■otabllsfaed 1840. THE Sixty-Ninth Year. Southern Planter A MONTHLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO Practical and Progressive Agriculture, Horticulture, Trucking, Live Stock and the Fireside. OFFICE: 28 NORTH NINTH STREET, RICHMOND, VIRGINIA. THB SOUTHERN PLANTER PUBLISHING COMPANY. J. F. JACKSON, Editor. Proprietor*. Vol. 69. OCTOBER, 1908. No. 10. CONTENTS. FARM MANAGEMENT- Editorial— Work for the Month 863 Improvement and Management of Eastern Virginia Lands 866 Plant Food 869 Some Notes on the September Planter.... 870 Lime for Alfalfa 873 The Alfalfa Problem in Virginia — How It Is Being Solved, and the Interest It Is Creating ' 873 TRUCKING, GARDEN AND ORCHARD— Editorial— Work for the Month 876 Packing Apples and Progress Made by the Virginia State Horticultural Society.... 876 Growing Lettuce 877 The, Virginia State Horticultural Society.. 877 LIVE S.TPCK AND DAIRY— Making Cheap Pork With Grazing Crops.. 878 Feeding Corn and By-Products. . . . .'. 879 The Dual Purpose CoW— The Red Poll... 880 Virginia Hog Feeding 881 Origin of the Tobacco Treatment for Sheep Parasites 882 Silo Experience 882 The Cost of a Calf 882 Duroc Jersey Breeders' Meeting 882 Shorthorn Cattle .• 882 LIVE STOCK AND DAIRY— (Continued). Lynnwood Stock Farm 883 The Loudoun Heavy Draft and Agricultural Association 884 THE POULTRY YARD— Poultry Notes 886 Hatching With Hens — A Season's Record . . 887 THE HORSE— Notes 888 Draft Horses — Their Profitable Breeding in Virginia 889 The Suffolk Punch and the Fercheron 891 Virginia Fruit Growers and Packers' Asso- ciation , 891 MISCELLANEOUS— Virginia State Fair, Richmond 892 Profitable Farming in Southside Virginia. 892 Farmers' Institute at th j Test Farm of the State Department of Agriculture, Saxe, • Virginia 893 Farming in Fairfax county, Va 894 The Virginia State Veterinary Medical Association 894 Bird Barometers 895 Alfalfa in the Argentine Republic 896 Rhode Island Reds 896 Enquirers' Column (Detailed Index 946) . . 938 Advertisements 897 SUBSCRIPTION, 50c. PER YEAR, IN ADVANCE T OUR lOO PaGePrICEMAKEU We will send free to every eader, who mails us the c • liUfil UrCuIAL Urrbnl in this advertisement, a copy of our new 190S-09 Sufi-page catalog, just out. It i neof information for every shrewd, careful and economical buyer. It contains thousands upon thousands of ti of merchandise and supplies of every kind at prices that command your order. It is the greatest low price mai- • issued. It is a book that should be in every home. It describes and il lust rates over 6. 000 wonderful new offers of merch:. eand material useful in the home, in the field, in the workshop or in the office. It will pay you to keep ithandy for ref e. If you are going to buy anything in the line of merchandise, building materials, roofing, heatingor plumbingequipme- chinery. fencing, hardware, wire, furniture, household goods, in fact, anything needed for improvement, get this gui MERCHANDISE AND LUMBEI SHERIFFS', RECEIVERS' AND MANUFACTURERS' SALE Wrecking Prices" are known as Bargain Pr Our mammoth plant is the largest ir World devoted to the sali general stocks. Over acres literally cov with mercham From Thousands of ts&&tz* If you are interested in lumber or buildingsup- plies, fill in the coupon be- low, or tell your name and address, state where you have seen this offer and we will mail yon free postpaid our big general cat- alog, containing complete list of lum- ber and millwork bargains. Also our plan book of barns and buildings and our free railroad fare offer, You Save 40% To 60% THE CHICAGO HOUSE WRECKING CO. are rightfully acknowledged The World's Greatest Low Price Makers. No matter what you are in the market for, be sure and write us before placing your order. We save you dollars where others save you pennies. If we cannot save you money there is no money to be saved. ACT QUICKLY— you will make a mistake if you don't. Write for a copy of our Great Price Maker and Reference Book TODAY. We guarantee our customers absolute satisfaction in every respect, or your money will be returned without question or argument. This paper protects every subscriber against loss. We are bound to make good. As to our reliability, etc., we ref er you to the Editor of this paper. Write or ask any Banker anywhere, your Express or Railroad agent or Mercantile — — — i— — -^— Agencies. Write to the Drovers Deposit National Bank, Chicago, the ding Financial Institution of the great Union Stock Yards. OUR IRON-CLAD GUARANTEE ! .^SS^o*^ LUMBER VERY SPECIAL I One Thousand New Lumber Offers ! Sold direct from our Mammoth Lumber Yards. Brand new. clean stock. Grades guaranteed. Building Material for every purpose at 60 cents on the dollar. High grade Mill Work of every description. For Houses. Pyjnpe A t\OU rtflF T Barns . Churches, Stores. Out-Buildings, Cribs, for remodeling llvCO "TV /U \^tl m or improvements. SEND US YOUR LUMBER BILL FOR OUR LOW ESTIMATE. We buy in a strictly original way. The secret of our wonderfully low prices and our ability to nndersell everybody else is easily explained. We hustle night and day to find Lumber Mills, Plaining Mills, Lum- ber Yards and Lumber Merchants who need cash. Their distress means your opportunity to take advantage of these low-price offer ngs. Hundreds of Saw Mill owners and Lumber Companies were badly in need of cash; dozens failed or assigned. With our capital and sur- plus of over One Million Dollars we purchased this lumber at less than cost. We have for sale over fifty million feet of brand new lumber at 50 per cent reduction. For months our men have been right on the ground, buying entire stocks at ridiculously low prices. Now don't forget, be sure and SEND FOR OUR ESTIMATE BEFORE YOU PLACE YOUR ORDER. CjfocaSP ftovtf .evvretp Sav SEE THESE LOW PRICES I -6, 000 Hew Bargain Offers in Our Mammoth Stock I £ «9 Stee l Roofing Pen tOO sq. ft., $1.50 Most economical and durable roof covering known. Easy to put on; requires no tools but a hatchet or nammer. With, ordinary care will last many years. Thousands of satisfied customers everywhere have proven its virtues. Suitable for covering buildings of any kind. Also used for ceiling and siding. Fire-proof and water-proof. Cheaper and more last- ing than shingles. Will not taint rain-water Makes your building cooler in summer and warmer in winter. Abso lutely perfect brand new straight from the factory SI. 50 is our price for our No 15 grade of Flat Semi-Hardened steel roofing and siding each sheet 24 in. wide and 24 in long. _ Our price on corrugated, like illustration, sheets 22 in wide and 24 in. long, $1.75. At 25 cents per square additional we will furnish sheets 6 and 8 feet long. Our price on Standing Seam or ; V" Crimped Roofing is the same as on the ccrrugated. We have other grades of Steel and Iron Roofing. Write today for parllculurs. 1A/a aO!231/ i^J^O J^V*#t»/#*ft/ to a11 points East of Colorado except Oklahoma, Texas and ."**» ***JF •"«» *» t?««f«« Indian Territory. Quotations to other points on applicat- ion. This freight prepaid proposition only refers to the steel roofing offered in this advertisement. Satisfaction guaranteed or money refunded. We will send this roofing to anyone answering this adver- tisement C. O. E,, with privilege of examination if you send 25 per cent of the amount you order in cash; ">alance to be paid after material reaches your station. If not found as represented refuse the shipment an.l we will cheerfully refund your deposit. All kinds of Roofin: supplies, etc. Send your order today. Tubular Lanterns 45c. Steel shovels, strongly made 30c; Steel single bitaxes. 45c. Double bitaxes. 40c; Lar^ size steel hammers. Manure forks 45c ; Hayforks, 30c; Axe handles, 5c. Hack saws, with I frame, 15c; Band I saws, !5c; Compass I s 12c Files, 5c \ Manila Rope Bargains Good Manila Rope,, slightly used, allsizes, % in., per 100ft.. $3.25. New Manila Rope slightly shop worn, per lb , 10c. Wrap- pingTwine, per lb.. 5c. Galvanized Guy Wire. 100ft.;$1.60. Wi Rope, all kinds. HEATING PLANTS We Guarantee to save you from 30 to 50 per cent. Send youx blueprints and specifica- tions for our estimate. Plants are of most- modern construction Our book. Cold Weather comfort, contains valu Carpets Rugs ant Furniture We put this excel tional saving offer ' ' to yon," in order to once our stock of hig able inf..r- ^^J grade floor covert ne. Write us today. Cut out this "Ad" mark a cross on those Items that most interest you and we win send much valuable infor- ination, Also fill in Free Catalog Coupon attached and mail today, If you do not want to cut out the advert isement. send us your name and address correctly. Tell -is where you have seen this ad. Also tell us just what Items in our ad nteresl you the most, CHICAGO HOUSE WRECKING CO., 35th and 1-INCH PIPE, Per Foot 3 l-2c Overhauled pipe, complete with screwed end and threaded couplings: 1 inch, per foot „ S^oc 1*3 inch 6*20 1*4 incli 4*-jc Overhauled well casing, with couplings com- plete, good as new: 1 3 4 inch 6c 284 inch 10c ron Streets, CHICAGO The Southern Planter. DEVOTED TO PRACTICAL AND PROGRESSIVE AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE, TRUCKING, LIVE STOCK AND THE FIRESIDE. Agriculture is the nursing mother of the Arts. — XENOPMON. TiHage and pasturage are the two breasts of the State. — SULLY- 69th Year. RICHMOND, VA., OCTOBER, 1908. No. 10. Farm Management. WORK FOR THE MONTH. The last week of August and the first half of the month of September were marked by a cold wet season which materially interfered with the maturing of the corn and other crops yet in the field. The temperature was from five to ten degrees below the normal over nearly the whole of the country, and the amount of sunshine was greatly below the normal. Heavy rains caused disastrous floods in the States of North and South Carolina, and Georgia, and in the southern part of this State; and crops were seriously damaged, and large areas in the lowlands were washed away, or so damaged as to be practically a total loss. This will materially affect the yield of corn in these States, and also reduce the cotton crop. In some sections of the State tobacco was also consid- erably injured by the rain, but not so badly as would have been the case had the rain come a little earlier. This cool cold season has continued almost to this writ- ing (20th September), but the temperature is now rising, and a more normal condition seems at hand, which is much to be desired, so that the corn crop may be ma- tured before frost comes. In our last issue we ventured the prediction that the yield of the spring wheat crop wo^uld not greatly, if at all, exceed that of last year. The latest reports from the best authorities now confirm this estimate, and also come near our estimate on the yield of the winter wheat crop. The total of the two crops is now estimated by the best authorities at not to exceed five per cent, in excess of that of last year. As the result of these estimates wheat has advanced somewhat in price, having gone over the dollar mark slightly. It would no doubt have gone much higher but for the fact that the Canadian crop *s turning out an excellent one, and has matured rapidly, and already more' than fifty per cent, of the crop has been harvested. Can- ada will have plenty of wheat to meet the demands of the market, and in consequence of the much better yields of the European crops this demand will not be so heavy as that of last year, hence we do not expect the price to ad- vance materially beyond that now quoted. The threshing returns confirm the fact that the yield of the oat crop is going to be below even that of last year, the crop being practically the poorest in ten years, as far as rate of yield is concerned. The corn crop estimate places the condition below that of any year since 1901, and if all the crop matures, which is very doubtful, as much of it will yet require two or three weeks of warm weather, and the absence of frost to ensure this the yield is not likely to be in excess of 2,500,000,000, or not in excess of that of last year. With this prospect before us there does not seem much likeli- hood of cheap corn this year. The Southern crop is above the average, and is now safe from injury by frost, and if we only grew sufficient to meet our needs and a surplus for sale there would be money in it for our farmers, but the best that can be hoped for is that we shall not need to buy so largely as we have had to do in former years. We should like to see our farmers take a hint from this condition of affairs, and set about getting the land into a better shape for the production of more corn another year. We can safely increase the area and still more safely and profitably largely increase the yield per acre. We learn that more crimson clover has -been sown this year than ever before, and this is a hcfpeful feature, as this crop makes an excellent preparation for a corn crop, and may be much more certainly relied upon to increase the yield than the use of any fertilizer. Though it is now late to sow crimson clover, yet we think it may at least in East- ern and Southern Virginia, and the States further South be yet sown, say, up to the middle of this month, with the chances in favor of it making a successful stand, as the soil is full of moisture, and quick germination is assured. In the rest of the State, and in the above sec- tions after the middle of the month vetches — the Hairy and the English vetch — should be sown up to the end of October. This legume is equally as valuable as crimson clover as a preparation for a corn crop, but it has the disadvantage that it is not ready to turn down quite as soon as crimson clover. It is, however ready in time to plant a corn crop which will mature in the South any- where south of the James river. It also makes an excel- 864 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER [October, lent hay crop of a highly nutritious quality, and puts the land in fine condition for the seeding of winter oats and wheat in the fall. Vetches should be sown at the rate of twenty-five pounds to the acre with a bushel of wheat or winter oats, or a mixture of the two. The objection raised to sowing this crop is that the seed is high in price. There is no reason why this should be so now, as the duty and there is no reason whatever why we should import formerly charged on its importation is now abolished a bushel of the seed, as we can grow as fine seed in this country and in this State as can be bought anywhere. It will pay farmers to raise this seed for themselves and as a sale crop, and we hope to see this done in the future. The seed is as easily saved as crimson clover seed or cow- pea seed, and why some one has not given its production attention we are unable to understand. "We have drawn attention to this several times in past years, but it does not seem to have had the desired effect. The condition of the cotton crop is above the ten-year average, and it is now being picked over much of the cotton territory. The crop has been considerably dam- aged and shortened by the rain and floods, and it is doubtful whether it will much exceed that of last year in quantity. Trade conditions are not so promising in Eng- land this year as a year ago, and it is likely that the de- mand will not be so great on that market, and here the effects of the panic have not yet been fully overcome. The result of these two factors may likely be a slower demand for the staple, and hence difficulty in maintaining a price much, if any, in excess of present ruling prices. The tobacco crop of this State is one of the best made for many years in quality, and is somewhat larger than for several years past. Market demands are good stocks being low in every part of the world. The effect of de- creased production for several years is now being felt, and there is every prospect of the weed selling well through the season. Most of the crop has now been cut, and is being cured, and we hope that care is being taken to cure it so that it will meet the requirements of the markets. Many a splendid crop has been ruined in the curing, through carelessness and inattention. Peanuts are making a better yield than at one time they promised to do, and the indications are that the crop will sell for a somewhat higher price as the demand is likely to be good, the old crop having largely gone into consumption. The Irish potato crop is not a large one, there being much of a failure in many sections producing largely for market. The price is hardening every day, and those hav- ing promising late crops should take good care of them, and dig as soon as matured, and house them carefully. They are going to be worth good money this winter. some stock for the winter markets. They will be wanted then. The sweet potato crop is a large one and prices are with difficulty maintained. This will continue until the completion of the digging of the crops when they may probably harden. Those who have good facilities for storing and caring for the tubers will do well to save The hay crop of the country is much larger than for several years past, and the price is not likely to be high this winter. The work of harvesting and saving the forage crops should have attention as the weather permits. Cut when dry and let wilt, and then put up into cocks or shocks, as soon as can safely be done, and cure out in this way. They will require require plenty of time to cure before being housed, as the dews are heavy, but when thoroughly cured make better feed than forage cut and cured in the hot sun. Sorghum especially needs care in curing. It is almost impossible to cure a sorghum cane crop so that it can be safely stored in the barn without fear of moulding. After being cut it should lie open on the ground for sev- eral days, and then be set up in shocks and tied round the top, and it will keep in this way in the open field all win- ter without much loss of feeding value, and can be brought to the barn as wanted. Cowpeas and cowpeas and sorg- hum should have plenty of time given to cure. Let them lie as cut until thoroughly wilted, and then put into win- drow, and remain a day or two, and then be put into cock to cure out, and do not be in too great a hurry to get them into the barn. Open the cocks out on a bright, sunny day, and air and warm well before hauling. Cut up all corn at the root and set up in shocks not too large, and tie round the top. Be careful in shocking, so that the shocks may be so well made as not to blow down with an ordinary wind. If a shock is properly built and tied, it will stand a heavy wind without going over. The great art in setting up such a shock is to keep adding the stalks in a thin layer all round the shock, and not in adding big bundles first to one side and then to another. The seeding of the wheat crop is the principal work, after the saving of the grown crops, which calls for at- tention this month by Southern farmers. In our issue of last month we wrote somewhat at length on the pre- paration of the land for this crop, and to that issue we refer our readers. We desire again to emphasize the im- portance of greater attention being paid to the prepara- tion of the land before seeding. Wheat is a crop which, when once it has been sown can be but little helped by cultivation, and the importance of cultivation of the soil in inducing the giving up of plant food is recognized by every farmer who makes a corn crop. The only help that can be given in this way to the wheat crop, and it un- fortunately is rarely given, is harrowing the crop in the spring, and this can only be done once. How important then does it become that before the seeding is done the land should have the most perfect preparation that can be given, so that during the eight or nine months when the crop is occupying the land it can be enabled to get the necessary plant foot to enable it to perfect its growth and the grain. In the old days when wheat was almost always grown on land which had been summer fallowed this condition was well met. In the three or four months before the land was sown it was plowed and cross plowed, harrowed and rolled, and reharrowed and rolled, until the seed bed was in perfect tilth, and into which the air 1908.] THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 865 and sun had been allowed to permeate, and the particles of soil had been exposed to this revivifying influence, and beyond all this every weed seed had been brought near to the surface, and had then germinated and been killed. No wonder such preparation resulted in fine crops. We have worked for weeks and weeks preparing such a seed bed, and then without the use of any fertilizer or manure directly applied to the crop, have made thirty- five and forty bushels to the acre. Sir John Lawes made a field produce an average yield of thirteen bushels of wheat to the acre every year for sixty years with no ap- plication of any fertilizer or manure whatever, or the plowing down of any crop other than the stubble of the wheat and the few weeds that grew inthe wheat by means only of perfect preparation of the land each year. Here, as a rule, we expect land to make a good wheat crop with only one plowing, and very little harrowing, and that of the shallowest kind, and the application of 200 or 300 pounds of a cheap fertilizer. No wonder we make a failure of the business, and only succeed in get- ting fourteen or fifteen bushels of wheat to the acre. There is no profit in growing less than twenty bushels to the acre, and very little even at that yield. We have got to do better in the future all over this country, or the time is near at hand when we shall have to ask other countries to feed us. Let us make a beginning this year, and strive to do better. Science has taught how to feed the wheat crop and every other crop, so that we may keep the land producing a crop every year, and thus dis- pense with the old summer fallowing system, but it has not yet taught us how we can dispense with perfect pre- paration of the land with the plow, the harrow, and the roller before we put into it the additional plant food to make it capable ofraising a crop each year, and yet not become depleted of fertility, and we doubt much whether it will ever do this. The great improvements made in agricultural implements have put into the hands of farm- ers implements by which the end reached in the old days by the crude implements then used can be reached much quicker and more satisfactorily, and doubtless this im- provement in implements will be still further advanced, but after all is done we shall never reach the point where frequent and complete working and preparation of the seed bed can be dispensed with, if we are to secure the best results. Not a day should now be lost in getting to work fitting the land for the seeding of the crop, and this should be continued persistently until the best seed bed possible can be secured. The land should be deeply broken, then be worked fine, and be consolidated with the roller so that the roots of the crop can take hold in compact soil, and the top three or four inches should be as free and loose as a garden bed. If there be a heavy green fallow on the land like a pea crop, this should be cut into the land with a disc harrow, and not be plowed down. To plow it down makes the land too puffy for wheat to succeed upon it. To cut it into the surface three or four inches puts the fertilizing matter of the crop just where the new crop can use it at once, and leaves the compact subsoil which wheat requires. Wheat succeeding a corn crop can almost always be more suc- cessfully grown without replowing the land if a proper preparation for the corn crop was made by deep plowing and fine breaking before the crop was planted, and if the crop has been properly cultivated during its growth. A disc harrow will fit such land for a wheat crop better than a plow. In our last issue we discussed the subject of the fertilizer to use in growing wheat, and to that issue , refer our readers. We will only add to what we then said, that we think it very important to apply lime to the land after plowing it, at the rate of at least one ton to the acre wherever possible, to get this at a reasonable price. We have always found advantage in using lime", and it is a recognized fact that the limestone lands always make the best wheat. As to the time for sowing. In the western sections of this State, from the first to the middle of October has given the best results. In Middle and Eastern Virginia from the fifteenth to the end of October is early enough, but much depends on the weather. In no section would we sow before a sharp frost has fallen, so as to be sure that damage from Hes- sian fly has been prevented. Read what we said as to trapping the Hessian flies in our last issue. As to the variety to sow. This is a difficult question to advise upon, but it may be said with confidence that Fultz and Fulcaster have, as a general thing, over a long series of years, given the best average yields in the South. No doubt there are other varieties which, when fully accli- mated, will be found to give equally as good results, but, as a rule, the newer varieties need to be grown more gen- erally as test crops before they can be advised for use for the full crop. Whatever variety is sown, see that the seed is well cleaned, and all light and small grains blown out before being sown. The best preventive of smut is to treat the seed with formalin before sowing. Mix one pint or pound of this thoroughly in forty gallons of water; this makes the solution to use, and is enough to treat fifty bushels of seed wheat. Place seed wheat to be treated on a clean swept, tight floor in piles of convenient size to be stirred throughout. Sprinkle the formalin solution from a sprinkling can, or nozzle, upon the pile, while stirring to bottom of pile, until all possible is absorbed. After a few minutes' in- terval, repeat the operations of sprinkling and stirring; these are again repeated until at least three quarts of solution per bushel of grain has been absorbed. One gal- lon per bushel is not too much. The pile is then cov- ered with cloth or canvas for about two hours; the cov- ering is then removed, and the grain stirred at internals by shoveling over to dry it. It is then ready to sow at any time. Caution: In handling treated grain do not get it again smutted. The shovel, the drill the grain bags and any other portions of floor used should be ster- ilized by use of the formalin solution. The bags may be soaked in it for half an hour, and the others treated by sprinkling. Formalin can be bought at anv drug store, costing from fifty to eighty cents per pound. Treat the seed just before sowing, so that it may not have to lie in heaps or bags, and thus become heated. If it becomes heated the vitality of the germ will be destroyed. The daily and weekly newspapers and some of the magazines have recently published some wonderful state- ments as to the yield of a new variety of wheat called Alaska, claiming that it had made a yield of over 200" bushels to the acre. We had this information before our last issue, but refused to publish it until we had 866 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER [October, made enquiry into the truth of the statements. As the result of this enquiry we find, as we expected, that the statements made are absolutely false, and that the whole business is a fraud intended to victimize the farmers. Several of the journals which published the original statement have recalled the same, and apologized for the blunder made, and now denounce it a fraud. The agent of the Department of Agriculture telegraphs from Idaho that the Alaska wheat is only yielding twenty-five bushels to the acre of badly mixed grain, of inferior quality. The disseminators and perpretrators of such fraudulent statements ought to be severely punished. Have all stables, cattle barns, sheds and pens thor- oughly cleaned out and put into good repair, and give them a good coat of limewash inside and also outside, if not painted. They will then be ready to receive the stock when the nights become too cold for them out of doors. IMPROVEMENT AND MANAGEMENT OF EASTERN VIRGINIA LANDS. (Address delivered before the Virginia State Farmers .1 Institute, Richmond.) l&r. