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Agriculture is the nursing mother of the Arts. — Xenophon. 
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CH: B. WILLIAMS, 
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New Series. 



RICHMOND, VA„ MAY, 1868. 



Vol. IL— No. 5. 



C03STTE3STTS : 



Agricultural Department: 
What Shall we Do? Introductory— By F. G. Ruffln 



PAGE. 

257 

Our Exhausted and Abandoned Lands— What can we do with them. No. 4, 263 

Liberality in Farming 267 

Tobacco versus Wheat and Corn. Which Crop Pays Best? 268 

An Imperial Farmer 275 

Our Altered Circumstances Necessitate a Change in our System of Farming 279 

White Labor and The Tenant System 283 

An Experiment in the Use of Salt 287 

Eugenie, a Thorough-bred Short Horn Heifer— Illustrated 288 

Corn and Hogs, or How much Pork made from a Bushel of Corn 288 

Horticultural Department : 
Virginia Horticultural and Pomological Society— Essay on the Culture and 

General Management of Apple Orchards 289 

Always be Planting a Tree 298 

An Olitarv Medley, containing Practical Hints to Gardeners 299 

The Strawberry— Reasons tor Cultivating them Largely 301 

302 

303 

305 

305 

306 

306 

307 

308 

308 



The Pear Blight— Is there a Remedy ?. 
Inquiries Answered Concerning the Irish Potato 

Wine Plant— Humbug Exposed 

Wine— a Mode of Making it 

Snipping Strawberries 

Cultivation of Pear Trees , 

Cabbages— Mode of Cultivalion, &c 

Enquiry Answered— Remedy for Lady-bug 

Horticultural Patents 



Household Department : 

Bees— Langstroth's Hive Recommended 

Strawberry Short Cake 

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To Subscribers 

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Rodunda Island Guano— Correspondence on 

Dr. E. S, Gai Hard's Medical Journal removed to Louisville, 

Death of Joseph Jackson, Jr., Esq., 

Editorial Notices, &c , 

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New Series. 


RICHMOND, VA,, 


MAT, 1868. 




Vol. II- 


-No. 6. 



What Shall We Do? 



A friend, whom I greatly respect, has called upon me to answer 
the above question for the benefit of our suffering fellow-citizens. I 
fear he has been partial in his estimate of my fitness for the task, 
sanguine as to the influence I can exert, and too hopeful of the 
readiness of our people to work and think tjiemselves out of the 
difficulties of their position. As to them, I do not altogether 
blame their present apathy, because it is not wholly unnatu- 
ral. Temporary prostration must have been the recoil, where ener- 
gies of body, heart and brain had been in a state of such prodigious 
tension for four years ; and listlessness is ever the attendant of de- 
spair. No wonder, when expectations, which still seem so well 
founded to many, were so wofully disappointed ; when there is so 
much of distress and perplexity in the present, so little of hope or 
help in our horizon, that we see men and women everywhere wish- 
ing they had never been born ; that we observe not the exaltation 
of people who go down in a fight with their colors flying, but rather 
the utter despair of those who, having struck their flag after masts 
and rigging have been shot away, find, or think that they have sur- 
rendered to pirates who, hoisting the black flag, are about to make 
them walk the plank. And as to myself, if I think the case is not 
so desperate as that,and that we need not fare so badly if we will 
only work the ship, how can I help attempting to cheer these peo- 
ple whom I love so well ; how refuse to make the effort, though it 
may prove a failure, when one of the wisest patriots we ever had 
tells me I owe it to them as a duty. 

What fate may be reserved for us so long as we may be in con- 

VOL. 11—17 



258 THE SOUTHERN [May 

voy of our captors, no one, not even themselves, can tell. But we 
should, at all events, endeavor to comprehend our present position 
on the chart ; and take, from a just consideration of it, what com- 
fort we may. And though our course has been changed, yet ought 
we to study its bearings and do what we can towards making land ; 
which, if not the port of our choice, has yet been selected for us by 
the will of Heaven. 

Deeming that, then, the duty of the day and hour, I shall drop 
rhetoric and come square down to the facts of the case. Hitherto, 
the course of Virginia since the war appears to me to have been al- 
most wholly an error, or rather a series of errors. We have looked 
too much to the past and too much to outside aid ; too much to 
something that was to be as it had been, and too much to other 
things altogether external to ourselves : in a word, we have failed 
to study our relation to the present time and circumstances. 

There is, I know, much to excuse this ; those of us who were 
growing grey when the war commenced are hardly fit to take the 
lead in a new and wholly different order of things ; and those who 
fought the battles cf secession have no experience to light their 
path. Under the pressure of political environment, we had made 
our form of government more and more democratic, until both par- 
ties among us had gradually lost sight of old political landmarks, 
and "the people" who voted had come to demand mediocrity as the 
condition of their support. Hence we were, and are, without lead- 
ers ; statesmen who might have retraced an error into which them- 
selves had led us had nearly ceased to exist, or were compelled, with 
a very few exceptions to witness the triumph of stump speakers. I 
well remember that in all the speakers I heard in the Lincoln-Breck- 
inridge-Douglas-Bell canvass, there was but one that discussed the 
principles of liberty which underlaid that contest; and I heard of 
only one other. But to excuse is not to justify ; and I venture now 
to tell my brother farmers that we must think and act for ourselves, 
or we must let others think for us and act accordingly, or we must 
go to the wall. 

Let us see what has been done so far, and with what result ; or 
with what prospect of a result. 

Four things we have heretofore attempted : 

1. We have endeavored to restore our old relations to the Union. 

2. We have endeavored to work negroes on wages. 

3. We have sought to import labor. 

4. We have invited immigration and tried to sell our lands. 
And all these have failed, and must have failed, except in some 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 259 

very few and partial cases, affording no relief whatever to the body 
of our people. 

