soription REDUQED to TWO DOLLARS Pe: Annum in Advance. 

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CH: B. WILLIAMS, 
WM. L. HILL, 



Editor and Proprietor. 
General Agent. 



New Series, 



RICHMOND, YA., MARCH, 1868. 



Vol. II.— No. I 



COISTTEHSTTS : 
Agricultural Department: 

Our Exhausted and Abandoned Lands— What can we do with them? 

Successive Crops of Oats— Their Effect to destroy Wild Onion 

Leaves and Shadows for the Improvement <>f Land 

Sheltering Cattle in Winter— The Economy of Selecting Young Hogs for 
• Pork— Curing and Housing Oats,\fec 

Experiment with Baugh's Superphosphate and Old Dominion Fertilizer 
applied to Corn 

The Percheron Norman Horse Illustrated and Described 

Are Farmers Quacks ? — No. 3 

Report of Commissioner of Agriculture Reviewed— No. 2 

Warbles— Description and Treatment of 

About Weeds— What are They? 

Important suggestions to those who desire to aid in sustaining the Southern 
Planter and Farmer 161. Reply to F. G. Ruffin on Watt's Plough, &c 

Rules for Farmers 161 Buckwheat for Green Crop 

Horticultural Department : 

Native Varieties of Fruit 



Spring Work.. 

Ne' 



Watermelon and Muskmelon. 



Tew Apple 167. 

Grapes and Wines 

Pindarsor Ground Peas 

Training and Pruning the Vine 

Mechanic Arts: 

Routt's Improved Southern Corn-Planter Illustrated 

Innovation in Mechanical Appliances 

Household Department: 

Maturing Poultry 180. Chicken Salad and other Domestic Recipes 

Editorial Department: 

Soil, Climate, Scenery, Society, &c, of Orange and other Counties of Pied- 
mont Virginia.. * 

Harrowing Wheat in the Spring , 

Correspondence of Southern Planter and Farmer on Pea-Nut, and Tobacco 
Cultivation, and Inquiries about Virginia 

Notices of New Publications, &c 

Commercial Report: 



PAGE. 

129 
131 
138 

141 

143 
146 
148 
150 
156 
159 
161 
162 
164 

165 
166 
167 
169 
170 
172 

177 
178 

181 



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191 



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CII: B. WILLIAMS, ., . Editor and Proprietor. 

New Series. RICHMOND, VA,, MARCH, 1868. Vol. II— No. 3. 

Our Exhausted and Abandoned Lands. 

WHAT CAN WE DO WITH THEM ? 

No. 2. 
To any one who has read the preceding paper (commencing on 
page 14), under this heading, the question has probably suggested 
itself, How are we to account for so heavy a growth of wheat-straw 
on land so much exhausted as the piece mentioned is supposed to 
have been ? To this question, I know of no reply that would be, 
in every respect, perfectly satisfactory. Davy, and other men skilled 
in agricultural science, tell us that a soil which, by long tasking in 
a particular direction, has lost the power of producing one kind of 
material, has not necessarily lost the power of producing another. 
This is very true, to a certain extent, and hence the vast importance 
of a judicious rotation of crops; but whether it, alone and of itself, 
is sufficient to account for the increased yield referred to, may well 
admit of a doubt. But let us pause a moment to consider. If the 
teachings of science may be relied on, the corn, in the given in- 
stance of cultivation, could have exhausted but a very small portion 
of the inorganic matter from the soil essential to the production of 
the straw. Perhaps the following statement of the amount of these 
materials in one hundred parts necessary to each, may be more sat- 
isfactory to those who are inclined to look at things mainly in their 
scientific light. The corn, then, had taken up, year by year, in one 
hundred parts, 0.5 of sulphuric acid; 0.8 of chlorine; 0.1 of lime; 
8.8 of soda,; 0.8 of silicia; 0.1 of iron; where the straw required 
1.0 of sulphuric acid; 0.6 of chlorine; 8.5 of lime; 0.3 of soda; 



130 



THE SOUTHERN 



[March 



67.6 of silicia; and 1.0 of iron; thus leaving behind it the very 
things which the straw wanted ; while, on the other hand, it took 
from the soil just what the straw did not want, that is, 49.2 of 
phosphoric acid; 17.5 of magnesia; 23.2 of potash; for of these 
the straw required only 3.1 of the acid; 5.0 of the magnesia; 7.2 
Of the potash.* Science, then, tends directly to confirm the facts 
as I have given them. Perhaps it would be difficult to find, in the 
experience of one person among many hundreds, a more striking 
illustration of the ac*?tiracy of scientific teaching, or where that 
teaching chimed in more harmoniously with facts. During that 
long period of sixty years, the soil had been gathering in, just what 
was^ needful to the straw, and losing, in large quantities, only such 
things as were not needful to it. No wonder, therefore, that the 
growth was so great. Still, other things not thus far noticed, may 
have contributed to the result ; such as the uncommon dampness of 
the season ; the low, wet position of the land, always favorable to 
the grass-leaved tribes where water does not linger in excess. It is 
quite likely, however, that the comparatively deep ploughing had as 
much or more to do with it than anything else. As already men- 
tioned, it was a plat of secondary interval, and the soil, as is mostly 
the case with such lands, was deep. The plough, even had it gone 
deeper, would not have reached the sub-soil on which the original 
deposit had been made; so that, nothing was thrown upon tho sur- 
face unfitted to the sustenance of vegetable life in some form. If 
the reader will reflect that this ground had been previously scratched 
over for sixty years in succession only to the depth of three or four 
inches— that every year during this whole time all below that depth 
had been growing more compact and impervious to every natural 
fertilizing influence, as man, beast and wagon-wheels had passed 
. over it in the cultivation and harvesting of crops, till the very life 
and power of production had been pressed out of it ; and that it 



* To facilitate the comprehension of the whole of the above statement, at one 
view, the reader is referred to the recapitulation contained in the following con- 
densed table : 





a 
5 


o 

w 


a 
o 


6 

.5 

"J- 
o 

o 


•a 
en 
cS 

o 
Pu 


CO 



e3 


.2 


< 


T3 
< 


■ 


0.1 


3.8 


0.1 


0.3 


23.2 


17.5 


0.8 


0.5 


49.2 








8.5 


0.3 


1.0 


0.6 


7.2 


5.0 


.67.G 


1.0 


3.1 







1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 131 

had now been loosened up to the depth of about nine inches, letting 
in freely warmth and the gases where before scarcely anything of 
the kind had found entrance, he will, perhaps, more easily conceive 
of the entire correctness of a statement which may, on the first 
blush, have appeared to him to savour of exaggeration. The truth 
is, and it-js a concerning one to us all, there is scarcely any estimat- 
ing the beneficial effects of deep ploughing and thorough pulveriza- 
tion of land in any case, but particularly of land ^o long neglected 
and abused as this had been. An instance much in point occurs in 
illustration of the general principle. It was about the year 1855 or 
'56, that a gentleman in Mississippi, whom at the time I chanced to 
be visiting, invited me out to see a fidd of wheat in which he was 
evidently taking much pride and pleasure. It was decidedly the 
best wheat to be seen anywhere in the country round him, and was 
particularly remarkable for the uniform evenness of its stand and 
growth; not thick and tall here, and there low and rare as the grapes 
after the vintage, as is apt to be the case on land badly tilled and 
unskilfully manured, but much alike all over — not differing percepti- 
bly anywhere in the height or number and size of its stems and 
heads. As well as could be judged by the eye, the amount of grain 
on it would not have fallen short of twenty or twenty-five bushels to 
the acre — a good yield for that part of the country, where neither 
soil or climate are well adapted to this grain. After looking at it for 
some time, I put the question, "Pray, Capt. S., what did you do to 
this land to make it produce a crop so full and so beautifully uni- 
form in its appearance ?" His reply was, " I did nothing in the 
world to it, sir, but sub-soil it." 

"How deep?" 

"Well, I ran a bull-tongue after a twisting shovel, and cross- 
ploughed in the same way. You can judge ; probably about 8 or 
10 inches." ■ 

"What has been the ordinary produce of this land?" 

"I have never known it to yield near as much as it now promises 
to do. Perhaps 10 or 15 bushels to the acre." 

But, to return to our immediate subject. The point we are con- 
cerned with is not to find out how land producing so little corn be- 
fore should now have turned out so large a quantity of wheat-straw, 
but how it came to yield so much corn, peas, &c. after the straw had 
died upon it ? and had been mingled with it as fertilizing matter. 
Without attempting to answer this inquiry scientifically, or to throw 
any other light upon it than has been thrown in the preceding paper, 
let us merely look at the result 3 and endeavor to draw from it such 



132 THE SOUTHERN [March 

practical lessons as it is fitted to convey, for the benefit of such as 
are willing to take a hint from the operations and teachings of na- 
ture. Such, account for it as we may, was the result. It has been 
given correctly as memory will admit, and such, there is every rea- 
son to believe, will be the result of similar means in similar cases, 
though not perhaps exactly the same in every particular. 

We may take, for instance, a piece of poor upland, that, having 
ceased to pay the expense of cultivation, has been turned out a num- 
ber of years in the way of old field. If this ground is well-broken 
up to the .depth of eight or ten inches, so as to leave the surface- 
soil on the top, it will, at all. events, return in oatf' something more 
than the seed sown. Let the farmer now — for most likely it would 
but poorly pay the additional expense of harvesting — turn his hogs 
upon it. They will improve very rapidly and to a degree that will 
well repay the labor and expense thus far bestowed. After they 
have trodden down the straw and consumed the grain, if they are 
taken off and all other animals carefully excluded, crab-grass, in a 
short time, will be certain to make its appearance, and if the season 
be at all favorable, in much greater abundance than any one would 
suppose who has not been an attentive observer of its growth on 
their lands. Now, this grass, in proportion to the quantity present, 
will act upon the soil in a way similar to that of the wheat-straw I 
have been speaking of. It will form a covering to the earth, pro- 
tecting it from the exhausting rays of the sun, and attracting into 
it the fertilizing properties of the atmosphere. We will next sup- 
pose that the cultivator leaves all quiet till January or February: 
In the meantime, if he goes over this ground and here and there 
looks under the coating of dead grass, he will observe, particularly 
where it lies most thick and heavy, that the earth has assumed a 
different character and appearance. It looks, generally, darker; in 
some places, almost black; and, as a whole, has lost much of its 
•former hardness and tenacity. Let it now be sown in oats again or 
spring wheat; taking care, while ploughing and cross-ploughing 
deeply as may be for that purpose, to keep the surface-soil and de- 
caying grass as far as possible on the top. There need be no fear 
of smothering the young plants. They will easily make their way* 
through a covering so slight as it will doubtless be for a year or 
two ; and it will do twice the good that it would do if turned under, 
else what is the use of mulching a tree, or shrub, or plant of any 
kind ? If he could now afford to give the whole a dressing of lime 
to the amount of twenty or even ten bushels to the acre, it would at 
once help the immediate crop, and tell plainly on succeeding ones 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 133 

— . 

for years to come. But we will suppose him too poor for this — that 
he can avail himself of nothing aside from his manure heap, except 
that slow yet certain co-operation of nature which is open to us all. 
Can there be a doubt that he will have a much better crop the se- 
cond year than he did the first; and a still better one the third year 
than the second ; provided he has only moral courage and persever- 
ance enough to pursue the system ? Is not this plan in perfect con- 
formity with the teachings of nature; and is there any telling the 
extent to which land may be improved by a steady and rigid pursuit 
of it ? Who, that has not been so thoughtless as to burn it off, has 
not observed the* effect of crab-grass managed in this way, upon his 
garden; where, however, it must of course have been ploughed or 
spaded under and mingled with the soil? In every such case, the 
ground has become like a bed of ashes, and, without any additional 
manuring, has returned an improved crop of vegetables. It is on 
this plan, but, as it seems to me, only on this plan, that we can ac- 
count for the truth of a statement in the July number of the Planter, 
page 377, where, in reply to the inquiry, "How are we to get rid 
of the wild onion?" we find the following: "There is abundant tes- 
timony to the fact that poor land, cultivated continuously in oats 
from year to year, has been known to improve progressively until 
the crop became so abundant as to fall and lodge, so that it became 
quite difficult to harvest and save it.* 

T. S. W. Mott. 

Garden Farm, Catawba county, N. C.,, January 20, 1868. 
[to be continued,] 

* It is not intimated that the land in any such case was manured. The obvious 
inference is that it was not. If, then, the result was not brought about by some 
such course as I am advocating, it is hard to see how the statement is to be sus- 
tained ; as nothing can be more certain than that land, however fertile at the out- 
Bet, must in time become wholly exhausted by constant cropping, if nothing is re- 
turned to it in place of what is taken away. But if it can be sustained by facts, 
surely it would be doing the public a service to bring them out. Let us have them- 
A single fact is worth fifty theories. Oats are a valuable grain. They ara better 
for horses than corn; they are cultivated at much less labor; will fatten hog* quite 
as fast in proportion to weight of matter, and, what is of more importance by far» 
may be made, as I am trying to show, if properly managed, the means of adding 
very greatly to the renovation and improvement of the soil. 



Frugality may be termed the daughter of prudence, the sister 
of temperance, and the parent of liberty. He that is extravagant 
will quickly become poor, and poverty will enforce dependence and 
invite corruption. — Johnson. 



134 THE SOUTHERN [March 



Successive Crops of Oats— Their Effect to Destroy Wild Onion. 

[In partial response to the call of our correspondent for facts corroborative of the 
statement made in the July number of "The Southern Planter," with regard 
to the effects of the continuous cultivation of oats, we annex the following ex- 
tract from that journal fur 1857, page 68 ; premising, that the extract does no 
meet fully the scope of the call, yet will, as far as it goes, subserve a good pur 
pose by its re-production at this time. We cannot, at present, conveniently re- 
fer to a discussion in one of the section-meetings of the State Agricultural So" 
ciety, in which facts were presented from which it appeared that poor lands had 
been fertilized from continuous cropping in oats. We reserve these facts for 
our April number. — Ed. So. Planter and Farmer.] 

It is a very common opinion that oats are one of the most exhaust- 
ing of all grain crops. One of the best farmers of Western New 
York informed us that he never permitted this crop on any portion 
of his farm devoted to wheat or other grain, but only on land other- 
wise exclusively used for meadow and pasture. Another skilful 
farmer never raised the crop at all, preferring to buy all that he 
might need. 

We have just conversed on this subject with T. A. Slocum, an 
enterprising and successful farmer of Perrinton, Monroe county, N. 
Y., who entertains quite a different opinion. He has cultivated the 
crop for many years past on a large scale, and regards it as one of 
the least exhausting. For the past six years, he has raised from 
forty to seventy acres. During this period, a part of his land has 
been cropped with it every year, and with a single exception, with- 
out any diminution in the amount. This annually-cropped ground 
has averaged, for these six years, sixty bushels per acre, including 
last year, when, by the unprecedented drought, it was reduced to 
fifty bushels per acre. The land, throughout this period, has netted 
him (above all expenses) twelve dollars per acre, as an annual ave- 
rage. 

Our readers will doubtless feel interested to learn his mode of 
management. After the crop is harvested, he passes a spring-tooth 
horse-rake both ways across the field for securing all the gleanings ; 
but, as he observed, this kind of rake having a sort of "baby-jumper 
motion" over the field, a considerable portion of the grain is shelled 
out from the gleanings, and partly harrowed in by the points of the 
rake. A thorough harrowing afterwards insures a good growth of 
oats, which is about a foot high before winter. Before the ground 
freezes, the whole is turned under with the plough in the most thor- 
ough manner — serving as a good green manuring. 

Early the following spring, the surface is rendered mellow by 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 135 

means of the harrow and two-horse cultivator, and the crop sown, 
seven pecks to the acre, by means of a grain-drill. 

There is no doubt that the annual green manuring assists in keep- 
ing up the fertility of the soil ; and there may be some kinds of soil 
including this that will long bear heavy cropping with oats. ' It may 
be questioned, however, whether it is good permanent policy to pur- 
sue this course instead of a more varied rotation. When we have a 
strong fertile soil, we prefer to keep it so, to its fullest capacity, ra- 
ther than to draw too hard upon it, as even the strongest may ulti- 
mately fail. But cultivators of the oat crop may, however, derive 
some excellent suggestions from the practice detailed above. 

The above article, which we clipped a few months since from the 
Country Gentleman, reminds us of some curious facts which we col- 
lected some time ago in regard to successive crops of oats. We 
shall give here such as we remember. It will be seen that they mil- 
itate somewhat, not only against the general idea that oats are a 
very exhausting crop, but, what is of more consequence, against the 
general theory of the rotation of crops as necessary to repair the 
waste of different soils, and to increase fertility by fallow crops. 
Whether that theory is right, universally or generally, is not the 
point in discussion here. We simply narrate facts as we have col- 
lected them. 

1. Several years ago, in conversation with the late Peter Mere- 
wether, of the county of Albemarle, whose accuracy as to matters 
falling within his own observation no one ever thought of question- 
ing, and whose native intellect was of a high order, he mentioned 
that oats did not exhaust land, that he had known his uncle, the 
late Capt. Wm. Merewether, of Cloverfields — a farm adjoining his 
own — to cultivate a crop of oats seven years in succession; that so 
far from exhausting, he had heard his uncle frequently say that he 
thought the land improved ; and that the crop of wheat, which im- 
mediately followed the oats, being of course the eighth successive 
crop, was better than the land would have produced at the com- 
mencement of the system. 

2. Some time after that, we heard from a gentleman, with whom 
we were conversing on the subject of wild onion, that the practice 
of Mr. Richard Sampson, of Goochland, was to grow three crops of 
oats in succession on his fields which happened to be infested with 
this pest; and that the second and third crops were generally better 
than the first, the wheat upon the oat stubble being usually as good 
as he should have expected from the land under ordinary tillage. 
We subsequently met Mr. Sampson and conversed with him on this 



136 THE SOUTHERN [March 

» . . — 
subject, and he confirmed the statement of our informant, remark- 
ing, though, that the oat crop had not entirely eradicated the onion; 
but it had so crippled it as to make it a small grievance compared 
■with what it had been before. 