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: ",',The agriculturist is a banker and the soil his bank, its fertility his capital and the crops grown upon it his sil- ver and gold certificates which may be redeemed in ex- change for labor and fertilizers, seed or stock, to be re- turned to his capital, Home, made manures are his do- mestic and commercial fertilizers his foreign exchange. Le- guminous crops furnish him ,a saving department which if .properly handled will pay handsome dividends. A ra- tional system of banking consists in so utilizing its funds as to insure the largest dividends without diminishing the capital. Surplus and reserve funds increase public con- fidence and insure larger deposits and are often created. A rational system of agriculture consists in producing the largest crop without diminution of soil fertility. This can only be accomplished by restoring to the soil all of the valuable ingredients removed by crops. Reserve or sur- plus fertility is often desirable and is accomplished by heavy manuring. A further comparison and the simile increases. The banker studies the laws of commerce and the occasional convulsions which interfere with their nat- ural operations and strives to conduct his affairs so that neither a national panic, a commercial stagnation nor a period of strikes can deprive him of a moderate income. The planter aims to study nature and finds out its laws and so to adapt his operations that moderate profits should al- ways be obtained. He seeks a proper rotation of crops with suitable fertilizers, to economize the present fertility or to increase the future store of the same. By drainage, irri- gation, fertilization, proper preparation and subsequent in- telligent cultivation, he strives to overcome deficiencies of his sc J ils, changes of . weather, vicissitudes of climate and occasional atmospheric disturbances, so that he may always have remunerative return for his labor. The same principles underlie both professions and an intelli- gent knowledge and application of these principles are required for the successful prosecution of either industry. Every successful banker spends laborious days and sleep- less nights in the study of the various factors which affect his business and it should be and need be the business of every successful farmer to diligently study every princi- ple which underlies his chosen profession. But what are these principles? Briefly they are (1) A knowledge of the composition and properties of the soil he cultivates. (2) The nature and requirements of the plants grown and (3) the intelligent selection and appli- cation of the best methods of producing the largest crops of the latter when grown on the former. An elaboration of these three principles constitute the "Moses and the pro- phets" of modern agriculture. What are soils? Geologically they are rocks of varying degrees of fineness. Chemically they are aggregations of chemical compounds, required for plant growth which compounds are gradually decomposed and rendered sol- uble by natural and artificial agencies, the former con- tinuous, the latter periodic. Bacteriologically, the soil is the home of teeming millions of microbes, busily engaged as purveyors of food for plants. Physically, the soil is the home of the plant, a place into which its roots must penetrate and from which it may derive much of the heat and the moisture necessary to growth. "By ceaseless ac- tion all that is subsists" and the changes going on in every soil are truly marvelous in their complexity and continuity. But what is the popular definition of a soil? The Ger- mans say it is a place to put manure. The English re- gard it as an inheritance to be transmitted to his primo- genitor. But what was the regard of the farmers of Tide- water, Va., in the remote past, for this valuable natural resource? In sorrow one can say that they looked upon it only as a possession to be despoiled and abandoned as soon as possible. The tens of thousands of gently born Virginians all over this land testify to the existence of this time-honored custom which they have carried with other inherited habits, to their new homes, for as a rule, Eastern Va., is but a type of a large area of this country, which has passed quickly from forested fertility to depleted, gul- lied, worn-out fields. They have been the vampires of the soil. The Goths and Vandals of agriculture who thus by their improvident culture have sent down to the sea over a thousand millions of dollars in plant food. This soil depletion is fearful to contemplate, for in some places it still goes on. Our national existence, our boasted civil- ization cry out in thunder tones to check this frightful drain upon soil fertility. Gibbon says the greatness and imperial power of Rome went through her sewers down the Tiber into the sea. Many an ancient empire has fallen with the exhaustion of its land. Wise counsel is needed to stop this drain upon our soils, to levee against this sea of disaster, whose swelling waves threaten to engulf us. I am aware. Mr. President, that farming in Virginia has ceased to be the "primrose path of dalliance." It no logger "leads through bowers of ease or pleasing lands of drowsey head." All of its charms, its pleasures and much of its profits have departed. Fluctuating prices, unreliable labor, soil depletion and scarcity of money have almost shorn this portion of your state of its former enviable agricul- tural prestige. There is in the present situation much to excite thought and study, nothing to cr.eate despair. A fairer land with more favorable natural advantages was 1908.] THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 867 never vouchsafed to an intelligent people. Stripped of her former glory, with her large estates disintegrated and divided, with many old colonial homes fallen into decay, she appeals to us for succor. Is this section of the state sleeping or dead?. If sleeping, let us like good sentinels on the watch tower bid her awaken and shake off Endy- mion's curse and that sleek satisfaction of the past, which strangles hopes of glory for the future. If dead, let us burst the cerements of the grave and proclaim for her that there is a resurrection and a life. I rejoice to believe the presence of so many of our farm- ers attending this great convention is a declaration of her redemption. Taught by disaster and with the experience of our fathers before us, we are here to-day to put the mighty force of cultured intellect under the prostrate form of our cherished industry and lift it from the depths into which it has been hurled by more than two centuries of improvided culture, terminating with an earthquake of civil commotion which shook both hemispheres. You fel- low farmers, this magnificent domain must be restored to its primitive fertility. Science and practice combine in pointing out a successful way and the intelligent, indus- trious farmer alone is needed to consummate this devoutly wished purpose. Descended from illustrious stock, inher- iting all their transcendent virtues, you are here to-day to imbibe the accumulated knowledge of centuries, the di- gested experience of the world, the scientific thought of ages illuminated and intensified by the briliant discovery of the immediate past and present. The resources of this section surround you awaiting the electric touch of genius to be transformed into streams of gold which shall fill your land with wealth and with rural scenes which shall charm the eye and fill the soul with gladness. The agricultural battalions are calling for leaders. Are you ready to as- sume these duties and responsibilities? I believe you are, and will demonstrate to the world that an enlightened, hon- est manhood is the "mightiest resource of every section." This great section, extending from the Potomac to the North Carolina line and from Washington, D. C, through Fredericksburg, Richmond, Petersburg and on to Weldon. • N. C, is but a part of the great Atlantic Coastal plain which extends from New York to Mexico. It belongs to the Ter- tiary and Quarternary ages of Geology and its material has been derived from the earlier rocks which formed the Appalachian chain. At times it has been submerged be- neath the ocean and our marl beds, known as the Chesa- peake, the Pamunkey and the Potomac formations are but the remains of the numerous life that existed in these waters during submergence. These marl varying from highly calcareous to slightly phosphoric have been used largely in the past as fertilizers for these soils. Through their use, for which we all return thanks and praise to Mr. Edmund Ruffin, the introducer, the first systematic attempt was made to resuscitate these depleted soils. After repeated submergencies, this section arose from the ocean with its present mantle of sands, sandy loams, and clays which now form our soils. Whether we cultivate the La- fayette or the Columbia formation is scarcely material to the farmer of this section, since the latter is but a re- working of the former. Much of this section has been in- vestigated by the Bureau of Soils atvWashington and prom- inent areas have furnished names to certain types of soils in the classifiction by the Bureau. The soils of this section are largely sandy loams, with occasional areas of silt and clay. It is not within the prov- ince of this paper to differentiate them into the various types according to texture and physical properties. It is sufficient for our purposes to note a common origin and that water has served to separate them into the present types. The materials that make up our surface deposits and know geologically as the Columbian formation have a thickness of from 10 to 30 feet. These unconsolidated sands and clays in alternate layers with occasional de- posits of gravel, have been derived from the Eastern Ap- palachian region and transported and deposited by streams in shallow estuaries and deltas during the building of this great Coastal flood plain. The weathering of these de- posits has resulted in the soil of this section. They range in elevation from 30 to perhaps 200 feet above sea level and are generally gently rolling, permitting of ample drainage while the various streams found everywhere have cut their way through this unconsolidated material and left us roughly dissected hillsides. Some years ago the speaker obtained by inheritance his old ancestral home in Gloucester Co. Pride of ancestry, the natural love of one's birthplace and youthful home, the ties of kindred and the hallowed associations clinging to the old homestead impelled him to keep the place and im- prove it. In the mental discussions which followed a de- termination to improve the place, it was argued that since this land had been in cultivation for over 250 years and much of its primitive fertility had been removed in the production of sweet scented yellow Orinoko tobacco, which subsequently went up in smoke in the Englishman's pipe, and since tobacco Was a great potash consumer, that these soils needed first and foremost potash salts for their rapid resuscitation. This argument was further strengthened by the knowledge of the absence of this element in large quantities in all sandy soils. Accordingly a series of field experiments were instituted on the farm for the purpose of deciding the mineral requirements of each field. Sam- ples of soil from each field were taken simultaneously and carried to our laboratories in Louisiana and subjected to careful physical and chemical analysis. Physical analy- sis showed |that these soils were mainly fine sandy loams, consisting of fine sands, silts and clays in varying propor- tions. Chemical analysis revealed a striking deficiency in phosphoric acid, the highest amount found in any soil, be- ing .006 per cent. There were larger quantities of nitro- gen and potash, but neither were present in excessive quantities. The simultaneous field experiments made cor- roborated the above results. Nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash, used singly, in pairs and altogether were tried under corn and tobacco. Dried blood, acid phosphate and the various forms of German potash salts furnished the above ingredients. These experiments were extended over a series of years and on different fields. They showed conclusively that potash in any form was not required for the growth even of these potash loving plants. Phosphoric acid ivas the ingredient most emphatically called for, even with ample quantities of phosphoric acid present, a demand for ni- 868 THE SOUTHERN" PLANTER [October, trogen was apparent for maximum growth. "Without phos- phoric acid the nitrogen produced no beneficial results. From these experiments a plan for future operations was at once projected. The phosphoric acid must be purchased and the very small quantity present in our soils, suggested application to each crop. The nitrogen could easily be furnished by the growth of leguminous crops. Of the lat- ter, many were tested for their merits in a regular rota- tion. The different clovers, vetches, velvet beans, cow peas, soja beans and alfalfa were tried. Finally the fol- lowing short rotation was formulated which included two leguminous crops. Starting with corn as the first crop, the ground is occupied the next year with cow peas or soja beans as the summer crop, followed in winter by wheat, which in turn is succeeded by crimson clover and then back to corn. Acid phosphate is used with each crop 100 to 200 lbs per acre. A goodly number of Hereford cattle, Southdown and Shropshire sheep and Berkshire hogs, besides the usual farm complement of horses, colts and mules are kept, re- quiring a large quantity of forage to sustain them. The corn is therefore, harvested with a corn binder and when cured, carefully shredded and stored for winter feed. Just here permit me to remark that this stover is our main reliance for the maintenance of the matured dry cattle during the winter and when properly supplemented with leguminous hays and cotton seed meal, is an excellent ra- tion for fattening steers and for growing animals. The cow peas, soja beans and crimson clover are all converted into hay and fed on the farm. The crimson clover remaining after serving as an early spring pasture for all stock, is harvested in May, a very unfavorable season for curing hay. The land is immed- iately broken with heavy two horse plows six to ten inches deep. After thorough pulverization and the application broadcast of 200 lbs. of acid phosphate to the acre, the corn is planted in rows 3 1-2 feet apart and 12 to 16 inches in the drill. It is rapidly cultivated with shoe and disc two horse cultivators, and harvested at maturity with a binder and shredded when dry with a shredder, for feed. There are several minor defects in the above rotation which we are striving to remedy. "We leave our corn stub- bles throughout the winter without a cover. Sowing the corn with crimson clover at the last working is largely practiced but with us, on a large scale this practice has not proved satisfactory and we are yet without a profitable suggestion. Again the early harvesting in the spring of the Crimson clover, the rush and bustle of getting this land properly broken and pulverized in time to secure a matured crop of corn by fall are minor objections which rarely become serious. While awaiting the next spring the harvesting of the crimson clover, the corn stubbles of the previous year are thoroughly broken with heavy plows, pulverized and planted in cow neas or soja beans, using a wheat drill which also simultaneously distributes the acid phosnhate. A bushel of each seed is used per acre. No after cultivation is given these crops. In August and September these crops are converted into hay save a limited area of each which is reserved for seed. Soon after peas or beans are cut, the land is cross broken with a disc harrow and sowed in October in wheat, 1 1-2 bushels per acre, using a drill to sow wheat and distribute acid phosphate. The wheat is harvested with a binder and when dry threshed, stacking the straw carefully for winter use. In August such weeds and grasses as may have occupied the wheat field since harvest are removed with a mower and converted into hay. This land is at once cross broken with a disc har- row and when pulverized sown in crimson clover (15 lbs. per acre) using the wheat drill with clover seed attach- ment, putting out at the same time the acid phosphate. An iron roller follows the drill and this by a smoothing har- row which completes the work. Corn, as already explained, succeeds this crop in spring. Of course, in addition to this rotation, stable manure is used, a distributor spreading it over the fields. This ma- nure is distributed from the stables every few days dur- ing the growing season, putting it upon any available land, now on the clover field, now on the wheat stubble and sometimes on the growing wheat. In early spring when the accumulations of the winter are upon us, it is put on the fields destined for corn — the proper place for stable manure in true farm economy. We handle about 750' loads of thirty bushels each, per year, and distribute this amount over 75 acres. The results of eight years of this practice have been very satisfactory. In the beginning our fields were very thin, reduced by continuous cropping of over 250 years. Ten to fifteen bushels per acre of corn were the average yields. Great improvement everywhere is apparent and yields of thirty bushels of corn per acre are common to all of our fields — some going much higher. Forty acres of this land has been so greatly improved as to successfully grow al- falfa. Twenty-five acres are devoted to this crop, while a small lot of four acres, occupied by this crop for four years and from which twenty crops of hay had been taken, yielded in corn last year, without fertilizer, seventy-five bushels per acre. The comparative merits of cow peas and soja beans are often discussed. It has already been shown that when har- vested for hay before developing seed the results in soil fertility are essentially alike but if both are permitted to mature seed it will be found that the soja bean has carried from the soil a greater quantity of fertility, because the quantity of seed per acre is greater and the grain itself is much richer in nitrogen. The Japanese have been grow- ing this soja bean for ages for its seed alone for food for man and since it is their chief source of protein in their food, it is far better developed along these lines than the cow pea, which has been principally cultivated for the improvement of soils and which forms an insignificant part of our daily diet. Soja beans sown or planted early on good land will make enormous yields of seed, containing in the aggregate the largest possible quantity of protein, the beans having a content of 34 ner cent, against the cow peas 20 per cent. Fearing that the supply of potash, now so heavily drawn on by the increased crops might be getting low. experiments at intervals are made regularly to test the present avail- able supply. So far no indications of a deficiency hns been manifested and it seems unnecessary so Ions rs cro^s grown upon the farm are fed to stock and resulting ma- nure carefully returned to the fields. 1908. THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 869 To succeed any and everywhere now in farming, re- quires great intelligence, large caution and the best judg- ment. The seed of every crop should be selected with the utmost care and planted in only well prepared and fertil- ized land. All available home made manure should be properly distributed. This should be supplemented with mineral manures wherever needed, remembering that in feeding your lands like feeding your stock, a balanced ra- tion is most economical and profitable. Labor saving implements should be everywhere used and a rotation of crops, involving profit to the farmer and in- crease of fertility to the soil should be adopted by every farmer. I omit here one phase of planting, so prominent in this section and which yields such pleasing returns as to jeop- ardize the true farming interests. This is especially true in the Eastern section, where most of the labor is engaged in this industry. I allude to the oyster industry of the Chesapeake and its tributaries, which, if properly devel- oped, would be the largest resource of this great state. Fortunately for this section, many of those who pursue the oyster industry, devote some time between April and September in tilling the soil. But their holdings are small and their efforts directed mainly to the growing of crops for home support. No systematic farming on a large scale can be accomplished with laborers who flee to the oyster rocks with the approach of autumn. Reviewing the resources of Eastern Va., one is struck with the vast opportunities presented. High above tide, with a delightful climate, with excellent drainage condi- tions, with varied types of soil, permitting the widest range of agricultural industries, with excellent natural trans- portation facilities; with populous cities nearby proffer- ing the best markets for all kinds of products, with a peo- ple living in ancestral homes refined by a culture inherited from the earliest and best of American settlers, with num- erous churches, schools and colleges, with these homes and lands selling at ridiculously low prices, the oppor- tunities in this section for investment and development are surpassingly and surprisingly great. If agriculture here is a failure it is man's mistake. The trouble is not in the land, for where are responses so quickly made to intelligent culture, nor in the balmy cli- mate, nor in our favorable seasons, God never made a bet- ter country for the laborer or the man of small means. It is briefly a land of sunshine without sunstroke, a little sunbrowned perhaps, but greatly sunblest and the farmer who intelligently strikes her on her spring breast may feed himself from her fountains. Farmers of Eastern Va., you have before you a field in which intellect may find a theatre for its noblest powers and taste may deport itself amid the everchanging play of nature's lavish gifts and delightful harmonies. Let learning and labor be your motto. Invoke the spirit of service to wipe the dust and sweat from the brow of ag- riculture and lead her forth into those fields of hers where love is brooding and life is born, and show her that both may work in perfect harmony in the production of plant and flower and fruit. Then will the exiles return to the home of their fathers, be filled with accents of joy and songs of praise. Such a day is surely coming and the prophetic finger of the proud history of this section which has furnished the world with so many heroes, statesmen, and men of mark, and has been the theatre of so many stirring national scenes, point to it as the climax of all of its achievements. WM. C. STUBBS. Gloucester Co., Va. PLANT FOOD. , Editor Southern Planter: The word food means what nourishes and sustains, so that plant food must be something which nourishes and sustains the plant. Our State Agricultural Department has arbitrarily decided that three things are necessary to the complete and full growth and development of the plant — phosphoric acid, ammonia and potash — and will not register any mixture that does not contain by analysis a separate or combined percentage of these ingredients. The writer recollects very distinctly when no mineral fer- tilizers were used in Virginia except ground plaster, and the story of its introduction may be remembered. During the Revolutionary War Benjamin Franklin was sent as Minister of the colonies to France. He was deeply inter- ested in anything that benefitted his race. He noticed that the French farmers used no mineral fertilizers on their crops but plaster of Paris, and it gave fine results. On his return he brought a sample of it and wrote on the grass of the Capitol grounds in Philadelphia in large letters: This is Plaster of Paris. The growth of grass was so great that it excited the wonder and admiration of all passers by. After the war plaster was found plentiful in Nova Scotia and called Nova Scotia plaster, and was the only mineral fertilizer used in Virginia until about 1845, when the Peruvian Guano craze came on. Owing to high transportation charges plaster was very dear, costing $20 per ton in Lynchburg in the lump, and costing the farmers nearly as much more to haul it to the, mill and pay for grind- ing and hauling to his farm. They would not sow wheat and clover without it if they could get it, even at $50 per ton. From 1845 to 1850 the Peruvian guano craze came on. 1 heard a.n intelligent farmer say it was cheaper to pay $50 per ton for it than to haul the requisite manure from his barnyard to his tobacco lots. Under this impression, it was largely used in growing tobacco, and thereby hangs a tale. It will be remembered by old tobacco dealers that Virginia had a reputation above others both here and in Europe for manufacturing and other purposes. Some of the Western States com- menced growing tobacco and shipping to this market. It was, however, of coarse fibre and could only be used in common goods. When our planters commenced to use the Peruvian guano, it was found that their tobacco lacked substance, though good for wrappers, and the Western nold quite freely for fillers. Our tobacco growers became alarmed and prevailed on the Legislature to pass a law requiring every package of Western tobacco sold in Virginia to be branded on the head and side "Western" in letters not less than four inches in size. This law was strictly enforced for two years, but the demand for Western tobacco steadily in- creased. I have no doubt some of these branded pack- 870 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER [October, ages found their way to Europe, as the bulk of the crop is now sold in the West and shipped direct to European ports. Many intelligent farmers are decidedly of the opinion that tobacco cannot be successfully grown without the use of ammonia. Hence 8-2-2 goods have become the stand- ard for registration for a tobacco fertilizer, and for this 2 per cent, ammonia the price charged is $5 or $6 per ton. As many farmers judge the quality by the smell, vola- tle ammoniates are used. The former gets forty pounds of ammonia, for which he pays $6 per ton. Say that he applies 500 pounds per acre, the crop gets ten pounds per acre, less what goes off in the atmosphere from the time of mixing to the time it is put under the soil. Professor Massey gives the farmers a tip just here. By sowing a crop of peas after harvest, they will get a crop of pea hay that will doubly pay the expense and the stubble will give double the nitrogen you get in 2 per cent, fertilizers, and this ammonia is already dis- tributed in the right place for the quick germination and development of your next crop. A beneficent providence has graciously "provided a bountiful supply of nitrogen for the growth of the vege- table kingdom created in the beginning, and that supply will be continued, otherwise the world would soon become an arid waste unfit for the abode of mankind for which it was created. In the north of Europe they are actually extracting the ammonia from the atmosphere by electrical machin- ery and converting it into a commercial substance. A fertilizer, therefore, like plaster (sulphate of lime) and carbonic acid, which strongly attract this valuable ingredient from the atmosphere, is of far more importance in keeping up a supply of plant food than is generally recognized. L. Henrico Co., Va. Our correspondent is in error in stating that the Department of Agriculture of the State has arbitrarily decided that phosphoric acid, ammonia and potash are necessary to the growth and full development of plants. Science has demonstrated that plants must have these three elements for successful growth, and the Depart- ment has only followed the teaching's of science in requir- ing that these elements, or some of them, shall be pres- ent in the fertilizer offered for sale. It does not require that all three shall be present in each fertilizer registered. The Department will and does register brands containing only one element, such as acid phosphate, which supplies only phosphoric acid, and so with the other elements. A complete fertilizer must have all three elements present. The question of the value of land plaster as a fertil- izer is one which we have several times discussed in the Planter, and we say something more on the subject in this issue in reply to an inquiry. To be effective, there must be available potash in the soil. It was very effective in the early days of the settlement of this country, be- cause great quantities of lumber were being constantly burnt, and the ashes applied to the land. Now, that lumber is too costly to burn and ashes are scarce, plaster is very uncertain in its action, as most of the potash in the land is in an unavailable condition. — Ed. SOME NOTES ON THE SEPTEMBER PLANTER. Editor Southern Planter: AlfaZfa. I note with great interest what the Wing Brothers have to say in regard to alfalfa and lime. I have just returned from a visit to a large farm, the property of a wealthy gentleman, in a section where alfalfa has been grown suc- cessfully for fifty years and no one ever thought of liming it. This farm is on the Piedmont red clay, Cecil clay, as the soil surveyors call it, although there is a great variation in it in different sections. The owner has spent large sums in the improvement of the farm, and is par- ticularly anxious to have a fine field of alfalfa. Two fields and part of a third had been sown to alfalfa. On the two first he had years ago a splendid stand of alfalfa, and uowed it for several years. It was then turned for corn, and made a heavy crop. The crop was followed by wheat, and last year the effort was made to get it back in alfalfa. All but a small part of the crop has been largely a failure, though it was heavily limed. In fact, in some places, I could stir the lime an inch deep with my foot, and on these places there were no weeds and no alfalfa either. On the third field the plot of alfalfa is excellent and flourishing, but no lime was used there. On the first two fields, where the stand of alfalfa is good, the third growth is turning yellow, and I had it mown off while there, as the young buds below were start- ing green. I would hardly claim that the failure is the result of the liming, but rather of soil depletion. The land, as I have said, grew a splendid growth of alfalfa some years ago. This was mown for a number of years and little, if anything, applied. The turned-down sod made a crop of corn and a crop of wheat, and now it is evi- dent that the lack is not lime, but phosphorus and potas- sium. On the portion that has a good stand I have sug- gested that three plots be made of it. On one portion four tons per acre of pulverized limestone; on the second 400 pounds of acid phosphate, and on the third nothing, hoping in this way to enable the owner to learn some- thing in regard to the needs of the land. But what I par- ticularly noted was that when the lime was spread on this alfalfa it was spread from a wagon, and on some spots there was a much heavier application than on others, and