We should have known that reconstruction on the old basis was 
impossible, because civil liberty had departed and is not likely soon 
to return, though ultimately it must return; perhaps with earth- 
quake convulsions. I do not wish to say more that may, in any 
sense, be called political, than is necessary to show where we should 
stand in reference to questions that have heretofore properly occu- 
pied much of our time and thoughts, to the exclusion of material 
interests. But I submit that it will not be amiss to invite reflection 
as to the fruitlessness of present endeavors, on our part, at least, to 
restore the spirit of liberty to the inanimate clay which we call The 
Constitution. In planning this communication, I had intended to 
include an episode on moral epidemics, and to show that the people 
of the United States are laboring now under a visitation of that 
kind ; to recite a few other such cases, as they are recognized to 
have been palpable in the history of the world, and to show how 
Americatr Democracy is but another of these. "For there is still a 
real magic in the action and re-action of minds upon one another. 
The casual deliration of a few becomes, by this mysterious rever- 
beration, the frenzy of many ; men lose the use, not only of their 
understandings, but of their bodily senses ; whilst the most obsti- 
nate, unbelieving hearts melt, like the rest, in the furnace where all 
are cast in as victims and as fuel. It is grievous to think that this 
noble omnipotence of sympathy has been so rarely the Aaron's rod 
of truth and virtue, and so often the enchanter's rod of wickedness 
and folly ! No solitary miscreant, scarcely any solitary maniac, 
would venture on such actions and imaginations, as large communi- 
ties of sane men have, in such circumstances, entertained as sound 
wisdom."* 

I had meditated to show how the crusades, the dancing mania of 
the middle ages, the spiritualism of this day, are all but varieties of 
this madness, which, recurring at irregular periods, had best be al- 
lowed to run their course, prudent men, in such case, falling on their 
faces until the sand-storm has passed over them. But having no 
time for such a theme, inviting as it is, I must content myself with 
a parallel case of political mania, as it has shown itself among the 
French people. Their revolutions since 1789 and 1790, when they 
first began to call themselves " a nation," and preferred Tom Paine's 
Rights of Man to Edmund Burke's Reflections, down to the present 

* " Signs of the Times," by Thomas Cartyle. 



260 THE SOUTHERN [May 

time, are too familiar to be repeated ; what we see now is that un- 
der the talismanic name of Napoleon and the dread of anarchy, the 
nation has become an Empire, and we hear her most philosophic 
statesman declare as follows : 

" The history of the past affords but little light as to the means 
of resuscitation, because the principles of life within it are different 
from what they once were. Down to a recent period, the living and 
active forces of society were in the educated classes. When these 
had been persuaded, excited, and united in one conviction, the rest 
followed. Now-a-days * * * * they are, in reality, dethroned. 
The centre of social power, so to speak, has been gradually dis- 
placed, and at last abruptly changed. It now resides in classes 
which read nothing, or at least only read newspapers when they 
read anything at all. ***** Don't tell me, then, that Vol- 
taire, Rousseau, &c, overthrew by books powers far more durably 
established. They were surrounded by the upper and middle class, 
who believed in ideas ; but these same classes now-a-days abhor and 
dread ideas, whatever they may be (as far as they are ideas), and 
think of nothing but interests. Moreover, these same upper and 
middle classes, whose ears were so open, were still the masters of 
society. When they were won over, all was done. 

* * * * " The experience of seventy years has proved that the 
people alone cannot make a revolution. It does not become irre- 
sistible till a portion of the educated classes has joined it ; and 
these classes will only lend their moral support or their material 
co-operation to the people when they cease to fear it."* 

Yet the French Empire is by no means in a decrepit state. 

What we see in the United States is, to my apprehension, still 
worse for the cause of civil or constitutional liberty. We have for 
rulers the great body of the people, the masses, who cannot know, 
and refuse to learn, the difference between the educated classes and 
themselves ; who, in fact, think common schools teach all that most 
men need know, especially for statesmanship, and who, from what- 
ever cause, are as indifferent to, as they are ignorant of, the princi- 
ples of genuine liberty, and "think of nothing but interests." 

Our own fruitless attempts to be once more recognized as the fel- 
low-citizens of these people, when considered in all its bearings, 
should convince us that we can expect but little amelioration of our 
condition when restored, unless we shall govern ourselves better at 
home than we were getting to do before the war. 

* De Tocqueville — in the Edinburgh Review for October, 1865. 



1868.] - PLANTER AND FARMER. 261 

What I would counsel, then, would be, dismiss these ideas of lib- 
erty ; and let another generation, perhaps another age, make them 
of practical value. Or, to speak in a somewhat higher tone, let us 
rise, as we can, superior to these adverse influences, and be free in 
a higher and nobler sense. For " freedom depends on infinitely 
more complex influences than either the extension or the curtail- 
ment of the democratic interest. On the whole, institutions are 
much ; but they are not all. The freest and highest spirits of the 
world have often been found under strange outward circumstances : 
St. Paul and his brother apostles were politically slaves ; Epictitus 
was personally one. Again, forget the influences of chivalry and 
religion and ask, what countries produced Columbus and Las Casas? 
or, descending from virtue and heroism to mere energy and spiritual 
talent : Cortez, Pizarro, Alba, Zimenes ? The Spaniards of the six- 
teenth century were indisputably the noblest nation of Europe; yet 
they had the Inquisition and Philip II. They have the same gov- 
ernment at this day ; and are the lowest nation. The Dutch, too, 
have retained their old Constitution ; but no siege of Leyden, no 
William the Silent, not even an Egmont or De Witt, any longer ap- 
pears among them. With ourselves, also, where much has changed, 
effect has no wise followed cause as it should have done. Two cen- 
turies ago, the Commons' Speaker addressed Queen Elizabeth on 
bended knees, happy that the Virago's foot did not even smite him; 
yet the people were then governed, not by a Castlereagh, but by a 
Burghley ; they had their Shakspeare and Philip Sydney, when we 
have our Sheridan Knowles and Beau Brummel."* 

And we, too, have retained our old Federal Constitution ; and 
the same form of government shows us, at different times, Andrew 
Jackson and Andrew Johnson, P. P. Barbour and John C. Under- 
wood. And that Supreme Court which, under John Marshall, was 
the guardian of all our rights, has, under the lead of Mr. Justice 
Chase, postponed the adjudication of a case of personal liberty un- 
til after the Presidential election ! It may be bitter to feel that we 
have survived the liberties of our country, but if it be the fact, we 
ought to know it ; and not waste our time in fruitless expectation or 
vain regrets. 

But with many of us it is supposed that re-admission to the Union 
will relieve much of our present pecuniary trouble. I venture to 
differ ; and suggest that the cause of that depends, in but slight 
measure, on the mere fact of our exclusion from the government. 

* "Signs of the Times." 



262 THE SOUTHERN [May 

By law, the Secretary of the Treasury has power to limit the 
amount of banking capital in each State ; and that power has not 
only been exerted against us, but also, as is loudly and discontent- 
edly proclaimed, against the Central and Western States in favor of 
New York and New England, as the following figures show : 
New York and New England— Present Population, 7,000,000. 

1860. 1867. " Increase. 

MILLION. MILLION. 

Credit currency, 135 234 

Circulation, 73 173 

Total, 208 407 199 

Other States and Territories — Population, 30 000,000. 
Credits, 43 152 

Circulation, 134 124 

Total, 177 276 99 

"In the first, population could have but very slightly grown. In 
the other, it had increased to the extent of many millions. Such 
has been the working of a system that is styled national ; but that 
is not only sectional as regards the North and the South, but also 
as respects the Centre and the West as against the North and the 
East." So writes Mr. H. C. Carey, of Philadelphia; and no won- 
der the West talks of repudiation. From the same authority, I 
learn that the actual quantity of paper money in circulation is not 
more than five hundred millions of dollars, or a little more than 
twelve dollars per head, though very unequally distributed, as I 
shall presently show. But in France there is a circulation of thirty 
dollars per head, and in England of twelve, notwithstanding their 
extensive use of credits instead of notes. 