What- was the treatment of the land, as it lay in oat-stubble in 
these cases, was not stated ; nor did it then occur to us to enquire. 
But we were so struck with their contradiction to the ordinary opin- 
ion, that we sought some neighbor of Mr- Merewether, he having 
died shortly before, to get a particular statement of what he might 
have said to any of them on this subject. 

3. The first of his neighbors we met with was Mr. Geo. L. Wil- 
liams, then living in sight of Mr. Merewether, but now a resident of 
Fluvanna. He knew, he told us, nothing of what Mr. Merewether 
had said, but he could give us a fact coming within his own know- 
ledge that might answer our purpose as well. This fact was that his 
father had cultivated the same field in oats eleven years in succes- 
sion, grazing the stubble each year into the ground, w T ith what stock 
he had, turned on always as soon as he could secure the oats. The 
land was poor — of the quality of that around Lindsey's Turnout in 
Albemarle, which it adjoined — so poor that no one would have 
thought of putting it in tobacco without a good manuring. But at 
the end of the eleven years' oat cropping, it was put in tobacco by 
his father, with none, or a very slight manuring, and made a good 
crop. 

4. Mentioning these facts to N. F. Cabell, Esq., of Nelson, he 
mentioned a case that had been reported to him of a farmer in 

'Buckingham county who had improved part of his land by a similar 
procedure continued through a course ot several years ; but he had 
heard, or presumed — which, is not recollected — -that it was effected 
in that case by permitting the stubble of each year to grow up in 
weeds. 

5. About the same time, we stated these facts to our friend, H. 
P. Poindexter, Esq., of Spotsylvania, who added one to the list, 
and has recently furnished us with a repetition of it in these 
words: 

"In the year 1840, I commenced seeding my orchard in oats for 
the benefit of my hogs, turning them on the oats as soon as I dis- 
covered the straw yellowing under the head ; which I continued un- 
til 1854, with a decided improvement in the land. I was prevented 
4>y circumstances from seeding the oats in 1854, and by the fall the 
ot was so thickly set in Virginia blue-grass it would have been use- 
ess to have fallowed it for oats. To cleanse the land of the grass, 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 137 

I put the land in corn in 1854. The crop was greatly better than I 
had expected, some acres yielding at least fifty bushels to the acre 
this year. I shall cultivate it in corn again — after which, I shall 
continue my oats system ; by-the-bye, I would advise you to recom- 
mend to every farmer to sow oats for the benefit of his hogs — say 
about one bushel for every five killing hogs." 

The additional time since the statement was originally made is of 
course" included in the above. 

6. These facts, and one to the same purport from another source 
which we remember to have received, but cannot now recollect the 
particulars of, and which is therefore omitted here, we mentioned 
about four years ago, at a meeting of the farmers of Virginia, con- 
vened in the Capitol to vitalize our present and then new-born Agri- 
cultural Society. They elicited some discussion, and one additional 
fact. Mr. Charles Carter Lee said that his uncle, Mr. Burwell, of 
Roanoke, had told him, in reply to the question, how he had man- 
aged so greatly to improve a poor field in front of his house ? that 
he was almost afraid to tell him — but the truth was, he had done it 
by growing oats on the land year after year for — if our memory 
serves us — eight years. 

We have given the names of all the parties above — a liberty we 
beg them to excuse — because testimony is more impressive when the 
witness is not veiled, and because we wish them to correct any error 
in our statements. If they will so correct us, they will do us and 
the public a favor. And if any gentleman can add his testimony to 
the above, an equal favor will have been conferred. 

As the case now stands, we have given; including the extract from 
the Country Gentleman, seven cases in which oats cultivated under 
all circumstances of soil and after-treatment, have improved, or at 
all events failed to impoverish land. The facts possess a scientific 
value probably above their practical importance; But still one or 
two valuable practical deductions may be made. 

First. It proves that one may have the same lot for hogs for 
many years. This will enable' him to commence the process of fat- 
tening — unless he shall previously, and more judiciously, have be- 
gun it on clover — at an earlier period than is common, and, by 
means of green corn fed in the roasting ear, and secured, by sue 
cessive plantings, in that condition until frost, to continue it unin- 
terruptedly until a short time before killing, which should always, 
yes always, take place as early in November as the weather will 
allow. 

Second. It will enable a great many to subdue, if not destroy, 



138 THE SOUTHERN [March 

the wild onion, which frequently causes a loss of 5 to 10 per cent, 
in the price of wheat, without injuring the land. 

Third. It presents a ready means of getting a good fallow on 
lands apt to bake in summer ; as it ensures that the land will not 
he injured by the growth of oats, whilst it can certainly be fallowed 
with half the labor. Whilst for hogs, which will harvest it them- 
selves, or for marketing near a city, where the sheaf oats may bear 
a high price, it is a valuable crop, (provided, in the latter case, the 
land will bring straw enough to give weight,) yet, as a general rule? 
whether for market as clean oats, or for home consumption, we think 
it, in our climate, just the meanest crop that is made. It is true, 
there is no better feed for a horse than a plenty of oats ; but fed to 
them in such quantities as they require ta do work on, one can make 
any other forage crop to greater profit. As proof of this, we may 
mention that Mr. Ro. Edmond, who has bought more feed for horses 
than any other man in Virginia, and who is an adept in his business 
of James River canal route contractor, has told, us that he does not 
estimate sheaf oats, pound for pound, as equal to hay of any sort. 

One thing more, and we have done. Let those who may incline 
to try the experiment of successive oat crops, whether for hogs or 
for other purposes, beware of selecting sassafras land for the pur- 
pose. Repeated ploughings will surely extend and increase the 
growth of sassafras bushes. We know that by experiment in this 
very matter. 



• Leaves and Shadows for the Improvement of Land. 

Mr. Editor, — The perusal of Mr. Mott's interesting article in the 
January number of the Planter and Farmer, on the improvement of 
exhausted land by means of rest and shade, leads me to examine 
somewhat critically the renovating elements and forces which reju- 
venate and fertilize impoverished fields. Mr. M. says: "We see it 
[improvement] wherever a piece of board, a log of wood, or even a 
large flat stone has been lying on the ground for a few months ; 
wherever chips, straw of any kind, saw-dust, spent tan-bark, or any 
substance, however poverty-stricken in itself, as a pile of rocks, for 
instance, has been suffered to accumulate ; above all, we see it in 
the forest, which literally lives, feeds and fattens upon its own 
shadoiv, and the small, small certainly in point of bulk and weight, 
amount of withered leaves which it yearly gives back to the earth 
in return for what it has taken away." 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 139 

If shade and shadow are so fertilizing in themselves, as your 
Garden-Farm correspondent believes, the facts bearing on the sub- 
ject are of transcendent importance, and should be universally un- 
derstood. Now, shade on soils, even when denuded of mould by 
washing rains or otherwise, is valuable to facilitate the play of che- 
mical affinities and the development of plant food, beyond what 
would take place in the absence of shade. Sunshine dissipates and 
lessens humidity in the surface of the ground, while shade protects 
it alike in the loose soil and in the air that pervades it. With due 
moisture, many mosses grow on naked granite, limestone and other 
rocks ; but without moisture, no plant whatever can grow anywhere. 
Growth, whether of plants, animals, or the food of either in a min- 
eral form, implies freedom of motion in elementary atoms. While 
floating in water, whether in moist, shaded earth, in the cells and 
circulating tubes of plants and animals, chemical and vital forces 
decompound and newly arrange these perfect atoms to form all the 
possible products of either tillage or husbandry. At. night, the 
earth's shadow cools plants and covers them with dew, which favors 
that new combination of elements called active vegetation. But 
dew charged with carbonic acid (as it always is), attacks insoluble 
silicates of potash, lime, soda and magnesia, and from apparently 
sterile, hopeless sand, evolves alkaline substances, phosphates, &c, 
indispensable to the organization of sedge and pine on the poorest 
land. 

What denuded piece of ground could be more unpromising for a 
crop than a soil formed of pounded glass? Yet, at Saratoga 
Springs one may see glass tumblers used for drawing water highly 
charged with carbonic acid, deeply corroded because this very com- 
mon acid has taken away from the silica in the glass its alkaline 
bases. All common organic bodies yield carbonic acid on decay or 
combustion ; all rain-water and nearly all spring-water contains it. 
It is the very tooth of time that eats down granite monuments, hills 
and mountains, and makes soil of their constituents. The Mam«< 
moth Cave in Kentucky, and all similar caves, are proofs of the 
power of water, holding a little carbonic acid in solution, to dis- 
solve limestone rock. If, from any cause, this acid is set free, pure 
water precipitates the carbonate of lime as an insoluble body. 

From the above brief statement of facts, the reader will see how 
forest leaves, straw, chips and saw-dust benefit land, not only by 
shading it and keeping it moist, but by developing an acid of ines- 
timable value as a chemical agent in decompounding some of the 
most refractory minerals, to liberate their agricultural salts and pro- 



140 THE SOUTHERN [March 

duce new ones; for sulphur, phosphorus and chlorine, doubtless 
come, primarily, from crystalline rocks., not less than silica, potash, 
iron, soda and magnesia. 

In process of time, shade, water, carbonic acid, tillage and the 
removal of crops, take out of the soil so much of the elements of 
fruitfulness that it refuses to produce remunerating returns for agri- 
cultural labor, unless irrigated or manured in some form. The peo- 
ple of China, Japan, and other oriental nations, have tested this 
matter for thousands of years ; and I cannot but remark that it is 
defective logic to argue or assume that one may remove phosphorus 
in grass, grain, and other crops, indefinitely from a field, and make 
full restitution in "shadows" by the square yard or acre. No, the 
farmer must see and understand how the substances taken away are 
returned to the soil again. 

The same abundant solvents, water and carbonic acid, which. form 
such extensive cavities in limestone rocks, bring the phosphates of 
this mineral up to the surface of the ground from great depths ; so 
that a living spring in the great desert of Sahara produces a perfect 
oasis round it — a place where children and young camels get rich 
milk and form their flesh and bones from elements brought to them 
by a living fountain. Surely the same water and other plant-food 
that will make a desert fruitful, can hardly fail to fertilize any im- 
poverished soil. Such water gives one's farm rich and reliable ma- 
nure brought from a distance, and thereby adds to one's active cap- 
ital the raw material of wheat, corn, tobacco and cotton. 

Rich river bottoms are plain, unquestioned proof of the natural 
power and function of moving water coming from springs in moun- 
tains, hills, valleys and plains, to support, in a remarkable degree, 
both vegetable and animal life. Hence, I have urged upon Ameri- 
can farmers, during the last forty years, the wisdom of irrigating 
their farms, so far as practicable, by the use of Persian wheels, 
force pumps, hydraulic rams, and other contrivances for the eleva- 
tion and distribution of water. In this way, the good husbandman 
secures all the possible benefits of shade and decaying vegetation by 
greatly augmenting the growth of recuperating plants on his fields, 
without consuming any capital whatever that was before in them. 

Brother farmers, our soil is our bank of deposit and discount ; 
and to grow rich with funds in bank, we must learn to deposit more 
to our credit and ask for large discounts less frequently. Soils 
grow poor and banks break by giving to bad customers wheat, or 
something as good, and receiving a " shadow" in payment. 

Gap Creek, Knox Co., Tenn. D. Lee. 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 141 



On Sheltering Cattle in Winter— The Economy of Selecting Young 
Hogs for Pork— The Curing and Housing of Oats, &c. 

Mr. Editor, — I was much interested in the communication of 
your intelligent correspondent " Marlow," in the January Planter 
and Farmer, detailing the "Mistakes of a Young Farmer." Such 
articles are vastly more valuable than those vain-glorious communi- 
cations, giving a high-wrought account of some accidental success, 
which sometimes encumber the pages of agricultural journals. It 
requires a considerable amount of moral intrepidity to make a fair 
and honest exhibit of failures and mistakes' in any undertaking; 
but especially is this the case in agriculture. It is so much more 
agreeable and facile to describe those operations of the farm which 
result in large crops, high profits, sleek horses and fat stock, than 
those whose only fruits are disappointed hopes, unrealized expecta- 
tions and illustrations of the truth, that 

" The best laid schemes o' mice and men 
Gang aft a-gley, 
An' lea'e us naught but grief an' pain, 
Fv,r promised joy/' 

that I am not surprised at farmers shrinking from a detail of the 
latter. But I hope "Marlow" has set an example which will lead 
to the erection of many a pharos, whose warning light will point 
out danger, and save many a farmer, both young and old, from 
failure and disappointment. 

The object of this communication is to make a few suggestions 
connected with the subjects discussed by "Marlow." 

Sheltering cattle from "falling weather," during winter, is doubt- 
less advantageous and conducive to the comfort of the animals, but 
persons who have never tried 1 it, are apt to fall into "mistakes " as 
to the amount of food saved thereby. "Shelter" is but a poor 
substitute for provender ; although cattle comfortably housed can 
doubtless be carried through the winter with rather less food than 
those exposed to the vicissitudes of the weather. But my experience 
is not sufficient to determine whether the saving of food and other 
advantages, accompanying housing cattle, will justify the expense 
necessary to provide stabling. The amount of food upon which the 
finest animals in the herd die, when unsheltered, would not have 
kept them in "good plight," however carefully protected from the 
inclemencies of the winter. The advantages of stabling cattle do 
not consist alone in the saving of food, and protection from the 



142 THE SOUTHERN [March 

weather. It enables you to secure to each animal his due share of 
provender, as the strong cattle can be effectually prevented from 
domineering over their weaker brethren, and appropriating to them- 
selves the "lion's share" of the food. And, as is always the case, 
some members of the herd are more delicate, and, consequently, 
timid and dainty feeders, you can give t.o them "Benjamin's Por- 
tion," as well as allow them ample time for taking their meals, 
These advantages are of more consequence than the mere saving 
of food. 

Sheltering cattle, however, is not essential to wintering them 
well. In the Valley and West Virginia, where a large number of 
•cattle are annually reared, provision is rarely made for protecting 
them from "falling weather;" cattle of all ages being wintered in 
the fields — the only protection they get is the leeward side of a hill, 
fence or other break-wind. A little grain given-to cattle, especially 
those of a tender age, in the latter part of the winter or early 
spring, is very beneficial in enabling them to endure the hardships 
of that trying season. Its good effects will be made abundantly 
manifest the next summer. Calves, the first winter, do well on corn 
shelled, but not ground, and fed to them in a trough. Giving them 
from one to two moderately-sized ears each, a day. 

The mistake w T e all commit, in rearing hogs, is, undertaking to 
keep, during one winter, those we design slaughtering the next. I 
am satisfied the only hogs a farmer should winter are his brood 
sows. Spring pigs, coming from March to May, will make cheaper 
pork, than hogs which have cost the farmer a winter's care, trouble 
and corn. I had, on the 17th of last May, two litters of pigs of 
five each. The sows had, until after harvest, the run of a good 
pasture-field, at the same time sharing, with a dozen other hogs, the 
kitchen slop, and spare- milk from a dairy of seven cows. After 
the wheat was hauled to the barn, they were turned into the stub- 
ble fields, together with all the other hogs on the plantation. After 
the stubble was exhausted, early in September, these pigs, now re- 
duced to nine, (one having died suddenly, without apparent cause,) 
received, once a day, the skimmed and buttermilk from the dairy, it 
being about as much as they w r ould drink. But they had nothing 
else, except access to a pasture-field. This treatment continued 
until the first of December, from which time, until the 8th day of 
January, when they were slaughtered, they were fed liberally on 
corn in the ear. The aggregate weight of the nine was 1,170 
pounds, an average of 130 pounds. This statement is made, not 
because it is deemed an extraordinary result, but because it is one 



1868.] . PLANTER AND FARMER. 143 

attainable by all farmers, and every year. I am satisfied that the 
pork from these May pigs cost me far less than that made from 
hogs that had been fed corn all the previous winter. 

Oats. This crop, unless thoroughly cured before being' housed 
or stacked, will inevitably be injured. And if it has many weeds 
mixed with it, they must be allowed time to cure as well as the oats, 
No specific directions can be given as to the time necessary for oats 
properly to cure, it depending on the ripeness of the crop and the 
character of the weather. I think time and labor are bo#f saved 
by not binding the oats at all,: When sufficiently cured to be gath- 
ered, two swaths are raked into bunches, and one thrown upon the 
Other. This is done so that the wagon can be driven between two 
rows of these raked oats. Then a hand at either side of the wagon, 
with one on it to " build, " will soon put on a load. The oats are 
pitched on the wagon with an ordinary four- pronged iron fork, or a 
wooden one, whose prongs are rather longer and more curved will 
do better. But, until the load gets too high for that purpose, the 
best way is to throw them on the wagon with the hand. It can be un- 
loaded as speedily as bound oats ; for a good hand will pitch off at 
a "fork-ful" more than the equivalent of a sheaf. Whether un- 
bound oats can be stacked securely, I am unable to say, as I always 
put mine in the barn. 

Fencing is much too extensive and crooked a subject for the close 
of this paper. I may, at some other time, give you my views on 
this matter, so costly to the farmer. T. 



Experiment with Baugh's Super-Phosphate and Old Dominion Fer- 
tilizer Applied to Corn. 