these heavily limed spots had no vegetation what- ever on them of any description, the alfalfa stopping short at the edge of the heavily limed spots. I have no theory to propound in regard to this matter, but we are going to try to find out the reason. Adjoin- ing this farm on which so much money has been spent is a farm in the hands of an old-fashioned farmer, who lias not gotten out of the old ruts. He simply plowed the land sowed alfalfa, and his field is perfectly splendid in its thick stand and luxuriant growth, and he has never used a pound of lime on the farm in his life. I am going to study this matter out on this aforesaid farm of the mil- lionaire. There is no lack of inoculation, for nearly all the land in that neighborhood is inoculated for alfalfa, as they have been growing "lucern" there for genera- tions. But if an excess of lime is what is wanted, why was it that on the most heavily limed parts of that field there is no alfalfa? In the work that has grown on me of visiting and 190C] THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 871 advising in regard to the management of various farms I must confess that alfalfa is still something of a puz- zle to me, and with the abundant means at hand on this place J hope to solve the puzzle to some extent. Bad Plowing. On this same fine farm the plows were running pre- paring for a forage crop of oats andi vetch. I asked how deep they plowed, and was told eight inches. Then I watched one of the plowmen as he passed me, and called tho attention of the manager to the fact that while the point and landside of the plow was going eight inches the darkey was turning four inches more than the plow he used was made to turn, and on the moldboard side was leaving a hard ridge only four inches 'down. There is where the eye of the manager is needed, for a darkey Mill always try to "cut and cover," taking a third more land than the plow was ever intended to cut. On one spot the recent flood that visited that section had car- ried off bodily the plowed soil and the bottom left was a series of these ridges. It is important for the farmer to note the way in which a plowman plows and to make his hands turn only what the plow was made to turn and edge this up nicely instead of trying to flop it over flat. Clover Growing. The replies to Mr. Cabell are characteristic of the "Savants" of the Department of Agriculture, "clover sick- ness." I have often heard of that indefinite sort of thing, and never believed in any sort of sickness in plants that a real scientist could not find a cause for. It has been demonstrated in East Tennessee that there is there a real sickness in clover, caused by a fungus disease. But I believe that what is commonly called "clover sickness" is a myth. The clover fails either through lack of humus in the soil, acidity, or lack of the mineral plant foods that clover especially needs. Many years ago I took charge of a place on which was a field that was said to be clover sick. That field got a good coat of lime, and finer clover never grew anywhere. In many sections, the failure of clover is evidently due to a lack of the moisture retaining humus. A good stand is had and, after harvest, the soil bakes hard and dries out, and the clover dies simply from lack of moisture and air at the roots. In other places, clover fails from soil exhaustion added to the lack of humus. In the lack of humus the bacteria cannot thrive, the soil gets acid and the lack of phosphoric acid and potash prevents any growth. In fact, I do not believe in clover sickness unless it is a disease that can be insolated and studied. I know of farms on which a clover sod is turned down every third year, and this has been done for many years, and there is no complaint of failure to grow clover, for the humus is maintained and the grain crops are fed with phosphoric acid. Mr. Cabell says that the failure is common on new land. In that case I should attribute the failure to acidity and the need of lime. As regards the seed, I believe that every farmer should try to get a piece of land clean of weeds and grow his own seed. Weeds. Mr. Carlton writes rather amusingly about weeds. He is right as regards the difficulty in cleaning land by cul- tivating corn. Corn well and shallowly cultivated will destroy all the weeds within germinable distance of the surface, but another turning of the soil brings a host more of seed to the conditions for growth, and they grow. One of the best crops for cleaning land is orchard grass and red clover. These are- cut early and before the weeds seed, and are not like timothy cut after the seeding time. And orchard grass, with its great mass of roots will improve the soil more when turned down than timo- thy will, and the bone meal will help both. An eld student of mine is now the weed expert in the Depart- ment of Agriculture. He is a close investigator of the habits of growth of the various weeds, and in studying the habit of the wild onion he has formulated a plan for its extermination, and will shortly have a bulletin on this subject. His plan is based on the fact that each onion plant makes one large white and thin-skinned bulb, which starts to grow in the fall, and also makes a lot of hard-shelled offsets that do not start till spring. Now, before making the new bulb, the large one that starts in the fall exhausts itself. Then, if it is turned under so as to bury all the top, it is killed, and the mother- plant is destroyed. The little hard-shelled offsets start in the spring, and as soon as they have grown enough to exhaust the food supply in the bulb turn them under, top and all, for if any tip is left exposed to light the plant will grow. Get the bulletin as soon as out, on Wild Onions, by T. S. Cates. It will be fully illustrated from photographs. Mr. Cates also has published a bulle- tin on the 'destruction of Johnson grass, based on a study of the habits of growth in the plant. He is a close and accurate investigator and his bulletins are helpful. Fertilizers. I would ask Mr. Hicks in what more available form can we get soluble phosphoric acid than in acid phos- phate. Doubtless, the mixed fertilizers generally contain too large a percentage of phosphoric acid, since it is the cheapest plant food used by the manufacturers, and they know that farmers in general are looking for low- priced fertilizers. Mr. Hicks leaves out of view the soil and its character and the rotation of crops and growing of legumes. Nitrogen is of course needed, for it is the vital principle in plant life, but why spend money for it when the experience of thousands has shown that we can get all we need for our grain crops through the legumes and the manure made from their feeding? How many more field experiments with fertilizer formulas do we need, for this has been a great part of the work of many Stations, until many farmers have gotten into the notion that for every crop planted they must have a special fertilizer formula. When farmers, who for more than twenty years have bought no nitrogen, have seen their lands increase in productiveness, why should grain farm- ers study formulas rather than methods of rotation and soil improvement through the growing of legume crops and the development of the humus in their soils? Farm- ers beg me for formulas till I get sick of the word. The formula needed is a good rotation of crops and the use of the forms of plant food for the increased production of the legumes, and through their use getting all the nitrogen needed. Demonstration. As Mr. Carlton says, "What does a farmer want with a demonstration?" The work that is being done in this 872 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER T October, line by the Department of Agriculture is a good thing to wake up those who do not read and study. But a demon- stration on a single field is not what is needed. The whole farm should be planned and set into a course of cultivation and rotation, and made in this way a real demonstration of how a farm may be made to build itself up, and not a demonstration to show how large a crop can be made through a liberal fertilization of the soil. A demonstration farm should be a demonstration all over, and year after year, if it is to avail anything of perma- nent value. But I had rather trust to Mr. Sandy's heavy seeding than the lighter seeding for grass. My neigh- bors used to laugh at me for sowing sixteen pounds of red clover per acre, but the difference between my stands of clover and theirs was enough to pay many times over for the difference in the seed. There is far more danger of getting clover and grass too thin than too thick, and the farmer who gets it too thin will more fre- quently "get left" than the man whose soil is well stocked with plants. Farm Horses. In reply to the question "N" asks, I would say that I am too busy directing the improvement of a number of farms near by and at long distances to be now personally engaged in the cultivation of a farm. That is, I am do- ing far more farming than if on a farm of my own, for a large part of my time is taken up in visiting and keep- ing up with the farms I have in tow. But I would like to know why one should keep and feed a lot of big horses where a good pair of mules can easily pull a plow eight inches deep? The mules are far more economical, and in all the farming I do or superintend the effort is to avoid needless expense. Fertilizers and Rotation. Mr. Grizzard is right in valuing the use of fertilizers to get humus in the land through the growth of legume crops. But in all of our work we should to some extent look after the financial profit every year. It costs a good deal to prepare land for crimson clover as he advises, and one should get more from this first crop than mere pasture for calves. I would plant corn after turning down that first crop of clover. Among this corn, at last work- ing, I would sow cow peas, and would cut the corn and then disk the ripe peas thoroughly and in September sow winter oats. Follow these oats after harvest with peas again on which a good application of acid phosphate and muriate of potash has been used, and cut these peas for hay, and sow crimson clover on the stubble in Sep- tember and turn this down in the spring and apply another heavy application of acid phosphate and potash and plant peanuts. Sow rye after the peanuts and haul out during the winter all the manure and spread broadcast for corn, and repeat the rotation. In this way we will always have a winter cover crop on the land and will never need to buy any complete fertilizer. Many peanut growers think that they cannot do without plaster, but if they reflect that in every 100 pounds of acid phosphate they are apply- ing forty pounds of plaster, it is evident that if they put the phosphate on liberally they will need no more plaster. Plaster and lime prevent pops by releasing pot- ash, and it is a deficiency of potash in the sandy soils that makes pops, and if potash and phosphoric acid are applied liberally to a soil that has gained humus-making material through the legumes there will be few pops. A North Carolina man once said to me that he hated cow peas so badly that he would not allow a man to ride over his farm with peas in his pockets. That man makes poor crops of peanuts and cannot see why he has such bad luck. He simply needs peas and a sensible rotation. Mr. Grizzard's Corn Growing. The statement of cost and profit which Mr. Grizzard gives on page 772 leaves a good deal to be explained. He said in his August contribution that he prepares the land, applies lime, etc., and sows crimson clover. That be breaks this in the fall, fertilizes and sows crimson clover again, and cuts this crop and puts the land in corn. But in his statement of cost he seems to allow for plowing and harrowing the land but once in the two years, while he actually has to plow it three time. He certainly sows clover seed in abundance, for I have found that fiiteen pounds is usually sufficient. Then he does not say how much manure he used in the topdressing of the first crop of clover. For the second crop, I under- stand from his August article, he applies four tons of barnyard manure, and afterwards topdresses again. If at each application the land gets four tons per acre, we have a fair dressing of manure. But If he allows in the expenses the value of the com- mercial fertilizer he should have allowed something for the value of the manure, for it is a very small estimate to put the handling of twelve tons of manure, hauling and spreading, at $4. I admire Mr. Grizzard's determination to put humus in his soil, and to feed and make manure, and do not even object to the liberal amount of clover seed used. But it would be far more interesting and in- structive if he had had another acre on which the lime, clover and manure were used only. He would then have been able to note what increase was due to the 1,400 pounds of fertilizer applied. I feel pretty sure that if he had done this he would have found that the increased crop of corn would not have paid for the fertilizer even at his big estimate of 80 cents per bushel. He made a "demonstration," it is true, but a further comparison would have been more instructive. Then he paid a big price for the twenty pounds of potash in that 1,000 pounds of prepared lime, for he could have gotten fresh lump lime for less money, and would not have paid for all the water it took to slake that 1,000 pounds. I have bought fresh lump lime years ago for $3.00 a ton, and, with freight and hauling, it cost less than $6.00, and after slak- ing to a powder a carload of eighteen tons was more than doubled in bulk. That is, I paid 12 cents per bushel for the fresh lime; got 440 bushels, or nearly 18 tons in a car load, and, when slaked to a powder, I had 1,000 bushels. Then, a word about the salt in the hay. It does not do a particle of good and" far better hay can be made with- out it. W. F. MASSBY. Scott Co., Va., March 19, 1908. I have been reading the Southern Planter for many years and I like it best of any agricultural paper I have ever taken. E. M. HART. 1908.] THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 873 FARMERS' CO-OPERATIVE DEMONSTRATION WORK, DR. S. A. KNAPP IN CHARGE, MEET IN WASHINGTON, AUG. 31 TO SEPT 4. Sitting-: Left to Right — 1. A. F. Wood, Asst. Chief Bureau Plant Industry; 2. B. T. Galloway, Asst. Chief Bureau Plant Industry; 3. Dr. S. A. Knapp, Special Ag-ent in Charge; 4. D. N. Barrow, 5. T. O. Sandy. Standing, Left to Right. — 1. D. A. Brodie; 2. W. A. Orton; 3. D. N. Shoemaker; 4. H. E. Snavely; 5. I G Williams' 6. J. P. Campbell; 7. W. D. Bentley; 8. J. D. Quicksall; 9. E. Gentry; 10. Wm. Bamberge; 11. W. F Procter; 12. C. R. Hudson; 13. R. S. Wilson; 14. S. A. Knapp, Jr. LIME FOR ALFALFA. Editor Southern Planter: When you read that article in the September issue about making alfalfa a success, was your brain stirred to some sort of action and what have you done since? Have you made inquiries how and where to get eight to ten tons of ground limestone for every acre that you intend planting to alfalfa? If you are going to use such enormous quan- tities of lime you don't want burnt or caustic lime, because so much of it would hurt your corn. What you need is ordinary limestone crushed and finely ground. Ground limestone sells in Illinois at 75 cents per ton, in other states at from $1.00 to $1.25 per ton, loaded on board of cars. I do not know of any instance where lime can be bought at such figures in Virginia. Besides, freight is an important item. Unless the mill is located on your line of railroad the freight would be too high. If the farm- ers are going to use ground limestone extensively, there is no doubt that mills will be erected on all principal rail- ways. For the benefit of those who are interested in lime I have written to E. H. Stroud & Co., No. 30 La Salle St., Chicago, to learn something about lime crushing plants. A mill that will grind about two tons per hour so fine that 60 to 75 per cent of it will pass through a sieve having 100x100 meshes to the square inch would cost about $550. A crusher to first break the rocks to one-inch pieces would cost perhaps $500. The cost of grinding a ton of lime rock is about from 15 to 35 cents per ton where cheap power is available. It would perhaps cost about 10' to 15 cents per ton to quarry the lime and bring it to the crusher. It would seem that if quarry and plant were lo- cated on a railroad siding there would be a very fair mar- gin of prifit in selling ground limestone at $1.25 per ton delivered on board of cars. The larger the plant, the lower the cost of operation per ton. A mill that grinds 5 or 10 tons per hour can turn out its product cheaper than a small mill having only a capacity of 2 tons per hour. The way to get a thing is to go after it until you get it. If you want ground limestone at $1.25 per ton, ask for it and keep on asking for it. If you write to the Editor of the Southern Planter how much of such lime you would like to have he will certainly be glad to show your letter and all other letters to parties who would go into the business, if they felt confident of a sufficient demand for the product. If you are going to plant two or three acres of alfalfa you need one carload of ground limestone; if you are going to plant 25 acres you will need about 10 carloads. If you expect to use lime next year you should write now. Perhaps your neighbors want lime also and would join you in an order. But unless you do tell of your wants, how do you expect men to start lime crushing plants? Before men engage in a business they want to know whether there is enough demand for the product. If you depend upon others to make their needs known, the others may be depending on you. I want 40 tons. N. THE ALFALFA PROBLEM IN VI RGINI A— HOW IT BEING SOLVED AND THE INTEREST IT IS CREATING. IS Editor Southern Planter: The following letter from one of your large Virginia planters is so interesting that I make bold to send it to you for publication, as it has in it so much of great in- terest. Mr. J. P. Jack on the Rappahannock is sowing a 874 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER [October, large area to alfalfa, as a business proposition. Briefly his practice is to sow crimson clover, follow this with ; cow peas, then in August to sow alfalfa alone, using 30 lbs. of seed to the acre. He limes with about two tons of lime to the acre, or a little more, he uses bone meal or some other carrier of phosphorus very liberally, as much as 400 lbs. per acre. Last year he sowed 160 acre's, using thereon 400 tons of lime. The following letter gives the results of this first seeding. J- E. WING & BROS. SEED CO. Messrs. J. E. Wing .& Bros. Seed Co., Mechanicsburg, Ohio., Gentlemen.— My time has been so occupied that I have not had time to report to you the conditions here. As you may remember we have had three cuttings: 1st from May 8 to 15; 2nd,, from June 10 to 20; 3rd, from Aug. 1 to 10. from which we have obtained about 150 tons of what I think may be called Al; also 100' tons of 2nd class- splendid for feed, but not bright and good for market. Then some 125 to 150 tons from 1st cutting which was made worthless because* of the cress in it and which we stacked in the open. In addition to this we have been feeding 37 head of mules with this year's hay. Now as to the present condition of the fields: One of 50 acres I think now stands 10 inches high and as perfect a stand and color as anyone would wish to see. It is just about like that nice dark strip of yours was along the steep side hill where your brother drove me. Another field of forty acres has about twenty-five acres very choice, same as the field above mentioned, but the remaining fifteen acres has much crab grass and in some places a thin stand of alfalfa and along the road a strip about one rod wide has turned yellow. I am inclined to think cutting and liming will correct this. I should have said that in the 50-acre field there are two strips 30 feet wide which are not good. One was left without lime and the other without fertilizer. The one without lime is the poorest. Where these strips cross each other the field is almost void of alfalfa and full of grass and weeds. My intention is to correct these two strips after the next cutting as they have served their purpose as far as I am concerned, and they detract very much from the appearance of the field, which, without them, would be almost perfect. There is another 35-acre field which, although it has received more care, more treatment, and as much lime as any, and some natural advantages which the other fields do not possess, has not done so well. The stand is not quite thick enough and the rag-weed and foxtail is showing in it in many places. The two remaining fields are very nice. So you see that, everything considered, I cannot complain. The shortcomings which now show can all be overcome in time, I think. I am seeding 160 acres more now and the seed bed is in splendid condi- tion. The rain is delaying the seeding somewhat, but 1 think we will get it completed this month. Port Conway, Va. J. F. JACK. The following letter shows that others are thinking on this problem. We can and must help them to solve it. September 9 1908. Jos. B. Wing, Esq., Dear Sir: — Right at the start, I want to apologize to you for imposing on you, as I know thei-e are a whole lot of people who are doing the same thing. My excuse is this: I have been waiting about two years now for you to write an article on "alfalfa in Old Virginia," and finally, on September 2d, you "made good." I live down here in the Pecos Valley and am engaged in sheep ranching and farming. Not wishing to be ego- tistical, but rather to engage your attention as a shepherd, I would state that my pure-bred lambs were first at last year's International in carload class for Western lambs, and that my this year's spring lambs now average 115 pounds, of course, due to alfalfa. I mention these things merely as credentials, to knowing something about my business. I have for a long time wanted to move East and engage in the sheep business, and have always had Virginia in my mind. Mr. J. F. Jack's ideas were so exact- ly my own that I need hardly mention my ideas at all. I want to get away from irrigation (of course, there ar. plenty of Eastern people who want to take my place; "high-priced water," "expensive maintenance;" then the long haul; shrinkage of lambs; high freights, etc., and un- reliability of labor (although I do not know whether the East is any better off in that respect). I would not set- tle in Virginia if I could not grow alfalfa. Alfalfa and sheep is the foundation I want to build on, and I think that makes a pretty solid foundation. Like yourself, l would criticize Mr. Jack for not fertilizing the peas or clover; also, for not trying what two, three and four tons of lime would have done; and, finally, I think there ought to be a dark cell in every county jail for all peo- ple who sell alfalfa hay from off the land. I have never done it. True, I am not rich, but my land is. This is a fairly good alfalfa country, but since feeding sheep here, we have raised the yield from four to six tons of hay weighed out of the stack, and you know our hay is very dry. That was done with sheep manure. But then, there is no limit to the possibilities of alfalfa with manure and phosphorus, and in the East, of course, lime. Now, Mr. Wing, I am not rich, have a little money, could get more capital if necessary, and have fifteen yeai experience with alfalfa, sheep and dairy cattle. What want is a home. I want to fight or coax some of those cheap, sick (not worn out) Virginia lands, and alfalfa i the only real prescription that I know of. I would like very much to settle in a neighborhood of "Jacks," and I think we could make the land and people smile. At first the people would smile at the "crazy idiots." But then, if the land "smiled," the sheep would "smile," anfl probably we could afford to "smile" too. That suggests just one more thought: I have always been a little timid about going into a new country and showing them "ho.w to do it." Is it not true that the average Northerner has made rather a poor showing in the South up to date? I do not want to be thought "average" or smart either, for. of course, there are tremendous problems to be worked out, but. if alfalfa can be made to grow, the battle is won. As I write, I can see alfalfa, sorghum (fine for soil- ing), corn, rape, mangels, turnips and swedes all growing to perfection, and still I want to go to Virginia. You, who have ranched in the West, know how I feel better than most people. I love the West and I love its people, but somehow the East and its people feels more like home 1908.] THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 875 to us. I want to have a home with a "fence around it," where I can be with the wife and babies. As it is now, I have to be away weeks at a time at camp. Another reason, the "good old days" have gone, never to return; the settler has got us on the move, even here in dry New Mexico, and, what is more, the settler is going to stay; he wants a home too. If you can find time to give me any advice or suggestions I will be most grateful. Of course, people are always bothering you to tell them where the garden of Eden is located, but my objective point is a place in Virginia where land is cheap and where alfalfa can be made to grow. Believe me Very truly yours, New Mexico. F. E. BRYANT. The following extract from Mr. Wing's article, pub- lished in the Breeders' Gazette of the 2d of September, gives further information as to who Mr. Jack is and what he is doing to demonstrate that Virginia can grow alfalfa and thus bring other profitable branches of farming with- in the reach of our people. Alfalfa and live stock spell prosperity for our farmers and recuperation of our wasted lands. We must go after these and not let the new- comers only be able to claim that they brought this pros- perity to us. We have for years been urging the growth of alfalfa and have always had an abiding faith in its ultimate success. It seems now that this is to be realized. — Ed. : "There came one day to us an order for eighty bushels of alfalfa seed to be sent to one farm in King George coun- ty, Virginia. This has never been known as an alfalfa growing country, and this order rather astonished us. We feared there might be some mistake, or, if not that, that the man who ordered it might not understand alfalfa growing very well and might be sowing a crop of grievous disappointment most costly and disheartening. So w!e felt inclined to reason with the man, to say: "Hold on, go slowly; make it eight bushels, not eighty." But when we inquired into it we were more astonished than ever. The man actually knew what he was about; he had already sown about 150 acres, and was going about it in the best manner. So we sent the seed. A few clays later the man himself came to see us and to study how alfalfa thrives on Woodland farm. He spent a day with us and whether he learned aught I do not know, but of him 1 learned much. This man with huge faith and energy is J. P. Jack, Los Angeles county, California. He is a man of large affairs out there. One day out in that country he began thinking of the East, wondering why advantages were not greater there than in California, where one is near to great markets like New York and Washington and Philadelphia, where freights are low and labor cheap and irrigation comes from the clouds and costs nothing for purchase or mainte- nance. The more he thought of it the more it seemed clear to him there must be a great undiscovered land down this way somewhere, where a man could make a fortune, and have fun doing it. Mr. Jack is a natural born creator of things. He loves to do things for the fun of doing them, and, while a very busy man, four time to run down East to see if he could find this Eldo rado. He settled down in Virginia for a month or two and explored. Plenty of lands he saw that would answer. so he thought, but at last he located in King George coun- ty two old estates — Bell Grove and Walsingham — and bought them. On the Walsingham place President Madi- son was born, though that might not happen again, of course. He got about 1,500 acres. The land, when he took it, was in a rather poor con- dition. Corn would yield about twenty bushels to the acre. The pastures were covered with briers and broom sedge. The land is a sort of chocolate clay, some of ,it a sandy loam. He was on the Rappahannock river. The usual crops in that region are wheat and corn, with a' little tobacco. The people 'he found intelligent, many of them educated, courteous and kindly. First, before he took hold, he went up to Washington and there in the Department of Agriculture, he found two young men — V. C. Piper and M. Schmitz. To them he mildly an- nounced that he wished to sow a little alfalfa in Virginia and would be glad of advice. "And about how much do you propose sowing?" they asked. "I wish to sow 40m" acres," was the reply. An explosion followed, remon- strances, protests. "My dear Mr. Jack, think what you will do! Your failure will be so colossal that you will put back the cause of alfalfa growing in Virginia for twenty years!" "Yet you say that I can grow it if I go about it right?" 