Our condition, in this respect, is shown by the following compari- 
son of our banking capital in 1860 and 1868 : 

Free whites in Virginia (exclusive of West Virginia) in 1860, 691 867 

Banking capital in 1860, in round numbers, $11,000,000 00 

Banking capital, per capita, 15 89 

Free whites in Virginia (exclusive of West Virginia) in 1868, esti- 
mated as follows : Population in 1860, 691,867 
The average increase for 10 years, between 1850 and 1860, was 17 
percent. For 7 years, between 1860 and 1868, it would be 11 9.10 
per cent., or 82.332 
Deduct for losses in 7 years, 25 per cent., 20 583 

Total gain in 7 years, 61 749 

Add population in 1860, ■ 691.867 

Supposed population in 1868, 753 616 

Banking capital in 1868, $2,400,000 00 

Banking capital, per capita, 3 18 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 263 

But if we produced the same amount as before the war, or did 
the same amount of business, then double the amount of capital 
would be required, owing to inflation of prices and the high prices 
of foreign goods. And yet there was, as we all know, a deficiency 
of capital before the war. It is true, though the fact may astonish 
many, that there are five millions of gold of Virginia capital now 
held for safe keeping in the banks of England, where money is 
worth only two or two and a half per cent. But, if the times were 
peaceful and quiet, the owners of this gold would most probably 
operate with it in New York, to which the usury laws of Virginia 
had sent much of our capital before the war. Not counting that, 
therefore, and rating the present business of Virginia, excluding 
West Virginia, at one-third of its ante helium amount, which was 
$37,281,504, consisting of agricultural productions, including live 
stock, $21,551,182, and of manufactures, mining, &c, $15,730,322, 
we see a deficit of $24,854,336; or if we rate the present business 
at one-half of the above aggregate, we see a deficit of $18,640,752; 
which reconstruction will not enable us to make up. 

Whether considered, then, as a restoration to civil rights in the 
Union, or as a means of regaining the material prosperity we have 
lost, I think its effects are decidedly over-estimated, though I cer- 
tainly desire to see it. 

The other errors, as I humbly presume to call them, I shall treat 
of in the next number. 

Very respectfully, 

Frank G. Ruffin. 



Oup Exhausted and Abandoned Lands. 

WHAT CAN WE DO WITH THfiM ? 

• No. 4. 

(Continued from page 221.) 

In the last paper on this subject, the attention of the reader was 
called to the popular theory of ploughing in green crops as a means 
of fertilizing the soil. Having considered this, and, as I trust, come 
with me to the conclusion that it is only a comparative and inferior 
means of so doing, he is now requested to examine another opinion 
no less prevalent, but to all appearance equally unsupported by rea- 
son and facts, viz: That weeds are an evil which it ought to be the 
6tudy of every farmer to exterminate as speedily and effectually as 
he can. But if he has read the preceding papers with any atten- 
tion, he can hardly have failed to perceive that this theory is in di- 



264 THE SOUTHERN [May 

rect opposition to their whole spirit and tendency. What are weeds? 
All spontaneous productions of the earth, I reply, which do not an- 
swer as food for man or beast, and are of no profit to either of them 
in any way unless they can be used as manures. It is needless to 
be particular : every one knows what is commonly meant by weeds. 
They spring up, never before but always after the grain, provided 
that has been sown or planted at the right time. Thus spring-oats 
or spring-wheat is certain to get several weeks start of them ; and, 
if the land is in a condition to be really profitable to the owner, so 
far to outgrow and overpower them, that in a very short time they 
cease to increase in size, are covered over, and lost to sight. ' So 
certainly is this the case, that in a crop of winter-oats or winter- 
wheat, where the grain has of course got a still greater start of 
them, a very large proportion of the seeds of weeds do not even 
sprout till after the crop is removed. The idea, therefore, that they 
injure the crop, seems to be a very fallacious one, provided it is 
heavy enough to be of any material profit ; and it is equally obvi- 
ous, that the better it is, the less injury they can do ; for the more 
effectually, in that case, will they be smothered and kept down by 
it. What possible harm, then, can weeds do ? Among wheat that 
will yield from forty to fifty bushels to the acre, or any small grain 
yielding in proportion, not one in thousands of them will attain 
more than an inch or two in height; so that they neither prevent 
any appreciable amount of produce, or become so intermixed with 
the straw in harvesting as to occasion the least injury or inconve- 
nience. So far, then, as the cultivation of small grain is concerned — 
for the same facts will hold in the case of rye, barley or buckwheat — 
it is plain enough that the popular fear of these supposed enemies 
is quite groundless. On the contrary, weeds properly managed, are 
real friends — most useful servants. No sooner is the grain taken 
off than they start up, as if by magic, forming a dense covering for 
the ground, shielding it from the sun, sending down their roots in 
search of fresh inorganic matter and bringing it up to the surface, 
securing the dampness by which it is further increased, and, finally, 
depositing all their own material upon the surface as a manure for 
the succeeding crop. Is there any evil in all this ? Is there not, 
in fact, much good in it ? Why should a poor man go to the ex- 
pense of buying clover-seed, at twelve or sixteen dollars a bushel, 
to do that which weed-seed, costing nothing, will do for him very 
effectually, though, perhaps, not quite so quickly or so well ? 

Whether, therefore, weeds are used as a green crop for ploughing 
under, which may be done, or reserved for what I have called the 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 265 

fertilizing process through the autumn and winter, it is equally 
clear, as far as we have yet gone, that they appear to answer only 
a good purpose ; and that instead of enemies, they ought to be re- 
garded, at least in these low latitudes, as the best of friends. They 
become an annual source of manure without cost, care, or trouble — 
manure as valuable in proportion to quantity as almost any matter 
of the sort to be found — certainly, we should suppose, richer than 
wheat, oat, rye or buckwheat straw and chaff. Clover would no 
doubt be better ; but then clover is costly. It costs much for seed, 
and it costs no little to put the ground in heart to produce it. It will 
not even germinate unless the ground is in good heart. The same 
may be said of all the imported or manufactured manures, and even 
of rich stable manure. They all cost money. The latter is valua- 
ble only in proportion to the richness and expensiveness of the grain 
and other food consumed in forming it. " The destruction of the 
poor is their poverty." They have no means for these things. 
They have nothing to make a start with, and must depend on 
friendly weeds till they can afford something better. 

