good for fattening, but bad for fleshening. Lin- 
seed cake contains a great deal of fattening 
matter, and but little nutritive matter; hence 
barley-meal, which contains a good deal of al- 
bumen, may be advaniageously mixed with it. 
Dumas, a French chemist, states that the prin- 
ciples of fat exist in vegetables, as in hay and 
maize; and that, like albumen, it is deposited 
in the tissues unchanged. But Liebig regards 
fat as transformed sugar, starch, gum, &c., 
which has undergone a change in the process 
of digestion. 'I'his is why linseed cake is fat- 
tening; all the oil is squeezed out of the seed, 
but the seed-coat — which contains a great deal 
of gtJin and the staich of the seed — is left, and 
these are fattening principles. 

The oxygen, iniroduceil by respiration into 
the lungs, is destined for the destruction of car- 
bonaceous matter; but there is a provision made 
for taking it into the stomach with the food, and 
this is done by the saliva. The saliva is always 
full of bubbles, which are air bubbles, and carry 
the oxygen of the atmosphere into the stomach 
with the food. The olijeci of rumination in ani- 
mals, is the more perfect nnixing of ihe food 
with the oxygen of the air. This is why chaff 
should not be cut so short for ruminating, as for 
non-ruminating animals, as the shorter the chaff 
is, the less it is ruminated, and the less oxygen 
it gets. — J\lark Lane Express. 



with the point of a sharp needle. The disease 
will not pass the; line, if ilie ^km is thus nu. 

Selected. 



SEED WHEAT. 

We received last year from the Patent Office 
a variety of seeds, which we distributed amongst 
our friends. Mr. George Woodfin got a paper 
of v;heat, marked " Kloss' White Blue Stem," 
and he brought us a few (.ays s nee a sanple of 
the product. It is certainly one of the largest, 
whitest, and plumpest grains we ever saw. Mr. 
Woodfin considers it much more productive than 
the Red May, which he sowed at the same 
time, it being mclined to tiller more, and the 
head being longer and fuller. Mr. Woodfin is 
very desirous to procure several bushels of the 
seed, and through the politeness of the Agent 
at the Patent Olfice (in the absence of Mr. Ells- 
worth) we have probaLly put him on the track 
of obtaining it. 

The sample at the office is for distribution. 



Ring Worim may be, in most cases, simply 
cured by scratching around the outer surface 



CHICKEN MANUFACTORY. 

Nature is getting superfluous. We rather 
think she will soon be voted out of fashion and 
dispensed with. I'here is a chap just over our 
publication office hatching chickens in a big 
box, fifty a daj', having a thousand eggs always 
doing. 'J'he trouble of att^■ndlng them is slight, 
the heat costs very little, and the chickens crack 
their several shells and walk up lo their dough 
and wafer like wood-choppers to dinner or sailors 
to their grog. They are clean, strong and lively, 
grow fust and rarely die, (not being dragged 
through the grass;) and whoever has a hatch- 
ing machine can have "spring chickens"' every 
week in the year, and at small expense. If we 
could only invent a machine to lay eggs now, 
hens would be done with. — New York Tribune. 



AGRICULTURAL EXHIBITION. 

Great preparations are making for the exhibi- 
tion of the New York State Agricultuial So- 
ciety, which is to be held at Poughkeepsie, on 
the 18th of September next. Of all the exhi- 
bitions that we have ever witnessed, in the North 
or the South, none begin to compare with those 
of the New York Society. It seems to be un- 
derstood that the one to be held this fall is to 
eclipse all its predecessors. 

We would sinci-rely recommend any farmer 
who can spare the time and the means, to visit 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



213 



this exhibition. In addiiion to the pleasure lo 
be derived from such a trip, he must be a very 
great man or a ver}' sorry one, if the informa- 
tion he obtains, does not infinitely outbalance 



stermboais from Richn ond in le?s than three 
days, at an expense of twenty dollars. For the 
kindness and hospitality' of the inanag-prs of the 
exhibition we will answer with onr life. If any 



the expense incurred. Ponghkeepsie is only a i farmer from Virginia wants to go, let him come 
half day's travel from New York, and may be i to us, and we will give him a letter to a gentle- 
reached by a continued line of rail cars and i man that will lake care of him, certain. 



For the Sou:hern Planter. 
APPARATUS FOR RAISING WATER. 




A. The pump. 

B. Watei box. 

C. Box for weight. 

D. Lever eighteen or twenty feet long. 

E. Fulcrum. 

F. Pin to run in the valve. 
H. Piston rod. 

G. Spoul to conduct the water into the box. 

Washington, Augut 3, 1844. 