'Certainly, but to grow alfalfa in east- ern Virginia you must lime the soil and work humus into it and fertilize^ and innoculate the land; all these things are essential." "These things I am willing to do," replied Mr. Jack. "But consider the amount of lime you will need." I am considering it. Where can we best get it?" When Mr. Piper and Mr Schmitz realized that Mr. Jack meant business, and was not afraid of doing the right thing, they rolled up their sleeves and got busy helping him. His first order for lime, I think, was for 400 tons. He has not yet solved the lime question to his satisfaction — that is, the source of supply; it costs more than it ought, but he has made a good beginning. Here is about his programme. He plants crimson clover in his corn at time of last cultivation. This grows finely, and he turns it under and plants cowpeas sometime after it. In some fields he has planted cowpeas alone. As yet he has not fertilized either the peas or the crimson clover — the one defect in his system that I can point out. The peas are ' plowed under in late July and intense cultivation given the ground. He plows ten inches deep, which is doubtless the deepest plowing that land ever received. Then he puts on lime, a ton of freshly slaked lime to the acre,' and after the lime 400 pounds of bone-meal with about : fifty-three per cent, of potash in it to the acre. Then thirty pounds of alfalfa seed, and soil from another alfalfa field for inoculation. This is done in August. Sometimes he has used ground ' limestone unburned. He has seen no material difference in results between the burned and unburned lime. He ' gets clean, rich, splendid stand's of alfalfa. To see if he '• really needed the lime and the fertilizer he left a strip ' through a field with no lime, and another strip running at right angles with no fertilizer. ' Where he put lime without fertilizer he got a good stand of not very thrifty ; alfalfa. Where he put fertilizer without lime he got a ■ very poor stand. Where these strips intersected and . neither lime nor fertilizer was put he got little or noth- ing. The expense of the liming, fertilization and seeding has been only about $15.00 per acre. He has secured as , return about a ton to the cutting of alfalfa on each acre, cutting four or five times in a year." ; 876 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER [October, Trucking, Garden and Orchard. WORK FOR THE MONTH. The picking, packing and marketing of the apple crop will keep orchardists busy this month. The large crop of apples in the Northern States will make the buyers of our apples much more particular as to the quality of the fruit they take, and also as to the manner in which it is handled. We are glad to see that our growers are organized to meet this difficulty, and have started pack- ing associations to handle the crop in several sections. It will pay large growers to have their crops thus handled, and even the growers of small crops may find profit in utilizing the services of these associations, as they will be able to bulk together several small crops, and thus make them acceptable to the wholesale buyers. When picking the fruit see that you employ only careful hands, who will not unnecessarily break off the branches and buds, and thus, reduce the next year's crop. Do not over- look what we said in our last issue as to packing small crops of apples and pears in small boxes or baskets hold- ing from half a bushel to a bushel for the home market. Hundreds of these small packages could readily be dis- posed of in our cities at prices in advance of the barrel prices, and yet give our people fruit at much less cost than they have to pay in the retail markets. The fruit so packed should be carefully selected and put up neatly and attractively. Gather and ship or store for winter use all produce as it matures. Before being shipped or stored it should be carefully picked over, and all diseased or injured fruits or roots be kept to themselves for immediate consump- tion, or for destruction. If packed or stored with the sound goods they will soon cauee injury to them. In our last issue we gave advice as to the best methods of storing Irish and sweet potatoes, onions and other pro- duce, and refer our readers to that issue. Turnips and rutabagas will make the greatest increase ia their size this month, and should not be pulled until next month. Beets and mangold wurtzels should be pulled before frost and be stored out of reach of frost, or they will not keep. which the frost will kill. November is soon enough to set out the plants. Earth should now be drawn up to the celery plants sufficient to keep the stalks upright and compact, but they should not yet be banked up to the tops to bleach ♦he' stalks, as the plants will make their best growth this month. The end of the month or the first week in November is early enough to bank the soil to the plants to bleach them. The fall cabbages should be pushed on by cultivation and the application of a top dressing of nitrate of soda at the rate of from 100 to 200 pounds to the acre to induce early heading. The land should be got ready for setting out the cab- bage plants for the early spring crop. Prepare it well and make it sufficiently rich to start the plants, but not to force them too rapidly, so as to make a tender growth In this issue will be found an article on the growing of the early spring lettuce crop, to which we invite at- tention. Where cold frames are available they may be filled with lettuce plants, set four inches apart each way for a winter crop. The soil should be new, well composted soil, and be made rich with cow manure, and a good complete fertilizer. Give air freely to the plants so long as the weather keeps mild, but be ready to close up the frames when frost threatens. Potato onions may be set out all through the month for the first early onions. Make the soil rich and set out in rows wide enough apart to admit of cultivation. Set about four or five inches apart in the rows. Queen or Pearl onion sets may also be set out in limited quan- tity. If the winter is mild they will stand, but if severe these may be killed. It is worth while to take chances on a few, but not with the main crop. Strawberry plants may yet be set out. If the weather keeps mild until the end of November, as is usually the case, they will get hold of the land, and be ready to start growth in the early spring. PACKING APPLES, AND PROGRESS MADE BY VIR- GINIA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Editor Southern Planter: If anything were needed to prove the fact that the only reason that Virginia apples are not more eagerly sought after than they are, is on account of the distrust felt by buyers of the usual style of packing, this proof can be had now in the initial experience of the newly-organized packing associations, formed this year by members of the Virginia State Horticultural Society. There are two of these associations, one operating mostly in the Valley, named the Shenandoah Valley Packers' Association, and the other operating mostly in the Piedmont Section, and entitled the Virginia Growers' and Packers' Association. I have had personal experience with the latter, and am informed by Mr. T. W. Woolen, the manager, that they have more orders from parties outside the State than they can fill, up to date, at satisfactory prices, growers and buyers being both satisfied. Now, such experience at the outset of their operations is most satisfactory, and means that buyers are ready enough to take our apples and pay well for them if they can be assured that what they pur- chase is up to grade marked on the package. This, of course, is what the packers' association is organized to secure. While I have not as yet had the opportunity of hearing the experience of the Valley Packers' Association, I have no hesitancy in saying that their experience is along similar lines. The point I wish to make is that the members of the Virginia State Horticultural Society who have organized these associations, should be congratulated on their enterprise, and the growers of our State should get into communication with the secretaries or managers 1908.] THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 877 of the associations with a view of joining them and par- ticipating in the advantages to be derived. I send you a copy of the specifications required for packing, which certainly reads like business, and yet are perfectly fair to all parties. I think there is every indication of an era of increased prosperity for the fruit industry of the State, owing to the educational and beneficial influence that is being exerted by the State Horticultural Society, which, in addition, is advertising the State by means of exhibits of fruit at our fairs within the State, and also at fairs being held in other States this fall, and by liter- ature, which is being distributed outside the State as much as possible. That this literature is attracting atten- tion I am satisfied from letters received from influential parties outside the State. A prominent' official of the Southern Railway wrote me a few days ago: "I thank you for sending me your circular on 'Condition of Apple Crop and Forecast of Prices,' the information therein contained is interesting and valuable. * * * I also thank you for the leaflet containing brief summary of information of horticultural conditions in Virginia, which is very appro- priate and valuable. If you can let me have about fifty copies of this leaflet will try to use them for our mutual advantage. * * * Am very glad to find you propose mak- ing exhibits at the fairs, and also in Washington and New York. * * * I remember your exhibit in Washing- ton last year, and am satisfied it did much to attract attention to your State." The editor of an agricultural journal of very large cir- culation in the North and other parts of the country, writes a few days ago: "I am much interested in the new features being introduced by your society, and shall notice them in an early issue of our paper." Now, such letters as the above go to show how soon our methods of advertising become noticed, and these efforts should be endorsed by those interested in the fruit indus- try of our State generally, one and all of whom should show this interest in a practical manner, by co-operating with the band of energetic and public-spirited citizens of the State who comprise the membership of the society, and join membership with us. As we are now attracting notice from people outside the State, we want also to do so among our own people, and show a membership really commensurate with our influence. As secretary of the society, I am about to start to obtain 1,000 names in our membership, and so long as I hold the present office, do not intend to relax these efforts until that number is legitimately secured. WALTER WHATELY, Secy, and Treas. Va. State Horticultural Society. Crozet, Albermarle Co., Va. GROWING LETTUCE. Editor Southern Planter: The variety generally grown by truckers is the "Big Boston." The "Giant White Forcing," an offspring of the "Big Boston" is also a fine variety to raise for market. The seed should be sown in Southern Virginia about Sep- tember 20th. One pound of seed will make an abundance of plants for an acre. A good loam, not over-sandy, not over-stiff, is the best soil for lettuce. The soil should be deep and fertile, heavily manured and fertilized. Well rotted cow manure is considered better than horse stable manure for this crop. The land should be deeply plowed as soon as practicable in the fall. The manure should be spread on the plowed land, and the land be well harrowed. A fertilizer composed of the following ingredients should be applied at the same time: 300 pounds muriate of potash, 700 pounds acid phosphate, 200 pounds dried blood. This is enough for an acre of land. The plants should be ready for transplanting the latter part of November. Before transplanting the land should be laid off in beds with alleys between them. The width of the beds and alleys is a matter of taste and convenience. I make my bed3 twelve feet wide, with two-foot alleys. Upon the beds low ridges one foot apart should be made with a hand plow; or they can be made with a hoe by a good hoe hand. The plants should be set one foot apart on the ridges. An acre will take about 40,000 plants. As soon as the plants are set they should be covered with the tmnuest grade of plant-bed cloth, which costs about two cents per yard. I make covers by sewing together four widths of cloth. The covers are fastened to wooden stubs about eight inches high, running on each side of the beds. Whenever the land is not too wet during the winter it should have a good working with a narrow hoe (onion hoe), and afterwards the land should be kept clear of weeds by scraping them out; the soil should not be stirred after the one working directed above. About March 1st, nitrate of soda, 400' pounds to the acre, should be applied. The lettuce will begin to head early in April, and by the 15th, some will be fit for mar- ket. The heads must be cut and marketed as fast as thex are ready, but beware of cutting too soon or being too eager to make early shipments. The Virginia lettuce grower will generally get better prices after the North Carolina crop is sold. Poorly headed lettuce is very poor property. Lettuce is usually packed in half-barrel crates. A really successful crop of lettuce is very profitable, and even half a crop is usually more profitable than a full crop of most other vegetables. The best sale I ever made of the product of an acre was $1,350. Comparatively level land with a southern exposure is best for lettuce. P'lenty of sunshine for most of the day is indispensable for a good crop. PAUL C. VENABLE.. Prince Edward Co., Va. THE VIRGINIA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. This society has issued the premium list for exhibits of fruit to be made at the annual meeting to be held in Lynchburg, Va., January 6, 7 and 3, 1909. The premiums offered are very liberal, and should induce a large display of fruits. Growers should send for this premium list at once, so that they can make selections of the fruit to be exhibited as it is picked, and have same put in cold stor- age to preserve the same in fine condition. The list gives full information as to storing, etc. Write Mr. Walter Whately, the secretary, at Crozet, Va., for the list, and encourage and support the society by making an exhibit. In this way a better market for our fruit can be secured. »8tS THE 'SOUTHERN PLANTER [October, Live Stock and Dairy. 1 MAKING CHEAP PORK WITH GRAZING CROPS. (Continued from September Number.) ■rj' Editor Southern Planter:: n Management of the Brood Sows. •• ; In many sections where the snow-fall is light and the -• winter of short duration^ h°gs can be grazed practically a all the year. In other places,, winter feeding for, say three . or four months, will be necessary. This, need not entail .• great expense, however, if the sows are so bred, and handled as to farrow some time during the month of March or April. It will not be desirable to wean them for at least - eight weeks, and along in early April, depending on the ■ - locality, grazing crops will be available, and the sow and ■ • little ones can then be turned out and the little pigs •• given the most favorable environment at an early age .. and accustomed to eat green food. Only a comparatively a .small amount of grain will be needed during the winter. This may be made up of small corn, but for the brood sow ,", should not consist of more than one-third corn. Some <; clover hay well laden with pods will practically maintain •• the brood sow through the winter with a few ears of corn -■added daily to give variety to the ration. Wherever slops or skim milk are available, they should be utilized, and if the corn is old and hard, it is better to grind it and feed as a thin slop. It will not pay to cook the food, -* though if any roots or tubers are available, a small quan- .- tity given to the sow each day will stimulate, the milk are glad to report that it was a decided success, both financially and as a creditable exhibition. The ideal weather prevailing both days served to bring out large crowds, and great enthusiasm was manifested in the vari- ous entries, exhibitions and races. It must have been gratifying to the officers of the association to note the fact that there were two and a half times as many en-: tries as last year. Decided increase was noted in the farm product and grade draft horse departments. This fact shows, we take it, that the officers of the association are succeeding in interesting the individual farmer in showing what he himself can produce. In the pure bred draft horse list, Mr. Westmoreland Davis was the most extensive exhibitor, showing practi- cally his entire Percheron stud, including his stallion. Messrs. Berkeley Ward, of Waterford, J. R. Beuchler, of Leesburg, and Roger Bros., of Hamilton, also showed their stallions. Quite a number of pure bred foals and yearlings, were also entered in the various classes. The grade draft horse class brought out scores of splendid horses of all ages and both sexes, some classes having as many as twenty-three entries. This class should have been leased by the Department of Agricul- ture and Virginia Polytechnic Institute jointly, and taken over the entire State as an object lesson to farmers to show the result of using a good stallion on good sized mares. Not everybody can have a stable of pure breds, but they can have some much better grades. Guernsey cattle were shown by Mr. Westmoreland Davis and Mr. H. T. Harrison. The former exhibited his three imported herd bulls, while the latter showed his herd bull and some well bred young stuff, get of his bull. The sheep department was a creditable one. Mr. W. A.' Harper had a good pen of Shropshires; Mr. Berkeley Ward Percheron Stallions on Exhibition at Loudoun Heavy Draft Show. showed Cheviots; while Mr. Westmoreland Davis ex- hibited a bunch of Dorsets, in which were included two imported ram lambs, winners at the Royal show, in Eng- land. These two were the best lambs we have ever seen of any breed. Duroc Jersey swine were exhibited by Mr. Berkeley 1908.] THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 885 Ward; and large White Yorkshires, by Mr. Westmoreland Davis. The farm products department was an exceedingly good one. There were some fifty odd entries of wheat, corn, oats, rye and potatoes. The butter contest was a very spirited one, about twenty Buff Rocks, Buff Cochin Bantams; Mary E. Berry, Hern- don, White Rodks, Partridge Wyandottes; W. P. Gibson, Leesburg, White Rocks, Buff Cochin Bantams; Hutchison & Heitmueller, Herndon, White Wyandottes, S. C. Buff Orpingtons; A. H. Buell, Herndon, White Wyandottes; H. A. Sager, Herndon, Columbian Wyandottes, S. C. White Guernsey Bull, Golden Knight of Rosendale, and four of his get — owned by H. T. Harrison, Rock Spring Farm — on exhibition at the Loudoun Heavy Draft Show. 1 ladies competing. Mrs. R. D. Bridges, of Leesburg, landed the blue ribbon; also a special prize of $5.00 offered by the Southern Planter. The poultry department was a good one, notwithstand- ing the unseasonable time for exhibiting birds. Twenty- two exhibitors showed nineteen different breeds. For a strictly county show the exhibition was certainly most creditable. It was just such a show as could and should be held in practically every county in the State. This is especially true of the counties that hold annual horse shows. There is no reason why an agricultural department could not be added to these horse shows, and made a decided success. After a while the public will tire somewhat of seeing a string of horses go from county seat to county seat, year in and year out, and we offer the foregoing as a tip to horse show managers in order to keep up the interest and patronage of the farmer. We regret that lack of space prevents our publishing all the prizewinners in the various classes, but we give below the names of exhibitors. Heavy Draft Horses— G. W. Atwell, J. R. Beuchler, D. E. Brown, R. D. Bridges, J. C. Carr, J. W. Cummins & Son, A. M. Chichester, Jr., J. F. Dunlop, Westmoreland Davis, H. H. Edmundson, T. M. Fendall, R. H. Gray, G. L. Hoffman, M. A. Ish, F. M. Love, A. E. Logan, C. J. C. Maffet, J. T. Myers, C. E. Norman, Rogers Bros., J. H. Shumate, Shumate & Logan, W. L. Simpson, S. C Tillet, Trundell Bros., Berkeley Ward, Wildman & Havener, H. C. Rogers. Poultry — G. C. Wire, Paeonian Springs, Barred Plymouth Rocks; H. J. Hoge, Hamilton, Barred Plymouth Rocks; G. W. James, Hamilton, Barred Plymouth Rocks; Jefferson Poultry Yards, Leesburg, Barred Plymouth Rocks; M. K. Stroud, Herndon, Barred Plymouth Rocks, S. C. White Leghorns; J. L. Moffet, Herndon, Barred Plymouth Rocks; L. L. Dawson, Leesburg, Barred Plymouth Rocks, S. C. White Leghorns, Black Orpingtons; A. H. Kirk, Herndon, Leghorns; Edward McKinley, Paxson, Columbian, Wyan- dottes, Black Wyandottes; D. J. Hoge & Sons, Lincoln, Black Langshans; W. M. McNair, Herndon, S. C. White Leghorns; W. N. Wise, Jr., Leesburg, S. C. White Leg horns, Fit Games; J. E. Wilkins, Herndon, Black Minor- cas, Black Sumatras; N. B. Warner, Hamilton, Black Min- orcas, Black Sumatras, Cornish Indian Games, White In- dian Games; White Exhibition Games; Ish Myers, Lees- Imported Dorset Ram Lambs, winners at the Royal Show in England — on Exhibition at Loudoun Heavy Draft Show i — Owned by Mr. Westmoreland Davis. burg, Buff Cochins Bantams; A. M. Chichester, 3rd, Lees- burg, Game Bantams. Potatoes — B. Ward, S. A. Laycock, J. H. Havenner, H. L. Jenkins, J. T. Myers, M. Kirkpatrick, B. C. Pearson, James Kirkpatrick, Chas. Binns, Tebbs. Wheat— W. A. Harper, W. A. Hughes, Geo. W. Holmes, Ish Myers, S. C. Rust. Rye — J. C. Carr, M. H. Myers. Corn— Ish Myers, J. E. Warner, S. C. Rust. Oats — J. H. Havenner, James F. Dunlop, H. H. E*- mundson. 886 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER [October, The Poultry Yard. POULTRY NOTES. This month is, comparatively, a month of rest for the business poultryman. It is the best season of the entire year for real study and observation. We can now see the results of our season's mating in the young stock pro- duced. Note carefully and honestly just what you have accomplished. If you are breeding for eggs you will have many early hatched pullets laying while some of the same clutch or brood will not be doing anything except con- suming their rations. Some will be large, perfect speci- mens of the type desired, while others from the same mating will be small and off in color or shape. Why? The fancier mates his birds for certain desirable points, and raises many to maturity in the hope that a very small per cent, of them may prove to be extra fine specimens. If he gets Ave per cent, of good ones he is delighted. The culls are sent to the block, and these few full brothers and sisters are fitted for the show-room. Next year he hopes to get ten per cent, of good ones, and this hope, this ambition buoys him on from year to year, and re- sults in the marvelous development of some particular trait or characteristic. I have studied birds of many kinds in their native haunts, their natural conditions, their natural tendencies of mating and environment, and I see very little rever ; sion and practically nothing of what we call "sport" or the freak. Something unlike the parent to any great degree. In wild, or jungle fowls, such as quail, pheasant, tur- keys, ducks, geese, etc., we see the same size, shape, color of plumage, the same marking and penciling the same carriage, and even the same call and note, or tone. Listen to Bob White, and note the exact similarity of the shrill note; then compare it with the various tones or keys of the ten or twenty cockbirds in your flock of pure-bred Plymouth Rocks, Wyandottes, or Leghorns. No two alike. We can tell by the tone which one of our favorites is crowing. Take a flock of quail, for instance, of twenty or thirty birds, and score them as we do our best-bred flocks of fowls, and see how many will show disqualifica- tions in form or feather. The same is true of all the wild fowls and birds. EVery one is like every other one. Why? These fowls and birds have been in-breeding, line breeding, since the creation, and no cross breeding has ever been done, with the result that the breed and type is fixed, and environment in nature makes no difference. The Bob White of Virginia is identical with the Bob White of Indiana and California. It is the effort of man to produce new types, new breeds, and to change the natural tendency of the fowl that is responsible for the changed character of the pro- geny of the cross breeding. We seek to change the nature of the fowl as well as the type, the color and the habit. We see that in nature the fowls have a season for mat- ing, laying and reproduction. In the spring we find them mated to perpetuate their kind, and only in the spring; while with our domestic fowls we cross-breed to produce new breeds, improved strains, and by artificial means change the natural procreative tendency to suit our pur- pose, and the result is degeneration, loss of vigor and re- version. This is particularly noticeable in some of the tri-colored varieties, such as the Partridge and Silver Wy- andottes. This rich, distinct penciling is very difficult to produce, and yet maintain the true Wyandotte shape, owing to the fact that this is doubtless inherited by them from their Partridge Cochin and Dark Brahma parent- age or crosses. The question naturally arises then, Have we really gained anything by making these crosses to produce these fancy feathers. Are some of these varieties any better than the pure stock or breeds from which they were pro- duced. The Brahmas and Cochins still hold first place for size and hardihood among the large breeds, and the small breeds, especially the Leghorns excel as egg producers. We read about the 200 and 275 egg-laying Rocks, the great winter records of the Brahmas, but when we yard these same strains, and keep careful records of their per- formances, we find it impossible to make them prove their claim. These large breeds are good winter layers under favorable conditions, but the fact still remains undisputed by actual record tests that they cannot make good for the twelve months. There may be a few individual hens that have records approaching these figures, but no flocks of any size. Then, when we speak of egg production we mean the general average of the flocks of the various breeds kept for egg production in the average way. It is not so much what a hen can be made to do in the hands of an expert, as it is what a farm flock of fifty or one hundred hens will do with average care and feed. This is what we want to know. There are too many theorists in the poultry business. Too many men that have a few hens, and give them good care during the natural laying season, keep a record of eggs laid during one month, the best month perhaps, then multiply this record by twelve, and thus establish, or make a record for the year. This is like the man with the good cow. He weighed her milk one day, and she gave forty pounds. Then he proceded to figure. He could milk her ten months, or 300 days; hence, she gave 12,000 pounds of milk, or 1,500 gallons. He related the story to a neighbor who rather doubted the "record." He called his wife as witness, and said to her, "Fanny, how many pounds of milk did old Spot give us last year? " She re- plied, "I really don't know. You weighed her milk one of her best days, and she gave us forty pounds." It is quite true, as Mr. Cowles says, "Some men have more truths to tell than others," and when we give hen records let us "tell the truth, the whole truth, and noth- ing but the truth," as the lawyers say. Did It ever occur to the reader that the lawyers do not want witnesses to tell the whole truth, and will not allow them to do so fully as often as not, in every case; in fact, one or the other side will object to a witness, telling the whole truth. They want only what is favorable to their side of the case, and will fight like pirates to compel the witness to perjure himself. I do not say that it is impossible to 1908.] THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 7 take a few hens, extra good layers and make them lay over 20'0 eggs per year, but I do say that in actual prac- tice with a flock, this mark is very much above the aver- age. Some horses can trot a mile in two minutes, but can they trot 100 miles in 200 minutes? Some years ago a man in Illinois reported a yield of 350 bushels of corn per acre on forty acres. The claim was investigated, and this is how he did it: He found a hill of corn containing two stalks, each stalk had three ears, the six ears weighed nine pounds; then he did the trick with his pencil thusly: This hill occupied sixteen square feet of soil. One acre contains 43,560 square feet. This gave him 2,722% hills per acre. Nine pounds per acre gave him 24,502% pounds per acre. Seventy pounds per bushel gave him 350 bushels, and two and a half pounds per acre. Marvelous! what crops figures do make! Some men reason clearly enough, but they do not allow for "missing hills." A landlord in a mountain village, in Kentucky, had a guest, and in the morning the guest in- quired the amount of his bill. The landlord asked him what he thought his income should amount to per month, to which the guest promptly replied, $100.00 per month." "I fear," said the landlord, "that you are rather high in your estimate." "No, I think that amount would be very reasonable," replied the guest. "Well," said the landlord, "then I will be compelled to charge you $200.00, for you are the only guest I have had in two months." I have had much experience with the large breeds, and I know that where one has several hundred Brahmas, Cochins, Rocks, Langshans, or Orpingtons, it is necessary during March, April, May and June to have a good sized yard and house in which to confine broody hens, and I have had as high as twenty per cent, of my yearling hens in this lot for days at a time, and if I did not pay close attention to this part of the business I would very soon have them all employed by