Yet who does not see that by continuing this poor man's process, 
one may bring up his lands to almost any degree of fertility ? For 
after all, what is manure ? Is it anything more, in the common 
process of nature, than decomposed vegetable matter? Provided, 
then, there is enough of it, why is not one kind as good as another, 
especially when the amount applied is without cost of cash or labor? 
What is it that has kept up the fertility of the valley of the Nile 
for so many centuries — that still continues to keep it up, and doubt- 
less will till the end of time ? Is it not the annual deposit made 
upon the soil by the overflowings of that river ? And what is that 
deposit? Of what does it consist? Is it anything more than the 
remains of decomposed vegetables also ? And what good reason for 
supposing this better than the remains of other decomposed vegeta- 
bles, throwing roots and grain out of the question ? Is there any ? 
Why is this matter, after having been swept by rains from the sur- 
face-soil of Ethiopia, Nubia and Abyssinia, drenched, and washed, 
and wasted at every inch of its passage for hundreds, perhaps thou- 
sands of miles, any better by the time it gets to Egypt, than that 
which may be deposited by the dying weed on our own plains and 
hillsides, if, instead of obstructing it, as we now do, we will only let 
kindly nature take her own course ? It is true, the deposits of the 
Nile are brought from a distance. Whatever of organic' or inorganic 
matter they contain, is so much positive addition to the richness of 
the soil, not like that of native weeds simply returned after having 



266 THE SOUTHERN [May 

been in part taken from it. In the one case, all is pure acquisition; 
in the other, it is only in part so. But, then, is not this last richer 
in proportion to its freshness ? and may it not, in process of time, 
be made so abundant that there could scarcely be any means of dis- 
posing of it except in reducing it by fire ? In this way, it is easy 
to conceive that fertilization might be carried on till one could al- 
most fancy some of the beautiful personifications of Scripture were 
about being realized — that the whole land, gladdened by its recupe- 
rated strength and vitality, was putting on one universal smile — 
that the little hills and the mountains were shouting on every side, 
and the valleys and plains covered with golden ears were sending 
forth their notes of praise and rejoicing. 

A case strongly in point occurs not half a mile distant. A small 
peach orchard was planted some years ago by this neighbor on light 
sandy land. After coming into fruit, the trees did remarkably well 
for soveral seasons, bearing abundantly and maturing their fruit 
perfectly. At first, cotton or peas were planted for a few years 
among them without manure; but, finally, these were discontinued, 
and nothing more was done than ploughing the ground over every 
spring, and mingling the decaying weeds with it. For a time, the 
growth of these weeds was light, the ground being thin and unpro- 
ductive, but it yearly became more heavy. At present, many of 
them every season attain nearly the height of a man's head, and 
the whole are as thick as they can stand ; but what is particularly 
to the point, the ground has become so enriched by their annual de- 
posits that the fruit, though very abundant, no longer matures as it 
used to do. Early in the season, it begins to rot and fall, and con- 
tinues to do so till there is scarcely a peach left ; as this fruit always 
will do, so far as my observation extends, where the ground is too 
rich for it. 

It may be replied, this doctrine will not answer, at all events, 
with regard to corn, which, being planted at great distances, allows 
weeds full scope to grow and do their mischief. But it will be time 
enough to answer this when we come to consider the point whether 
it is not high time to weigh the value of the corn crop, cultivated 
as we are accustomed to cultivate it on our common light uplands 
I do not believe it will stand the examination. 

In gardens, weeds are always more or less of a pest ; yet even 
there they are much more troublesome than they need to be. By a 
little care and management, the seeds sown may always be made to 
get the start of them. A few da} r s soaking in water, very slightly 
warmed, will so accelerate the germination of beets, carrots, pars- 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 267 

nips, etc., that they will come up before any weeds usually found 
growing among them. As soon as they become plainly visible, a few 
minutes' work between the rows, with a fine rake, will put any weeds 
beyond the power of mischief for a week or two. The young plants 
would require this much stirring of the soil, if there were no weeds. 
In this way, they may be kept down till the tops of the vegetables 
spread and meet together between the rows to keep them so. Such 
has been my own experience with them. They make no more work 
necessary than the ground ought to have if there were no w T eeds in 
existence. In any kind of cultivation I have ever attempted, there 
is nothing like stirring the soil. The oftener the better, even if it 
is done daily. Some lazy people may bless weeds that there is any- 
thing in their gardens worth having. Were it not for these, they 
would suffer every vegetable to become stinted and unhealthy by the 
hard crust of earth formed around its root or crown to the exclusion 
of the air. 

Among other vegetables, however, planted at such distances that 
their tops do not meet across the rows so as to keep them under — 
along walks, borders, etc., weeds will be an annoyance. But what 
if they are ? The garden is but a small spot any way, and is easily 
kept in order by a watchful eye and a prompt, diligent hand. The 
oftener the ground is run over, as already observed, with a light 
rake that will just loosen the crust formed by hot sunshine after a 
shower, the better. This work, necessary without any reference to 
them, will so keep weeds under, that the evil resulting from them 
will not bear being named or thought of compared with the vast 
amount of good they may be made to do in the field by their varied 
and useful ministrations. 

T. S. W. Mott. 

Garden Farm,' April 16, 1868. 



Liberality in Farming. 

In this art, and almost in this art alone, "it is the liberal hand 
which mjketh rich." 

Liberality in providing utensils is the saving both of time and la- 
bor. The more perfect his instruments the more profitable are they. 

So also is it with his -working cattle and his stock. The most 
perfect of their kinds are ever the most profitable. 

In cultivating the earth, the condition of man's success is his in- 
dustry upon it. — Hon. Josiah Quincy. — Journal of the Farm. 



268 THE SOUTHERN [May 

Tobacco versus Wheat and Corn. 

WHICH CROP PAYS BEST? 

Not long since, in looking over that " great treasure-house" the 
Farmer s Register, I saw in the April number for the year 1837, 
page 743, an article on "the expense of Tobacco culture, compared 
to that of Wheat and Corn/' and while many of the figures must 
be changed, to meet the advance in the price of labor and in the 
prices now obtained for the respective staples that are mentioned 
above, as compared with the prices in 1837, still the main features 
in the article to which I refer remain unchanged by the lapse of 
twenty years. In the past, farming or planting in Virginia was 
looked upon more in the light of a recreation than a business by the 
landed proprietor. 

Much of the time of the Old Virginia gentleman was spent in 
literary pursuits, in political life, in social enjoyment. His home 
was the seat of hospitality, where friends were entertained with a 
generous and hearty good will, that alivays made them come again, 
and each one felt, during his or her stay, that such intercourse was 
indeed "linked sweetness long drawn out." 