Mr. JEditor y —On the 1st of January, 1867, I saw, or thought I 
saw, the utter impossibility of working our lands as we used to do 
in those good old times, now gone by, with our then demoralized labor. 
I found, from my own sad experience of the year before, that I 
could not work poor land with freedmen without a heavy loss, and 
resolved to hire less and cultivate a much smaller surface, to manure 
much heavier and try to make all I could from a small surface by 
thorough preparation, heavy manuring, and good, timely cultivation. 
To accomplish this, I first rented out the larger portion of my field 
for corn to a neighbor, who was esteemed a good cultivator, and 
worked it with two sons and three nephews, all good hands, reserv- 
ing only twenty-five acres for myself. This land I have been work- 



144 THE SOUTHERN . [March 

ing since 1831, and had made good crops, jet, I determined to 
make 650 yards of blind ditches on the flat land, which was about 
half of the twenty-five acres. I ploughed and harrowed it until I 
got it in first-rate order for a tobacco crop ; and while my tenant 
was planting his corn, three weeks before I commenced, I was busily 
employed in getting my land in first-rate order and getting out my 
manures, on five acres of the twenty-five. I then purchased one ton 
of Baugh's super-phosphate of lime, of Baltimore, at $62J, in Char- 
lottesville, of Payne & Brother, and a ton of the Old Dominion, of 
Professor Gilham, of the Southern Fertilizing Company, of Rich- 
mond, at a cost of $74, in Scottsville, and one ton of plaster, which 
I divided and mixed with the two tons of purchased manures. I 
then ordered the twenty acres to be laid off in corn-rows four feet 
apart, with a one-horse plough ; then in those furrows I had a two- 
horse coulter run as deep as it could be done ; then, w T ith Routt's 
corn-planter, which had a guano-fixture attached, which is an excel- 
lent labor-saving implement, as it opens the furrow, drops the corn, 
sows the guano, covers and rolls all at one operation (I would re- 
commend it to every farmer, especially in such times as these), I 
commenced with the Old Dominion, planting one-half of my twenty 
acres, finishing in the middle of a row, where, with a crow-bar, I 
set in a good stake, which remained there until the corn was gath- 
ered. Then I began with Baugh's. I have never had a corn-crop 
to come up and grow off better and yield as well. It was the very 
best crop of my life. If I had had two more rains, at the right 
time, I and all my neighbors thought it would have made twenty 
barrels to the acre. I measured four acres, which made, bad as was 
the season, over thirteen barrels per acre. The land was in good 
order, and well-worked twice with cultivators — intended to give it 
three workings, but it grew so fast, I could give it but two. At the 
second and last working, I sowed by hand the balance of my bought 
manures in each corn-row, just before the cultivators, in order to 
help make the ear of corn, and I tell you it did it. Every passer- 
by (it was on the main county road) wondered at its magnificent 
growth, and asked with what manures I had fed it. 

Now, this was only two hundred pounds per acre, at a cost of 
about $5 per acre. My tenants made, on fifty acres, just one hun- 
dred barrels of corn and nubbins. I made, on my twenty-five acres, 
I think about two hundred and fifty barrels. My tenant's land was 
as good as my own without my manures. 

Now, I have told you of my application of manures, and the 
effects, but I cannot tell you which was the best of the two kinds. 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 145 



Neither I, nor any one of my numerous friends, who, at various 
times, inspected the crop, could ever see the slightest advantage of 
one over the other — both were so good, I shall try both again this 
spring on my corn, oats, &c. I am perfectly satisfied we must ma- 
nure more and hire less labor — the manure pays better than the 
worthless labor now generally afloat in these parts. From misjudge- 
ment or carelessness, most of the rows were only three feet apart, 
and the corn, intended to be dropped eighteen inches apart, was 
planted much closer ; and when we went to thinning, it looked so good 
that Cuffee said he couldn't thin it right, and often let two stalks re- 
main where I ordered but one to be left. As the season was, it was 
too thick, but if I could have had the two rains more, I do believe 
the crop would have made about twenty barrels per acre. I think, 
this spring, many of my neighbors will join me in the like efforts, 
fondly hoping for the same cheering results. I have written to our 
friend, General Imboden, to send me up two good honest, sober, in- 
dustrious immigrants— what do you think of them ? If no better 
labor can be had than the puffed-up freedmen, we must close or be 
closed up. 

I take the Baltimore American Farmer. Send me up your Planter 
and Farmer and your account to Charlottesville Post-Office, and I 
will send your dues with best wishes for your and our poor country's 
highest success. 

Yours truly, 

Geo. C. Gilmer. 

Charlottesville, Albemarle Co., Va., Feb. 12, 1868. 

P. S. — When my tenants planted their crop, they and I fully ex- 
pected them to make two hundred and fifty barrels. They worked it 
poorly and too wet. G. C. G. 



"Never speak to deceive, nor listen to betray." 
"Let your anger set with the sun, but not rise with it." 
" Great receipts render us liable to great accounts." 
" Sweet are the slumbers of the virtuous." 
"Do nothing you would wish to conceal." 
"Retire sometimes for sober consideration." 
"Knavery may serve a turn, but honesty is the best in the end.' 
" Confidence is the companion of success." 
"No man is master of himself that is a slave to his passions." 
"Long hopes wear out joys, as long maladies wear out grief." 
"Never carry two heads under one hood." 
VOL. n—10 



146 



THE SOUTHERN 



[March 




The Percheron Norman Horse. 

The above cut represents that type of the Percheron Norman 
Horse which has been most nearly established by careful and sys- 
tematic breeding ; we say most nearly, because in France, it is well 
known there is a great disregard of system in the breeding of ani- 
mals, and consequently there are numerous types of the Norman 
distinguishable by variety of color, form, height, disposition, &c, 
yet none of them — unless this be an exception, and we believe it 
is — comes up to the standard of purity in their particular strain of 
blood, as described in the following extract from Herbert, in his 
book, while speaking of the Norman breed of horses : 

" This breed of horses originated in, and now exists in their most 
perfect form and condition, in Le Perche, a district of that portion 
of France, which was formerly known as Normandy, and are clearly 
a pure breed per se. We do not mean thorough-bred, but a breed 
capable of producing and reproducing themselves ad infinitum unal- 
tered, and without deterioration of qualities, by breeding like sires 
to like dams, without infusion of any other blood, just as is done by 
Durham, Ayershlre, .or Alderney cattle ; by setters, pointers, grey- 
hounds, and in a word, by any and all animals of distinct and per- 
fect varieties of the same species. 



1888.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 147 

" The points of this peculiar breed are that they are much taller 
than ordinary horses; their standard is probably from fourteen and 
a half to sixteen hands high. Secondly, they are very short in the 
saddle-place, and comparatively long below ; they are well-ribbed 
up and round-barrelled, instead of having the flat sides and sway 
backs which are the defective points in most American horses ; 
their heads are short, with the genuine Arabian breadth of brow 
and hollow of the profile between the eyes and nostrils ; their necks 
are well arched, and sufficiently long' to correspond with the gene- 
ral stoutness of their frames ; their legs are particularly short from 
the knees and hocks, downward, and although heavily haired, they 
are not shaggy, while they have unyielding, iron-like sinews, and 
feet apparently unconscious of disease." 

A writer in The British Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, 
speaking of this class of horses, says : " The horses of Normandy, 
are a capital race for hard work and scanty fare. I have never 
seen such horses at the collar, under the diligence, the post-car- 
riage, the cumbrous and heavy voitre or cabriolet for one or two 
horses, or the farm-cart. They are enduring and energetic beyond 
description. With their necks cut to the bone, they flinch not; 
they put forth all their efforts at the voice of the brutal driver, 
or at the dreaded sound of his never-ceasing whip ; they keep 
their condition when other horses would die of neglect and hard 
treatment." 

Mr. Harris, of Morristown, New Jersey, in Youatt on the Horse, 
says :' " These horses first came under my observation on a journey 
through France in the year 1831. I was struck with the immense 
power displayed by them in drawing the heavy diligences of that 
country, at a pace which altogether not as rapid as the stage-coach 
traveling of England, yet such a pace, say from five to nine miles 
per hour, the lowest rate of which I do not hesitate to say, would 
in a short time, kill the English horse if placed before the same 
load." 

Our readers will readily perceive that a breed possessing such 
characteristics as above described, is deserving of their attention as 
being better adapted to the wants of the country for "all work," 
than most of the low-bred animals so common amongst us. About 
two years since, Mr. Slaughter W. Ficklen, of Albemarle, imported 
selected individuals, both male and female, of the type above repre- 
sented, and is doing what he can to promote the improvement of 
farm horses in his section of the State. 



148 THE SOUTHERN [March 



Are Farmers Quacks ? 

NO. III. 

One of the signs of quackery is to persist in the same treatment 
of diseases, despite of uniformly disastrous results. Dr. Sangrado 
freely admitted to Gil Bias that the free use of warm water and the 
lancet uniformly hastened the death of the patient, still he perse- 
vered in it. Many farmers do precisely the same thing. They 
admit a failure, but they do not change their practice. Their lands 
get worse and worse. Dr. Sangrado was sustained by pride of 
opinion, and by the profits of a lucrative practice. The farmer 
may be as opinionated in his practice, though it is certain that he 
does not find it so profitable. The old routine of skimming, and 
skinning large surfaces, to get small crops with a ruinous labor, is 
more diligently pursued each succeeding year with the hope of 
finally retrieving the losses of the past. Why, you had just as 
well try to convert the old-fashioned " Calomel and Jalap" doctors 
to Homoeopathy, as try to convert one of these land-scratchers to 
any other style of cultivation. You may tell him his mistake, and 
he may even own it, but he continues the same practice never- 
theless. 

" The man grows worse and worse, indeed ! 
Go for the doctor — go in speed ! 
The doctor comes, like post or mail, 
To double the dose of calomel." 

Now the term quack is of wide application, and comprehends 
many shades of meaning. The advocates of any one system freely 
apply the term to the advocates of any other. The Allopathist 
calls the Homceopathist a quack, while they both bestow the same 
epithet upon the steam doctor. Now it occurs to me. that there is 
a spice of quackery in all these systems, and the most objectionable 
features of a system generally find the strongest advocates ; and, 
perhaps, a man of an eclectic turn of mind would find some good 
in every system. The Homoepathic system is in high repute with 
some farmers. There are two distinguishing features of this sys- 
tem. The fundamental principle is, " Similia similibus curantur," 
which may be roughly translated "Like cures -like; or, in other 
words, that remedy which would produce a given disease in a 
healthy subject will cure it in the patient. "The hair of the dog 
is good for the bite." The practice of many farmers runs very 
close to this system, and may be thus rendered : " That system of 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 149 

culture which will impoverish good land, will restore impoverished 
lands." I do not know that any one has succeeded in establishing 
this theory of farming by experiment, but it is followed none the 
less earnestly for all that. Another feature of this practice is, to 
give infinitesimal doses which act solely on the electric and mag- 
netic forces of the body, and restore the disturbed equilibrium. 
Some farmers distribute a very small amount of manure, on the 
same principle, thinking to titillate and arouse the dormant forces 
of the soil. Has any one succeeded in this theory ? I gave it a 
fair trial on my first crop of lot tobacco. I think I will never try 
it again. I think I will try a genuine Allopathic dose the next 
time ; the larger the better. The Allopathist says : " Contraria 
contrariis curantur;" "contraries cure contraries." I believe in 
this. Supply to the soil what it lacks. But let it be done intelli- 
gently, and not like a brother chip who once spent a great deal of 
labor in hauling poor clay from one field to spread upon poor sand 
in another, back loading with sand to mix in the clay field; neither 
got any benefit. 

Some believe in steam doctors who lay great stress on sweating 
their patients, and feeding them liberally with wholesome food. 
This system will do with a slight modification. Let the farmer do 
the sweating, and he may feed the land as high as he pleases ; the 
higher the better. I can easily endorse the steam system, if the 
doctor will do the sweating, and let me do the eating. 

Meaning no offence to quack farmers or quack doctors, so I 
escape their quackeries, I subscribe myself in conclusion. 

J. B. S. 

P. S. — I just call to mind a case of Homoeopathic practice. A 
friend of mine rolled his wheat lightly in guano before seeding last 
fall, and gravely argued that it was a great deal better so than to 
put two or three hundred pounds on the acre. We shall see, or as 
the Frenchman says, "Nous verrons." 



Labor Conquers Everything — 

Let it be "known that, he who would adorn 
His envied temples with the [champion's] crown 
Must either win, through effort of his own, 
The prize, or be content to see it worn 
By more deserving brows." 

" Let us go to work — work is the slogan of life !" 



150 THE SOUTHERN [March 

Report of Commissioner of Agriculture, 

No. 2. 

One hundred pages of the Report are devoted to stock. There 
is a brief notice of the " Cream-Pot" breed of Massachusetts — a 
cross of the Durham and the Yankee — celebrated for its milking 
qualities — its cream so rich that Mr. Coleman, Commissioner of Ag- 
riculture in Massachusetts, " saw a portion of it converted into but- 
ter, with a spoon, in one minute." Colonel Jaques, a distinguished 
breeder near Boston, enjoys the merit of introducing this breed, 
having obtained it, he says, "by the cross of a Durham short-horn 
bull on a selected native cow, with certain extraordinary points and 
properties — anxious to retain as much of the form of the Durham 
as to insure capacious udders, and with the valuable property of af* 
fording rich milk." " Their cream produces more than 80 per cent, 
of pure butter ; and it is not unfrequent to form the cream into but- 
ter in one minute. It has been done in forty seconds." 

Mr. Allen, of Black Rock, also a distinguished breeder, contri- 
butes a long article on the "Improvement ef Native Cattle." He 
traces briefly the importation of cattle into America. " In the year 
1793, as near as can be ascertained, a Mr. Miller, of Virginia, and 
a Mr. Gough, of Baltimore, imported some cattle from England, 
which, from all the accounts we have had of them, were pure short- 
horns. Into what particular part of the country they went we are 
not informed, but our inference is that some of the blood was soon 
taken to the South branch of the Potomac river, in Virginia, a fine 
grazing region, which, for many of the early years of the present 
century, was noted for its superior cattle. As early as 1797, a Mr. 
Patton, from Virginia, took some of these short-horns into the blue- 
grass region of Kentucky, where they were afterwards known as the 
'Patton Stock.' They were there bred, and became decided favor- 
ites with the breeders and graziers of that young State." 

Some of your readers — likely, Col. Ware, of Clarke, can impart 
information about this stock. The South branch stock owes its ex- 
cellence, probably, to these importations. 

Mr. Allen commends " the great advantage of the short-horn 
blood in their early preparation for the shambles. The common or 
native cattle require full five years to obtain sufficient growth to fat 
with any profit. If fed with grain at three years old, the food goes 
to the growth of bone and sinew and common muscle, and not to 
good flesh and tallow. They have a deal of offal to carry in the 
way of head, horn, dewlap, and general coarseness, which the better 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 151 



bred animal has not. Thus the native beast consumes his extra food 
to no profit, while the short-horn converts his food into profitable 
flesh and tallow. In this way, it is seen that a great loss of time is 
suffered with the native stock — one or two years, at least, and 
sometimes more — besides the expense of keep during that time, in- 
terest on the capital invested and risk of death or disease ; while 
the short-horn turns all his food to good account, and is marketable 
at an age never exceeding four years, and always profitable to his 
breeder, grazier or feeder." 

.Mr. A. believes, as we do, in thorough-breds, and rejects all 
smoky or black heads. So do we of the South ! Says he, truly, 
" As one goes into the great cattle-markets, and sees the amount of 
inferior cattle that comes in under the name of 'beef cattle,' he 
wonders where it all comes Prom, or what could induce men to send 
such stock to market. There can be no possible profit in them from 
birth to slaughter — a loss, in fact, to every one who touches them, 
to rear, graze or fatten, if, by any possibility, they can be made fat. 
Old cows and broken-down working-oxen, on which corn would be 
well-nigh wasted if fed in any great quantity, must; go to market 
and sell for the most they will bring ; but why healthy young cat- 
tle, not over four or five years old, full half the weight of which are 
heads, horns and bones, are reared, grazed and fed, and then sold 
for half or two-thirds the price of really good cattle, such as almost 
any farmer may breed with little more expense and trouble (not half 
so much of either as the difference in price), surpasses comprehen- 
sion. A man who occupies land not worth more than ten dollars, an 
acre, and can let his cattle range over land that he does not own, 
may have an apology for keeping and rearing mean stock ; but 
when men occupying farms wor.th thirty to one hundred dollars an 
acre, and frequently more, with abundant means and opportunity to 
deal in good stock, can content themselves with breeding and rear- 
ing inferior animals, I fail to discover any apology beyond sheer ig- 
norance or stupidity." 

These are words of wisdom and experience, well worthy the at- 
tention of our farmers. 

The following story of Mr. Allen is too good to be omitted. It 
is of the rich Scioto valley of Ohio ! Not of our ignorant, besotted 
South! u Some time since a friend of mine, who owned three hun- 
dred acres on the Scioto bottoms, mostly in corn, went out on his 
annual cattle-buying tour. He found a hundred head or more in 
the hands of an old farmer, who owned a thousand or fifteen hun- 
dred acres of rich land, mostly in pasture and enclosed by high rail 



152 THE SOUTHERN [March 

fences. Back from the road was a dilapidated log-house, with but 
two rooms in it, a little garden-patch of perhaps a quarter of an 
acre, and fifty to one hundred acres in corn or other crops; but not 
another building or shanty, of any kind, on the premises, except an 
old log- stable, for the accommodation of a few hprses, with their 
gearing. Everything else was 'out of doors.' The swine grunted 
and rooted about the grounds, and the turkeys and chickens roosted 
in the trees. There lived the man and his family, a large one, com- 
posed of his ' old woman' and a number of full grown boys and 
girls, as unkempt, ragged, and ignorant as himself. He had bonds 
and mortgages, and cash in the bank. My friend purchased the 
cattle, and went into the house to pay for them ; needing a light, 
the old man went to a shelf in the room, took down a tea-saucer 
filled with pig's grease, a button, tied up in a rag, lying in the mid- 
dle of it, the furzy end of the rag sticking up by way of a wick, 
which he lighted at the fire. With the aid of this glimmer, they 
sat down to the table, figured up the sale, and the money was duly 
counted out. After being carefully re-counted by the host — for he 
knew as well as anybody what bank notes were worth — he carefully 
'made his mark' at the foot of a receipt which my friend had writ- 
ten. That done, the latter got up, put on his hat,«and, as he was 
leaving the room, the old man blew out his light before his visitor 
had reached the door. Such men do not raise short-horns, although 
they know good cattle when they see them, nor will they read this 
article." 