the firm of Doolittle & Set. These breeds are good fowls, and I do not see how we could do without them, but let us call a fish a fish, and not call them all suckers. Some fish are suckers, but all fish are not suckers. CAL. HUSSELMAN. HATCHING WITH HENS— A SEASON'S RECORD. Editor Southern Planter: The question of successful hatching is a vital one in poultry raising, though successful brooding is more diffi- cult. The small poultry keeper must usually depend on the hen and the more extensive breeder thinks he must have machinery. As your readers know, we are just developing a small flock of Barred Plymouth Rocks, which we have been breeding exclusively for twenty-three years, to the limit of profit on a farm of ninety-five acres, about half wooded land, and on which the available force is a single hired man, colored, five girls ranging from three to twelve, and a boy of five. The writer puts in some night work with setting hens and in the fight with lice, also an occasional day in the work on fixtures. The hired man has not given much time to chickens thus far. We cannot afford to buy incubators for children of these ages to operate, so we have purchased this season about forty setting hens from neighbors, and have used them in coops especially made for the purpose. We have kept a record of all eggs set and of all chicks taken from the nests. The record of infertile eggs and eggs broken is too incomplete to be of value, and in some cases many chicks were crushed in the nests by restles hens. At least three hens sickened on the nests during the season and entire losses of sittings resulted. From March 28th to August 19th, inclusive, we set a total of 1,670 eggs, from which we put in the coops 1,110 chicks. Some of these chicks were hatched for another branch of our family, but the record of hatching is for all eggs set and all chicks taken off. The difference of 560 eggs represents all the infertile, all the spoiled, all the chicks crushed in the nests, and all eggs eaten by hens, as well as the nests deserted. This is a percentage of 66.4 chicks in the coop, for every 100 eggs set. Few small operators will do as well with a machine through so long a season, and, if left to the management of children to the extent the hens were, the results would be disastrous. Now, notice some of the handicaps under which this was done. We used several hens three to five years old and over fat as breeding stock, resulting in some very poor hatches early in the season. We were shipping many eggs for hatching and often set for ourselves those slightly misshapen, which we would not ship. Also, we shipped the freshest and often set ourselves the older eggs of two or three weeks' laying. Many of the midsum- mer chicks were hatched in coops out in the sun when the temperature in the shade was 99 degrees. Many of these gasped away their lives or were killed by hens which could not sit still in such discomfort. Last of all, nearly all the hens were moved a mile before sitting, and, of course, put under the care of strangers, and a ma- jority of them were kept sitting for six weeks and several for nine weeks — hatching three broods before being taken from the sitting yard. If we should give separately the record for the eggs from our pullets mated with cockerels from the Maine Ex- periment Station strain, we would make a very much better showing, but we are giving the gross results for old and young stock without any exception or elimination. We had so few hens from which to build our large flock that we kept them laying and bought sitters. These sitters have been nearly all sold and will bring as much as they cost. We have over 300 pullets, of which 200 should be laying by January, and a few of the older ones in November. We have sold already either on the market (culls) or for breeders 117, have colonized 50 first-class cockerels in a house by themselves, and have 40 younger males, making 90, all too good to kill, which we will save a while to fill orders for breeders and to select from for our own use next season. All the chicks now havje free range of woods and grass land and an unlimited supply of wheat from which to help themselves. Thus we are growing large frames and vigorous birds not over-fat nor unduly forced. We will be satisfied if the pullets lay at seven months. With a sufficient number of females so that no old hens need be used as breeders, and to enable us to use our own sitters, I see no reason why we should not make a better hatching record another season, but this experi- ence proves the feasibility of raising chicks in compara- tively large numbers, without machinery or expensive fix- tures. , W. A. SHERMAN, Vienna, Va. THE SOUTHEKN PLANTEK [October, The Horse. NOTES. By W. J. Carter (Broad Rock). With two harness races and four running and steeple- chase events daily, the speed program of the Virginia State Fair and race-meeting should furnish a lot of sport during the week of October 5th-10th, at Richmond, as during that time our capital city will be the Mecca of attraction for many thousands of out of town visitors, while the home contingent will also be interested to a degree far and away beyond the ordinary. The show will go on night and day, with attractions numerous and varied, which have been provided by General Manager Mark R. Lloyd, who has been with the Fair As- sociation since its inception, and to the creative genius of this young man's fertile brain we are indebted for the pleasant anticipation of witnessing the splendid exhibition of Virginia's vast agricultural and mineral products. But reverting to the races, purses of $500 each are offered for two harness races each day, one for trotters and the other for pacers, with three flat races and one steeplechase event. For the cross-country events the purses are $400 and $300 each are offered for the flat races. With these liberal offerings, applying especially to the running events, the most useful class of horses ever seen in Virginia are pretty sure to be in evidence, and that in- teresting contests will result is not to be doubted. The stakes for three-year-old and 2:27 classes, trotting and 2:27 and 2:18 classes, pacing: and the open purses for the 2:25, 2:14 and free-for-all trot and pace and 2:30 2:22 and 2:16 classes, trotting, as well as for the running events, all closed with a goodly number of entries. Both the harness and flat races will prove interesting, but to many the steeple chase events furnish spectacular features that render them far more attractive than most other forms of sport, and to this department of the speed program Chairman J. T. Anderson, of the race committee, was instrumental in framing conditions and bestowing ap- propriate names on the Idlewild Steeplechase, for four- year-olds and upward, distance about two miles, to be run on Monday, October 5th; the Virginia State Fair Steeple- chase, for hunters duly qualified under the National Steeplechase, rules distance about two and a quarter miles, to be run on Tuesday, October 6th, the Commonwealth Steeplechase, for four-year-olds and upward, distance about two miles, to be run on Wednesday, October 7th; the Jefferson Hotel Steeplechase, for five-year-olds and up- ward, distance about two and a half miles, for hunters duly qualified under the National Hunt and Steeplechase Association rules, for Thursday, October 8th. For Friday, October 9th, is the steeplechase for four-year-olds and up- ward, non-winners at the meeting, distance about two miles. For Saturday, the closing day, automobile races will be held, and a fitting program, provided for the occasion will likely furnish pleasure and diversion galore for those in- terested in that form of sport. A loyal friend ever of the high-bred horse, though skilled in the treatment of all classes, few veterinarians have been more uniformly successful or have become more generally liked by patrons and others than Dr. Fraser A. Smith, who came to Richmond as a graduate of the Ontario Veterinary College some years since and set- tled here. Dr. Smith comes from a family seemingly with a special gift for veterinary science, as indicated by the success of his uncles, Drs. J. R. and B. W. Hagyard, who have attained fame in the great Blue Grass region of Kentucky, one of the best known horse-breeding districts in the world. The Hagyards have been in charge of some of the prominent studs in America, including those of J. B. Haggin, the late Marcus Daly and others. Dr. Smith is a busy man these fine autumn days and usually his time is pretty well taken up, but at that the fancier of fine dogs and horses will likely find him an entertaining conversationalist, though thoroughly ostentatious, when the opportunity occurs to drop by his office, hospital and stables, on South 10th Street, right in the heart of Rich- mond. Dr. J. C. Walton, for years located at Reidsville, N. C, and later also well-known as medical director at The Mecklenburg, Chase City, Va., but now with offices in this city, has sold to North Carolina parties the bay mare, Carolina Bel, who can trot around 2:15 on a half-mile track, by Lynne Bel, 2:10 1-4, dam Princess of Ridgefield. by Prince Belmont; a chestnut filly, 2, by Kelly, dam Princess of Ridgefield; a couple of fine saddle horses and a matched pair of handsome Welsh ponies. This disposal in no wise indicates that the genial Doctor, who has hosts of friends both in Virginia and North Carolina, has lost his fancy for high class horse flesh, but increased pro- fessional duties take up more of his time than formerly. Dr. Walton's new offices, hydriatic institute and sanitarium, with a modern system of therapeutic baths, as formulated by Baruch, are in the new Murphy Hotel Annex, corner 8th and Grace Streets, Richmond, and later he will most likely again enter the ranks of owners by purchasing other well-bred trotters and fine saddlers. During the past decade or so Dr. Walton's private stabler have shel- tered well bred trotters and pacers like Lucy Ashby. 2:21%; Miss Walton, 2:23%; Sisterina, 2:29%, and others with- out records, some of which have found favor both in this country and across the water. % The recent auction sale of Shetland ponies at Alamance Farm, Graham, N. C, the propeity of N. Banks Hjlt, was quite a success, as evidenced by the fact chat eigluy-nine head, some of which were registered and others half trot- ting bred, along with a couple of young trotting geldings, brought $9,188, an average of over $100 each. Prices ranged from $40 for a diminutive, weakly weanling to $175 for choice brood mares and stallions. The trotting geldings were sired by Gregorian, 2:29 3-4 and Giles Me- bane, 2:16 3-4, a pony son of the ex-champion pacing stal- lion, John R. Gentry, 2:00 1-2, who formerly headed the Alamance Stud. A number of the ponies disposed of .1908.] THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 889 were also sired by Giles Mebane, but even those though larger than demanded by the standard, brought good prices, as the sale was largely, attended and bidding brisk throughout. Among the attendants from this city were E. A. Saunders, Jr., Harry 'J. Beattie and Carl Nolting, who secured a car load, among them being some of the choicest offerings of the sale in the way of brood mares. Mr. Saunders shipped his lot to his fine .Tames Fiver farms and Mr. Nolting to his breeding establishment at Louisa, Va., while Mr. Beattie's purchases joined the herd at Woodlawn Farm, near Richmond. DRAFT HORSES— THEIR PROFITABLE BREEDING IN VIRGINIA. (Address by Mr. Westmoreland Davis, of Loudoun county, ■Va., at the Farmers* Institute, held at Richmond, Va.! August 5, 1908.) It gives me pleasure to be with you to-day. Such a gathering of Virginia farmers is a good omen for the future. The Virginian of history has always been dis- tinguished as a soldier and as a patriot, and investigation leads me to attribute his high character, and robustness of principle to the fact that he has been the product of a civilization, which has had much to do with matters agri- cultural. In the past few years when the craze for rapid accumu- lation of great fortunes bade fair to strain our very na- tional existence the influence of the farmer has been a great solace to those students of the times who, though fearful of the future, were hopeful; fancying that they saw in their communities which had neither the mind for overproduction nor the mad desire for speculation the salvation of the country. And they were right. In this agricultural class belongs the State of Virginia It is true we have a wealth of coal and of minerals These, however, have an elusive value, as they are lim- ited in supply, and they will be exhausted in their verv exploitation. The West, once .the El Dorado of the ambitious, is now paying the penalty for the persistent robbing of her fertile lands. Her folly is proving our opportunity The soil of our State is an asset of untold value With it we can supply our needs, market a large surplus and still by judicious and scientific management add to our holdings. The Virginia of to-day is entering upon an era of agri- cultural prosperity. The listless. I may say hopeless r^A^^ haS S6en a neW ***■ ™* hTs be come the bustling, energetic man of affairs of to-day No onger is he content with the old conditions and methods for he is steadily mastering and applying along agricul- tural lines what scientific research has brought to Ms aid No work more worthy of the best efforts of an ambi- iou S people ever offered, than that which is presented to he Virginian of to-day. The r e babilitation of our coun- try from the effects of a ruthless war, and its natural consequences, and the conservation of the fertility of our IT^ l g J, eU JUdg6d IineS ' iS no mean Problem. That such rehabilitation and conservation is necessary to our material wealth and progress has now become axiomatic; and this result cannot be better attained than by the breeding and rearing of live-stock by our f&rmers. Of the various kinds of stock available foi this purpose none has greater claims to your favorable consideration than the draught horse. Virginia from earliest times has been the home of the thoroughbred, and of the offshoots of this royal breed. Our horses have often seemed to us to be among our noblest and most trusted friends. The draught horse, as he is known to-day, is a new- comer among us. His work has not been that which earned a fortune in minutes, and begot the plaudits and enthusiasm of the multitude breathlessly awaiting the outcome of his short but magnificent effort, but his docil- ity, his reliability and his great usefulness has made for him fast friends and admirers among us. With labor ever growing in scarcity and likewise ad- vancing in price, the careful farmer of to-day, who would operate successfully under our new conditions must needs adopt such means as will increase his production, by either the use of improved machinery or processes and at the same time decrease his outlay What modern invention has done for the farmer in the grain field, the scientific and careful breeder of draught horses has likewise done for him in the field of power and locomotion. The two-horse team of our modern pro- gressive farmer hauls as much and more than did the four-horse team of times gone by, and eats less by half. Our geographical position lends itself to the breeding of draught horses in Virginia. With climate Li our favor and the great centers of population not far removed, suc- cess awaits every intelligent effort. All of the pure breeds are good. Each 2: as its place, and naturally some, under certain circumstances, are to be preferred to the others. Although myself a breeder of draught horses, I hold no brief for any particular breed. Any pure-bred stallion in your midst, if he be sound and sure, will do immeasurable good. Especially is this the case if his advent means the withdrawal of an inferior animal, which to your detriment has been perpetuating his deficiencies in soundness and conformation. Of the various breeds of draught horses I may here speak briefly. In America we have no breed of draught horses which may be called distinctly our own. We have been content without government aid, through individual effort, to introduce the breeds which have been perfected in other countries. From Great Britain we have brought the old English cart-horse, better known as the Shire, the Clydesdale and the Suffolk Punch. From France the Per- cheron, and what is known as the French draughter; while from Belgium we have the massive animal to which that country has lent its name. There are heavy horses both in Germany and in Holland, and various other heavy breeds in the countries mentioned, but we have so little to do with them here that time forbids my touching upon them. Without going into great detail, I do not think that the several breeds can, as to their important characteristics be better described than has been done by Prof. Rommel, Animal Husbandman of the Bureau of Animal Industry, at Washington, in a recent official bulletin: "Percheron and French draught horses are most com- mon in the country, and have been here longest. They are also the most popular breed among farmers. Their par- ticular points of value are their activity, strength, com- 890 THE SOUTHEEN PLANTEE [" October, pactness, clean legs and good feet. They have no espe- cially weak points, but sometimes are light in bone. The Clydesdales, the famous breed of Scotland, are most popu- lar in Canada and the Northwest, although they can be found in nearly all parts of the country. They have re- markable action, are very well bred, handsome and attain great weight. The grades of Clydesdale stallions from native mares do not appear to be so good as Percheron grades, sometimes being very light in the body and bone. The feather on the legs of the Clydesdales is also an ob- jection in the minds of some. Shires bear the same relation to English farming that Clydesdales do to that of Scotland. They are heavier-bodied than the Clydesdales, have more bone, less quality and more feather. The Bel- gians are probably the largest of the Draught breeds. Their grades have not yet figured very prominently on the market, as the breed has been introduced only a few years. They have massive bodies, but tend to have rather short necks, coarse legs and poo/ feet. It is fair to say that the breed has shown much improvement in America during the last two years, especially in the quality of the legs and feet." I may add to the foregoing that, in my opinion, the Suf- folk Punch will prove most useful as a sire of ordinary farm horses. His uniform chestnut color may be some- what against him, but his cleanness of limb, his compact- ness of body and his general sturdiness of appearance and nature render him available to cross with our smaller native mares who would hardly do well with the larger specimens of the more massive breeds. I will not tire you with further details in regard to these breeds, save so far as may be desirable, in the course of these remarks, to refer to them or their char- acteristics by way of illustration. It is only necessary to glance over the pages of American and foreign live stock journals, whose advertising sheets set forth the vir- tues of the special lines of breeding offered for sale by firms and individuals, to satisfy onesself that the draught horse of to-day is not only from a scientific, but from a pecuniary standpoint, an industrial problem. Only a short while ago there appeared in a Chicago paper the announcement that a pair of grade draft geld- ings sold there at auction for $900. These geldings were produced no doubt at a very little greater cost than would have been necessary to have marketed a pair of steevv of high class. The price had for the geldings shows how much greater comparatively the profit is in favor of the breeder of draught horses. The magnitude of the draught horse business in the United States may be better comprehended when we note that annually about two thousand stallions pass into this country through our ports of entry, and the greater part of these are draught stallions imported by dealers to be sold to our farmers at prices ranging from $1,500' to $5,000. So far, I am sorry to say, Virginia has had little part in this great traffic. Some of our enterprising farmers, with a laudable desire to improve their stock, have un- wisely paid tribute to the Western dealer through the formation of companies by the latter, for the sale of ofttimes unsatisfactory stallions at exhorbitant prices. Necessary to the breeding of heavy draughters, and, indeed, to any improvement of our native stock along lines necessary for agricultural purposes, is the ownership of a stallion. No matter whether one purpose to breed, or to lend the horse to the service of the community, a pure- bred registered stallion should by all means be secured. In the former case this, of course, is a necessity; in the latter, the purchasers will well be repaid by the prestige which the breeding of the horse will give to him, and by the high class of colts begotten. Of course, your stallion must be secured under ordinary circumstances by purchase in this country or abroad. If one does not care to become the sole owner of a stal- lion, it is well to join with others, and to send a respon- sible man who understands his business to visit the vari- ous breeders at their homes, as well as such of the deal- ers as are of high standing. By this means a wide field of selection will be had and comparative prices secured. The purchase by farmers through companies, started for the purpose of selling a horse at a large figure, frequently induced by the payment of large commissions to some of the parties interested, is to be avoided. The importation of a stallion has many advantages, but some drawbacks as well. While there are those who be- lieve to the contrary, I am satisfied that one can do no better than to seek in the country of its origin, for the best type of the breed which may be selected. There would be found families who, for generations have devoted themselves to the development of a type, and whose hearts as well as pecuniary interests are, and have been from the beginning, in their work. The drawbacks seem greater than they really are. The long journey with its expense and risks, the difference in language and methods of business create for some a seeming insurmountable bar- rier. In these days, however, of speedy locomotion, with its immense volume of travel, there are few places where the English language is not spoken, and the ordinary American is quite able to take care of himself anywhere in a business transaction. I reckon to add to the cost of each animal imported about $100.00 for the cost of importation and insurance from Le Havre in France, the point of departure, to any point in Virginia. Whether one purchase at home or abroad commodious horse cars and magnificent steamers specially designed for the transportation of live stock are to be had, and should certainly be utilized. Having decided upon the breed, and whether to pur- chase at home or abroad, one now comes to the most im- portant point of all, the selection of the animal himself. I am not going to tell a gathering of Virginia farmers how to examine a horse. The services of a skilled veter- inarian are always to be had, and should be called upon where an expensive animal is to be purchased, and taken upon a long journey to a new home. Of one thing, however, it may be well to remind you ; that the principal weaknesses of the draft breeds are to be found in their legs and feet, and that a stallion defi- cient in the soundness of his legs or fee, should not be used for stud purposes under any circumstances. Another though: Much depends upon the locality in which the new stallion is to be used. If farmers have mares weighing from 1,800 to 2,000' pounds each, it will be well to secure a stallion of a ton weight, provided the 1908.] THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 891 weight is not obtained at the expense of good flat bone, and sound legs and feet.' For the production from our native mares of farm horses weighing from 1,200 to 1,400 pounds, I should recommend a stallion weighing in the neighborhood of from 1,600 to 1,800. He, too, should be absolutely sound along the lines above mentioned. I am quite aware that this question of the weight of a stallion to be used is full of difficulty, and has given rise to much discussion. Reared, as I have been, in the school of the Virginia thoroughbred, and of the hunter, I have long since been of the opinion that weight per se gives neither strength nor endurance. The value of an animal for commerce, save in the ex- ceptional cases, where enormous weight overcomes the inertia of some large body, and draws it at an excep- tionally slow pace, lies in its availability for ordinary agricultural purposes as well as for the demands of what I may term the city cart trade. In addition to size, these pursuits require in an animal plenty of action as well as endurance, and these qualities are seldom to be found in the exaggerated specimens of the several breeds. A stallion shown in the same form in which he had triumphed at Nogent Le Retrou, the premier show of France would stand little chance in the shows of our Western States, where to secure approbation he must be fattened, until to the eye of the ordinary horseman, he has lost the beautiful points of the horse, and has en- tered into the weight class of the steer and hog. Many of our farmers who have acquired such fattened monstrosities have learned to their cost when they have put their new purchase upon the road, that they had bought a gold brick; an animal which was without en- durance, and oftimes without the powers of procreation. One thing is certain, and that is that our position as. breeders of heavy draft animals in Virginia will never be upon a satisfactory basis until farmers bring them- selves to see the great advantages which will accrue to them of securing by purchase in this country, or by im- portation, pure-bred mares. The ownership of a stallion of any of the pure breeds will do great good, but without the pure-bred mares we shall constantly be compelled to have recourse at great cost to other States, and other countries, for sires. As I have pointed out, these stallions at three years old command large prices, and can be produced just as well in Virginia as in the corn belt from which now they chiefly come. As fine draught horses can be grown in our limestone and blue grass regions as in any part of the world. Every farmer in our State should own one or two pure- bred mares. They would prove not only an interest, but a profitable investment. With them he could do much if not all of his farm work, and their colts would be very valuable. I use my Percherons for all classes of farm work, and in all weather without damage to them. (To be Continued.) Now, if Mr. Lewis will read my article again, he will find that I did not say that the Suffolk Punch was the best draught horse on earth, but instead, I stated that I thought it the horse best adapted to the farm in this State. Nevertheless, inasmuch as Mr. Lewis wants to lose a pair of good Percheron mares, and having no Suf- folks here of my own, I am instructed to say, by one who has, that if Mr. Lewis will add a couple of thousand to his wager (on the side) he will be taken up at once. I do not, as a rule, either make or take wagers, but this thing can be easily arranged. Anything of this kind on our part will call for considerable expense in moving these Suffolks some 1,500 miles, as these mares weigh from 1,800 to 2,100 pounds each. Mr. Lewis asks the question as to what price a pair of Suffolks would bring at the age he states? I will say that I can assure him that they will, in any case, bring as much as any Per- cheron in existence. Now again, as regards the pampering, etc., this is too well known to need comment, as anyone can find out if he cares to look up the history of the Percheron. The horses used in Havre (to which Mr. Lewis referred) for draft purposes, are what are known as French draft, and would not be received for registry in the American stud book. I have used horses in every part of the world where a white man has been, but have none for sale now; but I do assert, and as I believe, will be proved later, that the Suffolk Punch is the best all-round horse on earth, and better than the Percheron in any and every way. I beg to turn Mr. Lewis over to a man who has the horses and the money to lose, and I am ready to add a little to go with it with all due respect to Mr. Lewis and his Percherons. M. THE SUFFOLK PUNCH AND THE PERCHERON. Editor Southern Planter; I failed to reply to the article of Mr. Lewis, in the Au- gust Planter, owing to being from home. VIRGINIA FRUIT GROWERS' AND PACKERS' ASSOCIATION. We are glad to learn from the manager of this associa- tion, recently organized, that it has got to work and is al- ready being employed by growers to pack and assort their crops. The indications already are that the association will handle several thousand barrels of apples this season. Handlers of apples who decline to buy direct from growers are already placing orders with the association at prices in advance of those being offered to growers, thus showing that they appreciate the advantages which a reliable pack- ing association offers in enabling them to secure just -what they want. The association has prepared and issued speci- fications for grading apples, instructions to packers, and advice to growers as to packing. These can be had by applying to Mr. T. W. Woollen, of Crozet, Va., the man- ager of the association, and it will pay growers to obtain these and act upon them. Asparagus growers have been generally