Nor was this hospitality and generous mode of life confined to 
those only who owned broad acres and fine houses. Many a time 
have I rode up at nightfall to the humble home of the small farmer, 
who had perhaps only two or three rooms in his dwelling, only to be 
met with the same cordial "won't you 'light, sir," to be seated at a 
board abounding in good cheer, and shown to "the best room," 
where, tired out, I could soon lose my sense of weariness in a huge 
feather-bed. 

The man who owned, either by inheritance or purchase, the broad 
acres, being surrounded by all things necessary to contribute to 
earthly comfort, had a general idea that if he could make each 
plantation support the force necessary to work it, and the number 
of idle negroes (old and young) quartered on it besides, and then 
have enough surplus left to pay taxes and buy a few more acres or 
another negro: that he must, in time, grow richer, or would at least 
leave his children rich. With this view of the case, what cared he 
for farming as a business from which he could derive present profit. 
"Land was cheap" — what cared he that ancestral forests were fad- 
ing away before the axe of the destroyer, to make room for 'plant- 
land and new ground — his large force must be employed in the win- 
ter months — " 'twas cheaper to clear land than to improve it ;" and 
thus did he, year by year, cut and slay both timber and land. The 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 269 

small farmer, in this matter, followed in the leading strings of his 
more wealthy neighbors. One and another would say, " If Squire 
Johnston, who works twenty picked hands, makes ' a big clearing,' 
me and my little gang must clear too," and so the work went 
bravely on, until now, Soiithside Virginia and North Carolina, 
throughout the Tobacco region, present a scarred and naked sur- 
face, which demands of the present and future generations a care- 
ful system of culture that shall renovate those waste places, cause 
them to respond generously to the toil of the skilled laborer ; and 
thus, while bringing to life again a soil naturally productive, but 
over-worked and badly fed, our people will find themselves, like the 
soil, growing richer and stronger each year. I should have men- 
tioned that there was one very essential difference between the small 
farmer and the large land- owner prior to the war, and that differ- 
ence inures greatly to the benefit of the former at a time like this, 
while the small farmer did, so far as he was able, follow the errone- 
ous example of the large planter, in clearing fresh land, instead of 
keeping in good heart land already in cultivation, necessity taught 
him that with a circumscribed purse, he must not only live within 
his means, but bestow personal labor and supervision in all his ope- 
rations. 

The consequence was, that while the one was rich in lands and 
negroes, he was proverbially poor in money ; the other, frugal and 
laborious, expanded his operations gradually without a correspond- 
ing expansion of wants and expenses; year by year capital was laid 
by, and not unfrequently he became a money-lender and held mort- 
gages on the estates of his richer neighbor. It is now a well-known 
fact that such men are meeting the difficulties of " the situation" 
with more success than any other class; the man who takes the' lead 
in the row is the man who has thus far been able to control the most 
efficient labor, and to obtain, within the past two years, the most 
satisfactory results. 

The foregoing glimpse of our ante-bellum farmers and planters 
serves as a sad reminder of our altered state. 

The days of Old Virginia hospitality have perished, along with 
the hopes and fortunes of her people. No longer can they afford to 
live with open doors and entertain with the open-hand prodigality of 
the olden time ; and while we hope that no amount of pecuniary trial 
or poverty can crush out the spirit of true hospitality that is indige- 
nous to the Southern people, it is well for us to realize things as 
they are ; to turn from farming as it was to farming as it is. Now, 
the man who does not farm or plant, to make money, fails in duty 



270 THE SOUTHERN [May 

to his family and his calling, and comes short of the example he 
should set to his own people. I believe farming the surest road to 
a competency, and even to wealth, that any man can travel in these 
days of trial, danger and doubt ; to the young man especially, does 
it hold out great inducements. There is no business enterprise in 
-which a young man can so readily engage with limited means ; there 
is no business enterprise wherein a young man can reap a larger 
profit from the labor of his head and hands ; and above all, there is 
no other calling that will do more to help us out of " the slough of 
despond" and place us on the high road to prosperity. 

To farm or plant for profit, then, is the desideratum ; and obser- 
vation teaches us (as I have heretofore said) that one essential to 
success, is that the farmer shall be a working man. Not simply a 
daily laborer, who works mechanically, but one who economizes time 
and labor and never throws away licks. There are also two other 
essentials to success ; not only must a farmer work now-a-days, but 
he must think and read. Strong muscles are desirable, but young 
farmers must remember that many an ignorant negro, and the 
meanest mule on his place, has more muscle than he has, and that 
without the direction of a mind well-stored with practical know- 
ledge, all this muscle is either as so mueh dead matter, or worse, is 
actively employed in doing badly what ought to be done well. But, 
says one, who may chance to read the foregoing, " what has all this 
to do with the article in the Farmer s Register, mentioned when the 
writer set out." To this I reply, "much every way;" for if the 
writer of that article in 1837 thought it important then to count 
the cost of cultivating Tobacco, Wheat and Corn, and to bring 
down the credit balance in favor of each crop, so that his neighbors 
might see the comparative profit that would result from the culture 
of each, how much more do these times demand such a course. To 
bring the reader to this point, I have only chosen to take him by an 
old road, through old and well-worn fields, that he might take a 
farewell view of the past and an earnest view of the present and 
future. 

Before entering into a calculation as to the present cost of grow- 
ing Tobacco, Wheat and Corn, I will state the main points of differ- 
ence between the calculation in 1837 and at the present time. La- 
bor was then 30 cents per day; it is now a little over 60 cents per 
day. Taking the average price of labor throughout Virginia in 
1866 (which was $14 82 per month, including finding) as the basis, 
and estimating 270 davs as a working year. E., in the Farmer s 
Register, estimates 4,000 hills to the acre — I estimate 4,500 hills 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 271 

to the acre. He makes 64 days' time necessary to cultivate, house, 
prize and deliver the product of an acre, while my estimate of 500 
additional hills in the acre will make more time necessary for the 
whole process. 

E. estimates the carriage to market from a point 50 miles distant, 
while I take a point 142 miles distant. E. gives $6 50 per cwt. 
for leaf, $2 70 per cwt. for lugs, and $1 per bushel for Wheat, $3 
per barrel for Corn, and $6 per acre for fodder, &c, as the current 
prices in 1837, which are much below present prices. 

On the other hand, he estimates 1,000 pounds of Tobacco, 25 
bushels of Wheat, or 10 barrels of Corn, as the product of an acre 
of good land in his day, which is much above the average yield of 
good lands throughout the State now. For the sake of convenience, 
I assume his product per acre to be correct for shipping Tobacco, 
Wheat and Corn only — I charge as, part of the cost necessary to 
compel such a yield, 300 pounds of fertilizer at market price. In 
his day, Fancy Yellow Tobacco, as a specialty, was unknown, and 
I therefore make a separate estimate for that, the lightness of the 
plant being known to cause the yield to fall much below 1,000 
pounds per acre. 