Next to the advertisement of the stallion, " French Napoleon," 
comes a Colonel's "experience in the army" of the horse. He 
treats of its origin and usefulness : the horse in war ; the horses in 
the United States ; action of European governments ; horse-breed- 
ing ; judging horses ; selecting horses for the army from government 
corrals ; on the relative powers of endurance for the different kinds 
of service of the several classes of animals during the war ; faults 
and vices ; treatment ; food ; and diseases. He copies a description 
of the uses of a dead horse in European cities. " When the horse 
falls he is bled, and his blood is preserved for the use of the dyer; 
tie mane and tail are next cut off for the manufacturer of sieves, 
hair-cloths, and bow-strings for the violin ; the shoes are taken off 
for the nailer ; the hoofs are cut off for combs of various kinds and 
other horn-work, and a portion of the feet goes to the glue-maker ; 
the skin is stripped off for the tanner, who converts it into excellent 
leather for boots, harness, &c, and the collar-maker finds it, in its 
rou^h state, the best material for cart-harness. The flesh is then 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 153 

cut up for the carniverous beasts in menageries, or for dogs ; and, 
though, without knowing that there are (hypophagi) a club of horse- 
eaters, who regularly advertise their club-days, some of our fellow- 
creatures are regaled in the cheap eating-houses of great cities with 
delicate bits of carcass, in the form of pates, pretended beef-steaks 
or soup. When the flesh and fat have been removed, the stomach 
and intestines are laid aside for machine- straps and strings for mu- 
sical instruments, and are often sold for the latter purpose as the 
best Naples cords ; the ribs are turned into buttons and children's 
toys ; the larger round bones serve for tweezers, whistles, ferrules, 
knife-handles, caps and balls, dominoes, &c, and the large flat bones 
are of use to the toy-men for many things ; even the teeth are use- 
ful, when polished, -for the dentist, and for many purposes for which 
ivory is usually required. The bones of the head are either con- 
sumed in heating-furnaces, or crushed into dust for manure. The 
remainder of the carcass is burnt, and by this process it produces 
ivory-black, soot-black, and valuable manure ; and from the fat is 
extracted a coarse oil, which is used by mechanics." 

Next follows an interesting article on " Improved Kentucky 
Sheep," shown to be of superior quality and well-adapted to the 
South and West. They are vastly better for us than the less useful 
and more costly merino, which Northern breeders are discarding and 
sending Southward. This is shown in the next article concerning 
" Mutton Sheep," by Mr. Dodge, of the Department. He says, 
"They are delicate, and die in great numbers; while, on the other 
hand, the long-wools are superlatively healthy." 

The Esquimaux-looking " Infantado and Paulas Sheep" are de- 
picted and described. 

"The Ram Ontario" of this breed is advertised ; as also the "Ma- 
ple Shade Cotswolds," on a previous page. 

The article on "Training Animals for Work" is suggestive. 

"English and American Dairying" is interesting and highly in- 
structive to dairymen. There is strong temptation to copy a pic- 
ture of English farming life, and the description of Cheddar, "Sin- 
gle Gloster," and Cheswic cheeses ; but you have not space for co- 
pious extracts. The author, Mr. Willard, of Herkimer county, N. 
Y., an experienced cheese-maker, visited England to examine this 
subject; and he thinks that he "may safely say that American 
cheese to-day, as a whole, has more quality and is better manufac- 
tured than the bulk of English cheese." 

C VI have," says he, "given them the credit of producing a lim- 
ited quantity of cheese of the finest type that has ever been reached 



154 THE SOUTHERN [March 

by any manufacture, but the quantity is comparatively small, and 
•when the whole bulk is considered, there is nothing like the richness 
and uniformity of that from our factories. This is not only my 
own opinion, but that of many of the best judges of cheese in Great 
Britain." 

"The Hog and its Products" comes, of course, from Cincinnati. 
Five hundred thousand pounds glycerine, valued at $200,000, are 
manufactured from lard. Happily is it so abundant, for "it is pre- 
scribed by the faculty in place of cod-liver oil, being equally ser- 
viceable and more palatable for invalids. It proves a valuable aid 
in surgical practice and in the treatment of wounds, and is applica- 
ble to the relief of burns, rheumatism, sore throat, and ear diseases. 
It is also the best remedy for the chapping of the lips or the hands, 
and a specific for sore teats in cows. Its pharmaceutical use as a 
solvent is superior, for general purposes, to either alcohol or water. 
It is an antiseptic, and in its non-liability to ferment, its fat- 
tening properties, and for its pleasant taste, is of immense value 
to the druggist, and consequently to the physician and his pa- 
tient." 

The extraordinary fact is stated, that " within the knowledge of 
hundreds now in Cincinnati, that in the early ages of pork-packing, 
say in 1828, there was so* little demand for any portion of the hog, 
other than hams, shoulders, sides and lard, that the heads, spare- 
ribs, neck-pieces, back-bones, &c, were regularly thrown into the 
Ohio river to get rid of them." 

" In the Western States, according to the census of 1860, there 
are 134 hogs to every one hundred of population; in the Southern 
States, the proportion is 163 to every one hundred. Notwithstand- 
ing this disparity, the South not only consumes her increase of hogs, 
but is the largest purchaser which the West finds, at home or abroad, 
for her large surplus." The writer is puzzled to solve this problem. 
It provos that planters fed their slaves plentifully ; and also that 
fanaticism is a stronger passion than avarice in these latter days. 
Else, the West would seek to restore prosperity to the South and to 
revive a trade which would bless both. 

There are thirty pages on "Pisciculture," with half dozen illus- 
trations. This artificial breeding of fish is a new art, and is being 
tried in the Northern States, 

" Marine Plants — their uses, with a brief account of the curing 
of Irish Moss," is the next article. About 6,000 barrels of it is 
the annual crop in the United States, commenced in 1849 in Scitu- 
ate, Mass. It is valuable as a substitute for glue, isinglass, as size 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 155 

for painters, and for medicinal and culinary purposes. It is one of 
Ocean's spring crops. 

It is cheering to have the gentle help of woman in useful pur- 
suits. Some of the sex have been known to be excellent farmers. 
The dairy, the fruits, vegetables and flowers, are peculiarly theirs. 
It is pleasing, too, to see their contributions to agricultural reports. 
In the present one, ten pages are upon "Female Life in the Open 
Air," by a New Hampshire lady. She gives good advice and shows 
good examples from life across the ocean about abundant exercise 
in the open air. But her style of writing is better adapted to the 
"monthlies" than to a Department report. To do her full justice? 
a paragraph must be cited. "The brooklet, gliding noiselessly over 
its rocky bed, bursting into aqueous gems, where a tiny obstruction 
gives it excuse for flashing into a water-fall — or settling into shady 
pools to shelter the purple and gold-flecked trout — giving freshness 
to moss and lichens upon its backs, and brightness to flowers that 
nod in homage to its gentle ministrations ; the mountain that rears 
its crest to heaven, and makes of its rugged breast a nursery for 
opal-hued clouds and lovely Mendings of shapes," &c, &c, and 
more of the same sort. 

The other lady writes a more practical article on the " Education 
of Farmers' Daughters." She makes good suggestions for the 
physical as well as mental development of girls. She draws a pic- 
ture of domestic want — long felt in the North — of which we knew 
nothing until Yankee philanthropy brought it to our doors. " A 
foolish prejudice has sprung up in the minds of American girls de- 
pendent on their labor for support, against household service, which 
they refuse on my terms, and accept routine labor in some species 
of manufacture, requiring long daily service, constrained or cramped 
positions, insufficient ventilation, and an expense for board that 
leaves a remainder too small to pay for the losses incurred, in com- 
parison with wholesome, comfortable, well-paid house-work. Thou- 
sands of girls are yearly killing themselves in large cities by over- 
work and insufficient pay, especially in the various departments af 
sewing. In manufacturing towns they are better paid, though often 
they are injuring health that would have been improved by house- 
hold labor." "The evil is of such magnitude as to attract the at- 
tention and command the anxious consideration of the most practi- 
cal minds with a view to a possible remedy." "In the Eastern 
States, this difficulty has been at its maximum of late, and nearly 
the same state of facts exists at the West." Our Yankee brethren, 
then, have not been able to attract to them the trained domestic 



156 THE SOUTHERN [March 

labor of the South which they coveted so much during the war ; but 
they have drawn us down to their own level. 

February r' 17, 1868. E. T. T. 



Warbles. 

Mr. Editor, — Having engaged lately in the business of raising, 
buying and selling cattle, I have met with something that completely 
over-masters me, and which has made considerable havoc among my 
present stock. It is what is called the "warbles," or, in common 
parlance, the "wolf." Each side of the spine is completely occu- 
pied by great whelks occasioned by the worms they contain, and to 
such nn extent as to have caused the death of several of them. 
What remedy shall I apply? 

Please answer in your next issue, and oblige 

ROBEKT KlRKWOOD. 

Central Depot, February 9, 1868. 

WARBLES. 

Towards the latter part of the summer and the beginning of au- 
tumn, and especially in fine and warm weather, cattle out at pasture 
are frequently annoyed by a fly of the Diptera order and the (Estrus 
genus, that seems to sting them with great severity. The animal 
attacked runs bellowing from his companions, with his head and 
neck stretched out, and his tail extending straight from his body, 
and he seeks for refuge, if possible, in some pool or stream of water. 
(The fly seems to fear, or to have an aversion to the water, and cat- 
tle are there exempt from its attack.) The whole herd, having pre- 
viously been exposed to the same annoyance, are frightened, and 
scamper about in every direction, or, one and all, rush into the 
stream. Under the excitation of the moment, they disregard all 
control, and even oxen at work in the fields will sometimes betake 
themselves to flight with the plough at their heels, regardless of 
their driver or the incumbrance which they drag behind them. 

The formidable enemy that causes this alarm, and seems to inflict 
so much torture, is the (Estrus Bovis, the Breeze or Gad-fly, which 
at this time is seeking a habitation for its future young, and selects 
the hides of cattle for this purpose. It is said to choose the younger 
beasts, and those that are in highest condition. There has evidently 
been considerable exercise of selection, for a great many of the cat- 
tle in the same pastures will have only a few warbles on their backs, 
while others will, in a manner, be covered by them. 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 157 



Naturalists and agriculturists are indebted to Mr. Bracy Clark 
for a very accurate account of this fly; and the author acknowledges 
his obligations to this celebrated veterinarian, and more particularly 
to that excellent French entomologist, M. Reaumur, for much of 
that which he is enabled to offer respecting the history of this in- 
sect. 

The oestrus bovis is the largest and most beautiful of this genus. 
Its head is white, and covered with soft down — its thorax yellow 
anteriorly, with four black longitudinal lines — the centre of the thorax 
is black, and the posterior part of an ashen color — the abdomen is also 
of an ashen color, with a black band, edged with white, in the centre, 
and covered posteriorly with yellow hair. It does not leave its chrysa- 
lis state until late in the summer, and is then eagerly employed in 
providing a habitation for its future progeny. It selects the back 
of the ox, at no great distance from the spine on either side, and 
alighting there it speedily pierces the integument, deposits an egg 
in the cellular substance beneath it, and probably a small quantity 
of some acid, which speedily produces a little tumor on the part 
and accounts for the apparent suffering of the animal.* 

The egg seems to be hatched before the wound is closed, and the 
larva or maggot, occupies a small cyst or cell beneath it. The tail 
of the larva projects into this opening, and the insect is thus sup- 
plied with air, the principal air-vessels being placed posteriorly; 
while with the mouth, deep at the bottom of the abscess, it receives 
the pus, or other matter that- is secreted there. A fluid, resembling 
pus, can always be squeezed from the tumor, and increasing in quan- 
tity as the animal approaches his change of form. In its early 
stage of existence, the larva is white like that of most other flies ; 
but as it approaches its maturity, it becomes- darker, and at length 
almost black. These little tumors form the residence of the larva, 
and are recognized by the name of warbles. 

The abscess having been once formed, appears to be of little or 
no inconvenience to the beast on whose back it is found. It cer- 
tainly does not interfere with his condition,! and the butcher re- 

* The weapon by means of which the perforation is effected is a very singular 
one. It seems to be formed of three different pieces, inclosed the one within ano- 
ther, like the divisions of a telescope, and from the farthest and smallest the true 
auger, or perforator, proceeds. 

f In 1823 and 1824, however, the oestri were so numerous in the department of 
Loiret, in France, and the tumors accumulated to that extent on the cattle, that 
they occasioned fever, inflammation and death. There was a disposition to inflam- 
matory fever prevailing at the same time amongst most species of domesticated an- 
imals. — Rapport a la Soci6t6 Royale et Centrale d'Agriculture, 1826. 



158 THE SOUTHERN [March 

gards the existence of these warbles even as a proof of a disposition 
to thrive. The injury to the skin, however, is another affair-, and 
the tanner would probably .tell a different story. The larva, if un- 
disturbed, continues in his cyst until the month of June or July in 
the following year, and then forces itself through the aperture al- 
ready described, and the accomplishment of which occupies two days,' 
It is soft when it first escapes, but it soon hardens ; and if it is for- 
tunate enough to escape the birds which are on the look-out for it, 
or if it does not fall into the water, which the cattle seem now in- 
stinctively to seek, as it were to destroy as many of their enemies as 
possible, it conceals itself in the nearest hiding-place it can find, 
where it remains motionless until it changes to a chrysalis, which is 
speedily effected ; it continues in its new form about six weeks, and 
then bursts from its shell a perfect fly. 

It is a very singular circumstance, that the escape of the larva 
from its prison on the back of the ox always takes place in the 
morning, and between 6 and 8 o'clock. Is the mysterious principle 
of instinct already at work ? Does the maggot know, that if it 
forced itself through the hole in the warble at a later period, the 
heat of the sun would destroy it ; or that if it fell during the night. 
it would perish before it could reach a place of refuge ? 

Being also exposed to many dangers in its chrysaline state, it is 
then covered with a scaly box of great strength, and from which it 
would seem impossible for it ever to make its escape ; but when its 
change is complete, and it begins to struggle within its prison, a 
valve at one end of its narrow house, and fastened only by a slight 
filament, flies open, and the insect wings its way, first to find its 
mate, and then to deposit its eggs on the cattle in the nearest pas- 
ture. 

Some farmers are very careless about the existence of these war- 
bles ; others very properly endeavor to destroy the grub that inha- 
bits them. This is effected in various ways — a little corrosive liquor 
is poured into the hole, or a red-hot needle introduced, or the larva 
is crushed or forced out by pressure with the finger and thumb. 
Although the existence of the warble is a kind of proof of the health 
and condition of the animal, yet there is no reason why the best 
beasts should be tormented by the gad-fly, or the strongest and best 
hides be perforated, and, in a manner, spoiled in their best parts. 
Although when the larva escapes or is expelled, the tumor soon sub- 
sides, the holes made are scarcely filled up during the season ; and 
even a twelve-month afterwards, a weakness of the hide, and dispo- 
sition to crack, will show where the bot has been. If all the farm- 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 159 

ers could be induced to search for and destroy the insect when a 
larva, the cattle of that district might be nearly or quite freed from 
this pest. — Youatt on Cattle. 

In order to facilitate the removal of the larva from the backs of the cattle, it 
would be well to enlarge the hole in the skin, made by the ovipositor of the 
gad fly, by a slight incision with a lancet ; then squeeze out the bot, and put a 
little tar over the wound, which will protect it and probably cause the opening 
in the skin to heal up entirely. 

To prevent the deposition of the egg, it will be a good practice to commence, 
as soon as the weather becomes decidedly warm, in the spring, with the appli- 
cation of salt on the backs of the cattle, which will cause them to lick each 
other and so diffuse a saline savour over the entire surface usually sought by 
the gad-fly. Salt is distasteful to the whole insect tribe, as well as a deadly 
poison to most of them, and if a few grains enter the opening in the skin, if 
perchance an egg has been deposited, it will be brought into unavoidable con- 
tact with the larva, and will assuredly kill it in that tender state. 

Whether this use of salt prove a preventive or not, it will certainly improve 
the social habits of the cattle. — Ed. So. Planter and Farmer. 



About Weeds.— IMo. I. 

WHAT ARE WEEDS ? 

If we should put this question seriously to any farmer in the 
land he would doubtless think we were asking for information which 
should be obvious to every person of ordinary understanding, for so 
numerous and widespread are noxious weeds that we may safely 
assert that no farm can be shown, which has been cultivated for a 
period of twenty years, now entirely free from the presence of this 
pest. . Yet who has given an accurate definition of the term " weed." 
Webster defines it as " any plant that is useless or troublesome," 
but it is obvious that many useless plants would not be recognized 
by farmers as weeds, and of all plants it may be said that they are 
troublesome. The phrase " noxious plants," although far from being 
accurate, is frequently used as a synonym for " weeds ;" and expres- 
siveness has been claimed for the term •' plants out of place." But 
without continuing these remarks further, we will proceed to treat 
the subject of "plants, the growth of which is injurious to the farm- 
er's interests." 

HOW WEEDS SPREAD. 

When land is first brought under cultivation it is found nearly 
free from weeds, unless in proximity to older settled regions, whence 
seed has been deposited on new lands, where they only await favor- 



160 THE SOUTHERN [March 

able circumstances to spring into life. Most of our weeds are of 
foreign origin; they spread and increase with civilization. Few are 
indigenous vto our soil. Hence it is a matter of importance for farm- 
ers to understand what avenues of approach they must guard to 
check the advance of the enemy. Weeds are almost invariably 
transfered from one locality to another by carrying the seed, but 
many kinds, after they are once established, increase rapidly from 
their roots. Along the rivulets and rivers the roots of some weeds, 
as alders, couch grass and the Canadian ^histle, may be carried con- 
siderable distances by freshets, and deposited on the fields when the 
floods subside. Seeds spread in the same way. Straw and hay 
used for packing merchandise and nursery trees, which are sent 
long distances and throughout the whole country, often contain the 
seeds of weeds, and the mischief resulting from carelessness in this 
respect is frightful. Birds carry seeds from one farm to another 
very readily and frequently to considerable distances, and weeds 
are also introduced by animals — as many of the hard-shelled seed 
will grow readily when voided in their excrements. Seeds are car- 
ried from one farm to another by thrashing machines, and the dow- 
ny bloom of the thistle and milkweed float in the air through miles 
of space. Once established on the farm and nearly every oper- 
tion of the husbandman facilitates their spread ; when he ploughs and 
harrows, the creeping roots of perennial weeds are scattered ; when 
he gathers the straw and hay from his fields to the barn and trans- 
fers the manure from hence to other portions of his farm the vital 
seeds of weeds go with it ; stock carry the seed as they roam from 
one pasture to another ; and birds rest on the fences and straight- 
way the corners are filled with weeds. Grain, and grass seed, fre- 
quently contain the germs of w T eeds, and no farmer can take too 
much care in scrutinizing seeds not grown on his own premises. 