pleased, the past season with Palmetto and Argenteuil. These two varie- ties are thought to be more resistant to rust than the old and better known varieties as Columbian and Colossal. For weevils in peas and beans fumigate with carbon bi- sulphide. This chemical can be purchased of any drug- gist and full directions for use accompany it. 892 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER [October, Miscellaneous. VIRGINIA STATE FAIR, RICHMOND, OPENS OCTOBER FIFTH. By the time that this issue of the Southern Planter has been received by its patrons, the opening day of the Vir- ginia State Fair — Monday, October 5th — will be close at hand. The interest that is being manifested throughout Virginia and other States of the South guarantees that The Fair, in addition to the exhibition features, pro- vides high class entertainments for its visitors, consist- ing of racing events, horse shows, fine band concerts, free vaudeville, and will present at great expense some extraordinary attractions in Strobel's Airship, Pawnee Bill's Wild West Show, the spectacular and highly real- istic production of the Battle of Port Arthur, and a daz- the real, practical value of the exposition will be even zling display of fireworks at night. The fair will be greater than in 190t3 and 1907. The Virginia State Fair open day and night, and the State Fair Association has taken its place as the leading agricultural and in- has arranged for the present sons and daughters of Vir- dustrial exhibition in the South, and among the best in ginia exhibits and entertainment features, for their profit the United States. Already, after only two years of experience, it compares favorably with the oldest es- tablished institutions of the kind in this country. From the very first, progressiveness and a determina- tion to give the people they serve the best possible value has marked the work of the Virginia State Fair Associa- tion, an organization composed of leading men, with a practical farmer in the Hon. Henry C. Stuart, of Russell county, at the head. It is a State institution in every sense, having as its sole object the exploiting of the won- derful resources of Virginia, and the encouragement of her people to take advantage of them. Of the $35,000 offered as premiums more than two-thirds will be awarded to the farmers, stockmen, and planters for live stock and farm products exhibited at the fair. For that reason the Virginia State Fair should be heartily patronized. Those who do not have anything to exhibit, or find it incon- venient to send anything, should at least honor the fair with their presence, and take advantage of the oppor- tunity to see and learn much that will prove to their future benefit. Properly conducted annual expositions of this kind are true mirrors of the greatness of the respect- ive commonwealths they represent, and are now univer- sally recognized as such. The most important feature of the Virginia State Fair is that it makes the "Old Dominion" widely known, and affords former residents, who have gone to make their homes elsewhere, a chance to get together annually for mutual profit and pleasure. For that reason the first I day of the fair has been designated as "Home-Comers' Day," so that Virginians who have drifted away can re- turn, and by starting in with the first day enjoy all the pleasures of a real "home-coming week." The city of Richmond will keep open house— and open heart — for the wanderers who want to come home and talk over old times. Decided improvements have been made for the Virginia State Fair of 1908, and the people of Virginia, and of sis- ter States will have presented at Richmond for their study and inspection an immense exhibition of the fruits of the soil, of finely bred live stock, of manufactured goods, of products of the household and the deft handiwork of farmers' wives and daughters. In every class, particular attention has been devoted to Virginia-owned exhibits, and some of the departments, such as farm products, have contests that are open only to residents of this State, though in live stock and poultry the Virginia State Fair invites the competition of the world. and pleasure, unequalled at any fair in the South, and unsurpassed anywhere in the country. Every reader of the Southern Planter should make it a point to attend at least one day. i'uarsdaj-, October 8th, will be Farm- ers' Day, and the next day live stock sales will take place at different pavilions on the grounds, in which all fprmers will find much to interest them. PROFITABLE FARMING IN SOUTHSIDE VIRGINIA. (PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY.) Editor Southern Planter; Mr. H. A. Stokes, one of the leading and most success- farmers of Southside Vir- ginia left the Confederate service at the close of the Civil War, his earthly pos- sessions, consisting of a well- worn Confederate jacket, a pair of soleless shoes, and frazzled pants. He returned to the home of his father, the late Col. Henry Stokes, who owned a plantation of 1,100 acres on Bush river, in the county of Prince Edward. Without money, without team, save such as could be picked up from the passing armies, with crude farming implements, and with demor- alized labor, he began work on his fathers farm. With a courage born of battle, and with a spirit of self-sacrifice which he learned on the march, he has prosecuted the work from then until now, and with marvelous success. His father before him was a good farmer, and having great reverence for him and great respect for the fathers of the past, he did not go about in search of new methods, though he has kept his eyes wide open, and has been quick to catch on to the methods of modern-day farm- ing. At the death of his father, which occurred some years ago, he continued to occupy the ancestral home, and is the owner of 400 acres of the original tract which he is now cultivating, and year by year is making much larger crops than his father made on the 1,100 acres, 1908.] THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 893 though he had at his beck and bidding seventy-five ne- groes. Mr. Stokes is cultivating this season 200,000 hills of dark tobacco, and though he is a prince of tobacco raisers, he thinks this one of the best crops he ever grew. His wheat crop this season was not up to the average, though he made some 500 bushels, has cut thirty tons of choice hay, and but for the recent freshet, he ex- pected to have gathered 400 barrels (2,000 bushels) of corn, and is still hoping for 30'0 barrels (1,500 bushels. In addition to these standard crops, he will butcher 6,000 pounds of meat, and as he knows how to cure it in the approved Virginia style, he will command fancy prices in market. And in addition to all this, he cultivates large truck patches of potatoes, peas, beans, &c. Some years since, I visited the home of Mr. Stokes soon after he had purchased some acres to straighten his lines, and the added acres he designated as his "old field." On a recent visit, I found him in the same "old field" with his force of hands busy cutting one of the best crops of tobacco I ever saw growing in Southside Virginia. With pardonable pride and pleasing satisfaction he called my attention critically to leaf after leaf, remark- ing as he did, so, "This is as good as I care to raise, and if I am as successful in curing as I have been in grow- ing, and this I hope to be, when it reaches the market the most careful buyer will not be able to find fault with it." I did not get Mr. Stokes to give his estimate of the value of the crops raised, and to be raised, on the farm this season, and I will not venture to do so myself, though all those at all familiar with the value of such products will know that it will amount to a good round sum of money. I would also add that the profits on the capital invested are as large as can be possibly made in any other section of the country where general farm- ing is practiced. Mr. T. O. Sandy, in the adjoining county of Nottoway, is making a brilliant success as a farmer and confines his operations to the cultivation of the grasses and corn, while Mr. Stokes may be designated as a tobacco special- ist, not that he does not grow all other crops that are peculiar to this section of Virginia, but tobacco is his pet. He confesses that it is the most exacting on mind and muscle of all the crops known to man, and yet he has found it profitable, and actually loves to work with the "winsome weed." He is the earnest advocate of home- made manure and from barn-yard, stable, cowpens and hog lots hauls out immense quantities each season, and adds to this the highest grades of commercial fertilizers to be bought in the market. Nor does he neglect to give to his lands freely of peas and clover. None of his fields are allowed to remain exposed to the hot sunshine or the driving rains. He expects much of his soil, and gives much to it in return. Of course, the farm of such a farmer is well fenced, and he has on it large numbers of cattle, hogs and sheep. He has not yielded to the general craze of being induced to sell his standing timber even at fancy prices,, and still owns some sixty acres of origi- nal growth hardwood, and here his hogs range and fat- ten for the slaughter without the feeding of much corn. He has often told me that when the acorn crop was a full one his hogs would rather turn their noses up when offered corn. Before killing time, however, he does pen them, and finishes the fattening process with the free feeding of corn. It would be interesting to know just what this sixty acres have been worth to him in the past forty and more years. That he was w\sz not to sell is beyond question. Though the busiest of all busy farm- ers, Mr. Stokes keeps his pack of fast-running dogs, and is devoted to a hot chase, and is generally in at the "catch." And, then, he is a broad-minded, public-spir- ited, patriotic citizen, who reads the papers, the best works on farming, and keeps in closest touch with passing events . Such is the high esteem in which he is held by those who know him well, and such their confidence in his knowledge of finance as well a? of farming that for a number of years he has been president of the Plant- ers' Bank, at Farmville, one of the leading financial insti- tutions of Southside Virginia. The young mci of Vir- ginia who will read the history of such a life, which has been lived on a Virginia farm, will be convinced that it is not necessary to "go West" to make fortune or fame. While thus living and thus succeeding he has been breath- ing the purest air, drinking the purest water, enjoying the best of health and social, educational and .'9 1 igious advantages as good as can be had in any portion of our common country, and never knew nor feared the touch of a tornado. R. B. BERKELEY. FARMERS' INSTITUTE AT THE TEST FARM OF THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, SAXE, VA. On August 29th, there was held at the Test Farm of the Department of Agriculture and Immigration, in Char- lotte county, a well attended and important farmers' in- stitute. The subjects discussed and the speakers were as follows: Stock Raising, by Dr. J. G. Ferneyhough, State Veteri- narian; Tobacco Raising, by Mr. E. H. Mathewson, to- bacco expert of the United States Department of Agricul- ture; The Bright Future for Agriculture, by Mr. J. M. Barker, chairman of the Test Farm Committee; Good Roads, by Captain P. St. J. Wilson, State Highway Com- missioner; The Test Farm, by Dr. E. W. Magruder, State Chemist, and director of the test farm. Hon. B. D. Adams, member of the Test Farm Committee, presented, on be- half of that committee, a plan of co-operation between the Test Farm Committee and the County of Charlotte. The plan is fallows: PLAN OF CO-OPERATION BETWEEN THE TEST FAEM COMMITTEE AND THE COUNTY OF CHARLOTTE FOE THE CONDUCT OF THE TEST FAEM. Whereas, the Test Farm Committee, appointed by the Board of Agriculture of the State of Virginia to look after the management of the test farm, located in Charlotte county, Va., deem that the test farm can be made more useful and beneficial to the County of Charlotte and to the State of Virginia by securing the assistance and ad- vice of the people of Charlotte county; Therefore, the said Test Farm Committee makes the following proposals to the County of Charlotte: First. That there shall be an advisory committee, com- posed of one member from each magisterial district of Charlotte county, to be appointed by the Board of Super- visors of said county for a term of four years, except that the terms of three members first appointed shall expire on December the 31st, 1910, and the terms of the other 894 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER "October, three members first appointed shall expire on December 31, 1912. Second. That it shall be the duty of the said commit- tee to meet at the Test farm twice a year, or oftener, if found necessary, with the Test Farm Committee, and director and manager of the said test farm, and after a thorough study of the said farm, advise with the Test Farm Committee as to the best methods of conducting the said farm, so that the greatest possible benefit may be derived therefrom. Third. That the function of the Advisory Committee shall be purely advisory. In discussing the plan, Mr. Adams said that by means of this Advisory Committee it was hoped that better re- sults would be obtained at the Test farm, and that the people would be brought in close touch with what was being done there, and thus derive more benefits from the experiments there conducted. The meeting recommended the adoption of this plan by the county, and it is hoped that the supervisors will take the necessary steps to put it into operation at once. All present were well pleased, as was manifest by the close attention given the speak- ers, and by the number of questions asked by those pres- ent. They also expressed themselves as being well pleased with the appearance of the farm and the experiments being conducted; and they were especially pleased with the plan of co-operation as offered by the committee, and felt that the management was doing all that it could to make the farm as useful and beneficial to all as pos- sible, and that much brighter prospects were in store for the farm and the county. M. FARMING IN FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA. Editor Southern Planter; Owing to press of work, I am a little late for your columns this month; but promise better in the future. Fairfax county is well supplied with big red apples. Every farm of any size or importance, and also most of the little ones, seem to have an abundance of apples and pears. Just now, there is a glut in the pear market, and by sending a few miles away we are able to pur- chase all we need at the low price of thirty cents per bushel, or twenty-five cents per bushel if we take as many as ten bushels. I have driven over large portions of the county re- cently, and have noted with much pleasure the large crop of big red apples — Ben Uavis and Winesaps princi- pally. The weather for* the past thirty days has been very favorable to the development of the late corn, and that crop is coming on finely, and will be highly appreciated by our farmers, especially by those who are now paying ninety-five cents per bushel for corn. Fairfax counfy is pretty well supplied with organiza- tions among the farmers, there being at least three such. The oldest being the Woodlawn Farmers' Club, which holds monthly sessions, and has had a continuous exist- ence for more than forty years. This organization was formed very soon after the close of the Civil War, among the farmers in the near vicinity to Mt. Vernon; in fact, several of the members own and occupy and till portions of the original Mt. Vernon estate. The name of the Club was taken from the historical Woodlawn estate, in Fairfax county. This estate origi- nally comprised 2,000 acres, and was willed by Washing- ton to his adopted daughter, Nellie Custis. I made ap- plication for membership in this historic farmer's club, and upon getting in touch with the members thereof was very much surprised to find that nearly every mem- ber was either born north of Mason and Dixon's line, or came of Northern parentage. This means that almost all of that portion of the county has passed from the hands of the descendants of the original owners into the hands of Northern and Western owners. The principal or leading industry of the mem- bers of the club, as far as I could learn in the brief visit was, or is dairying. The milk is sent to Washing- ton. Nearly every dairyman has a silo. I purpose getting in touch with the other organiza- tions of farmers in the county, and shall be glad to send the Planter brief articles respecting the same. I may mention of the Woodlawn Club this fact. The wives of the members also have an organization. While the gentlemen meet to discuss the agricultural questions of the day, the wives and daughters meet at the same time and place to discuss "Home Economics," and, what is quite interesting, prepare a supper. The meetings are held monthly at or very near the "full moon," and are held in the afternoon, at the houses of the different mem- bers. This social feature works well. It gives the farmers a half holiday once a month; brings the leading farmers of the section together, to compare notes, discuss current agricultural questions; and it also gives the ladies a chance to keep the homes to the fr^nt — to keep the homes up with the farms. I feel highly favored and honored in belonging to such an organization, and unless prohibited by the members thereof shall take pleasure in sending to the Planter from time to time, a brief account of the "doings" of the club, together with any other facts, figures and features which I may be able to secure relating to the agricultural development of this very interesting portion of the Old Dominion. A. JEFFERS. THE VIRGINIA STATE VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. The Virginia State Veterinary Medical Association is an organization not only calculated to be of great benefit to the veterinarians practicing in the State of Virginia, but it is also of benefit to the stock owners and to the State at large. In the first place the Association not only makes a standard by which the veterinarians of the State are judged, but it also tends to keep the men in the pro- fession from lagging behind in their work, and thus los- ing interest in the same. Again, when an individual wants to employ a veterinarian to inspect valuable live stock /which he wishes to purchase, he feels that when he employs a member of the State Association that he is getting a man who is known to be well qualified for the work; or else he would not be an active member of the Association. Thus, the fact of being a member in good standing is of great benefit to the individual practitioner. 1908.] THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 895 While the Association is of benefit to the man in active practice, for reasons above stated, at the same time the Association is really dependent upon the veterinarians who are in active daily practice for its support, from the standpoint of gaining practical information. No address at a meeting is so interesting as the one we hear from a practitioner, when he is telling just what he has done and the results of his work, by citing a case which he DE.S. C. NEFF. DR. W. 0. CHRISMAN. has just had in his practice. No paper is quite so attract- ive as the one which is illustrated by examples of actual work, giving the results in full. For such valuable .in- formation the Association must look to the man who is in active practice. The Association is growing rapidly in strength, as measured by members and influence, and as a consequence of this numbers of the young men of the State are turn- ing their attention to the profession of veterinary sci- ence yearly, and are graduating and becoming members of the organization. While we are indeed glad to have persons out of the State come in and work with us, we are also delighted to note the intense interest which the native Virginia boys are taking in this important profes- sion. The writer receives numbers of letters every year asking his opinion of the profession of veterinary science as a calling for a Virginia boy to follow, etc. It goes without saying that where he has cause to believe the individual in question will be likely to make a success, the writer always encourages the boys to study veterin- ary science. It affords the writer pleasure to call attention to the fact that the president and secretary of the Association are both not only young men born and raised in Vir- ginia, but they are both very successful practitioners. Dr. S. C. Neff, the efficient president, enjoys a splendid prac- tice in the vicinity of Staunton, and in the fertile Valley of Virginia; while our most worthy secretary, Dr. W. G. Chrisman, practices in the City of Charlottesville, Va., and the county adjacent thereto. At the meeting held in Norfolk last July, the attend- ance was not only large, but the members were all active in the discussions, and delighted with the growth of the Association. Next January we expect to meet in Richmond, and are looking forward to the best meeting, and certainly the largest attendance in the history of the Association. There are now in the State quite a number of young men who have just started out in the profession, and it is hoped and believed that they will one and all make it a rule from the very beginning to attend the meetings of the Association. The General Assembly saw fit at the last session to enact that no one can practice veterinary medicine or surgery in the State of Virginia as a veterinarian and re- ceive compensation for the same, until he has satisfac- torily passed the examination which is given by the State Board of Veterinary Examiners. The Virginia State Veterinary Medical Association ap- preciates this support of the General Assembly, and it is the intention of the organization to do all in its power to make the veterinarians in Virginia as good men as can be had in the profession. We are one and all justly proud of Virginia. May the Old Dominion see cause in the future to be proud of her veterinary association. J. G. FERNEYHOUGH, State Veterinarian. BIRD BAROMETER. Editor Southern Planter; Do birds have any foreknowledge of an approaching storm, or do they give any reliable sign of an approach- ing storm? The robin, the red-bird and the "raincrow" are the common birds that are found on almost every farm. It is a common saying "Look out for rain, I hear the red bird saying, 'Wet here, wet here,' or that 'I heard the raincrow, it is going to rain." I have myself no- ticed the robins, and they seem to nearly always fore- tell the coming of a rain; or, at least, of an electrical disturbance. When you see robins sitting up high on housetops or dead trees in the middle of the day singing in a sort of funeral fashion rain will follow in about twelve hours. The other two, viz.: the raincrow and the red-bird seem to smell it nearly twenty-four hours ahead. A close observer of these birds can pretty safely regulate his hay-making. I have known them to be more reliable than the government forecast, or even the baro- meter. I have staked the birds against both this and last summer, and the birds have almost universally won. Not that it would come a downpour of rain every time, but the very distinct electrical disturbances would be along and the threats for the downpour would be in evi- dence. If this is true is there any cause for it? Do the birds know anything about it? A man, Joe Burris, saw some geese flopping along on the ground and acting as though they were enjoying a swim. "Look," says Joe, "it is going to rain, Mr. An- drews, see them geese." "Hell almighty! Joe Burris, do you think a goose knows more than a white man? It is not a matter of knowledge on the part of the bird or even animal for that matter. It is my belief that it is the impression that the animal gets from the forerun- ning electric currents. These currents are not perceptible 396 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER [October. co us unless we may have corns or rheumatism. We often hear the man with either of these say, "Falling weather, I can feel it in my etc." On this basis I ac- count for the fact that birds do prognosticate the coming iiorm. Certainly the robin especially has his morning j.nd evening song, but the rain song is mostly given in :he big of the day, and if you observe, you will learn ;nat it is different from his matin, or vespers. He will iit still and look in the direction from which the storm 7ill come, and as though he had lost a friend or a peck *i worms, at least. When you see him and hear him 'ioing this take my advice and hustle the hay, notwith- standing the fact that the weather report may say "fair." i: will cost you nothing to take notice. ielma, Ohio. I. F. RAUDABAUGH. ALFALFA IN THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. In Hoard's Dairyman of May 22d, page 474, I have read an article calling attention to the fact that Mr. R. E. jmyth, of Sherman, Texas, has fourteen hundred acre^ jf alfalfa, and is consequently alfalfa king of the world. I beg to differ on this point, and have the pleasure of giving you some data respecting alfalfa in the Argentine .■iepublic. General Julio A. Roca, twice president of the Republic, has the following estates under alfalfa, that I .mow of, he has several other estates of which I cannot jive the amount sown: On Estancia La Larga Guamini, Province Buenos Ayes, "wenty-three leagues alfalfa; on Estancia La Igualda, "rovince Cordoba, three leagues alfalfa; on Estancia La Paz, Providence Cordoba, two leagues alfalfa; on Estancia >,anta Clara, Province Cordoba, two leagues alfalfa. As .nere are 6,400 acres, more or less, in a league, this land- jRTier alone has 192,000' acres. Messrs. Salaberry, Labor and Bercetche have three es- ".ancias in Cordoba, of a joint extent of twenty-nine .eagues, of which at least fifteen are put down with alfalfa. La Germania Estancia Land Co. have eighteen leagues ai Alberdi, Province of Buenos Ayres, all or nearly all at which has been put under alfalfa. As far back as 1896 Doctor Jorge Attucha had already put down seven leagues on his El Pelado Estancia at Colon, Province Buenos Ayres. As for ourselves, we have much more than ten times as much as Mr. Smyth, of Texas, and we are not working on a large scale. This winter we are putting down three-fourths of a league. Hoard's Dairyman. T. J. McKEON. her babies, when she gave the alarm. All the babies ex- cept two scampered to cover. She walked over to those two and pecked them on their heads severely, and when she gave the second alarm they, too, obeyed. Never a hawk was in sight, she was evidently giving a drill. The same thing happened next day. Somebody else has said they are the most "bidable" chickens that ever were. To put it in a nutshell then, R. C. R. I. Reds have beauty, health, strength and intelli- gence, as well as size. Please tell me how best to care for a crop of sunflow- ers. The English sparrows have commenced on them even now, before ripe. LOUISE V. SPENCER. Nottoway Co., Va. Cut off the heads with a small piece of the stalk at- tached, as soon as they begin to ripen, and hang up to ripen out in an airy dry shed. — Ed. RHODE ISLAND REDS. Editor Southern Planter; Referring to my remarks, published in The Planter, one lady said to me, "You did not tell anything about the uncommon smartness of the Reds, nor what fine talkers they are." Now, it is a fact they "peep" when babies different 'rom other chickens, and do seem to try to tell you things. "My Lady Pocahontas," a Red beauty, lived as •lid her ancestors, in a city backyard, never seeing nor bearing a bird of prey. In course of time "My Lady" lad a flock of beauties herself, and she bore herself proudly, clucking and feeding them, and, guarding them :rom all harm. One morning she was on the lawn with Pair Dorset Ewes— State Test Farm, Saxe, Va. Never before have the problems of the farmer received so much attention as at present. President Roosevelt has named a commission looking to the improvement of farm life; a commission is taking an inventory of our natural resources with a view to preserving our natural resources; on every hand there is evidence of an awakening to the importance of the farmer, to the fact that our wealth is based on the soil and that we must improve our methods in farming if we would maintain our supremacy. Rightly, Rural New Yorker says: "Farming of the future will depend upon the skill those who follow us show in saving what is now wasted. In Europe there are farms which have been under cultiva- tion for more than 1,000 years. They were originally much poorer than the average American soil, yet they have been farmed so skillfully that to-day they produce great crops. Along the Atlantic coast there are farms which have grown more than 250 annual crops. They were origi- nally light and poor, yet, by the skillful use of chemicals and green crops, they would produce more corn, grass or potatoes per acre than the naturally rich lands of the West. It is true that the past generation has wasted the fertility of Western lands. The thing for the next genera- tion to do is to save the wastes and restore the land." At the South, where winter rains are excessive and the ground is seldom frozen, nearly all fertilizers are more economically applied in the spring. 