With these explanations, I now proceed to give an estimate of 

The Expense of Cultivating an Acre in Tobacco in 1868, 
Taking the Labor oe one Hand 67 Days. 

Burning 100 square yards for plants, hoeing, covering and 
manuring — four days' labor with one hand at 60 cts. per 
day, 

Fallowing one acre — one day's labor with one hand, 

To one other ploughing in the spring — one day's labor, 

To making four thousand five hundred hills — 7 days' labor, 

To drawing plants, cutting off hills, and planting 4,500 
hills — 4 days' labor, 

To one other ploughing — one day's labor, 

To weeding — 2 days' labor, 

To first hilling — 2 days' labor, 

To one other ploughing — one day's labor, 

To second hilling — 2 days' labor, 

To third hilling — 2 days' labor, 

To worming and suckering — 4J days' labor, 

To topping and priming — one day's labor, 

Amount carried forward, 19 50 



2 40 


60 


60 


4 20 


2 40 


60 


1 20 


1 2d 


60 


1 20 


1 20 


2 70 


60 



272 THE SOUTHERN [May 

Amount brought forward, 19 50 
To cutting 4,500 plants, hanging on sticks and scaffolding — 

5| days' labor, 3 30 
To cutting and hauling wood to fire one barn of Tobacco — 

2 days' labor, 1 20 
To firing the same — 4 days' labor, 2 40 
To striking down and bulking 500 sticks — 2 days' labor, 1 20 
To stripping 1,000 pounds of Tobacco — 10 days' labor, 6 00 
To re-hanging same — 2 days' labor, 1 20 
To re-striking, and packing in prizing order — 2 days' labor, 1 20 
To prizing and delivering at depot 1,000 pounds of Tobac- 
co — one hand 7 days, 4 20 
To freight from Danville to Richmond on 1,130 pounds 

gross weight, at 75 cts. per cwt., 8 50 

To one Tobacco cask, 3 00 

To warehouse expenses, 2 00 

To commission 2J per cent, on gross sale of $138 75, 3 47 
To labor of one horse 10 days, and cost of keeping, at 75 

cts. per day, 7 50 
To 300 pounds of Phosphated Peruvian Guano, at $80 per 

ton, or $4 per cwt., 12 00 



$76 67 
To balance, 50 83 

Cr. 
By sale of 750 pounds of Leaf Tobacco, of good 

Shipping quality, at $15 per cwt., 112 50 

By sale of 250 pounds Lugs, fair quality, at $6 

per cwt., 15 00 



$127 50 127 50 

By net profit of one acre in Shipping Tobacco, $50 83 

Now, let us look at another calculation. Suppose the acre be 
cultivated in Fine Yellow Tobacco, and that the same amount of 
Jabor be expended and the same quantity of fertilizer be used, the 
case will stand thus : 

To total expense of cultivation, including fertilizers, 73 20 

To commission 2J per cent, on gross sale of $225, 5 62 



$78 82 
To balance, 146 18 



Amount carried forward, 225 00 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER 273 

Amount brought forward, 225 00 

Ob. 
By sale of 300 pounds Fine Yellow Leaf, at $10, 120 00 
By sale of 300 pounds Medium Leaf, at $25, 75 00 

By sale of 200 pounds Lugs, at an average of $15, 30 00 



$225 00 225 00 

By net profit of one acre in Fine Yellow Tobacco, $ [46 18 

The above calculation shows a result but seldom attained in the 
actual experience of the planter, and to attain it the labor and ex- 
pense is much greater than we have estimated. It is very safe to 
say that the average price obtained for Tobacco throughout Virgi- 
nia and North Carolina for two years past does not exceed $15 per 
cwt. The actual average for the crop of the two States in 1866 
was $15 44 per cwt; therefore, if we take the same estimate for 
the expense of cultivation and fertilizers, say 73 20 

Commission 2 J per cent, on gross sale of $150, 3 75 



$56 95 
To balance, 73 05 

Cr. 
By sale of 1,000 pounds Tobacco at $15, $150 00 150 00 

We bring down a net profit of $73 05 per acre as the average 
result throughout the two States. 

Now, let us see what can be done with the same land cultivated 
in Wheat : 

To seed for one acre, 3 00 

To one day's fallowing — one hand, 60 

To half, a day's harrowing, 30 

To labor one horse 2 days, and keeping same, at 75 cts., 1 50 

To cutting and shocking one acre of Wheat, 1 00 

To hauling to granary — one day's labor hand and horse, 1 35 

To threshing out 25 bushels Wheat, at 10 cts. per bushel, 2 50 
To 300 pounds Phosphated Peruvian Guano, at $80 per ton, 

or $4 per cwt., 12 00 

To freight from Danville to Richmond on 1,512 pounds, at 

35 cts. per cwt., 
To commission 2J per cent, on gross sale of $62 50, 

To balance, 

Amount carried forward, 62 50 

VOL II — 18 



5 30 
1 56 


$29 11 
33 39 



274 THE SOUTHERN [May 



Amount brought forward, 62 50 

Cr. 
By sale of 25 bushels of Wheat, at $2 50, $62 50 62 50 



By net profit of one acre in Wheat, $33 39 

We will next see the result of an acre cultivated in Corn (omit- 
ting cost of seed) : 

To one day's fallowing, , 60 

To one day's ploughing for planting, 60 

To one day's labor in planting, 60 

To one day's ploughing at time of weeding, 60 

To one day's work in weeding, 60 

To one day's work in hilling, 60 

To one day's work in ploughing, 60 

To one day's work second hilling, 60 

To two day's work saving fodder, 1 20 

To one day's work saving tops, 60 
To five cart loads Corn pulled and hauled to crib — 2 days' 

labor, 1 20 
To shucking out 10 barrels Corn and cribbing same — 2 

day's labor, 1 20 
To labor of one horse seven days, and keeping same, at 75 

cents, 5 25 

To 300 pounds Phosphate of Lime, at $3 per cwt., 9 00 
To freight from Danville to Richmond on 50 bushels Corn, 

2,825 pounds, at 21 cts. per cwt., 5 93 

To commission 2J per cent, on gross sale of $50, 1 25 



$30 43 
To balance, 34 57 

Cr. 
By sale of 50 bushels Corn, at $1 per bushel, 50 00 

By sale of Fodder and Shucks at home, from one 

acre in Corn, say 1,500 pounds, at $1, 15 00 



$65 00 65 00 

By net profit of one acre in Corn, $34 57 

In summing up the foregoing calculations, we find the following 

results : 

Net profit of one acre in Tobacco at, an average of $15 per 

cwt., 78 05 

Net profit of one acre in Wheat, 33 39 

Net profit of one acre in Corn, 34 37 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 275 

Now, when we remember that in the Valley of Virginia one good 
hand will tend 30 acres in Wheat, 20 acres in Oats and 20 acres in 
Corn ; while in Southside Virginia, 2J- acres in Tobacco, 10 acres in 
Wheat, 10 acres in Corn, and 10 acres in Oats, is considered heavy 
cropping ; and if we will look, too, at the value of lands in those 
sections of Virginia where the cereals and grasses are cultivated, as 
compared with the impoverished Tobacco region, it does seem to me 
that any thinking man must see the necessity of curtailing (that is 
all I advocate) Tobacco culture. All I ask is that our people give 
these matters careful consideration. These are not times when we 
must accept the dictum of tradition or custom, but must think and 
act for ourselves. H. 