The means by which weeds are spread, are indeed innumerable; 
they avail themselves of all modes of transportation. They ride in 
the steamboats and the rail-car and journey in the emigrant's wagon 
across the virgin prairie towards the setting sun, and the winde and 
waters spread them abroad. — Moore s Rural New Yorker. 



No man's spirits were ever hurt by doing his duty ; on the con- 
trary, one good action, one temptation resisted and overcome, one 
sacrifice of desire or interest, purely for conscience sake, will prove 
a cordial for weak and low spirits, far beyond what either indulgence 
or diversion, or company, can do for them. 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 161 



Important Suggestions to Those who Desire to Aid in Sustaining the 
Southern Planter and Farmer. 

Mr. Editor, — Allow me to congratulate you on the manifest im- 
provement in your valuable paper, in one particular, during the last 
few months. In November last, when I renewed my subscription, 
for the first time since its suspension by the war, I noticed and 
complained of the paucity of original articles which it contained, 
and remarked on the unsuitableness of most of its articles, which 
were generally scientific or impracticable, to the great majority of 
your readers. It now reminds me, Mr. Editor, of the good old 
times u lang-syne." And though it is more difficult in this section 
of country now to beg, borrow, collect, or get in any manner $2, 
than it was formerly $200, I must have your paper. I must deny 
myself some luxury, or curtail some of the necessaries, sooner than 
be deprived of your valuable and interesting paper ; and my only 
regret is that by doubling the amount I cannot get two copies of the 
paper a month. And why can we not, Mr. Editor, have a semi- 
monthly edition of the Planter and Farmer? An additional $2, 
and two or three plain, common-sense contributions a year, giving 
the results of experiments ; the success or failure of any crop, and 
causes ; the manner of raising and managing stock of any kind, 
with profits or losses ; any system of hiring and managing freed- 
men, &c, &c, from every one who now reads and enjoys, and is 
benefited by your Southern Agricultural paper, would do the thing 
at once; and we would have a rich and valuable semi-monthly 
Southern Planter and Farmer of as many pages and filled with as 
valuable material as the present monthly contains. 

The politician must have his daily dose of political news ; the 
successful merchant must have his semi-weekly and daily circulars 
and reports of the money market; the intelligent and moral family 
must have its weekly religious and literary newspaper — they all 
must keep up with the times. And must the poor farmer, who digs 
and toils and struggles; who pushes up hill all the time against dis- 
couragements and adverse circumstances, against the results of our 
recent overwhelming losses, against unpropitious legislation and 
sweeping taxes, be content to struggle also against ignorance and 
want of information ? It is more than ever important now, that the 
farmer should keep up with the times ; that he should read and study 
agriculture ; that he should know of every new invention and dis- 
covery and labor-saving machine; that he should study the markets; 
that he should consult, and confer, and compare notes with his bro- 
VOfrii — 11 



162 THE SOUTHERN [March 

ther farmers. And once a month isn't quite often enough for this. 
We get hungry from month to month. The farmers can and should 
make the " Southern Planter and Farmer" an inestimable semi- 
monthly, without consulting you very much about the matter, Mr. 
Editor. I know your part will be well and willingly done. The 
two articles in your last number, " On the Cultivation of Corn" 
and "Watt's Plough and Thoughts on Ploughing," from men so 
well known as Dr. Atkinson and Mr. Ruffin, are worth more than 
ten years' subscription to your paper. Farmers should eschew poli- 
tics, and yet you will find ten who take a political weekly or semi- 
weekly, at double the price, to one who subscribes to your interest- 
ing monthly ; and verily and indeed, Mr. Editor, either one of your 
last two numbers is worth more than all of the politics which has 
been written, and read, and concocted, in America, since George 
Washington made the great mistake of gaining our independence. 
But I am writing more than I intended. I write to send the 
above subscription, and to ask that you or your correspondent, "E. 
T. T.," who gave, in your last, the interesting review of the con- 
tents of " Report of Department of Agriculture, 1866," will put 
some of your readers in the way of getting the infoumation men- 
tioned by U X.," as contained "on page 502 of the Report of the 
Department of Agriculture for 1865," in "an essay upon a System 
of Farm Accounts, by John H. Bourne, of Marshfield, Massachu- 
setts," for which information please present to "X." the thanks 
of, Yours truly, 

Farmer. 

GranvVle County, N. C, February 20, 1868. 

If the edition of the Agricultural Keport of 1865 has not been exhausted by 
distribution, vre have no doubt but that the Hon. Hugh Capron, Commissioner 
of Agriculture, will promptly send it, by mail, to any person who will address 
,to him a re-pectful application for it. — Ed. So. Planter and Farmer. 



■Rapfy to F. G. Ruffin's Article Headed "Geo. Watts' Plough in 
a Tight Place., &c." 

In reviewing the above article, I cannot dissent from a single 
position taken by its author, save the one in regard to the " sup- 
planting of -the plough by the steam rotary digger;" and even in 
that, my opinions are theoretical, not practical. Yet I cannot see 
how a steam rotary digger could be made to turn under and work 
thorough a cover of clover, peavines, and the natural heavy growth of 
river mud-lands, such as he describes, and such as I saw effectually 
done by the plough in question. 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 163 

It is necessary that such heavy covers should be turned under 
the surface, to decay, and act as food for the plant to be raised, and 
to get it out of the way of the smaller one-horse implements used in 
the cultivation of crops. 

If this cover be intermixed with the soil, so "perfectly disintegrat- 
ed by the digger, it must become a very great impediment in the 
operation of the smaller implements used in the after cultivation of 
crops. Thorough pulverization and depth of tilth being the great 
desideratum to be attained by the digger, I claim, without fear of 
contradiction, that Watt's plough will accomplish both, to a depth 
of from twelve to fourteen inches, in a manner more cheap and 
practical then the digger, and — when it can be done at all — as per- 
fectly, not to insist upon the greater advantage of turning the cover 
under instead of mixing it with the soil in an unrotted condition. 
Again, the multitude of seeds that would be left on the surface to 
grow up with crops, under the operation of the digger, are buried 
beneath their vegetating depth, with the plough. Thus they become 
food for the crops, by decay, instead of being a pest in the growth 
and cultivation of the same. These are my views, yet I may be 
wrong and Mr. Ruffin right in his theories on this subject as yet un- 
known in this country. 

One other matter treated of by Mr. Ruffiin is, the "metal and 
character of my plough points." Owing to several causes which I 
could not control — a year ago — I was compelled to use in making my 
points a costly metal which is always soft It has been a difficult thing 
since the war to select in the Richmond market the proper metal to 
make the best plough-castings ; on that account, in various instances, 
I have been obliged to use a soft but costly metal, and Mr. Ruffiin 
and some others have been supplied with points which were made of 
it; hence, a just complaint. I have however, now turned my atten- 
tion to the more careful selection of metals which I could not do 
while getting up my Patents and Paterns ; and am making the best 
plough-castings I have yet made, and pledge myself to furnish 
henceforth only such as are superior in every particular. 

Geo. Watt. 



Rusty Straw — Effects on Animals. — B. McClure states in 
the Practical Farmer that feeding rusty straw to cattle and horses 
has a very injurious effect upon their health and efficiency. The 
class of diseases induced by this aliment are marasmus, glanders, 
farcy, skin diseases, catarrhal affeciions and watery swellings of 
the body and legs. He adds that during the last eight months, out 
of TOO horses fed upon straw, from 45 to 50 were on the sick li.t. 



164 THE SOUTHERN [March 

Rules for Farmers. 

1. The farmer ought to rise early to see that others do so, anJ 
that both his example be followed and his order obeyed. 

2- The whole farm should be regularly inspected, and not only 
every field examined, but every beast seen at least once a day. 

3. In a considrable farm it is of the utmost consequence to have 
hands especially appropriated for each of the most important de- 
partments of labor, for there is often a great loss of time where 
persons are frequently changing their employments, and the work 
is not executed so well. 

4. Every means should be thought of to diminish labor or increase 
its power. For instance, by proper arrangement, five horses may do 
as much labor as six perform according to the usual mode of employ- 
ing them. 

5. A farmer never ought to engage in a work, whether of ordina- 
ry practice or intended improvement, except after the most careful 
inquiries ; but when begun, he ought to proceed in it with much at- 
tention and perseverance until he has given it a fair trial. 

6. It is a main object in management not to attempt too much, 
and never to begin a work without a probability of being able to 
finish it in due season. 

7. Every farmer should have a book for inserting all those use- 
ful hints which are so constantly occurring in conversation, in books, 
in papers, and gathered in the course of his reading or in practi- 
cal management. — Sinclair. 



Buckwheat as a Green Crop D 

Where this grain is sowed the 1st of August, it will be in condi- 
tion to plough in for a rye-crop the last of September. We have 
seen rye taken from a field four years in succession, with no other 
manure than buckwheat turned in at the time of sowing the rye. 
There was a constant increase in the yield of the grain, showing the 
benefit of the green crop. If the land is not strong enough to give 
a' good growth of buckwheat, some manure will be necessary. A 
continued succession of grain crops does not show good husbandry, 
but it may answer for remote fields, w T here stable manure cannot be 
applied economically. The green crops and the grain should come 
in a regular rotation, and if the soil is thin, several green crops may 
be turned in, in succession, 'with profit. — American Agriculturist. 



1868.] 



PLANTER AND FARMER. 



165 




ffortitulinral Jeprtai 



Native Varieties of Fruit. 

Previous to the late war, it was the universal custom of our peo- 
ple to look to the North or Europe for every article of use, comfort 
or luxury that we needed, excepting tobacco, cotton, wheat and 
corn. Of no department of industry, not even excluding the me- 
chanical, was this more true than of Horticulture. Our seed, our 
fruit trees, our flowers, were all imported ; with what success, the 
miserable condition, or rather want of condition, of our orchards 
and gardens at the beginning of the war will testify. 

By far the larger number of Virginia orchards were filled with 
varieties of fruit (especially apples) eminently adapted to Massa- 
chusetts, and as worthless in this latitute ; and even now, with a 
very few exceptions, we are cultivating varieties by no means well 
suited to our climate. In this portion of the State, for instance, 
what varieties in general cultivation deserve the title of first-class 
winter apples, save Wine Sap and Albemarle Pippin? Many other 
excellent kinds are grown, which, farther North, are fine keepers, 
but which here are, at best, but good autumn varieties. The 
cause of this is apparent. Our people have not attempted to pro- 
duce native varieties from seed, and where such have sprung sponta- 
neously on the farm, no effort has been made to propagate and 
disseminate them. Until this is done, we need never expect to 
have good winter fruit, and the sooner we set about it the better. 
We have lately noticed in these pages two new varieties of apples 
originating in Eastern Virginia, both of which give promise of be- 
coming standard fruits ; and we are glad to know that at least one 
of these is being extensively propagated by the Virginia Nursery 
and Wine Company. But we are confident that there are many 
such seedlings scattered all over the State, which are far more 
worthy of general culture than any of the varieties now in vogue, 



166 THE SOUTHERN [March 



and we most earnestly solicit our readers to forward us specimens. of 
any they may possess, or be acquainted with, and at the same time 
to send us scions, so that we may have them propagated, if deemed 
worthy of dissemination. 

• A correspondent in North Carolina (in a private note) complains 
that the variety of apples offered by Virginia nurserymen, do not 
suit his locality much better than those of Northern growers, which 
is partly due, no doubt, to the fact, that the apples which are adapted 
to Virginia, are not equally well suited to his section ; but we assure 
him that if he will designate local varieties specially adapted to his 
region, and send us scions of the same, our nurserymen will gladly 
cultivate them. It is impossible for growers or purchasers to get 
what is best suited to their wants, unless those interested in fruit 
culture w T ill thus bring to light such seedlings as they know are 
worthy of culture. 

The Virginia Nursery and Wine Company announce as one of 
their leading objects the collection, propagation and dissemination 
of all native varieties of fruit which, after trial, are proved worthy 
of general cultivation. Their extensive sample orchards afford a 
fine opportunity of giving all such seedlings a fair test, and we shall 
be happy to be the medium of conveying to them scions from any 
of our readers. 



Spring Work. 

The extreme severity of the winter just ended, during which there 
was hardly a day in which anything could be done in either orchard 
or garden, save perhaps some pruning and manure-hauling, will 
render it the more necessary to exercise diligence and energy in 
prosecuting all the horticultural and pomological work of the farm. 

Vineyards, orchards, and kitchen gardens, are all to be planted, 
and the season for this work is short. But while -this is true, we 
would caution our readers against "that haste" which is a destruc- 
tive one. 

It is a bad plan to postpone, to another season, planting your 
orchards or vineyards, but it is worse to do it in an indifferent way. 
Nothing more imperatively demands care and labor at the outset 
than they do, and it is sheer folly to slight them. Be prompt in 
sending your orders to the nurserymen — be active in preparing the 
ground, and plant as soon as it can possibly be done. 

In the kitchen garden, while all due exertion must be used, still 
great care must be taken not to work the ground until it is fully 



1808.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 167 



ready. Should the present season be as backward as that of 1807, 
not much can be done in the garden before April, except to make 
preparations to prevent delay when the spring does- fairly open. 



Another New Apple. 

Mr. James Hunter, of Hanover, will please accept our thanks for 
specimens of a seedling apple grown by A. M. Morris, Esq., of the 
same county, which is well worthy of notice. 

It is of medium size, red and green color, resembling Pryor's 
Red, sweet, but not highly flavored, and at this date, (February 
10th,) perfectly firm and hardly mature. While its quality is not 
first-rate, still it is worthy of culture as a good keeper. We under- 
stand that it will be propagated by the Virginia Nursery and Wine 
Company, under the name "Morris's Winter." 



Watermelon and iVEuskmelon. 

While in some portions of Eastern Virginia the watermelon is 
quite a leading crop, still its culture has never had that attention 
(except, perhaps, in the immediate vicinity of Norfolk and Ports- 
mouth) which it deserves, and which has been given it along the 
Eastern Shore of Maryland. The Richmond market is tolerably 
well supplied with this fruit, mainly from Henrico and the adjacent 
county of Hanover, but this supply is grown by small farmers, who 
give the crop no special care; and if the fruit is good, the credit is 
due only to the eminent adaptability of the soil to its production. 
We do not know of a single person within a radius of fifty miles of 
Richmond, indeed in any portion of the State (with the exception 
above mentioned of Norfolk and Portsmouth), who makes this crop 
a specialty, and yet there are few fruits, if any, which offer a more 
certain field for the development of rich profits. 'Tis true that me- 
lons will mature around Norfolk and on the Eastern Shore of Ma- 
ryland a week or ten days earlier than they will in this section, still 
here they can be put into market at least two weeks earlier than 
those grown on Long Island and in New Jersey, and although we 
cannot obtain as high prices as those more favorably located, we can 
secure such as will be highly remunerative. 

An acre of watermelons contains six hundred and eighty hills, 
and at the low average of three melons to the hill, gives a yield of 



168 THE SOUTHERN [March 

two thousand, which if sold in New York at twenty-five cents (about 
the lowest figures they reach until very late in the season), will make 
a gross yield of five hundred dollars — and even allowing three-fifths 
of the price for expense of cultivation and transportation to mar- 
ket, yet leaves a net income of two hundred dollars per acre. 

In view of these statements, and the fact that even in the Rich- 
mond market good melons are rarely sold for less than twenty cents 
each, is there not abundant encouragement to our farmers to enter 
more largely upon their culture, and to give them the care and at- 
tention due to a profitable market crop. 

A few suggestions concerning soil and varieties may not be amiss. 

As is well known, a sandy loam is best adapted to its successful 
fruiting — heavy soils will not do, but any fertile sandy soil will an- 
swer. The seed should be planted in hills eight feet apart each 
way, and carefully cultivated with plough and hoe until the vines 
cover the ground. 

We mention the three leading varieties in* the order of their 
merit : 

Jackson. — Medium size; long, but slender; rind of a rich green 
color, but thin; meat, a bright red, very rich and sweet; seed, small 
and white. The best in quality, but owing to the thinness of its 
rind, not so desirable for transportation. 

Mountain Sweet. — Large size; long, oval shape; marbled green 
skin : flesh, red and rich. Of excellent quality, and bears trans- 
portation well. It yields very heavily. 

Long Island. — Very similar to the above, but claimed by some to 
be a little earlier. 

There is a new variety called the Hunter, which has been intro- 
duced by Messrs. Allan & Johnston, of this city, and is being ex-' 
tensively grown by them for dissemination next year — if it succeeds 
as well here as it does in Maryland, where it originates, it will soon 
supersede all others. We shall notice it more particularly when we 
see it fruited this season. 

Muskmelons are also very profitable, both for home and foreign 
markets. They bear transportation, and can be ripened here at 
least three weeks earlier than in New York. Their culture is very 
similar to that of the watermelon. They should be planted on a 
moderately rich, light soil, in hills from five to six feet apart each 
way. 

The best varieties are Citron, Nutmeg and Skilman's Netted, all 
of which are rough-skinned and very firm varieties, well-adapted to 
shipping, besides being of the finest flavor. 



'1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 169 



The profits from both of these crops may be greatly enhanced by 
starting the seed in hot-beds and transplanting to the hills after the 
weather has become settled and warm, which will hasten the matu- 
rity of the fruit from one to two weeks. 