1908.] THE SOUTHERN PLANTER THE Southern Planter PUBLISHED BY THE SOUTHERN PLANTER PUBLISHING CO., RICHMOND, VA. ISSUED ON 1ST OF EACH MONTH. J. F. JACKSON, Editor. B. MORGAN SHEPHERD, Business Manager. B. W. RHOADS, Western Representative, 844 Tribune Building, Chicago, 111. MANCHESTER OFFICE. W. J. Carter, 1102 Hull Street. ADVERTISING RATES Will be furnished on application. The SOUTHERN PLANTER is mailed to subscribers in the United States, Mexico and island possessions at 60 cents per annum; all foreign countries, %$; the city of Richmond and Canada, 76 cents. REMITTANCES should be made direct to this office, either by Regis- tered Letter or Money Order, which will be at our risk. When made other- wise we cannot be responsible. SUBSCRIBERS failing to receive their paper promptly and regularly will confer a favor by reporting the fact at once. WE INVITE FARMERS to write us •n any agricultural topic. We are always pleased to receive practical articles. Rejected matter will be re-« turned on receipt of postage. No anonymous communications or enquiries will receive attention. Address THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, RICHMOND, VA. < ENTERED AT THE POST-OFFICE AT RICHMOND, VA., AS SECOND- CLASS MAIL MATTER. - IFYOUVE NEVER WORN SLICKER you've yet to learn ttie bodily comfort it gives in the wettest weather MADE FOR Hard. service AND GUARANTEED WATERPROOF #300 AT ALL GOQD STORES CATALOG FREE PUBLISHERS' NOTES. TO ADVERTISERS. Please bear In mind that we moat have all copy or Instructions for ad- vertisements by the 25th of each month without fall. Every month we are compelled to omit advertising in large volumes for the simple reason that copy does not reach us in time. A NEAT BINDER. If you will send 30 cents to our business office, we will send you a neat binder made of substantial Bris- tol Board, In which you can preserve aa entire volume of the Southern Planter. Many of our readers And these a useful device, as they always save their copies for reference. WITH THE ADVERTISERS. The Youth's Companion has an an- nouncement on another page, to which attention is invited. The Page Woven Wire Fence Co. starts the season's advertising this month. O. H. Berry & Co., the Richmond clothiers, resume their advertising with this issue. The Milne Mfg. Co. is advertising its well known stump puller this month. Miller & Rhoads, the largest mail- order house in the South, have an announcement on another page. They would like to send their new cata- logue to our lady readers particularly. The Enterprise Mfg Co. have a prominent announcement in this is- sue, to which attention is invited. Montgomery, Ward & Co. have a prominent announcement in this is- sue, to which attention is asked. Mr. W. S. Gooch, Virginia repre- sentative of the Macmillan Co., has an advertisement of rural books in this issue. Maj. A. R. Venable, Jr., has several advertisements in this number, which should interest our dairymen and poultrymen. Myer & Son are selling out Aber- deen Angus cattle and Hackney horses. The annual reduction sale of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute is an- nounced on another page. Some finely bred Shorthorn cattle are advertised by Mr. R. R. Smith. The Virginia Berkshire Association announces the public sale of Berk- shires at the Virginia State Fair. The Century Mfg. Co. has an adver- tisement in another column, which should interest farmers. makes not only one of the largest- yielding and best winter feed and forage crops you can giow, but is also one of the best of soil-improv- ers, adding more nitrogen to the soil than any 1 other winter crop. Wood's Descriptive Fall Cat- alogue gives full information about this valuable crop; also ~}about all other FarmS Garden Seeds /-n for Fall planting. Catalogue r* mailed free on request. Write for it. T. W. WOOD & SONS, Seedsmen, - Richmond, Va. Bell Hay Curing Rack (Patented October 15, 1906.). Solves the problem of curing- pe* vines, alfalfa or other hay almost r#- gardless of weather conditions, as th« racks give interior ventilation ans. keep hay from touching ground, there- by causing it to cure out nicely whaa other methods fail. One handling com- pletes the work and the hay is safe For prices and circular giving full par- ticulars, address H. B. BELL, Burkeville, Va. Agents Wanted in Every Count?. Steel Wheels ■willmakeyouroldfarm wagon —» . aagoodasnew. Save money be- [;aaL cause they never need repairs, ""vw • Write for big free hook telling wi all about them and bow they pay . mf Vt>ti mpiroJUfer.Oo. Hoi 140 AG, Quinsy ,111. * * \s\r Please mention the Southern Planter. BANK OF RICHMOND, Main and Ninth Streets. CAPITAL, $1,000,000 00. SURPLUS, 8475,000.0*. Special attention paid to out-of-town accounts. Correspondence invited. Three per cent. Interest Allowed In Savings Department Compounded Semi- Annually. 898 THE SOUTHEKN PLANTER [October, You Will Never Regret keeping the cleanest dairy in your locality, because cleanliness is necessary for successful dairying. To assist you and to lighten your work, use a Tubular Separator for it is built, especially, to fit Southern conditions, easily and well — and it does. The simplicity of the Tubu- lar, enables it to be easily cleaned and handled by inexperienced people; in other words, it is the only separator for your dairy; be- cause it has been proven to meet the conditions, prevailing in your community, by satisfied Tubular users. For absolute proofs of these claims, write for catalog 290. THE SHARPLFS SEPARATOR CO., West Chester, Penna. Toronto. Oin. San Francisco, Calif. Chicago, 111. i Q 1 ^ Bu y s Tbis Large Handscme * Nickel Trimmed Steel Range without warming closet or reservoir. With h i prli warm inrr closet, pcrcaia^n Ijned reservoir, just as shown in cut, 317.35; large, square, oven, wonderful baker, 6 cook. holes, body made of cold ed steel. Duplex grate; burns .. ■•.-< 'i.u. gandsorae nickel linings, highly polished. ^ip. CUR TE"MS "I BHTmost liberal ever ■?7o**5 1 made. You can pay ipirajwjnneryou receive the 3fl"»^/rang:e. You can take r — it into your home. iseKSOdavs. If you don't iml it exactly as represent- id, the biggest bargain you \ er saw equal to stoves re- 5ft- tailed tor double our price, *~- return it to us. We will pay freight both ways. itirtlA Trrlaw for our beaut^'nliy Illustrated Stova ^J Catalog No. i 221 ; a. postal card will do, 1d4 s ivies to select from. .Don't buy until you get it. MAKVtd SMITH CO., CHICAGO, ILL. 9C0RDS^ c e3&i©eilS BY ONE MAN, with the FOLDINC SAWINC MACHINE. It saws down trees. Folds like a pocket knife. Saws any kind ol timber on any kind of rround. One man can saw more timber with it than 2 men in any other way, and doit easier. Send for FREE illustrated catalog, showing latest IMPROVEMENTS and toallmuniala from thoueande. First order Booures aeency. AddrtjflB FOLDINC SAWINC MACHINE CO., 166-164 E. Harrison Street, Chicago, Illinois. MARKET GARDENING. While the average yield per acre of vegetables in the United States dur- ing the past ten years was $42.09, in Queen's county, New York, the aver- age for the same period was $140.00. Large as these figures attained in the Empire State may seem, they pale, however, when compared with the market gardens around Paris, where the average annual yield amounts to $1,000 an acre. Intensive gardening pays, and it appears that we yet have something that we can learn from our brothers in Sunny France. Don't forget that the time is quick- ly approaching when you snould leave your farming implements out in the open where the elements may get to work to give the tools an an- tique appearance. FOREST EXPERIMENT STATIONS. The United States Forest Service has just perfected plans by which for- est experiment stations will soon be established in a number of the na- tional forest States of the West. What the agricultural experiment stations have done for the improvement of the farms of the country, it is ex- pected these forest stations will do for the development of American for- ests. As a first step in this work, an experiment (station has already been established on the "Vj^onine Na- tional Forest, in the Southwest, with headquarters at Flagstaff, Ariz. Sta- tions in other national forests will be established later, and it is the in- tention ultimately to have at least one experiment station in each of the agricultural regions of the West. One of the most important parts of the work of the new experiment sta- tions will be the maintenance of mod- el forests, typical of the region. These areas will furnish the most valuable and instructive object les- sons for the public in general, for professional foresters, lumbermen, and owners of forest land, and espe- cially to the technical and adminis- trative officers of the national forests. FLYING MACHINES AND THE WEATHER BUREAU. The eyes of the country, and, in fact, these of the entire world have been centered on the experiments in aernautical propulsion at Fort Myer, Va„ across the Potomac river, from the national capital, where the United States army has been conducting tests of airships and dirigibles. The wonderful success of the Wright air- craft in remaining in the air longer than any similar heavier-than-air craft, until the deplorable accident which resulted in the death of a lieu- tenant of the signal corps, and the maiming of the inventor, Orville Wright, was due, to a great extent, to the careful study which the Wright Brothers paid to air currents and the force and stress of atmos- ind ear corn, shelled . oats, rye, wheat, bar- ley, Kaffir corn, cotton seed, corn in shucks, sheaf oats, or any kind of grain : coarse, medium or fine. The only mill in the world made with a double set of grind- ers or burrs. SIX SIZES Easily operated. Never choke. Fully guar- anteed. Especially adapted for gaso- ne engines. "Write for catalog and any information desired. D'IPLEX MILL & MFG. CO. Box 20 Springfield, Ohio The Improved • Screw Stump Puller Write for Prices Chamberlin Mfg. Co., Olefin, N. T. GET OUR PRICES ON Carpenter's Tools AND Builders' Hardware, Fuller Brothers DANVILLE, VA. THE CAMBRIDGE j < CORRUGATED Land Boiler and Pulverizer. ^-^^ i i r THE BEST IN THE WORLD Used by the State Test Farm, Vir- ginia Agricultural College. Sweet Briar Institute, Miller M. L. School and some of the best farmers in the State. Address: R F. HARRIS *& CO., Charlottesville, Virginia. Please mention the Southern Planter 1908.] THE SOUTHEKN PLANTER 899 pheric pressure. Early in the experi- ments conducted by the Daytonians, a letter was written to the United States Weather Bureau, asking for the name of the windiest spot in the country. As an outcome of the cor- respondence Kill Devil Hill, N. C, was selected by the experimenters where first the gliding machine and later the aeroplane were given thor- ough tests until a manageable craft was perfected. The accident at Fort Myer on Thursday, as stated by the army officers stationed there, was not due to any incorrect plans, but to faulty construction. Every day be- fore making an ascension, Orville Wright placed himself in communica- tion with the United States Weather Bureau to learn the prospects for a successful flight, and the advice of the officials stationed there was al- ways accepted without question. POTATO SCAB CONTKOL. The potato scab disease has been pretty thoroughly studied by potato specialists. This well-known malady is the result of a fungus infestation which also causes scab on beets. Its germs occur in great numbers on scabby potatoes, and may cling to the surface of smooth tubers. Much of the loss from scab is directly due to the use of Infected seed. When the fungus is not present in the soil a clean crop is assured if clean seed is used. It is cheaper to abandon potato growing upon badly infected soil for a time than other- wise to combat the pest. Chemical disinfection of soil is not effective enough to warrant the cost. Seed potatoes can be effectively disinfected either by soaking one and a half hours in a solution made by dissolv- ing one ounce of corrosive sublimate in seven gallons of water; or by soak- ing two hours in a solution made by diluting one-half pint of formalin with fifteen gallons of water. DISEASES OF FOWLS, EGGBOTJND. Sometimes a hen is unable to lay her egg, which blocks up the pas- sage from the oviduct. Unless she is relieved, the result must be fatal sooner or later. A hen so affected will be seen to visit the nest repeated- ly without result, and will show gen- eral distress, with a depression of the wings aid tail. The stoppage may be the result of contraction of the egg passage, or an abnormally large egg. If the latter, the remedy is easy; but -when the former is the cause, then the matter is more seri- ous. For large eggs, which can be discovered by an examination of the bird, the vent should be softened by salad oil, followed by an injection of the same, if not relieved within an hour. Great care must be taken hi handling or making an injection, for if the egg be broken the result will probably be fatal. Benefit has been derived also from the holding The 52 issues of 1909 will give for $1.75 as much good reading as twenty 400-page books of fiction, travel, biography, etc. , costing ordinarily $1 .50 each. THE CONTENTS WILL INCLUDE = == 50 250 STAR ARTICLES — Contributions to Useful Knowledge, by Famous Men and Women. CAPITAL STORIES — Serial Stories, Stories of Character, Adventure and Heroism. UP-TO-DATE NOTES on Current Events and Discoveries in Nature and Science. ONE-MINUTE STORIES — Anecdotes, Timely Editorials, Miscellany, Children's Page, etc. SPECIMEN COPIES AND COMPLETE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE 1909 VOLUME FREE UPON REQUEST. NOV. AND DEC rpHE NEW SUBSCRIBER who at once cuts out "*" and sends this slip (or mentions this paper) with $1.75 will receive Free all the issues for Nov. and Dec. , 1908, including the Holiday Numbers ; also Free the 1909 Calendar, " In Grandmother's Gar- den," 8 x 24 inches, in 13 colors. Then The Youth's Companion for the g2 weeks of 1909 — a library of the best reading for every member of the family. CD 4 THE YOUTH'S COMPANION, BOSTON, MASS. ^ SAVE M0/VEV & By writing when in need of any description of Machinery, Boilers, Engines, Tanks, Cars, Kail Beams, Channels, Plates, Angles, threaded Pipe sizes (1 to 6 inches.) . All sizes iron pipe and shells for road draining, etc. Boxes, Shafting, Pul- eys, Hangers, Cable, Belting, and thousands of other useful articles in the Largest Stock in the South of used J0> CLARENCE COSBY. L. SUPPLIES & 1519-31 East Cary St. RICHMOND, VA. D. Phone, No. 3526. 900 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER [October, BARGAUVS IN 2nd Hand Machinery* THE WATT PLOW COMPANY, Richmond, Va. 1 — 15 H. P. (8x10 cylinder) Pitts En- gine and boiler. Mounted on Steel Wheels. 1 — No. 1 Lane Saw Mill with Rich- mond Iron Works Peed, 48-inch in- serted Tooth Saw and all neces- sary belts. In first-class order. 1 — No. 3. Fnrqahar Cable Feed Saw Mill with three Head Blocks and 50-inch Inserted Tooth Saw. As good as new. 1 — « H. P. Peerless Engine and Boiler on wheels. 1 — 20 H. P. Gelser Engine and Boiler on wheels in first class condition. 1—15 H. P. Geiser Engine and Boiler on wheels in good condition. 1— No. 1 American Saw Mill with saw and belts as good as new. 1 — 2nd hand American Combined Lath Mill and Bolter; in first-class con- dition; used three or four months. 1 — 25 H. P. Talbot Boiler on Sills. 1 — 25 H. P. Nagle Detached Engine, both in good condition. ■inch, 4-sided Molder. — ALSO — 1 — 48-inch Inserted Tooth Simonds Saw. We invite your correspondence and will gladly give any information de- aired. THE WATT PLOW CO., 1426 E. Main St., Richmond, Va, /fynmijh&terEreimAeri, A constant supply for as many purposes on your place as you desire. No trouble, no expense when you have installed a RIFE HYDRAULIC RAM Pumps water from spring, stream or Dnd automatically. Inexpensive, simple, reliable. Satisfaction Guaranteed. Raises water 30 feet for every foot of falL 7.000 in use. Write For Free Plans and book of valuable suggestions. RIFE ENGINE CO. ISTrlaitrBldg. r Voi ■ Ncif York HARNESS By Mail You can buy enstom-mado r oak .tanned harness direct f von our factory at wholesale prices ou save two profits— ttie jobber's and dealer's, write for onr new il- lustrated catalogue and see for your- self just bow much money you can save. All our harness is guaranteed, and we leave you to be the judge. If you're not. satisfied, money hack. Every farmer should have our booklet. Write to-day and ask for catalogue O. THE KING HARNESS CO., 16 l.ukcSt., Owi'iro. TIobii <'».. N. V. of the bird above a jug of hot water, nllowing the steam to enter the vent. Contraction of the vent is generally accompanied by inflammation, either the cause or the result of the con- traction. This can be discerned by heat of the part, and feverishness ol the bird. As an internal remedy home- opathic tincture of aconite should be given. The vent and surroundings also should be fomented with a weak solution of aconite. AN ENEMY TO THE SPARROW. Word comes from far away Austra- lia of the presence of a number of large birds, blue in color, with black heads, which are very destructive to sparrows. In fact, since the arrival of these aerial cannibals, sparrows have been practically unknown in the districts affected. One farmer who resides in a portion jf the conti- nent states that "since the advent of the strange birds there is net a spar- row left about the place, and there were hundreds there before. While they enjoyed eating grasshoppers, they were death to the sparrow. Other birds did not seem to be fright- ened with them. They are quick on the wing, and when flying spread out their tails like pigeons." A specimen of the sparrow destroy- er was sent to the Department of Australia for identification. It is the Ground Cuckoo-Shrike (Pteropodocys phasianella). It is about the size of a small pigeon, but more slender; to- tal length from tip of bill to end of tail, fourteen inches. Commonly, they make use of their legs a good deal, and do not resort to flying ex- cept in an emergency. Insects are the chief food, and no reports were received of their doing any damage. If sparrow destroying is a fixed habit with this bird, and if after in- vestigation by our own officials, it is found that it will do no harm to agriculture, it might be well to in- troduce it into our cities and towns to at least keep down the sparrow pest. But progress along this line ought to be a little slow until it is demonstrated clearly that we are not introducing one pest to get rid of one of lesser degree. FISH AS FERTILIZER FOR POTATOES. Among the French-Canadian farm- ers in the vicinity of Quebec, herring and a species of small fat fish are used in great quantities as fertilizer for potatoes. Along the banks of the St. Lawrence river at frequent in- tervals fish weirs are constructed, and in the month of May, principally, im- mense quantities of these fish are caught. The farmers come from all directions with their wagons, which have a capacity of about 1,200 pounds each, and purchase their sup- ply direct from the fishermen at fifty cents per load. Preparatory to plow- ing the land is fairly well covered SECOND HAND GASOLINE ENGINES 24 Horsepower Charter Stationary Gasoline Engine, complete with bat- tery, gasoline tank, etc. Price S550.00 Used only about one month. 8 Horsepower Brown Stationary Gaso- line engine, complete. Used about four months. Price S250.00 4% Horsepower Fairbanks-Morse Pumping Engine for deep well work. Price $17 5. OO Used two or three years, but has been put in first-class condition. 2 Horsepower Sterling, In first-class condition. Completely overhauled. Price $100. OO SYDNOR PUMP & WELL COMPANY. DEPARTMENT B. RICHMOND, - VA. MAKE YOUR OWN REPAIRS Save the money you pay t'^e harness m<~ by using Myers' Lock Stitch Awl. It stitches both sides like a sewing- machine and mends harness, saddles, shoes, fur coats, robes, c.'invas, gloves, carpets, etc., perfectly. Something- constantly needed, always ready for use and costs only $1.00 p-cpaid. If your dealer hasn't it write us direct. Ht-Uer still, secure the agency and make money. Agents wanted. Booklet Efree. C.A. MYERS CO., 6537 Woodlawn Ave., Chicago De LOACH VA to 200 H. P. CTXTTCS m Steam, Gasoline and Water Power Planers, Shingle Mills and Corn Mills. WE PAY THE FREIGHT. Send for Catalogue. DeLoach Mill Mfg. Co.. Bridgeport, Ala. Box 265 Please mention the Southern Planter. 1908.] THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 902 LOOK* AT THIS PRICE *P It buys a Strictly High-Class SEWING MACHINE FREIGHT (REPAID TO YOUR, Station GUARANTEED |Q YEARS And has all the up-to-date Improvements that every lady appreciates. It Is splendidly built of thoroug-hly dependable material and handsomely finished. Has elegant Oak Drop Leaf 6-Drawer Cab- inet, complete Set of Attachments, full instruc- tions how to use them, and the outfit will be sent you "Freight Free" on 90 DAYS FREE TRIAL We sell DIRECT at ONE PROFIT, saving- you the Jobber's, Retailer's and Agent's profits and sell- ing expenses, & exactly the same machine they will ask you $30.00 for. Send at ONCE for OUR, BIG NEW FREE SEWING MACHINE CATALOGUE Most complete and in- structive book of its character ever publish- ed in the South. It pict- ures and describes every part and particular of the greatest line of positively High-Grade Sewing; Machines ever offered. We are the largest Sewing Machine distributors in the South, and, at prices asked, for qualify guaranteed, our Machines are un- mac-chable. This catalogue describes and prices high-grade Pianos, Organs, Steel Ranges, Cooking Stoves, Heating Stoves, Phonographs, Dinner and Toilet Sets. Prompt shipments, safe delivery and satisfaction guaranteed, or your money back, MALSBY, SHIPP & CO., Dept. 14 41 S. Forsyth Street, ATLANTA, GEORCIA DEDERICKS § a H|ig M ■ Presses The most carefully- selected material; the latest improve- ments; expert workmanship and su- pervision throughout their making,ex- plain the unapproached superiority of Dederick's Baling Presses. Famous for their speed and unusual capacity, their neat work and remarkable endurance. Presses for all purposes. Catalog giving full information free. P. K. DEDERICK'S SONS. 55 Tivou St Aliant. N. Y. "Fli" Hay Press.1 »*_-■ I f. HORSE and BELT M ■■■■ ■ ■■ POWER. t/'MW 38 styles and sizes ol Presses. For many years the stand ard. Lead in character of work, speed, easy and safe operating.. Don't buy until you Seethe Eli catalogue. Mailed free. Write for it today. JD0LL1NS PLOW CO., 1185 Hampshire St., Qulncy. Ills. PIANOS Slightly used Steinways; 1909 Model Lyon & Healys; and other remark- able Bargains. Lyon & Healy, SO Adams St., Chicago. World's Largest Music House Our Great Re-Building Sale is Now in Progress! Please mention the Southern Planter. with the fish, and then turned in. The seed potato is cut so as to retain two well formed eyes, and the pieces are dropped into the furrows. The more careful planter will place a fish be- tween tiie pieces. The work of plant- ing is mostly done by women and boys, labor-saving machinery, such as the potato planter and digger being unknown. GUY ELLIOTT MITCHELL. A SAILOR'S CHRISTENING. "The late Bishop Potter once in his early days had occasion to officiate at a christening in a small fishing village on the Massachusetts coast," says a writer in the current issue of Harper's Weekly. "The proud father, a young fisherman, awkwardly hold- ing his first-born daughter, was visi- bly embarrassed under the scrutiny of the many eyes in the congrega- tion, and his nervousness was not decreased by the sudden wailing of the infant as they stood at the font. "When the time for the baptism of the babe arrived the Bishop noticed that the father was holding the child so that its fat little legs pointed to- ward the font. " 'Turn her this way,' he whispered, but the father was too disconcerted to hear or understand. " 'Turn her feet around,' the Bishop whispered again; but still there was no response. The situation was fast becoming critical, when an ancient mariner in the back of the church came to the rescue. Putting his weather-beaten hand to his mouth he roared across the room, 'Head her up to the wind, Jack!'" GET THESE BOOKS ON FERTILIZ- ING AND BIGGER CROPS. Write to the American Harrow Co., of Detroit, and get their literature free on fertilizing for bigger crops in- cluding their catalogues about Stand- ard American Manure Spreaders and their famous Detroit Tongueless Disc Harrows. Find out how one man with an American Spreader saves half the time and expense and spreads manure properly for bigger crops than is pos- sible by hand. Get all facts on the fertilizing subject prepared by the best authorities. Just say that you are a reader of this paper to get free either or both catalogues on the American Manure Spreader and De- troit Tongueless Disc Harrow. Also, most liberal thirty days test offer and price proposition for these highest nuality machines, which come within the range of every practical man's pocketbook and needs. Address to- day the American Harrow Co., 1621 Hastings St., Detroit, Mich. Pittsylvania Co., Va„ Apl. 30, '08. I am always glad to get the South- ern Planter. R. T. SMITH. WHAT DO YOU SAY? Several hundred thousand farmers say that the best investmentthey ever made was when they bought an Electric Ha tf ag .n tow wheels, wide tir«s ; easy work, light draft. We'll sell you a set, Of the best eteel wheela made for your old wagon. Spoke united with fcub . guaranteed not to break nor work loose, fiend for our catalogue and save money* ELECTRIC WHEEL CO.. Box 14a .Qiilnoy.ltL Farmers' Handy Wagon Absolutely the best wagon built for every kind of farm work, and the cheapest you can buy. It is low down, has wide steel wheels and wide tires, and will last a lifetime without re- pairs. Can be depended upon to haul any kind of a load. Guaranteed In every respect. STEEL WHEELS Tor farm wagons — iny size to fit any ixle. Send for our Tree booklet before you buy a wagon or a set of wheela. EMPIRE MFG. CO., Box 140 AH. Qulncy, 111. *iET\L, MOTHERS. Complete Fireproof Hatching and Brood- ing Plant for $7. SO; two quarts of oil will hatch and breod tha chicks. Our nest aya- tem is the latest dia- covery. Full Una of p ou 1 1 r y supplies. Lo-west prices. Frea ataiogue. Write to-day. CYCLE HATCHER CO., Box 4fl». Elmtra. N«-w York. lake Your Own Fertilizer at Small Cost witn WILSON'S PHOSPHATE M1UI From 1 to to HP. Alsottoaa Cutters band and povai for the poultrymeo grit and shell mill*, farm fee* mills, family grist mills, scrap cake mllla. Seodfoi our catalog. , wiisra eras,, Son- Mrs.. Casta, ft THE DIXIE PEA HULLER. Hulls and cleans 5 to 6 bushels peas per hour. Does not break the peas. Has two Cranks, sieve and seed box. Runs light, well built, never breaks. Get Our Special Quota- '» tions for Quick Orders. ■ & SANDERS MFG., Co., ■=>*•- Dalton, Ga. ENQINE3 FOR SALE. Ten horse traction $250; 10 horse portable, $150; 12 horse portable. $200; 6 horse boiler and engine, $90; 1 horse gasoline engine, $40; 3 horse, $60; 6 horse, $125; 10 horse, $175. Boilers and engines from 1 to 100 horse carried In stock for immediate shipment. Casey Boiler Works, Springfield, Ohio. Wheels. Freight Paid $8 75 for 4 Kugg; » ti.- t -lv Steel lire, on. Wi.u Itubber Tiros, $15.20. I in:.'. «""• '- H 10 * in. tread. Rubber TireTiiu Bliltiri". $41; HarneM.