An Imperial Farmer. 

[From the Pall Mall Gazette.] 

For some years past, the French government has charged itself 
with a number of agricultural experiments, many of them on a grand 
scale, and the cost of which have been defrayed by the State. It 
is quite true that with regard to certain of these operations the Em- 
peror took the initiative ; still it has become very much the fashion 
of late years to ascribe all the merit resulting from these various 
undertakings to his individual energy; and only a week or two since 
there appeared in the Constitutiionel a series of articles, giving an 
epitome of all that the State has done for agriculture during the 
present imperial regime, under the title, " Napoleon III., Agricul- 
turist." It is from these papers that the following interesting par- 
ticulars have been gathered : 

In the very heart of France, and not more than one hundred 
miles from Paris, there was a barren uncultivated district known as 
Sologne, and which used to be commonly spoken of as a locality 
where the average term of human life did not exceed twenty or two- 
and-twenty years. This region, consisting of large plateaus of sand, 
which stretched afar like deserts, was covered with stagnant ponds 
and intersected with numerous rivulets, the beds of which had been 
long since choked up. Neither capital nor commerce had penetrated 
the outskirts of this desolate territory, when the Emperor purchased 
two of the most unprofitable domains belonging to it — namely, those 
of La Motte Beuvron and La Grillaire, the soil of which latter, cov- 
ered for some depth with an impalpable sand, could only be made to 
produce wild sorrel. By the Emperor's direction, sea-pines were 
planted over the larger part of the domain, while those portions 



276 THE SOUTHERN [May 

which gave promise of fertility were thoroughly manured and culti- 
vated with corn and various kinds of fodder. The land was then 
stocked with a large flock of sheep of the ordinary breed of the dis- 
trict, the manure from whom materially enriched the soil, and in a 
very short time La Grillaire was cultivated at a positive profit. The 
success of this experiment being unequivocal, it was determined to 
make Sologne a great centre of agricultural production. But be- 
fore this could be accomplished, it was necessary to execute some 
important works to render the district more salubrious. These in- 
cluded the cleansing out of the watercourses, the draining off the 
water from the ponds, and the formation of a net-work of new roads. 
The Emperor entered into an agreement w T ith the Compagnie du 
Chemin de Fer d'Orleans for the transport of agricultural produce 
at reduced prices, and the establishment of depots for its reception 
at the various stations. Sologne rendered salubrious, and the Em- 
peror's example proving contagious, capital and commerce followed 
in the footsteps of the improvements which he had effected, and to- 
day this once barren and desolate tract of country is covered over 
with growing forests and fertile fields. 

It was these results that decided the Emperor to enter upon fur- 
ther experiments, and to establish the extensive military camp he 
at that time contemplated forming in the centre of the vast unculti- 
vated plains which stretch northwards of Chalons-sur-Marne. The 
Emperor fully understood the advantages to be derived in an agri- 
cultural . point of view from this immense gathering of men and 
horses. He knew all that was necessary to obtain good harvests 
from the chalky soil of Champagne was to have it properly ma- 
nured, and he established, therefore, in the neighborhood of the 
camp, at various points of this unfruitful plain, where the only signs 
of vegetation were a few straggling bushes', no less than fourteen 
farms, among which every day the manure of the camp was distri- 
buted. These farms were stocked with flocks of merino sheep, a 
breed which was found to thrive marvellously on the chalky soil of 
Champagne. The mode of cultivation adopted was to raise, first of 
all, a crop of grass, then one of wheat, and subsequently some kind 
of green crop suitable for fodder. The result was a complete suc- 
cess, and the flocks of merinos belonging to the farms of the camp 
of Chalons were mentioned in high terms of praise in the report of 
the international jury on the Billaincourt agricultural exhibition. 
The Emperor's next experiment was made at Vincennes, which, as 
every one knows, is an extensive military fortress, fully garrisoned, 
in the neighborhood of Paris, and around which are considerable 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 277 

tracts of land, the surface-soil of which consisted, for the most part, 
of sand, thickly strewn with large flints. With manure from the 
adjacent fortress, this land has been converted into a rich vegetable 
soil which annually produces the finest crops. A herd of cows of 
the Flemish breed and a magnificent flock of Southdowns form the 
live stock of the farm, which, during the summer months, is a fa- 
vorite place of resort with the Parisians. It is at this farm thi t 
extensive experiments have been made with the chemical manures in 
which M. Georges Ville is so ardently interested, and it is there, 
too, that M. Guerin Meuneville has established an experimental 
nursery for the acclimatization of a new description of silk-worm 
from Japan. At the agricultural exhibitions and competitions which 
periodically take place at Vincennes, which is not merely an ordi- 
nary farm, but a regular school of experimental agriculture, all 
classes of inventors exhibit apparatus ; and there steam-ploughing 
and threshing-machines and other agricultural implements, are con- 
stantly at work, while competitions between mowers and reapers are 
frequent. 

The results obtained by the application of the manure of Chalons 
and Vincennes caused the Emperor to establish a small farm near 
Saint Cloud, at the foot of Mont Valerien, the fortress of which has 
a numerous garrison. When the Emperor purchased the land, it 
was used as a shooting-ground ; the soil was heavy, but of good 
quality, and after being properly manured, produced any kind of 
crop. To-day this farm is in as high a state of cultivation as any 
in the department of the North. The most extensive experiment, 
however, made under the direction of the Emperor, was on an im- 
mense tract of waste land in the southwest of France, which, with 
its sands, its sea-pines, its stagnant ponds, and its general insalu- 
brity, was a counterpart to Cologne. The Emperor purchased 10,000 
acres of this land, and gave to the estate the name of Solferino, in 
commemoration of his Italian campaign, from which he had at that 
time recently returned. This bargain, consisting wholly of gray 
sand, was covered with heath, furze bushes, and pine trees. Then 
the furze and heather were partially cleared away and the soil ma- 
nured so as to bring it under cultivation. The experiments, how- 
ever, havje been made too recently to have yielded any positive re- 
sults. To attract agricultural laborers to this desert, the Emperor 
built a village, the larger number of houses forming which, are ceded 
rent free to those who occupy them. Attached to each house is a 
small garden and three or four acres of land, which the occupier, 
who has to do a certain number of hours' daily work on the impe- 



278 THE SOUTHERN [May 

rial estate, cultivates, with the assistance of his family, for his own 
advantage. After a certain number of years, these houses, together 
with the plots of land appertaining, are to become the property of 
those who occupy them. 