Mr. Editor, — If farmers would calculate the 
value of labor expended in "sending to the 
sprmg" — sometimes a quarter of a mde distant 
from the house — and reflect hov/ much suffering 
there ma}' be in the aniinal and vegetable king- 
dom for want of a full supply of luater, they 
would be the better able lo estimate the value of 
any contrivance which should give them a per- 
petual flow of that important element of life at 
the door of their kitchen and barn-jard. 

In connection wiih this subject it may be that 
you will find the accornp-anying letter from Mr. 
Betnent worthy of publication and it is accord- 
ingly placed at your service. 

Very respectfully, J. S. S. 



T/iree Hills Farm, near Albany, | 
August, 1844. 5 

J. S. Skinner, Esq. 

Dear Sir, — Your favor of the 11th instant 
reached me this morning, and 1 embrace the first 
leisure moment lo reply ; and it will afford me 
gi-eat pleasure if I can be of any service to you 
in any way, and I feel gratified that you have 
given mean opportinity of manifesting it. There 
was no necessity for making any excuse for ad- 
dressing me on any subject relating to agricul- 
ture — it is my delight to be useful, and to aid, if 
possible, my CO laborers as well as those who 
have been the pioneers in the good and glorious 
cause. 

As regards the "little contrivance for supply- 
inof myself with water at my house and barn," 
of which you desire a description, 1 woultl beg 
leave to refer you to the 8ih volume and 167ih 
page of the "Cnliivator" for a description of 
iTjine, headed " Hydraulics for Farmers." Fear- 
ing, however, that you may not have that paper 
at hand I will describe it again. 

V^ hen I purchased my farm I was not un- 
mindful of the necessity and convenience of a 



214 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



good supply of water. Through the centre of 
my farm, meamlers a small, though never-failing 
stream, called "Crummy Kdl," (m English 
Crooked Creek,) winding its way in a valley, 
watering eight lois, but laying so low it was of 
linle use wiih the excepiion of furnishing stock 
when at pasture. My house stands fifty-two 
feet above the level of ihis stream, and noiwith- 
sianding I had three wells and a good cistern 
near my house and in the cattle yard, still 1 fan- 
cied that a luxurious flowing stream of pure, 
soft water near my house, would add much to 
the safely, comfort, cleanliness and health of the 
inmates, as well as the stock in my yards. 1, 
therefore, conceived the idea of turning this idle 
stream to some account, and erected a simple 
apparatus, by which means I made it pour its 
necessary share at the door; a libation of neat- 
ness, temperance, industry and economy. In 
order to accomplish the desired object it was ne- 
cessary to throw a dam across the ravine, in a 
narrow part to raise the water for a sufficient 
head to carry a small overshot water-wheel. — 
The dam now is about 150 feet long, and from 
20 to 22 feet broad, made of earth and raised 
ten feet above the bed of the stream, and makes 
a good road from one pait of the farm to the 
other, and can be passed with the heaviest loads, 
which of itself is worth the expense. The wa- 
ter is conveyed under and across this dain in a 
trunk, and raised to the' level of the pond in a 
pentsiock, from which it is conveyed on to the 
w^heel. In order to secure it against freshes it 
was necessary to make a waste-way of suffi- 
cient size to carry off all surplus water. 

Now, in this cold climate it was necessary to 
secure the pump and wheel from the frost; 
to do which, as I have no stone on the farm, I 
built a log cellar, (not a log cabin,) sufficiently 
large to place a wheel six feet in diameter with 
buckets eighteen inches long. A wheel of this 
size is unnecessary to work a small forcing pump, 
unless the supply of water is very small. One 
four feet in diameter and buckets ten or twelve 
inches long and four inches deep, would be suf- 
ficient to force two thousand gallons of water 
per day fifty to sixty feet high and any distance 
laterally. On the shaft of my wheel is an ex- 
centric, (a crank woulil be more simple, cost 
less, and work belter) — which by means of a 
pitman, gives motion to the working-beam, to 
one end of which the piston rod of the pump is 
attached. The object of this working beam is 
to give as little lateral or vibrating motion to the 
piston rod as possible. The pump is a double 
action, two inches in diameter, and has a six 
inch stroke — it sits on a small cistern which is 
supplied with water from the pentstock. The 
water is conducted to the house through pine 
logs, eight to ten inches in diameter and the 
bore one and a quarter inch — leaden lube of one 
inch diameter would be belter. 