$5. Writ* for catalog. Learn how to buy dl-ppf. Impair Wheals, $6.60. Wagon Uuibre.la MILK. W.V,BOObi'i»'i»n«i|l»- 902 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER [October, Tornado F< ed and ENSIt A6E CUTTER For the Preparation of all kinds of Feed. in various sizes to meet demands of all and either with or without. TraT*II«g Feed Table, Carrier or Blower mounted or unmounted. Also equipped with Interchangeable cylinders, mak- ing It possible to reduce corn, rye, oats, hay, alfalfa, etc., to any desired state. Write for our new catalogue, containing Information concerning sil- age and silage equipments. If Inter- ested we will quote lowest possible prices upon both TORNADO Silo and Silo Filler. Manufactured by W. R. HARRISON * CO., Masalllon, O. The "Jubilee Year" A Quarter-Century of Unparalleled Success Pa<*e Fence is the Pioneer— the oldest woven wire fence on the market. Twenty-five years of test prove the supremacy of Page Woven Wire Fence in tensile strength, elastic- ity durability and economy. Over 800,000 farmers, | stockmen, dairymen and poultrymen use and praise it. The Government uses Pa»e Fence as the highest stand- ard of quality. The first Page Fence sold is still in service— never has needed repairs. The Page Fence we are selling today is vastly better. It is a genuine High-Carbon. Basic Open-Hearth, Steel Wire Fence. Money cannot buy better. Send for a free copy of the "Jubilee Edition" of the Page Catalog, Page Woven Wire Fence Co., Box A61 Adrian, Mich. HaS THE NEW CENTURY GATE »an be opened or closed from -rr^r- your wagon by small child. rrr-./il! '! ' :! '. No springs, no hinges, no cast % -ji.ljll | jjj jjj UJfip jsiS ' ings, no cog-wheels, no woBd, *3 : ™ij~r jr.' CrY no saging. no draging. So sim- 1\','— 1~~ -^— j-^i. pie, so easy, no harness and almost no machinery; nothing to wear out or break, nothing to be getting out of fix. Not affected by drifting or deep snow, sleet or ice. Always ready for uso and will last a life-time. A model of simpli- city, durability and cheapness. If there is no Agent in your locality, please write New Century Steel, Wire S Iron Works, «02 S. REGISTER ST. BALTIMORE. MD ALW& MANLOVE o Automatic Gate m Saves time, adds "j« to value, safety, beauty and pleas- ure of home. MANLOVE GATE CO., 272 E. Huron St.. CHICAGO, ILLS. Id** LAWN FENCE Many designs. Cheap wood. 82 page Catalogue free. Special Prices to Churches and Cemeteries. Coiled Spring Fence Co, Box Q Winchester Ind. DON'T RUST FARM FENCE Sold direct to farmers at man- ufacturers' prices. Catalogue free. Freight prepaid. THE WARD FENCE CO. Bo* 852 Decatur, Ind. PLANET JR. «SSJ s — S. I* Allen * Co., Box 1107X, Phlla- ftelBkla. FARMING LANDS DAMAGED MORE THAN A MILLION DOLLARS. The recent heavy rains have not only done an enormous amount of damage to crops, bridges, roads and railroads, but, according to an esti- mate made by State Forester, W. W. Ashe, the upland farming lands of the Piedmont section ' have sustained a loss from washing of more than a mil- lion dollars, the damage being heavi- est in those sections where the coun- try is most hilly and where the rain- fall was most concentrated. These estimates, which are based on the amount of soil in the water of the rivers, as shown from previous records of floods of about the same height, indicate that more than 1,500,- 000 tons of soil were washed from the Piedmont region of North Caro- lina during the wet week, more than 500,000 tons from the farms of North- ern Georgia; 700,000 tons from upper South Carolina, and 400,000 tons from the hills of Virginia. Analyses have shown that more than one-third of the earth which causes the muddiness of the rivers during the freshets is humus, which is undoubted- ly washed chiefly from the farms. At one dollar a ton for this humus, which is less than it can be replaced for, the loss to these states in impoverish- ment of the soils, exceeds $1,200,000. This is a loss which is largely under- estimated or overlooked by the farm- er, because it is a loss which takes place so constantly that he regards it as a matter of course. In the aggre- gate it is so enormous that it is one of the chief, if not the chief, reasons for the poverty of so many Southern soils, keeping them depleted of the humus or the manurial portion of the soil. This is a loss to which North- ern soils are not subject, on account of the lighter rainfalls and their more gentle character. During the recent rains the rainfall at Raleigh and at many other points in middle North Carolina was twelve inches for four days; at points in up- per South Carolina, fifteen inches fell in two days; while more than four inches fell in one day at many places. Such concentrated precipitation, tropi- cal in character, does not occur in the farming regions of the Northwest. It follows that if the farmers of the South wish to preserve their hillside lands they must not only use every possible means of preventing erosion which are used at the North, but addi- tional means as well, not only deep plowing and cover crops, but terracing as well, and have no land which is ly- ing idle without a crop of some kind on it to protect the soil. All land which is not in cultivation should be protected bv keening in timber. Between Virginia and Georgia there are more than 2.000.000 acres of idle farming land, which should be planted in timber if for no other reason than to prevent it from washing, but the timber will make a good investment besides. SMTP nE YOUR OLD METALS HIDES RUBBER SCRAP IRON Gar Lots a Specialty 50,000 Hides Wanted Write for Prices. Satisfaction Guaranteed. No Commissions. Checks Sent Same Day Fbeight Bills Abe Masked Paid. Clarence Cosby, Established 1890. RICHHOND, VA. Labgest Dealer in Scrap Iron, Metals, Hides, Etc., in the South. KEFEEENCE8: National Bank of Vir.j'ml a Bank of Richmond, BradBtreets and Dun 1908.] THE SOUTHEKJST PLANTER 903 AGRICULTURAL LIME. PLMN ROCK OR SHELL LBIKE BAGS OB BULK SPECIAL FINE HYDBATED LIME FOR DRILLING. If in the market for any grade and any quantity of LAID LIME Write for our price list and particulars T. C. ANDREWS & CO., Inc. NORFOLK, VA lime to Paint. Let us quote you prices on Paint that will give you satis- faction. Color cards and all in- formation cheer fully furnished. Write to-day. Liiebermnth Bros. Richmond, Va. ABRAMS PAINT AND GLASS COMPANY RICIinOND, VA. HOUSEHOLD PAINTS, GLASS, SASH, DOORS AND BLINDS. FOR SALE ?375 buys an Aultman 10 H. P. port- able boiler and engine in Al condition. Steel wheels, new flues. A Bargain! WM, BUGBEE, Palmyra, Va. KILL SAN JOSE SCALE WITH GOOD'S CAUSTIC POT- Crtfln min « *muuu 9 ASH WHIiLEOIL aunt* mo. 3 James Good, 859 N. Front Street, Philadelphia. Tell the advertiser where you eaw his advertisement. The editor of the Baltimore Sun recently offered a $5.00 prize for the best list of "The Ten Best Things to Eat," and this prize was captured by our correspondent, "Mary Wash- ington," whose list, under the head- ing of "Virginia Delicatessen, ap- peared in the Sun of September 13th, and read as follows: First. A Virginia ham from a hog fattened on clover and mast till six weeks before killing, when it should be fed on corn. Its weight should not exceed 150 pounds. The ham must be cured in the Virginia style, with a mixture of molasses, sugar and pepper, rubbed on it, and it must be put on in cold water and cooked slowly. Second. A wild turkey, roasted to a turn, and with a well seasoned dressing, intermingled with chestnuts, served with celery, crab apple jelly and home-made pickle. Third. Partridges broiled a delicate brown in butter. Fourth. A choice filet of beef, served with mushrooms. Fifth. Lynnhaven oysters, creamed on* a chafing dish. Sixth. Brunswick stew, with squir- rel as a basis, and with corn, butter- beans, tomatoes, finely sliced pota- toes, rice, minced onions, salt and pepper added. Seventh. The finest canteloupes raised on the low grounds of some Southern stream. Eighth. Batter-bread, made of meal, ground at a country water-wheel mill, with a plenty of milk, eggs and melted butter added to it. This Is the kind of batter-bread which Mr. T. C. DeLeon says can only be made by an old Southern mammy with her head tiedup in a red bandanna hand- kerchief. Ninth. Beaten biscuit, such as are generally called "Maryland biscuit," though I believe they are equally a product of Virginia. They should be beaten a half hour by hand, and not by machinery, and should be as smooth as satin. Tenth. Home-made peach ice-cream, made of very soft peaches and genu- ine cream. "ABSORBINE IS ALL YOU CLAIM FOR IT." Mr. Owen Mohler, Thornville, Ohio, writes, under date of May 11, 1908: "I used your Absorbine on a horse that had a sore shoulder that had left a bunch and it entirely removed the bunch. It is all you claim for it. I would not do without it." Absorbine stops lameness, kills pain, removes bog spavins, thoroughpins, splints, wind puffs, shoe boils, enlarged glands and similar bunches without blistering or removing the hair and horse can be used. $2.00 per bottle at all druggists or express prepaid upon receipt of price. W. F. Young, P. D. F., 109 Monmouth St., Springfield, Mass. That Will Wear The house-owner wants paint which will not become spotted or streaked or scaly. White Lead, if pure, mixed with pure linseed oil, makes paint which never scales nor spots. It is possible to know the purity of the White Lead before painting if you have a blowpipe, and this we will furnish free for the asking. We could not afford to make this exposure if our White Lead had a grain of adulteration in it. The "Dutch Boy Painter" trade-mark guarantees the purity of our White/ Lead. Send for Free Test Equipment No. 14 which includes blowpipe, instructions and paint booklet. NATIONAL LEAD CO. in whichever of the follow- ing cities is nearest you: New York. Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleve- land, St. Louis, Philadel- phia (John T. Lewis & Bros. Company); Pitts- burgh (National Lead & Oil Company) "Feeds and Feeding" AND The Southern Planter for only $2 '5, Including- delivery >i the book. 'Ala Is Professor Hani '■ great w»rh on Feeds and Feeding Stock and It- the recognized standard everywhere. Bvery one with half dozen head of stock should have It. Southern Planter, Richmond, Va. 904 THE SOUTHEEK PLANTER [October, ALL EST FOR AXLES M -\x ■ s\ v^a xl!e GREASE You will make more trips, draw bigger loads, save un- due wear on box and axle, and keep the hard-working horse in better shape by an occasional application of Mica Axle Grease. Nothing like it to take the painful, heavy, downward drag out of a big load. Ask the dealer for Mica Axle Grease. v STANDARD 1^?. OIL COMPANY (Incorporated) J, A Great Discovery. DROPSY CURED with vege- table remedies; re- moves all symptom of dropsy in 8 to 20 days; 30 to 60 days effects permanent cure. Trial treat- ment furnished free to every sufferer; nothing fairer. For circulars, testi-: Zp monials and free 8$ trial treatment write" DR. H. ft: GREEN'S SONS, Atlanta, Ga. FUMA kills Prairie Dogs, "Wood- Chucks, Gophers and Grain Insects. "The wheels of the Gods grind slow, but exceedingly small." So the weevil, but you can stop their grind with FUMA CARBON BI-SULPHIDB as others are doing. It fumigates poultry houses and kills hen lice. Edward R. Taylor, I'enn Tan, N. Y. Please mention the Southern Planter. SOLDIER— HISTORIANS OF THE SOUTH. Since the close of the Civil War, there has been a tremendous out- pouring of historical works in the South, occasioned by the fact that numbers of the men who had wielded the sword, afterwards took up the pen to describe the deeds of the war. This state of things has its advan- tages, and' likewise its drawbacks. These annals flowing fresh from the memories and pens of men who had taken part in the struggle, and helped to make the history they chronicled, have a lifelike freshness and vidiv- ness that give them a peculiar charm. At the same time, it would be super- human for a writer who had recently been an impassioned actor in the great drama of the Civil War, to give a cool, dispassionate, unbiased view of its occurrences, or of the mo- tives and intent underlying these. First on the list of those who have both made and written the history of the Southern Confederacy, I may mention our President, Jefferson Da- vis. He was a man of widely varied experiences, and few lives exhibit such great vicissitudes as his. Born in Kentucky, June, 1808, (as was also Lincoln in February, ISO'S)), Davis was educated for the military profes- sion, graduating at West Point in 1828. He resigned from the army in 1835, and in 1845, entered Congress from Mississippi, his adopted State. On the breaking out of the Mexican War, however, he resigned his posi- tion in Congress to take command of the First Mississippi Regiment of Rifles, which he retained till the end of hostilities, greatly distinguishing himself by his bravery. In 1847 he became United States Senator, and in 1853-57, Secretary of War, under Pierce. He was then re-elected to the Senate, but left this body, in Jan- uary, 1861, on the secession of his State, and the following month he was made president of the Confeder- acy. As Major Daniel said in his great oration over Davis, "He was a great man of a great epoch, whose name is blended with the renown of American arms, and with civil glor- ries of cabinet and Congress hall, son of the South, who became head of a Confederacy more populous and ex- tensive than that for which Jefferson wrote the declaration of independ- ence, and commander-in-chief of arm- ies greater than those of which Wash- ington was general. He saw victory sweep illustrious battlefields, and he became a captive. He ruled millions, and he was put in chains. He cre- ated a nation. He followed its bier. He wrote its epitaph, and he died, a disfranchised citizen. After the passage of the eventful years in which he played by turns the role of the soldier, the politician, the ruler and the captive, Davis, in Make Your Idle Money Earn You Interest Write the FIRST NATIONAL BANK of Richmond, Virginia, for Information concerning Its certificates of deposit, so arranged that One Per Cent, mav be collected every Four Months through your nearest bank or store. Our experience proves this form for savings to be the most satisfactory plan yet devised for deposits of $100.00 or more. Our Capital and Earned Surplus Is $1,600,000 John B. Purcell, President. Jno. M. Miller, Jr., VIce-Pres. Cashier. Chas. R. Bnrnett, Asat. Cashier. J. C. Joplln, Asst. Cashier. FARMERS Insure Your Buildings, Live Stock, Produce, Etc, In Virginia Division FARMERS' MUTUAL BENEFIT ASSOCIATION. Best security. Property insured, $500,000. Average cost per $1,000 per year. $6.00. Territory limited to coun- ties of Chesterfield, Amelia, Powhatan, Nottoway, Dinwiddle, Prince George, Surry, Charles City, New Kent and James City. For plan and membership write to CHARLES N. FRIEND, General Agent, Chester, Va. Organized January 9, 1899. PATENT w v B ou T IN I i NT. Our three books, giving full information in patent matters and containing many valuable suggestions to inventors, mailed free. Write for them. Patent Obtained or Fee Re- turned. No charge for opinion as to pat- entability; send sketch or node.1 Patents advertised for sale free. Woodward & Chandlee, Attorneys, 1237 F St., Washington, D. C. PATENTS "SXW. r/llLillltf RETURNED Send sketch for free report as to patentability. Guide Book and What to Invent, with valuable list of inven- tions wanted sent free. One million dollars offered for one invention; $16,000 for others. Patents secured by us advertised free in World's Progress. Sample free. EVANS & WTLKINS, 848 F Street, AVashington, D. C. "PRACTICAL FARMING" Prof. W. F. Massey's latest and best book is now on sale. It retails for $1.60, and is worth it. We shall ba very pleased to send you a copy at above price and will Include a year's subscription to The Southern Planter. Remember, we deliver the book and give you a whole year's subscription for the price of the book, $1.60. SOUTHERN PLANTER, Richmond, Va. A Neat Binder for your back num- bers can be had for 30 cents. Addrese our Business Department. THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 905 THE VIRGINIA LANDSCAPE AND MAINTENANCE CO. INC. 416 Watt, Rettew & Clay Building, ROANOKE, VA. Entomologists, Foresters, Landscape Architects, Engineers. EDICAL COLLEGE of V irginia 1838 1908 Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy Seventy-first Session begins Sept. 15, 1908 Graded first-class by the American Medi- cal Association on the record of its gradu- ates. Climate salubrious. Living expenses low. Write for terms and catalogue 1 i Christopher Tompkins, M.D.,Dean,R!chnioniI,Va- WA.2STTMD - Bills to Collect - In all portions of the United States. Wo collection, no charge. Agencies wanted everywhere; 25 years' expe- rience. PALMORH'S COLLMCTlOH AGBNCY. 811 Main St., Richmond. Va. PIANOS AND ORGANS. After forty years in the Piano and Organ business, I desire to retire and take a rest. I have a large stock of New and Second Hand Instruments on hand that I desire to dispose of be- low the market price, cash or on time. Do you want a bargain? Address: F. W. WALTER, Staunton, Va. SOLD! I have sold my poultry farm and all of my poultry to Mr. L. B. Cox, who will continue the business with my strain of S. C. B. and S. C. W. Leg- horns. Respectfully, CAIi HUSSEIiMAN, Highland Springs, Va. the quiet evening of his days, turned his scholarly mind and pen towards alithorship in his fine, quaint old home at "Beauvoir," where "the sad, sea waves "of the Gulf tide formed a soothing accompaniment to his thoughts. He wrote two historical works, viz.: "A Brief History of the Confederate States" and "The Rise and Fall of the Confederate States." Of course, his exalted position in the Confederacy had given him a bet- ter opportunity to know about "the .rue inwardness of things" than al- most any one else, and he also had the mental gifts and training, fitting him for authorship, nevertheless he was too near to the events and too deeply concerned in them to have been altogether a suitable chronicler of them. In connection with Jeffer- son Davis as a Southern historian, I may mention that our Confederate Vice-President, Alexander H. Ste- phens, also wrote an historical work entitled "War between the States." General Robert E. Lee never took up his pen, I believe, to write any- thing about the Civil War, not for publication at least, but he furnished a great and fruitful theme to other writers. His life has been written by the following authors: "Memoirs of General Robert E. Lee," by Gen- eral Pitzhugh Lee; "Memoirs of Gen- eral Lee," by General A. L. Long. "Four Years with Lee," by Colonel Walter H. Taylor; "Four Years Under Marse Robert," by Major Stiles; '^Personal Reminiscencesj Anecdotes of Letters of R. E. Lee," by J. Wil- liam Jones; "Popular Life of Lee," by Mason; "Life of General Lee," by John Esten Cooke; "Life of General Lee," by James D. McCabe; "Child's Life of General Lee," by Mrs. Wil- liamson. Stonewall Jackson has furnished a theme almost as inspiring as Lee, as the following list will evince: "Life of Stonewall Jackson," by Dr. R. L. Dabney; "Memoirs of Stonewall Jackson," by his wife; "Jackson's Valley Campaign of 1862," by Colonel William Allen; "Biography of Stone- wall Jackson," by John Esten Cooke; "Life of Stonewall Jackson," by Col- onel Henderson, of the British Army. It is remarkable how many of our Southern generals have written his- tories of the war, or of certain por- tions or campaigns of it, or biogra- phies of our leaders. On this list of writers, I may mention General John B. Gordon, General Longstreet, Gen- eral Joseph E. Johnston, General Bradley T. Johnson, General Fitzj- hugh Lee, General Hood, General Ju- bal A. Early, General Basil Duke, and others. General John B. Gordon pub- lished not long before his death, a work entitled "Reminiscences of the Civil War." General Longstreet wrote a work of somewhat the same character, en- Send Your Order For SEEDS TO DIGGS & BEADLES THE SEED MERCHANTS RICHMOND, VA. We are headquarters for Su- perior seeds of all kinds — grass and clover seeds, garden and flower seeds, seed grains, onion sets, poultry foods and supplies, fertilizers, etc. Write us for prices. CATALOGUE FREE. SEED WHEAT Warner's Improved Fultz, Yielding 43 bushels per acre the field over. The highest yielder I have found in 16 years test. Samples and circulars Free. H. W. WARNER, Easton, Maryland. NEW WARD BLACKBERRY ONE OF THE BEST. Fine stock of plants for fall de- livery. Send for descriptive circular of the "Ward. For other nursery pro- ducts send for general price list. FRED SHOOSMITH, Hoy*, Pa, ana Chester, Va. Address either office. FOR SALE OR EXCHANGE" for something I can use to better ad- vantage, Nursery Stock to the amount of one hundred and fifty dollars. For particulars address: F. W. WALTER, Staunton, Va. STRAWBERRY PLANTS. Send $2 for 1000 plants — Excelsior, Lady Thompson, Aroma, Klondyke, Gandy, etc. — first class stock, true to name. 5,000 enough for 1 acre, only $8 Cat free JNO. I.IGIITFOOT. Dept. 7. East Chat- tanooga, Tenn. NORTH CAROLINA RYE $1.10 per bushel, and APPLER OATS 85 cents per bushel — all f. o. b. here. HICKORY SEED CO., Hickory, N. C. 906 THE SOUTHEEN PLANTER [October, RARE BARGAINS IN Northern VirginiaFarms A Few Specimens: No 162. Contains 280 acres — 80 acres in timber, balance cleared. This land is a splendid quality of grass, hay and corn land. It is smooth and level. Fronts on a good level road 3% miles from station. Farm is very well fenced and watered by streams with a good well at the house. About one acre in orchard, apples and peaches. Buildings: A new six-room house, barn 30x40 for horses and cows, corn crib and hen house. 75 acres of this land is in meadow. This a bargain for a progressive man. Price $.5,000. No. 172. Contains 315 acres — 40 acres in oak and hickory timber; 5 miles from station, situated near the village; considered one of the best wheat and grain farms in Fairfax County. The land is a little rolling; machinery can be run all over it. The land is all in good state of cutivation; well fenced and watered by springs and running streams. Improvements are a good 7- room house with elegant shade, good stable and all out-houses in good re- pair. Price $20 per acre. No. 176. Contains 346 acres, about 70 acres in timber, mostly oak and hick- ory, situated 1 mile from store, school church, shops, etc.; 6 miles from R. R. station. This land is a little rolling and is a fine quality of chocolate clay soil, excellent for grass and grain of all kinds. Good orchard of about 200 apple trees. Farm is well fenced and watered by never failing streams. Spring in every field. Improvements: A good 2% story dwelling with 8 large rooms, 4 attic rooms, basement, barn. 40x70, in good repair, other out-build- ings, all in good condition; farm is lo- cated on good road, and about $10,000 is subscribed to macadamize this road to the railroad station. Price per acre, $30.00. No. 193. Contains 156 acres, smooth land, chocolate clay soil, with good stiff clay subsoil, just rolling enough to drain well, 30 acres in good timber, balance cleared, watered by running stream, very well fenced. In good neighborhood located 7 miles from railroad station, in Loudoun county, sufficient fruit of all kinds for family use, 5-room house in fair repair, other small outhouses in good repair. Price $3,000.00. No. 194. Contains 175 acres, 25 acres In good timber, balance is cleared, 9 acres in orchard in full bearing, good six-room house, old barn, good gran- ary, hen houses, dwelling in a grand oak shaded lawn, spring at house, farm watered by streams and springs, situated on good pike. One hour's drive from Leeshurg, Va. Owner is anx- ious to sell. Price $3,500.00. Send for my Complete List, Wm. Eads Miller, HERND0N, VA. titled "From Manassas to Appomat- tox." General J. B. Hood wrote a work entitled "Advance and Retreat." General Joseph E. Johnston wrote the narrative of his own military ope- rations. Whilst his memoirs have been written by General Bradley T Johnson, of Maryland, a^d also by R. W. Hughes, Jr. A memoir of General Albert Sidney Johnston has been written by Colonel William p. Johnston, Lis soa I be- lieve. ' General Fitzhugh L,e has written the life of his illustrious uncle. General Basil Duke wrote the his- tory of Morgan's Cavalry, one gal- lant Kentuckian recounting the ex- ploits of another. Our Southern his- torical literature of recent years is full of incidents of this kind, so we have the advantage of having one soldier pass judgment on another, and our heroes, under discussion are tried as it were, by their peers. The his- tory of Forest's Cavalry has been written by General T. J. Jordan, and surely no writer on the Civil War had materials of more romantic in- terest than the last named author The Memoirs of General J. E. B. Stu- art have been written by Major H B. McClellan. General Jubal A. Early wrote a his- tory of his own Valley Campaign, in the last year of the War. In reference to General Early as an author, Major Daniel says, in his oration over him, "As a writer, General Early excelled. His speeches on Lee and Jackson are masterly expositions of their cam- paigns. In style, they are "pure wells of English undeflled." They stand and will endure in the majestic sim- plicity of the Doric column. As his deeds were worthy of a Cesar's sword, so his compositions, in clear- ness, directness and comprehensive- ness, were worthy of the Cesar's pen. His account of his campaigns in the last year of the war for Southern in- dependence is a volume which betok- ens the highest qualities of the his- torian." General Early certainly had two qualities very valuable for a histor- ian: a rigid regard for the truth, and an exact and retentive memory. So noted was he for these qualities that he was considered by both North and South as unimpeachable authority on matters pertaining to the Civil War, and numerous were the applications made to him to verify statements, or to settle vexed questions. Amongst these I may mention several letters from the Count of Paris, written whilst he was preparing his work on our Civil War. Referring to General Early's scrupulous regard for truth, and minute accuracy of recollection and statement, Major Stiles, in his work entitled "Four Years Under Marse Robert," says something to the following effect: [I do not recall the NORTHERN VIRGIN* FARM A GREAT BARGAIN Located 27 miles from Washington, one and one half miles from station and thrifty little town on the South- ern Railroad, in good section, 148 acres, 100 acres cleared and under high state of cultivation. Improved by a beauti- ful 10-room dwelling surrounded by 6 acres of most beautiful lawn, shaded by fine walnut and locust grove, splendid elevation; a good large barn and other outbuildings; a fine apple orchard; watered by well and never- failing springs. The owner is going "West to look after other busirress in- terests and is compelled to sell within the next thirty days and has author- ized us to offer this beautiful farm, including all growing crops, five nice cows, two horses, all hogs, poultry and all farming implements, machinery, etc., and possession at once for $6,000. This is indeed a great sacrifice and will surely not be on the market many days. Come to see us and we will show you a great bargain. Always consult us before buying a farm. BALLARD & 1ANHAM (Inc.) 621-13th Street, N. W. WASHINGTON, D. C. VIRGINIA 229 A. — 1% mile from R. R. Sta. $3,500. Running water, county road front and other attractions. 140 A. — large orchard, barns, dwell- ing, farm fenced into fields and other improvements. Land In high state of cultivation — Price $4,000. 82 A. — near electric line, necessary buildings, running water, fine truck and poultry farm — $2,500. 488 A. — Valuable river farm — 2 ml. from R. R. station. — $7,320. Write for complete list. FRANK H. COX, Resident Agent. Ashland, Va To Clo^e f?n Es £te Reduced from $12,500 to $11,000. 400 acre farm, chocolate clay soil, In Lou- doun Co., 1-2 mile from railway sta- tion; 60 acres oak timber, balance un- der cultivation and in grass, house, barn, out-buildings, apple orchard, two wells lasting water, one artesian un- der porch. Heirs have foreign interest and are anxious to sell. Is one of the finest farms in this section; is worth $40 per acre. For particulars, address, Box 21, Sterling, Va, Virginia Farms Handsome Country Homes and High- Grade Farm Lands a Specialty. J. E. WHITE, "THE LAND MAN," Charlottesville. Va. Please mention the Southern Planter. 1908.] THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 907 exact words.] "As long as that doughty old chieftain was alive no one author at the North or South ever took up his pen to write anything about the Civil War without an un- easy feeling lest General Early might arise and correct his statement." By the way, Major Stiles' book is one of the most charming and enter- taining of those called forth by the war. It does not purport to be a formal history, but it gives a great deal of valuable historical informa- tion in a delightful form, mingled with reflections of the author, and with iuteresting little incidents. I know of no book that carries a strong- er and truer atmosphere of Confeder- ate days about it. Colonel John S. Mosby, the distin- guished guerilla chieftain, has given us a thrilling volume of his adven- tures and experiences. His style is characterized by somewhat of the game dash and brilliancy as his ex- ploits. Some valuable contributions to the history of the Civil War have been made jointly by Captain Jed Hotch- kiss and Colonel William Allen. The former was a topographical engineer in one of the corps of the Army of Northern Virginia, whilst his col- league, Colonel Allen, was lieutenant- colonel and chief of ordnance, in the Second Army Corps, under General Lee, and at one time, both Colonel Allen and Captain Hotchkiss were on Stonewall Jackson's staff. The two prepared a series of guide books to the many batttlefields of Virginia, Hotchkiss preparing the maps, and Allan writing the text. The first of these series appeared in 18C8, under the running title of "Battlefields of Virginia," special title, "Chancellors- ville, embracing operations of the Army of Northern Virginia, from the first battle of Fredericksburg to the death of Jackson." This work con- tained five finely executed maps, show- ing the respective positions of the armies, during operations about Fred- ericksburg and Chancellorsville, 1SG2- 63. Colonel Allan also wrote "Jack- son's Valley Campaign of 1862," and "Army of Northern Virginia, in the Virginia Campaign of 18G2." O O ij O JUST OUT! Write For a New List, Famm fnr Northern WSrgisiia 1M ■ Qo t STOCK FARMS A SPECIALTY. 8 WHAT THE GROUND CONTAINS is a question which many farmers have never tried to answer. Its treas- ures of minerals and of pure water should be revealed by the use of "American" Drilling Machinery. Every neighborhood should organize a company, and, by working together and sharing the profits and advan- tages wherever found, great additions to the wealth of the community as well as the individuals should result. Any of our readers who are interest- ed in this question should write for the new illustrated drilling catalogue of the American Well Works, Aurora. Illinois. A. H. BUELL REAL ESTATE BROKER, EERNDON, VA. Will You Exchange Your Virginia Farm For City Property ? G s m iNo m Virginia DAIRY, GRAIN, STOCK, POULTRY, FRUIT. Near Washington and BaBltimore and in easy reach of Philadelphia and t^ftw" Yorki Unlimited markets and unsurpassed shipping- facilities. Reasonable in price. Near good live towns, schools and churches. Write us. CLAUDB G. STEPHENSON (Successor to Stephenson & Rainey, Herndon, Va.) When corresponding with our advertisers always mention Southern Planter Mill for Sale. Up to date, 36 bailer, water-power, roller mill and saw mill, in good grain section, close to schools, good brick dwelling, garden and spring. Will be sold cheap. DIXON BROS., Lexington, Va. Special Attractions In Loudoun County, Va., Farms. I will show you any rarm for sale in the County FREE OF CHARGE. DeL. S. CRITTENDEN, Broker, Ashburn, Va. 908 THE SOUTHEKN PLANTER [October, FARMS For Sale. If yon want a farm to rt u