Grapes and Wine. 

Mr. Editor, — It is gratifying to observe from your pages that re- 
newed attention is now paid to horticultural matters in your State. 
The advantages of the country and the inducements to plant fruits 
of all kinds, and especially the grape, are well set forth in the Jan- 
uary number. Allow one who has visited your beautiful slopes and 
valleys, which lie on the Atlantic side of the Alleghany rarfge, to 
venture a few suggestions to your planters. 

Soil. — Do not be too anxious to have a very rich soil. It may 
be too rich. What is needed is a friable loam of medium fertility, 
but which, if poor, may be put into good heart by lime and clover, 
and perhaps some manure. Sands, however, on one hand, and 
heavy clayey loams, such as are generally called clay lands, on the 
other, will produce excellent grapes ; some varieties seem to prefer 
one and some another. 

Preparation. — Many writers have discouraged young vine-plant- 
ers, and those "who wish to plant vines, by their recommendations 
to trench the ground deeply with the spade, at an expense of one 
hundred dollars or more per acre. A good deep ploughing with a 
double Michigan plough, if the soil be deep enough to bear invert- 
ing the earth a foot or fifteen inches deep, is the best implement to 
do the work, and it may be followed with a subsoil lifter to stir the 
bottom of the furrow six or eight inches more. If the soil be shal- 
low, and the sub-soil be unfit to be thrown on top by the trench 
plough above named, you may use any good plough and reverse the 
soil as deeply as it will bear, and then fallow with the sub-soil lifter 
once, twice or three times, till it is got down to the beam. 

If this work be done in the fall and early winter, you will have 
the benefit of the winter's frost — more than equal to another plough- 
ing and harrowing. Early in the spring, the land should be cross- 
ploughed, well-harrowed and put into fine tilth, when it will be ready 
for planting. . 

Planting the vines is a simple matter, and yet it needs care in 
its execution. An excellent method of digging the holes is to us© 
a two-horse plough, going twice in one furrow across the field where 



170 THE SOUTHERN [March 



the rows of vines are to stand. These should be wide enough apart 
to admit of free access with the cultivator — we generally prefer eight 
feet. After the furrows are made, a short stake, say two or three 
feet long, should be driven into the soil in the furrow at every sta- 
tion where a vine is to be planted — these may be six or eight fee* 
apart. We are now ready to plant the vines. 

Having trimmed the tops to about eight inches, and the roots to, 
at most, a foot in length, the mellow earth is removed from one side 
of the stakes in the furrow. These holes should all be made on the 
same side of all the stakes, so that in after cultivation the workman 
may know where to look for the plant. Taking a vine in the left 
hand, it is placed beside the stake, with its roots extended and well 
spread out; then with the other hand, or with a trowel, some fine 
mellow earth is spread over them and worked in among the roots ; 
and when these are covered about an inch, the ground is gently 
pressed upon them. If the soil be too poor, it is sometimes advisable 
to have a pile of good compost, half a bushel, placed by each stake, 
and this is used in setting the roots. The rest of the earth is now 
thrown into the furrows loosely, on each side of the stake, so as to 
bury the vine, allowing only two buds or eyes to project above the 
general level of the field. The remainder of the furrow between 
the vines is left open — it will be filled up by cultivating during the 
season. 

Finding that this article will be extended to too great length, let 
us take a rest here, and postpone further treatment until a later 
number, when the recommendations may be more seasonable. 

Varieties cannot now be considered, except to congratulate you 
upon your appreciation of healthy and vigorous kinds — none others 
should be planted. The Norton, Concord, and Ives, are all of this 
character, and with a few Hartford, for early fruit, they are safe, 
and should be planted extensively. W. 



Pindars, or Ground Peas. 

We have seen in go me one of our periodicals directions how to 
plant and cultivate the pindar, and as we have made this article by 
the acre, and seen fields of them, we differ from the writer. 

Our direction is, break up land deeply and thoroughly so as to 
pulverize it completely — of course there are lands better adapted 
than others, light earth, not the heavy clays would be our choice — 
then run off rows three and a half to four feet and bed thereto with 
a light furrow, making a flat bed. If the pindars be not hulled, 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 171 



break in two, so that moisture may more readily reach the pea, and 
after opening a furrow with a narrow plough, bull tongue, or even a 
piece of hard wood shaped like a bull tongue, drop the seed two in 
a place, two feet apart, about the time of corn planting, if not hull- 
ed — if hulled, later; for frost will kill — then cover about two inches 
deep. 

When the pindar is up, scrape as for cotton, then dirt as for cot- 
ton, keep clean, earth stirred with cultivator or sweep, and do not 
molest the branches or put earth on limbs. 

The bloom is always just above where a root puts forth from the 
limb on which the pindar is formed, the bloom is above the pindar on 
the rootlet in the ground, and it is just as wise to cover the bloom on 
potatoes, as to cover the bloom on the pindar. We have large fields 
where the pindar was dropped, in the same hill where corn was 
dropped, and both cultivated together. A friend, now deceased, who 
planted some two hundred acres of corn, in Mississippi, assured us 
he fatted his pork in his cornfield, where he always had pindars with 
his corn, and, though a cotton planter, made meat for sale. 

We have had sows too fat to breed, from our pindar patches, 
and we never cover vines and always gave about four by two feet as 
distance. — Southern Farmer. 

The Peanut Crop.— The Wilmington (N. C. ) Journal, in allu- 
ding to this subject remarks :— 

From the statistics compiled and published in the Journal, we 
find that the crop of last year, including shipments as well as sales, 
amounting to 62,450 bushels. This year the crop is variously es- 
timated at from 75,000 to 100,000 bushels — many think the latter 
figures are nearer the mark. It is estimated by the merchants that 
about 30,000 bushels of this year's crop have already been ship- 
ped. 

The Norfolk Journal says : 

A very large portion of the peanuts used in the Union pass through 
the hands of our merchants. They are raised in the lowlands of 
Virginia and North Carolina, and hardly anj^where else. Those 
from Virginia are used principally for eating purposes, and those of 
North Carolina for oil. Our farmers have turned their attention to 
the culture of the peanut much more of late years than formerly, the 
cause of which is that they bring a much larger price than in years 
gone by, being quoted at from one dollar and forty cents to two dol- 
lars and. sixty cents a bushel, according to quality. An acre will 
produce more in this pea than anything else, and by the application 
of guano to our quick lands an abundant crop is obtained and a very 
certain one. We hope that our farmers will grow peanuts more ex- 
tensively than they have yet done ; for our system of cultivation 
must change from large farms to small, and we must try to make 
every acre bring its utmost. 



172 THE SOUTHERN [March 

Training and Pruning the Vine. 

The principles which govern the correct pruning of the vine are 
well understood by American vineyardists, but the majority of our 
farmers who cultivate grapes merely for family use seem, as their 
practice intimates, to be tolerably muddled in their ideas of training 
and trimming. It is seldom one sees a well trained grape vine in a 
farmer's garden, and as rarely does the owner thereof knoiv how to 
train the vine properly. Yet it is a very simple operation, requir- 
ing care and attention rather than hard labor. One must likewise 
begin with the planting of the vine, and work with correct know- 
ledge, and a clear idea of what he wishes to achieve. By the aid 
of the engravings we have made to illustrate the subject, we hope 
to make it clear to every reader who has an interest in it. 

We will start with the planting of the vine, and that is the only 
place of beginning, for in undertaking to renovate an old and badly 
trained vine, the best way is to cut it so as to force out shoots from 
near the ground, and practically deal with it then as with one newly' 
planted. Fig. 1 represents a strong vine as it is pruned for plant- 




Figure 1. 
ing ; it is cut down to two eyes or buds, each of which will throw 
out a shoot. The first year, however, we only desire to grow one 
cane, and the second bud is left to ensure against accident. When 
the young shoots are two or three inches long, the weaker should be 
rubbed off. If possible, it is betterto save the lower one. A stake 
should be planted near it, and the shoot carefully trained and tied 
to it as it grows. The lateral shoots must be pinched when they 
attain a couple of leaves, so as to throw the growth into the main 
cane, which w r e desire to grow strong and thoroughly mature. Fig. 
2 shows the vine after it has made the first year's growth, and is 
ready for pruning. The cross marks indicate where the knife should 
be applied. The cane has grown from the lower bud, and the arm 
of old wood must be cut away. The cane itself is cut down to three 
buds. The novice may ask what has been gained by the season's 
growth, as the pruned vine has only one bud more than when plant- 
ed a year ago. We have gained strength of root sufficient to grow 



1868.] 



PLANTER AND FARMER. 



173 



two good canes the second year instead of one. There are three 
buds saved, all of which, if nothing happens, will grow. As we 



r 




Figure 2. 



Figure 3. 



only wish to grow two canes, one of the shoots must be rubbed off 
when the others are safely started. 

These two canes must be tied to the stakes, the laterals pinched*, 
and in every respect treated similar to the one cane grown the pre- 
ceding year. In September the tips of the canes should be pinched 
to check the growth and mature the wood. Fig. 8 represents the 
vine at the end of the second year's growth, and ready for pruning. 
The cross marks show where it is to be pruned. The canes are 
each left twenty inches or two feet long, and the third year are to 
be bent down horizontally to form the arms of the vine. The stake 
is now to be removed, and a trellis built, the lower slat or wire of 
which should be about a foot from the ground. Four or four and a 
half feet is sufficient in height. The best form of trellis is that 
having a top and bottom rail, with wires stretched perpendicularly 
between them. 

The arms being laid out and fastened on the lower rail or wire 
of the trellis, the object of the cultivator is to grow, during the 
third year, a certain number of upright canes from the horizontal 
arms, and also two from the extreme ends of the arms for the pur- 
poses of extending them still further in a horizontal direction. If 
the vine is strong it may carry some fruit this year ; not more, how- 
ever, than one cluster to every upright cane should be allowed. 



174 



THE SOUTHERN 



[March 



Fig. 4 shows the vine at the end of the third year's growth. The 



U 



l-^fitiirWi 




Figure 4. 

upright vines growing from the horizontal arms should be from 
seven to ten inches apart, depending somewhat on the variety. 
Some skill and care will be required to start these upright canes at 
proper and equal distances. If the wood of the arms has been pro- 
perly grown it will be short-jointed and the buds thick enough so 
that no difficulty will be experienced. In the spring it is a good 
plan to bow the arms a little, bending the extremities downward, in 
order to have the buds start evenly. The reason of this is that the 
sap tends strongest to the extremities of the vine, and the shoots 
there will rob those further back. Bending the ends down prevents 
this. When the buds break strongly those for the- upright canes 
should be selected and the rest rubbed off. These uprights should 
be treated precisely as the canes that grow to the stake ; the laterals 
pinched, and the ends also when they reach the top of the trellis. 
The shoots on the ends designed for extending the arms next year 
should be trained along the lower bar or wire, and the laterals also 
pinched. 

Some may ask why not lay down the whole length of these arms 
the third year; why prune so close and grow wood again for their 
extension ? Simply, because the vine is not strong enough to bear 
such forcing, and that vigorous uprights could not be grown the 
next year on such a length of arm. The pruning of the vine at the 
end of the third year's growth consists in cutting the upright canes 
down to the bud, and shortening those for extending the arms. 
After being pruned it will present the appearance of Fig. 5. The 




Figure 5. 
bases of the upright canes cut away will project from the arms, and 



1868.] 



PLANTER AND FARMER. 



175 



are called spurs; they are intended to be permanent and to grow 
each year a cane for bearing fruit. The fourth year then, an up- 
right cane will be grown from each of the spurs, and also four more 
from the additions made to the horizontal arms. Each cane will 
carry three bunches of fruit. At the end of this year we will con- 
sider that our vine has reached the limits of its extention, and all we 
have to do in the future is to maintain it in the same shape. Prac- 
tically, however, it should take a year or two more to extend the 
horizontal arms to the desired length, but as the process is only a 
repetition of the third year's operations we will not consider it 
further. 

Fig. 6 represents a full grown or complete vine at the end of the 



k* A- Li [ I 




FlGUBE G 

season. The winter pruning of this from year to year, is simply 
the cutting of the upright canes just above the lowest bud, leaving 
the vine as it appears in Fig. 5; the summer pruning consist in 
rubbing off superfluous shoots, if any appear, in pinching the laterals 
of the upright canes and their extremities when they reached the 
top of the trellis. By cutting the canes to the lowest bud the spurs 
will be lengthened a trifle each year, if they become inconveniently 
long they may be cut close to the horizontal arm, and a cane train- 
ed up from dormant buds which will be forced to break by this 
treatment. g 

This system of pruning and training affords a chance for all the 
fruit a vine should bear ; it is grown from one level and therefore 
each bunch and leaf has an equal chance in the amount of sap ; the 
pruning is easily and rapidly done, and the general appearance of 
the vine is graceful and pleasing. 

Figure 7 shows how the system may be applied to covering a high 
trellis, as it is oftentimes desirable to use the shelter of the side of 
a wall, fence or building for the purpose of growing grapes. Tall 



176 



THE SOUTHERN 



[March 



trellises may be covered with fruit bearing wood by planting vines 
enough and carrying the stem of some to the various levels above 
before the horizontal arms are allowed to grow. In the illustration 




Figure 7. 
the trellis is represented from eight to nine feet high, and two series 
of vines are grown. The upper vine is precisely like the lower ex- 
cept in length of stem. A third and even fourth series might be 
grown by using care in growing the stem to a sufficient height before 
taking out the horizontal arms. 

We are indebted to that Prince of good fellows, D. D. T. Moore, 
Esq., Editor and Proprietor of the Rural New-Yorker, published at 
Rochester, N. Y. — one of the very best of our Agricultural, Litera- 
ry and Family Weeklies — for the illustration of the above articles and 
the embellishment of our pages as well. They are electrotypes of 
the cuts used in his paper, kindly procured for us with much 
trouble to himself, to enable us to transfer from his paper to ours 
the very instructive and practical article above exhibited. — Ed. So. 
Planter and Farmer. 



A Bed of Lilies. — By all means plant out a bed of Japan 
lilies. Select, if you can, a position where when they come into 
flower you will have to look up rather than down to see the flower ; 
make the ground two feet or more deep, working\into it plenty of 
well-rotted compost manure ; then get the varieties of lily in all 
their numbers ; plant them at distances of about one foot apart 
each way, setting the bulb in clean sand and covering about three 
inches deep — Horticulturist. 



1868.] 



PLANTER AND FARMER. 



177 



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VOL. II 



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178 THE SOUTHERN [March 



Innovation. 

Whoever has watched the progress of the application of median-, 
ical appliances designed to supersede operations as previously per- 
formed by hand, has no doubt observed that the principles employed 
are widely different from those of the manual operations, and that 
nearly all the operations are performed by means of mechanism, are 
exactly the opposite of the former modes of working; and from 
what has been done we may deduce the conclusion, to which there 
are few exceptions, that every innovation upon hand labor will be 
succesM only when the principles upon which it has been accom- 
plished are entirely discarded, and some method involving none of 
those principles is employed. 

In the manufacture of leaden pipe the old plan was /to cast the 
lengths in short pieces, and then connect them by some subsequent 
means. The form was given to the pipe by casting the molten me- 
tals around a mandrel, which formed the bore of the future pipe. 
Now mark the innovation upon that, as it would seem the only meth- 
od by which pipes could be well formed. Instead of casting the me- 
tal in the form of a pipe, the solid lead is pressed through a die and 
the pipe issues continuously until the charge which was fed through 
the die is nearly expended; then another molten mass is poured in 
contact with the remnant of the last, soldering itself to it by its own 
heat, and when this mass is cooled it is forced in like manner 
through the die, and the pipe formed from it is continuous to the pre- 
vious length. In the former method, the pipe is formed of molten 
lead and by casting it around a mandrel ; in the latter, of solid metal 
formed by forcing through a die — two states of the metal and two 
manipulations widely different. 

So in the manufacture of bird shot, as used by the sportsmen. 
The old method. was Jo cast the pellets in a mold, and the innova- 
tion upon that mode is to scatter the molten lead through a' riddle 
from a great height, and in falling it assumes perfect spheres. 
• In the sewing machine, an implement which has revolutionized 
many trades, we see means and principles employed which are di- 
rectly opposite to the manipulations as performed by hand. In this 
latter instance, the lengths of thread are short and require to be 
frequently renewed ; the fabric is held stationary, and the needle, 
having the eye at its head, is advanced, as it were, as the seam pro- 
gresses, by the fingers of the operator : the needle is thrust through 
the material and does not return in the same path it entered. In 
the machine the fabric moves, the needle travels in a fixed path, the 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 179 

thread is continuous, and the eye of the needle is at the point which 
first penetrates the article or material to be sewed. All attempts to 
imitate, by machinery, the hand seam and the hand method of pro- 
ducing such hand seam failed, and innovation was success only when 
it wrought out an entirely new method and employed a new prin- 
ciple. 

It would seem that the force of steam, the world's great motor, 
would be in application to produce a continuous circular movement, 
similar to the eifect of power upon the water-wheel or wind-mill; but 
attempts to thus apply it have not been rewarded with any signal 
success, and the reciprocating piston, travelling in direct lines, is 
still conceded to be the best method of applying steam as a motive 
power. 

In the innovation upon the sickle and the scythe we see the prin- 
ciples upon which they operate entirely discarded, and, instead, new 
methods, new forms, and new principles introduced. No success at- 
tended the attempts to sever the stalks of grain or blades of grass 
with a blade swung in circles by mechanism, and it was only when 
the vibrating cutter-bar was applied to the reaping and mowing ma- 
chine that success attended the use of this now indispensable im- 
plement. 

Printing from rotary cylinders is another illustration of the suc- 
cessful innovation upon the hand or platen press. Although the 
platen press is still employed for nice work, it is wholly inadequate 
to supply the enormous editions which are required to meet the de- 
mands of our daily and w T eekly papers. The platen and the cylin- 
der — two more different methods to produce an impression from type 
on paper could not well be devised. 