The water is discharged into a reservoir or 
cistern, standing above ground, near m}' house, 
and holds 1,10U gallons, frotn which the surplus 
water is conveyed in one direction to my poultry 
yard — in another to my piggery, cattle and 
sheep yards — frotn thence passing off into a lot 
where there was no water. From the cisiein 
the house and horse stable are supplied. 

On the shaft of rny water-wheel 1 put a cog- 
wheel 34 inches diameter working into a pinion- 
wheel 7 inches in diameter — on the shaft of 
which is a drum or pulley 3 feet in diamieter, — 
From this drum I band off to a pulley on a 
shaft placed in the building over the cellar where 
the wheel is. 'J'his shaft runs lengihwise of 
the building on which are placed pulleys of dif- 
ferent sizes, to give different velocities to different 
machines — such as a circular saw, a grindstone, 
a mill to grind feed for my stock, &c. &c. Either 
of the above named machines can be carried by 
my wheel, and all the water required is let in 
through a six inch square tube with little or no 
pressure. 

r. is surprising how small a quant it}' of water 
when there is a head and properly applied, it 
requires to force water 50, 60 or even 100 feet 
high. An overshot wheel 8 feet in diameter 
and buckets as many inches long — 4 inches 
deep, with what water would pass through a 2 
inch tube would, I think, be sufficient to work a 
pump 2 inches in diameter and throw up 50 or 
60 feet high from 12 to 1600 gallons per day. 

You say you "have heard of a trough being 
somehow used to lift a pump." 1 will endeavor 
to describe one I saw at the farm of Mr. S. 
Worth in Chester county, Pennsylvania. 

In the meadow near his house passed a small 
stream of water, and without the appearance of 
any head or fall. Over this creek or brook he 
erected a long, narrow building, and excavated 
a cellar about fout feet deep and walleil it with 
stone. About thirty or forty feet from the bank 
of the creek was a pure, limpid spring of water 
gushing up into a curb which he had placed 
there. Now, with a very simple contrivance 
the water from this spring was forced up to his 
house, which stood twenty-five feet above the 
level of the stream. It is pretty faithfully re- 
presented in the engraving above. 

The pump A, is two inches in diameter and six 
inches long, made of cast iron, siiuilar to those 
used for steam engines for forcing water into the 
boiler. The box C, on one end of the lever, is 
filled with stones sufficient to raise the end of 
the lever after the water has been discharged, 
which is done by falling on to the pin F, which 
opens the valve in the bottom of the box, as 
shown by the dotted line. The lever then rises 
to its level, raising the piston and filling the 
pump — the box is then filled again with water 
fi-om the spout G, which is sufficient to over- 
power the weight of stones and the resistance 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



215 



of the pump. It makes from ten to twelve 
strokes per minute, ihrowing up neuilj a pint at 
each stroke. 

As soon as the box B is filled with water it 
immediately descends umil the bottom strikes 
the pm F, which lifts a valve or clapper in the 
boiiom of the box B, and lets out the water at 
once, and so on iiliernaiely. 

This apparatus may be varied by raising' the 
lever, and siispendmg the water-box B, which 
would give less vibration to the piston, and do 
an-ay the necessity of guides. But after all, I 
think I should prefer the wheel even where the 
head was not more than four feet, it lakes up 
less room and the motion quicker. 

For further particulars I would refer you to 
pages 47 and 174, Vol. 7, and 167 of Vol. 8, of 
the Cultivator. You will also find in Gregory's 
" Dictionary of Arts and Sciences," under the 
head of " Hydraulics," a simple lever apparatus 
for raising water. 

The pumps like the one I have in use are 
made at Troy, at a cost of about thirty dollars, 
which I can procure and forward to you if you 
wish it. You will probably find a model and 
specification at the Patent Office. It is " Farn- 
harn's Double Action Forcing Pump." 
Truly, 3'ours, 

Caleb N. Bement. 



For the Southern Planter. 

HENRICO AGRICULTURAL AND HORTI- 
CULTURAL SOCIETY, 

Will commence its fall exhibition, in the cily 
of Richmond, on Wednesday, the 16ih of Oc- 
tober next, opening at 1 1 o'clock, when the fol- 
lowing premiums are offered : 

ON DOMESTIC MANUFACTURES. 

For the neatest and most substantial 
counterpane, the production of the ex- 
hibit or, $5 00 
Do. do. mattresses, 5 CO 
Do. do. comfort, 6 00 
Do. do. bedquih, 5 GO 
Do. do. carpet, not less than 10 yds. 5 00 
Do. do. hearth rug, 5 00 
Do. do. stockings or socks, for each 

specimen wor'hy premium, 2 00 

Commiilee of Axuard — Efford B. Bentley, R. 
H. Jenkins and Charles Ellis. 

MECHANIC ARTS. 

Jarnes Bosher, Jacob F. Barnes, Samuel D. 
Denoon and William Mitchell, Jr., are appointed 
a committee to procure the exhibition of spe- 
cimens of the mechanic arts of Richmond and 
Henrico; and the sum of seventy-five dollars is 
pl'iced at their disposal to be awarded in pre- 
miums upon such specimens as they may deem 
worthy. A special report from this committee 



CO 
00 
(.0 
00 



is requested, with their opinion as to the proper 
ariangemeni of this department. 

AGRICUILTURE AND HORTICULTURE. 

For the best specimen of rare and beau- 
tiful shrubs, plants and flowers, the 

production of exhibitor, $10 00 

For the second, 6 00 

For the third, 4 00 

Committee of Award — Thomas Rilchie, James 
M. Wickham and Gustavus A. Myers. 
For the best specimen of fruits, 
For the best specimen of dried fruits, 
For the best orchard of peaches. 
For the best orchard of apples. 

Committee of Aivard — John Carter, Joseph 
Sinton and John B. Young. 
For the best crop of wheat, not less than 

five acres, $10 00 

For the best crop of grass, do. 10 CO 

For the best crop of oats, do. 5 00 

Committee of Aicard — George Taylor, Dr. 
Garnett and \ViHiam Miller. 
For the best crop of Rula Baga turnips, 

not less than half an acre. 
For the best crop of white itn'nips, do. 
For the best crop of cabbages, do. 

For the best crop of beels, do. 

For the best crop of sweet potatoes, do. 
For the best crop of Irish potatoes, do. 
For the best crop of carrots, do. 

For the best crop of parsnips, do. 

Committee cf Award — Ro. Carter Page, Thos. 
Gordon and Corbin Burton. 
For the best crop of pumpkins, not less 

than one acre, $5 GO 

For the best crop of corn, not less than 

five acres, 10 CO 

Committee of Award — Dr. Gaines, E. B. Sel- 
den and Sherwin McRae. 

Where crops are loo distant to be exainined 
by committees, the proprietors are authorized to 
call on two or inore riisinlerested freeholders to 
ascertain accurately, by weight or measurement, 
the produce per acre, and certify the same under 
their hands, to the Executive CoiTimiilee. 

Specimens of all crops enlcTed for premium, 
are required to be deposited with the Committee 
of Arrangement in time for the exhibition, other- 
wise no prerniuiu will be paid. 

Committees on Farm Crops are rcqired, in all 
cases, to ascertain, by weight or measure, the 
actual product per acre, of such crops. 

Successful compel itors in farm crops are re- 
quired, before receiving their premiums, to hand 
to the Secretary a detailed account of iheir crops, 
embracing the preparation of the land, quality 
of soil, lime of planting, mode of culture, toge- 
ther with any other information ihey can supply, 
as to the rearing and value of such crops. 

Farm Committee — William H. Richardson, 
Charles Marx and Chas. B. Williams, to make 



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216 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



a lour of inspection ihrons^ii ihe country, and to 
report to ihe Society at its October meeting, 
generally anr! specially, upon the state of agri- 
culture Within the bounds of the Society; to 
suggest such means as to them may appear 
most expedient for raising the standard of agri- 
culiure, and especially for diffusing mformaiion, 
and improving and encouragmg the proprietors 
and culiivators of small farms. The commiitee 
is authorised to recouimend premiums on such 
farms as they may deem worihy, and subject to 
the decision of ihe Socieiy, but is insirucied not 
to report upon any farm without the consent of 
the proprieior. 

Commiiiees are respecifully requested to make 
up their awards, and hand in their reports by or 
before 1 1 o'clock, on the first day. 

CiimmiUee to Select a Place for and to Jlrrange 
and Conduct the Exlnbilion — Charles Marx. Dr. 
Henry Myers and Thomas A. Rust, with au- 
thority 10 add others. 

The annual eleciion of officers of the Society 
will be held the first day. 

Thomas S. Dicicen, 
R. B. Haxall, 
William D. Wren, 
Joseph Rennie, 
Wm. H. Richardson, 

Executive Committee. 



From the Southern Cultivator. 
CURE OP SWINEY. 