The innovation made upon fire-arms, comparing the recent breech- 
loader with the muzzle-loading musket, is a great one. It is true, 
breech-loaders have been made years ago, but they were not then a 
success, and were proven so only when innovation threw aside the 
old form of cartridge and introduced a metallic substitute which car- 
ried its own fulminate. As the principle and mode of manipula- 
tion of the breech-loader differs from its muzzle-loading predecessor, 
so the newly-adopted cartridge which makes the former a success 
differs from its paper progenitor. When used, the paper case of the 
latter must be rent so as to admit the fire of the fulminate contained 
in the copper cap, and no success attended the attempted breech- 
loading innovation until this principle of cartridge was entirely dis- 
carded and a new form and method wrought out. 

Examine every trade, every operation, every piece of work upon 



180 THE SOUTHERN [March 

which innovation has heen made, and the observation holds good in 
almost every case, that to be successful a new principle must be in- 
troduced differing from that previously employed. Illustrations are 
numerous. The paddle moving in a reciprocating manner propelled 
the canoe, the revolving wheel and the screw propeller urge forward 
the steamer ; Vulcan swung his hammers at his forges in the arcs of 
circles, the steam hammer moves in straight lines ; the carpenter 
drove his hand-plane in lines direct, but the planing-machine cuts 
its shaving with revolving blades ; the husbandman scattered the 
seed by throwing it forcibly before him, the sowing-machine care- 
fully drops the grain in its bed, and it falls by its own gravitation. 
The instances we have mentioned are but a tithe of those that might 
be enumerated, and he who would be successful in his attempts at 
innovation must discard entirely old means, methods and appliances, 
and employ new devices and bring new principles into action. — 
American Artisan. 



jonstjjoto §tprfintnt. 



Maturing Poultry. 



Wheat screenings and cracked corn I find to be the best adapted 
feed for chickens ; this should be fed to them as often as twice a 
day; while in the interim something should be placed at their plea- 
sure to pick at. I dissent from the idea that fowls should ever go 
hungry in order to grow fat or to lay eggs. I have never learned 
how to fat or bring fowls into a parturient condition by feeding lit- 
tle or nothing ! Broom-corn seed, well-ripened, affords my fowls a 
constant supply of wholesome and cheap provender, for lunch, be- 
tween their regular feedings of screenings or corn ; and I find my 
corn and buckwheat, etc., do not disappear so quickly by voracious- 
ness as where they have to rely wholly on stated feedings. 

Good authorities have laid down one rule among many good ones, 
which I appeal from to the good sense of my brother poulterers, so 
far, at least, as it regards growing chickens, that is : — " Never keep 
feed before them all the time." Working on the system of human 
physiology, this sounds very well ; but an infant receives its suste- 
nance when it cries for it ; I believe our infant chickens, being able 
to help themselves, without crying for it, should be permitted to do 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER 181 

so. Boiled feed, such as potatoes and meal, with small or large 
pieces of meat, as can be afforded, hasten the growth of poultry 
very much ; use as much pepper, and a little more than would be 
pleasing to our palates as seasoning, but it is almost useless to say 
to any one, use no salt. Farmers who make their own butter, and 
have sour milk, should remember to divide a part of this refuse ma- 
terial with the hens, for, w T hile pigs make the ham, we cannot have 
ham and eggs without the hens. 

There certainly is a great difference in fowls about maturing, and 
without stating any particular preferences in this article, I will re- 
mark that, for early market uses, the Asiatic varieties are the best. 
"Yellow-meated poultry, on. account of its rich appearance, always 
brings the highest price in market; and the reverse of this is the 
case, in many markets, with eggs. In the case of the meat, the 
only difference is in the imagination; while, in the case of eggs, im- 
agination is greatly at fault in making choice of white shelled eggs, 
for the yellow shell is a mark of greater nutriment as really as yel- 
low corn contains more oil than the white-flint variety. — Cor. Coun- 
try Gentleman. 



Chicken Salad. 

Boil a young chicken until quite tender, mince the white meat 
fine. Take two or three fresh lettuces and cut the leaves small, re- 
serving the hearts for garnishing. To make the dressing, boil four 
eggs for twelve minutes, take them out of the shells and put them 
in cold water until they become thoroughly cold ; then rub the yolks 
smooth with a spoon, and mix them well with three tablespoonfuls 
of salad oil, or melted butter, a teaspoonful of salt, the same of 
made mustard, a little pepper and essence of celery; when these 
are smoothly mixed, add very gradually a wine glass of strong vine- 
gar. Put the lettuce on a dish, lay the minced chicken upon it, "and 
pour the dressing around it ; cut the whites of the eggs in rings to 
garnish the salad, cut each lettuce heart in four, and make a border 
round the dish, interspersed with beet-root, or hard boiled eggs in 
quarters. — Metropolitan Record. 



To tell good eggs, put them in water— if the large ends turn up, 
they are not fresh. This is an infallible rule to distinguish a good 
egg from a bad one. 



182 THE SOUTHERN [March 

Cucumber Toast. 

Select your cucumbers — fresh, crisp, medium size — just such as 
you would prefer if served up in the usual manner. Pare, or slice 
up lengthwise, in cuts a quarter of an inch thick. Rinse in cold 
water, dip each slice singly in flour, and hurry them into the drip- 
ping-pan, using for material to fry them in, the gravy in which 
either beef-steak, veal-cutlets or mutton-chops were cooked ; or 
butter may be used ; but be sure to fry briskly until the slices are 
a light brown on both sides. Have your bread toasted, buttered, or 
dipped, as you prefer, and close at hand. Slip the slices of cucum- 
ber hot from the pan between the slices of toast, and serve at once. 
Any one following these directions implicitly will find cucumber- 
toast really good to eat. 



To Cure Sheep-Skin with the Woo! on. 

Take one tablespoonful of alum and two of saltpetre ; pulverize 
and mix well together ; then sprinkle the powder on the flesh side 
of the skin, and lay the two flesh sides together, leaving the wool 
outside. Then fold up the skins as you can, and hang them in a 
dry place. In two or three days, as soon as they are dry, take 
them down and scrape them with a blunt knife till clean and sup- 
ple. This completes the process, and makes a most excellent saddle 
cover. Other skins which you desire to cure with the fur on may 
be treated in the same way. 

We can speak in favor of the above recipe. It does all it pro- 
mises. Such skins make excellent mats for in-doors. — Farmer s 
Companion. 

Preserving Okra. 

One of the most healthy and nutritious vegetables is the okra, 
which is raised in such abundance in our climate. We are surprised 
that so little attention is given to preserving it for use all through 
the winter, when it can be done so easily and so cheaply. The fol-. 
lowing recipe for doing it is furnished by a practical and experienced 
gardener and agriculturist: 

" Take a clean barrel, sprinkle salt in the bottom (cover the bot- 
tom) ; then lay down a layer of okra evenly over the surface of the 
salt; then, on this, another layer of okra, as before, and so on until 
the barrel is full, or you have put as much as desired, covering the 
whole, when done, with a thick layer of salt." 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER AND FARMER. 



RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, MARCH, 1868. 

TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION AND ADVERTISING. 

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dSMorial §tprtenf, 



A very intelligent writer, in the Native Virginian, has communicated to that 
paper two very interesting; and well-written articles in relation to the soil, cli- 
mate, scenery, society and other attractions of Orange county, Virginia, which 
is a portion of the Piedmont region so graphically described in General Wise's 
speech which appeared in the November number of the Southern Planter. We 
should be pleased to re-produce them entire did space permit, but as we have it 
not, we must content ourselves with extracts from them of such parts as are of 
more general bearing, and such more particularly as relate to the wise and ju- 
dicious remedial suggestions of the writer with regard to the removal of ob- 
structions which lie on the track of progress. 

What he says of the people of Orange in particular may, with equal pro- 
priety, be said of the people of Virginia and the Sjuth generally: 

" Their energies seem relaxed — their enterprise paralyzed. The subversion 
of their labor system and change of relations, civil, social and political, was a 
severe shock. The loss of property and means consequent thereon, and de- 
rangement of all the business relations of life, seem to have greatly depressed, 
instead of arousing them to nobler exertions. In their despondency, they for. 
get or overlook the many advantages they yet retain, and sadly neglect the 
proper means of restoring their wasted fortunes. Is this manly? is it patriotic 
to fold our arms in apathy, and mourn over the miseries of our situation — whe- 
ther real or imaginary — when so many inducements, nay necessities, impel us 
to action ? Courage, patriotism, an approving conscience, natural affection — 
all, demand of us calmly to survey our position, and resolutely to rescue our- 
selves from the slough of despondency, to rise higher and higher in the scale of 
manhood, and as Virginia men. to act worthy of our race, and to improve to 
the uttermost the talents confided to us, and trust to Providence the result of 
our efforts." 

After a graphic and truthful expose of the varied and abundant resources of 
Orange county in all that pertains to wealth, refinement and social eijoyment; 
he. proceeds, in his second number, " to consider the means proper for the suc- 
cessful development of the great resources of this highly favored locality." 

The writer proceeds: 

"Admitting that the difficulties which, at present, embarrass agricultural de- 



184 THE SOUTHERN [March 

velopment are great and discouraging, yet they should by no means be regarded 
as insurmountable by the victims of the unatoneable crime of the 19th century — 
the subversion of institutions coeval with American civilization— the annihila- 
tion of millions of recognized property — the destruction of all labor organiza- 
tion and the happiness of a dependent race — the natural advantages we yet en- 
joy are great, and the attractions which surround us are too inviting to be neg- 
lected. The subject which should now address itself to every considerate and 
enterprising mind, should be the mode and means by which the rich endow- 
ments of nature may be developed and made conducive to our material and so- 
cial happiness. The power and influence of every people — their moral and in- 
tellectual attainments — depend on the success with which they cultivate and 
improve their physical advantages. To maintain the position which we have 
reached in the arts of civilization, and to insure our future progress, we must 
sedulously devote ourselves to material interests — no Utopian views must be in- 
dulged nor prejudices fostered in the struggle to adapt ourselves to existing cir- 
cumstances. Time, with its healing influences, may alleviate, but cannot re- 
lieve us of the responsibilities now devolved upon us. Action, associated and 
individual, prompt and vigorous energy of mind, and industry untiring, must 
be the instruments of success in all noble enterprises. The subject of agricul- 
tural development is, at present, a matter of special interest to the owners of 
the soil — and, as the main-spring which vitalizes the whole machinery of hu- 
man industry claims the highest consideration of the patriotic statesman. Ca- 
pital and labor constitute the lubricating element which stimulates industry 
and harmonizes conflicting pursuits. These are the great desiderata of the 
times — as hand maids to agriculture, the foster-mother around which all other 
industries cluster and draw their sustenance — assuming as indisputable that, 
without these active agencies, agriculture cannot prosper; and assuming, also, 
as not less true, the inefficiency of free negro labor, it follows that our fields 
must be imperfectly cultivated or lie unproductive, until new elements of popu- 
lation are introduced and new systems adopted suited to the altered condition 
of affairs. The farms of the county, with few exceptions, are too large for pro- 
fitable husbandry with the present means of their owners. To render them 
remunerative in proportion to the fertility of the soil, they need to be divided 
and sub divided into tracts of easy dimensions, so as to encourage the improve- 
ment of them to their highest capacity. Portions of many large estates, now 
lying unproductive, might be judiciously sold, enabling proprietors to improve 
their husbandry — the parts producing more than the whole, and at less cost. 
If there be one fact more clearly demonstrated by recent experience than any 
other, except, perhaps, the uncertainty of free-negro labor, it is the impractica- 
bility, with present means, of profitably conducting farming operations upon 
the scale of former years. A system of tenantry, such as has hitherto been 
unknown in the usages of Virginia, in which it should be mado mutually the 
interest of proprietor and tenant to combine amelioration of the soil with in- 
creased production— rendering the former progressively auxiliary to the latter, 
is a mode suggestive of the happiest results. The lands of Orange are begin- 
ning to attract the attention of strangers wishing to purchase, as well as those 
desirous of becoming tenants. But a grave obstacle is met by both in the want 
of building accommodations. Until this is removed, our surplus lands will not 
be estimated according to their admitted intrinsic and comparative value. The 
industrious and intelligent yeomanry of the Valley of Virginia, than whom 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 185 

there is no more valuable population, would flock to the cultivation of our fields, 
impressed as they are by the superior advantages here presented, but for the 
want of suitable dwellings. The best interests of the county, indeed its social 
welfare, appeal to its patriotic proprietors to address themselves actively to this 
work. Materia.1 abounds, and the happiest results would follow — increased 
value of their estates— immigration, capital, and intelligent industry — all com- 
bining to promote their permanent prosperity. A majority of them, by strict 
economy and judicious arrangement, may, in a brief space, add each, from one 
to ten in number, to the active producing population of the county, and thus 
augment individual and national wealth. 

"In conclusion, without intending to discourage any portion of our beloved 
commonwealth, may I not ask wherein consists the superiority over Orange o* 
other counties in which sales of land are often made at from $70 to $100 per 
acre? Is her climate less salubrious — her fountains less pure — her soil less 
fertile, her scenery less beautiful, her men less noble or her women less lovely? 
Trutfi and candor forbid other than a negative response — modesty — a claim to 
superiority. Then let the miner come and explore our mineral resources — the 
capitalist seeking investment and the enterprising immigrant — let the weary 
merchant, needing repose and pining for pure and invigorating air, come and 
find a happy retreat. A home and a welcome there will be for all, and when 
industry and art shall have accomplisued half that nature has done, the good 
county of Orange will become, what Mr. Jefferson said the Architect of the 
Universe designed this Piedmont region to be, ' the home of a happy people.' 

"Agricola." 



Harrowing Wheat in the Spring. 

We have met with but few farmers who do not believe in the theory of har" 
rowing their wheat-fields in the spring, yet with very few who have entertained 
such an assured faith in the verity of the theory as to have subjected it to the 
test of truth in their own practice. 

This month will afford, to every wheat-grower, an opportunity for making a 
fair experiment. 

We hope every one will embrace it, and will at least harrow two or three 
beds in his field, leaving parallel with them an equal number for comparison* 
of like condition in all respects, without harrowing— note carefully the time' 
condition of the ground, state of the weather, and other circumstances tha 
might be supposed to have a bearing on the result, and report through the 
Planter and Farmer, when the crop matures, whether or no the advantages o^ 
harrowing, as demonstrated by the experiment, are such as to recommend the 
practice to general adoption among our farmers. 



We^ad well-nigh forgotten what we have now only space to do very briefly, 
but emphatically, namely : to express our thanks for the kindness and prompt- 
ness with which the Proprietors of the Maryland Farmer, Messrs. S. Sands 
Mills & Co., have furnished us with the means of appropriately illustrating 
our article on the Percheron Norman Horse. 



186 THE SOUTHERN [March 



Correspondence of Southern Planter and Farmer. 

The following communication on the cultivation ot the Ground Pea will be 
found seasonable and of great practical value to persons desiring instruction in 
the mode of treating this crop, the profit of which is beginning to attract the 
attention of many of our readers in those sections of the State best adaptod to 
its growth. 

We have referred to this crop in another article in this issue, but the present 
one is more full, and explicit in its directions, and in addition prescribes the 
mode of harvesting, which the other omits. — Ed. So. Planter and Farmer. 

CULTIVATION AND MANAGEMENT OF THE PEA NUT. 

To Charles B. Williams, Editor, &c. 

In accordance with the promise which I gave you this morning to furnish an 
article on the cultivation of the Ground Pea, I send you the enclosed, obtained 
from a gentleman of Surry county, who informed me that he had cultivated the 
Ground Pea for many years past. He informed me that he had nine hundred 
bushels for sale, the product of fourteen acres of ordinary land, for which he 
had refused, I think, $2.45 per bushel. Besides this product, he said that he 
had half fattened a large stock of hogs upon the aforesaid fourteen acres after 
gathering the crop. 

PREPARATION OF THE LAND. 

Fallow the ground very shallow, not more than three or four inches deep. If 
fallowed in the Fall, rc-plough in the Spring. Harrow the land very fine. Lay 
off the rows with a single plough three and a half feet apart. Scatter Peruvian 
Guano or Ssiper Phosphate of lime (the latter greatly preferred) along these 
trenches at the rate of 150 or 200 pounds to the acre. Throw two furrows with 
a single plough on these trenches making a small ridge. Drag down these 
ridges with a board or block fixed under a plough beam (such as they use. in 
covering cotton in the South,) with a drag tooth or pin behind, for opening the 
seed furrow. Drop two kernels, the outer shell being removed, in a place along 
this furrow about eighteen inches or two feet apart, and cover lightly with the 
foot. They should not be covered more than from one to two inches deep. The 
planting should be early in May, and none but the soundest and plumpest 
kernels used, as it is very important to get a good stand. 

CULTIVATION. 

As soon as the plants are well up and the grass begins to spring, run the bar 
of the single or one horse plough as close and as shallow as you can to the 
plants, and follow with the weeding hoes, killing the grass and cutting down the 
ridge. As soon as the grass springs, again throw the earth back to the plants 
as we throw it to corn, still running shallow and follow a second timewith the 
hoes, clearing away the grass and putting a little earth to the plants. When 
the vines have attained some length and are blooming, run another furrow, still 
shallow, further off from the plants, taking care not to cover the vines, and let 
the hoes follow for the last working, making a sort of broad or flat hill around 
each plant. 

HARVESTING THE CROP. 