Swiney is a disease by which many of our 
finest road horses are annually reiired from the 
saddle or harness, and turned out to pasture as 
almost worthless, or sold for one third their value. 
We have seen and tried a number of presrrip 
tions for ihe relief of this troublesome affection of 
the shoulder, such as ironing, rubbing with the 
oil of earth worms, and various stimulaiing lini- 
ments, the iniroduciion of seaions, lengthy inci- 
sions, wiih a deposiie of poke root, to produce 
suppuration, &c. ; many of which are worthless, 
and 01 hers boih cruel and injurious. 

The disease may be cured in less than a month, 
and the horse used daily if necessar}*, though it 
is best to give him rest if convenient. As soon 
as you discover the disease — which will be 
known by noi icing the horse while standing 
after use, and it may be seen even in the s'all, 
he will sustam the weight of the body on the 
opposite limb, and put foward the limb of the 
affected side, permitting it to toiich the ground 
but lightly, limps when hurried down hill, the 
muscle upon the shoulder becomes thin, and in 
many instances the skin contracted and tight, — 
put a twist tipon his upper lip, and introduce the 
small blade of a common pocket knife, (ihe point 
of which must be sharp,) into the thinnest part 
of the shoulder, which will be near the upper 
margin of the shoulder blade, and push it di- 



rectly in uniil you reach the bone, holding the 
knife as you would a pen when wriiing, and 
scratch up the membrane that covers the bone 
for a space the size of a silver dollar; the knife 
may then be wiihdrawn, and afier the small 
quantity of blood that follows is wiped away, 
the orifice will not be seen. The knife may 
then be introduced in one or two places below 
the first, and used in the same way, and ihe 
operaiion is over. 'I'his may be repealed in six 
or eight days: we have but seldom found it ne- 
cessary to repeat ihe operaiion more ihan twice 
or thrice, and in many cases a single operation 
will effeci a cure. 

Appling, April 10, 1844. 



Four oxen kept on cut-hay, eat 18 per cent. 
less than when given ihe uncut, and made 15 
per cent greater weight of manure, and this 
manure from the cut hay was thought equal to 
that from the uncut. — Massachusetts Ploughman. 



CONTENTS OF NO. IX. 



Corn — Objections to the level mode of cuhivation, p. 
193. 

Tobacco — Advantages of ventilating a tobacco house, 
p. 193. 

Colman's AgricuUural Tour — First number received, 
p. 194. 

Sassafras and Alders — To extirpate, p. 196. ■ 

Biisl— Caused by worms, p. 190. 

G^wno — Must be applied cautiously, p. 197. 

Safiiy Rein — Miller's patent described, with a cut, p. 
"197. 

Poudrctte — Its favorable action upon tobacco plants, 
p. 198. 

i7«7/^Experiment in curing, p. 199. 

E migratio-n—iio-w to prevent, p. 199. 

Li/x on Cattle — How to prevent, p. 200. 

Animal Improvement — Dr. Lee's views, p. 200. 

Peach Trees — Treated with charcoal, p. 202. 

Corn — Value of deep ploughing, p. 202. 

Smiit — To prevent, p. 203. 

Tomato Catsup — Recipe for, p. 204. 

Stable Manure — To arrest the ammonia, p. 204. 

Reaping Machine — Success of M'Cormick's, p. 204. 

Cultivator — A good one, with a cut, p. 205. 

H. a;- C. Club of Mcckkiiburg—Repon from, p. 206. 

Ditching — Machines lor, p. 206. 

Wheat — Different kinds and proper mode of seeding, 
p. 207. 

Valley Farmer — A new paper in Virginia, p. 209. 

Strawberries — Proper mode of planting and cultivat- 
ing, p. 209. 

Wlicat — Comparison of Red May and Mediterranean, 
p. 209. 

Asparagus — Culture of, p. 210. 

Th" "Planter" — Increase of subscription, p. 210. 

Animals— Fro\teT treatment of, p. 210. 

Almanac — From the ofiice of the American Agricul- 
turist, p. 211. 

Pood for Cattle — Analysis of different kinds, p. 211. 

Seed Wheat— l\.\os.%' White Blue Stem, p. 212. " 

ChicLcns — Manufactured to order, p. 2l2. 

Agricultural Exhihitioii — Of the New York Agricul- 
tural Society, p. 212. 

Water — Apparatus for raising, p. 213. 

Henrico Agricultural Socieiy — Fall premiums, p. 215. 

Sidney — To cure, p. 216.