The gathering should be delayed as long as the frost will permit, as the 
tubers continue to grow and fill until the winter approaches. Run a furrow 
on each side of the row with the bar to the plants as close as you can without 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 1ST 

breaking off the outer tubers. A plough made for the purpose, with the bar 
and share to undermine the plants is best. Then follow with wide four prong 
hoes, a blow to each hill, prizing up the plants, will be sufficient. Let other 
hands follow raising up the plants and shaking off the earth, dropping them 
again just where and as they grew, taking care not to turn them over, as the 
peas would become tangled with the vines and consume more time in separating 
them. If the weather is propitious they may remain a day or two, or several 
days in this position, but if not they must be gathered up and put in little 
shocks or stacks. For this operation, provide poles or sticks some five or six 
feet long and drive or stick them in the ground at convenient distances. Gather 
up the vines with the tubers attached and make little shocks around these poles, 
capping off each shock with straw or coarse hay provided for the purpose. Let 
these shocks remain a week or ten days, according to the weather, until the peas 
are nearly dry. Then gather into hampers or baskets, pulling off the peas from 
the vines in the field, or hauling the vines to the barn and spread the peas on 
the barn floor, stirring them occasionally to prevent their moulding. Running 
them through a good fan mill when dry, will greatly aid in cleaning and separa- 
ting the empty hulls. On good land, (and the best is what is commonly called 
a medium soil, neither very stiff or very sandy,) in a good season, from seventy- 
five to one hundred bushels may be made to the acre. Gr. 

P. S. The gentleman who kindly communicated to me the above mode of 
cultivating the ground pea, and whose name I withhold simply because I have 
no authority for using it, expressly insisted that the land should be fallowed 
very shallow. " If it is ploughed deep," said he, " the pea will not begin to 
form until it reaches the hard surface below, or at the bottom of the furrow 
where it is too far from the influence of the sun." He added "that the haulm 
of the pea will generally cure well, under the process of shocking, if tbe weather 
be fair, and when so cured makes very valuable provender/' 

HINTS ON THE CULTIVATION OF TOBACCO. 

"We had occasion to address Mr. Dabney, on the occasion of requesting from 
him, for one of our subscribers, some tobacco seed of a fine variety for shipping 
purposes — the Johnson Green — which he .had successfully cultivated for some 
time. We at the same time requested him to favor us with estimates, founded 
on his own practice and experience, in regard to pitching the crop, &c. We 
received from him in reply the following interesting letter: 

Dear Sir, — I thank you heartily for the number of your beautiful periodical' 
you were kind enough to send me. I have not had time to read it as yet, bu 
my family are quite delighted with it, and I can say at least, that its appearance 
does great credit to the spirit and liberality of the publishers, and to the work- 
manship of my old friend and comrade, Rady. 

I have not forgotten your request and my promise about the tobacco seed. I 
shall send by this chance to you, every seed I can spare and regret that I did 
not know in time, that any friend wanted seed, that I might have saved enough. 
If your friend is unacquainted with the variety, you should caution him not to 
attempt to make fancy tobacco of it — Not to plant too early, the 15th or 20th 
of June will be early enough ; to put it on good land, with as much carbon in 
it as possible, and some soda (I use common salt) ; to work it quick ; to prime 
low ; take off only the baby leaves ; to top to eight leaves ; to let it get fully 
ripe ; to scaffold in the field in fine weather, and when it is put in the house, to 



188 THE SOUTHERN [March 

fire enough to keep it curing, (and no more). I think I can assure him of a 
satisfactory crop oi heavy stemming leaves— at least one ounce to the leaf. 

You ask me for estimates for pitching a tobacco crop. It is hard to make 
any general estimates — each case must stand by itself. The crop is a most 
precarious one. My neighbor Mr. Joseph Talley, the best planter I ever 
knew — now over seventy years of age — will tell you to-day, that in his long 
experience, he never made but one good crop of tobacco. Many of the vicissi- 
tudes attending the crop, may be obviated by labor. For instance, if the beds 
don't flourish, they may be dressed and manured if there is anybody to do it. 
If plants are late, and seasons scarce, the crop might be pitched, if we had the 
people to do it. If the season is rainy, and grass constantly growing again, one 
must have hands to repeat the tillage. If worms come in a glut, as was again 
the case last year, you must redouble your labor, or lose your investment. As 
a compromise, I was in the habit of pitching for slave labor for some twenty 
odd years, about six thousand hills to the hand, all on old land. Last year, 
venturing on the superiority of white labor in part — my two sons, of sixteen 
and eighteen years of age, being two of the hands — two negro men the others, 
we set out eleven acres for tobacco, say fifty thousand hills. About one acre 
was not planted on account of the incessant wet — leaving say eleven thousand 
to the hand. We could never have managed it without help. Of a good season, 
we might have done so. But last year was the worst season for wet and insect, 
I ever knew. Weeding was to be constantly repeated — worming and suckering 
was a perpetual necessity. We have now white (Virginian) labor entirely — 
my two sons and two neighbors — I class them number one. I shall probably 
be a half hand in topping &o. ; And we shall probably attempt about fifty 
thousand hills again. I asked my oldest son today what he would say in reply 
to your enquiry. His answer was, that he could work six acres of tobacco, but 
not worm and sucker it. 

In the present state of the colored population, I feel quite secure in estimating 
on their help as day laborers, if a pinch should come. And this has appeared 
to me, a great potentiality, so to speak, of the present times. The negro is very 
good natured, fond of novelty and variety ; and is quite pleased to do a week 
or so of work for any planter he likes, and will do it well and cheerfully. But 
the difficulty is, that such tobacco as our people commonly produce, does not 
pay on any sized crop. If one has two thousand five hundred pounds of leaf 
tobacco to the hand, at eight or nine cents, which is about the highest average 
of quantity and price which can be made, after he has paid his manure and 
labor bills, his rent and taxes, he has too little left. The point is to increase 
the yield and quality, not the average of the crop. I am convinced that some 
old charcoal beds which'were in our last year's field, yielded tobacco plants 
worth ten cents a plant. Five thousand to the hand of such would do. 

I fear the great uncertainty of tobacco tillage for us, results from the doubt 
as to whether the market can be strained up to renumerating prices. Tobacco 
here can't be raised any cheaper per pound, than can cotton in the region suited 
to that. There is a remarkable approximation in the cost of the production of 
each in its appropriate latitude. Foreign consumers, may be induced to pay 
twenty cents for the best possible article. Our folks should be stimulated to 
produce such, not to expand manure and labor over great surfaces. 

You may conjecture from this gossip that I don't consider our common pursuit, 
theoretically with you, practically with me, as a science, in which either mathe- 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 189 

matical or moral certainty could be counted on, any more than they were by the 
learned counsel, in the late Philips trial. Oar occupation is one of " faith and 
hope," if not of charity. We must accept its character, and " try and try again." 

Very truly yours, 

C. W. Dabney. 

Aldinghane, January 25, 1868. 

The following letter was not intended for publication by the writer, but it 
breathes such a spirit of frank and straightforward honesty that we hope he 
will excuse the liberty we are taking in laying it before our readers. It is true, 
he confesses to have borne a part, which we can never approve, in the late war 
of aggression upon the rights of the South, but it is due to him to say, that 
such was not the character of the war as he viewed it. He acted nnder the 
illusion that he was defending the Union. But, the illusion is dispelled, and 
he must now see he was only destroying it — we freely acquit him of any such 
intention and award him full credit for the manly and independent stand he is 
now taking to countervail the revolutionary designs of the present reckless, 
Radical Congress. But let us cast all this behind us: In the name of Virginia 
and the South we say to our correspondent and to as many more like him, as 
may be inclined to share with us, our goodly heritage, "come thou with us and 
we will do thee good," offering them in advance the hearty welcome of a gen- 
erous, magnanimous and hospitable people. — Ed. So. Planter and Farmer. 

Mr. Editor, — I recently had the pleasure of perusing the January number of 
your Southern Planter and Farmer. Please send me the February number, 
current volume. 

I contemplate migrating South some time before the next winter compels us 
here to burrow. From what I have learned of the Southern States — that is very 
little — I would like to locate in the " Old Dominion," provided I can get a 
situation that would suit me. I am a "full blood" Con. Yankee farmer; have 
six sons — all minors— the eldest went to the war while in his 16th year ; went 
from Chattanooga with General Sherman on his campaign through the Southern 
States, and wants to return to take up his abode somewhere in " Dixie." I 
could invest some five or six thousand dollars in " green backs," for real estate, 
and have a few thousand dollars worth of the very best farm implements, be- 
sidas other " traps." We are compelled here to labor for a living, and should 
endeavor to do the same were we in a more genial climate like yours. I have 
read the remarks of Mr. Guyman of the New York World, which appears in 
the weekly edition of that journal, January 29th, 1868, relating to the " pasture 
lands of the South." Those lands appear to be remote from markets and 
thoroughfares. There are many here who would like to remove South, but they 
say they would not go now on account of the state of politics. If there is any 
difference as to State rights or individual rights, within the jurisdiction of the 
present Radical Congress, I confess that I have not the intelligence to see it. 
What are States, or State rights, in a dominion controlled by an out-law Con- 
gress, or rather Legislature, who ignore the the constitution or compact of States? 
If we must have Radical law makers, I think the African or negro will be likely 
to do less injury than the lighter skinned man. In looking over the proceedings 
of the " constitutional convention" at your place, Richmond, it appears to me 
that Underwood, one of "Uncle Sam's" judges, is just about equal with the 
"colored" delegates, except he has the advantage of a "high" position. 



190 THE SOUTHERN [March 

I have strayed from my subject, but will add that we are expecting to defeat 
the Radicals again the next election in this State. 

You may be able to discover from what I have said of myself in the fore- 
going, about what would be a suitable situation or location for me, if you 
should know of any such in your region. Please inform me if you know of any 
good " opening/' a farm, or a part of one, of 100 or 200 acres, from some of the 
large farms would suit ; or, please hand this to some of your agricultural ac- 
quaintances, who would do me the favor of responding to my inquiry. 

Very respectfully, 



Richford, Tioga county, N. Y., February 9th, 18G8. 



New Publications. 

A New Agricultural Journal. We invite attention to the advertisement 
of S. Bassett French, Esq., who proposes to issue a new monthly journal, to be 
entitled, The Farmer's Gazette and Industrial Index, which will be devoted 
to the agricultural and industrial development of the South. We hope, as a 
co-laborer in so good a cause, he will cot fail to reap a reward commensurate 
with the zeal and ability with which it will doubtless be conducted. 

Moore's Rural New Yorker. We refer the reader to the advertisement of 
Mr. Moore. We have elsewhere, in this issue, referred to the high character 
of this paper, but omitted to notice the fact that it has been considerably en- 
larged and is beautifully illustrated. Subscription price, $3 per annum. 

The Southern Journal of Education. Published monthly at Shelbyvillo 
Ky , by John T. Hearn, at $1 per annum. It is neatly printed on fine white 
paper, 16 pages quarto, and treats of the following subjects in the February 
number : Scepticism in Religion ; Asylum for Useless Young Men ; A Won- 
derful Invention ; Public Schools of Louisville, by Prof. G. A. Chase ; A Re. 
mark able Deaf Mute, by Joe, the Jersey Mute; Writing for the Press ; Talley- 
rand'; Choosing a Profession; A Curious Manuscript; The Poet O'llara; Vau- 
c'anson ; The Human Voice; The Burning Siar ; Literary Notices. 

Southern Society. A beautiful family literary weekly, published at $4 per 
annum. 8 pp. quarto. Conducted by Eugene L. Didier, Wm. J. McClelKn, 
and Porter Morse. 

Address," Southern Society," 226 W. Baltimore street, Baltimore. 

London Quarterly Review. January, 18G8. 

Contents— 1. Sir Walter Scjtt ; 2. The Queen in the Islands and the High- 
lands ; 3. Private Confession in the Church of England ; 4. Guizot's Memoirs ; 
5. The British Museum ; 6. Longevity and Centenarianism ; 7. Phoenicia and 
Greece; 8. Church Progress; 9. What Shall We Do for Ireland? 

Westminster Review. January, 1868. 

Contents — 1. Dangers of Democracy; 2. Physiological Psychology; 3. Two 
Temporal Powers; 4. The Church in Scotland ; 5. Extradition; 6. The Origin 
of Electricity; 7. Indian Worthies; 8. Tne Abyssinian Difficulty; 9. The 
Land Tenures of British India; Note to Article III.; Contemporary Litera- 
ture, &e. 

The above reprints of the London and Westminster Quarterlies are regularly 
issued by the Leonard Scott Publishing Company, 140 Fulton street, between 
Broadway and Nassau, New York. Price each, $4 a year. 

The New Eclectic. A monthly Magazine of select literature, pp. 96, for 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 191 



March, published at New York and Baltimore at $4 a year, by Lawrence Turn- 
bull and Fridge Murdoch, Editors and Proprietors, 49 Lexington street, Balti- 
more. 

Contents —I. Household Service; IT. The Victim; III. The Woman's King- 
dom; IV. Anarchy and Authority ; V. Robin and Maggie; VI. The Recrea- 
tive Use of Literature; VIL Fineas Fevin, the Irish Member; VIII. Ecce 
Homo ; IX. The Culture and Mode of Development of the iEsthetic Faculty; 
X., XL, XII. and XIII. Reviews, Recent Publications, Miscellany and Edi- 
torial. 

Embracing " the whole field of American, English and Continental Periodi- 
cal literature" within the scope of their selections, and "after a careful review, 
republishing only such articles as bear evidence of the greatest ability, purest 
principle, and adaptiveness to readers of good taste and cultivation." We 
think our readers need ask no further guarantee than is afforded them in the 
already established character of this valuable Magazine. 

A Brief Memoir of Virginia. — We are indebted to the courtesy of Gene- 
ral G. Tochman for a pamphlet of 16 pages, prepared by him as European 
Ag^nt of the Va. Board of Immigration fur circulation in Great Britain and 
the United States. It is entitled Virginia: A Brief Memoir for the information 
of Europeans desirous of emigrating to the New World. It has been translated 
into the German Language for circulation in Germany. The society, geographi- 
cal position, soil, climate and productions of Virginia, are described in an able 
and impressive manner, which cannot fail to excite a most salutary and persua- 
sive influence in turning the current of immigration towards Virginia, where 
the intelligent and thrifty husbandman, mechanic, artisan, miner and manufac- 
turer, will find such unrivalled social advantages for the location of their fami- 
lies, and for the accumulation of wealth in their industrial occupations. 



(tamtrtial |lqiari 



RICHMOND, Va., March 1st, 1868. 

Although we have still the habiliments of winter about us, we can at least 
look forward to its speedy departure, and the return of that life-giving season 
so full of hope and promise to those who have, for three long months, been 
watching for its coming. 

With this month begins the more active business of the year, as well with 
the merchant as tjbe farmer. The winter-locked wheels of trade are beginning 
to thaw, and, consequently, to revolve; merchants who have looked gloomy and 
disconsolate for months past now begin to frequent the Exchange with a bust- 
ling air, whijh means business, and the activity evinced thus early, gives pro- 
mise of better results than were achieved during last season. 

It is gratifying to know that our friends in the country, (the tillers of the 
soil, by whom all other branches of industry are in a great measure supported,) 
notwithstanding the many difficulties and discouragements by which they are 
surrounded, are making preparations for a busy year's work. They seem de- 
termined, regardless of new reconstruction and destruction measures and con- 
ventions, to make the soil, which, at least, is yet free from Radical rule, respond, 
with a generous yield, to the labor of their own hands, and thus will they teach 



192 PLANTER AND FARMER. [March 

their Northern brethren that a people who could, within two years after a most 
cruel and destructive war, waged in their very midst, throw into the markets of 
the world a crop of cotton and of tobacco equal to half the yield in the halcyon 
days of peace and prosperity, can and will, if only let alone, practically recon- 
struct themselves. 

For the benefit of our friends who live contiguous to the line of the Rich- 
mond and Danville Railroad, we will state that this company have provided 
especially for the prompt transportation of all products of the farm, dairy, gar- 
den and orchard, at very low rates, so that tracking, market-gardening and 
fruit culture, may now be carried on profitably, even at great distances from 
the cities, with the assurance of a good market within easy reach. Let our 
lady friends throughout the country take hold of this, and make it a valuable 
adjunct to every farm adjacent to the railroad. 

Our Tobacco market is much more active now than at the same period last 
year, and prices, especially for Lugs and Low Grade Leaf, are fully fifty per 
cent, higher, as will be seen by the following comparison of quotations: 
Average Prices for March, 1867. March, 1868. 

Common Lugs, light weights, $ 3 00@$ 4 00 $ 4 50@,$ 5 00 

Common Lugs, heavy weights, 3 50(a) 4 50 6 00(ai>, 6 50 

Good Lugs, 5 00@ 6 50 7 50@ 9 00 

Bright Lugs, 8 00@. 20 00 12 00@ 15 00 

Fancy Lugs, 22 00@ 40 00 20 00@ 35 00 

LEAF. 

Common Leaf, $ 7 25@$ 9 00 $ 7 50@,$ 8 50 

Medium to Good, 10 25(^ 12 00 11 00(a), 14 00 

Good Stemming, 13 00(a) 15 75 14 00@ 16 00 

Good Shipping, (no Fine) 14 00@ 16 00 14 00($ 18 00 

Good Manufacturing, 16 00(a), 24 00 13 00@ 20 00 

Bright Wrappers, 25 00@ 85 00 30 00@ 50 00 
No Fancy offering. 
The Inspections in the State since September 30th, 1867, and Stock on hand, 
as extracted from Mr. P. H. Gibson's Circular, sum up as follows: 

Richmond, 4,109 Hds. 

Petersburg, 1,944 " 

Farmville, 54 " 

Lynchburg, 567 " 

Total to March 1, 6,674 

INSPECTIONS FOR MONTH OF FEBRUARY. 

Richmond, 1,904 Hds. 

Petersburg, 520 " 

Farmville, 18 " 

Lynchburg, 227 " 

2,669 

STOCK IN WAAREHOUSES IN THE STATE MARCH 1ST, 1868: 

Inspected. For Inspection. 

Richmond, 1,490 , 134 

Petersburg, 422 192 

Farmville, 20 19 

Lynchburg, 170 26 

Total, 2,102 371 

Total Stock, 2,473 Hds. 

WHEAT. 

The offerings are very small, and indications are that there remains but a 
limited quantity of last year's crop to come forward. We quote Prime Red, 
$2 55 ; Prime White, $2 70. As spring advances, we should be much pleased 
to have reports from friends in different parts of the country, in regard to the 
growing crop, on which so much depends. 

Corn. — New White, $1 05, showing a decline. Oats, 70c; Rye, $1 50.