Another point which has engaged the Emperor's attention is the 
completion of the system of highways in the agricultural depart- 
ments of France. Railways had done much to open up new mar- 
kets for agricultural produce, and at the wine-shops in the South 
you can no longer obtain as much wine as you can drink in the 
space of an hour for a couple of sous. Still new roads were want- 
ing to give to the producer all the advantages of the larger local 
markets, and a few years since the State charged itself with the ex- 
penditure of twenty-five million francs for this purpose. Last year, 
too, a fresh credit was opened for the construction of cross-country 
roads, which should serve for the transport of manure, the harvest- 
ing of the crops, and afford a ready means of communication with 
the neighboring villages. Not only were the sterile districts of So- 
logne, Brenne, Dombes, Doubles, and the waste lands of Brittany 
and Gascony pierced with broad highways, but in consideration of a 
grant proportioned to the expense the company of the Chemins de 
Fer du Midi was induced to open across the sandy deserts and for- 
ests a regular system of communication. The result has been to 
give largely increased value to the timber, bark and resin, which 
formerly, owing to the difficulties of transport, found scarcely any 
purchasers. As a part of the same plan, a railway has been formed 
traversing diagonally the entire table-land from Bourg to Lyons t 
and the company, for a fixed sum, charged itself with the drainage 
of all the ponds situated within a certain distance of the new line. 
Private individuals executing similar works received a government 
grant in proportion to the outlay they incurred, while to promote the 
drainage of marshes and damp lands generally a credit of 100,000,000 
francs has been opened, which is advanced by the State on loan to 
landed proprietors willing to engage in these works of utility. 

The grandest work of all, however, is the replanting of the for- 
ests and the returfing of the pasture lands on the slopes of the Alps, 
the Cevennes, and the Pyrenees, which the mountain torrents men- 
ace with rapid destruction. The felling of these trees, the result of 
a thorough ignorance of the law which nature has provided for her 
own protection, dates as far back as the thirteenth century. The 
destruction of the grass on the table-lands of the mountains, caused 
by the sharp pointed feet of the flocks while grazing, is of far more 
recent date. To restore these forests was a difficult undertaking, 



1888.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 279 

for the districts most exposed to the disastrous action of the moun- 
tain torrents are precisely those where the breeding of cattle forms 
almost the only pursuit. It was necessary to materially diminish 
the extent of the pastures, and consequently to reduce the number 
of the flocks. The first point, therefore, to be decided was whether 
the proprietors, whose pastures were about to be circumscribed, were 
entitled to an indemnity. The next question was at whose expense 
these works of restoration should be executed ? Eventually, two 
measures were passed which determined that the replanting and re- 
turfing should be at the cost of the particular parishes and of the 
proprietors of the mountain pastures. When the latter are unable 
to bear the expense, the State charges itself with executing the ne- 
cessary works, and on their completion receives one-half of the re- 
stored lands by way of indemnity. 



Our Altered Circumstances Necessitate a Change in our System of 

Farming. 

To the Farmers of Virginia : I am now an old man, and have 
been living and working upon this farm since 1831. It was sadly 
out of order when I purchased it ; the fences rotted down ; the fields 
overrun with the wild briar and bushes; the lands thoroughly satu- 
rated with water for want of ditching ; the springs were so late and 
the frosts of the fall so early, that an old and valued friend re- 
marked to me, on welcoming me to the neighborhood, that the sea- 
sons on Buckeyeland were too short for any crop except the grasses, 
and in a very few years, I had almost come to the same conclusion. 
My corn was often injured by the late spring and seriously damaged 
by the early fall frosts. I often commenced my wheat harvest after 
my mountain friends had finished theirs. The crops were very short, 
of grain, weighing only from 53 to 57 pounds per bushel. I was 
young, and full of energy and hope. I set in to ditching and im- 
proving; and in a few years my harvests were earlier than my 
mountain neighbors, my crops as large and of as heavy grain as 
any, and I have since sold more seed wheat than any farmer along 
the mountains from the Hardware to the Rivanna river. My farm 
was once pronounced by one of our very best farmers more like a 
Pennsylvania farm than any he had ever seen in Eastern Virginia. 
Thus my earlier and happier days were spent, fondly hoping, in my 
old age (in peace) quietly to enjoy the pleasing satisfaction of hav- 
ing made many spires of grass to grow where none ever grew be- 



280 THE SOUTHERN [May 

fore. But now : Ah, how sad the change which has so rapidly come 
over me and all I once so much admired ! Now, at evening's re- 
flecting hour, when I slowly and sadly walk up to the heights over- 
looking my once beautiful farm, from which, in by-gone and hap- 
pier years, I could see the busy and productive motion of twenty- 
two faithful servants happily winding up their day's labor in their 
soul-cheering laughter and merry songs. What now do I see: The 
wild briar and broom-straw mournfully waving their advancing ban- 
ners, denoting a wilderness to my fields and ruin to me. Gentle- 
men, such is the lamentable fact, plainly and loudly proclaimed all 
over our once beautiful and happy country. And ruin — total ruin — 
must and will be the early result of our ineffectual system of farm- 
ing wiih the worse than worthless freed-labor, our only available 
resource at this time. 

A change in our mode of farming must be made to suit our pres- 
ent sadly altered condition, or ere long dear old Virginia must and 
will be a wild wreck in hopeless ruin, and her once gallant, warm- 
hearted people be completely pauperized. Now, can't this change, 
to suit our present condition, be brought about ? I think it can be 
done, if the intelligent farmers of Virginia will all set to work with 
a right good will. No one plan will suit every man, nor will it suit 
every part of our State ; but suppose every man should determine 
to use his best judgment, and reflect well upon some plan, which he 
thinks best calculated to suit his own condition and locality, and 
write it out for the Planter and Farmer ; the editor could select 
out of these numerous and varying plans, the very best (those re- 
jected could be disposed of just as this should be, if any better ar- 
ticle shall be offered), upon which the better informed farmers could 
mend and amend, until some good plan might and would be sug- 
gested, by which we all could be benefitted. 

To begin : I will now give a plan which I have* thought of adopt- 
ing, unless some better shall be suggested. I am an old man, totally 
unable to look after my hands, as they are obliged to be looked after 
to save from heavy loss. I have some six hundred acres of cleared 
land — one-half flat — every acre of which can be thoroughly ploughed 
by a three-horse plough. I think of cutting off some hundred acres 
for yards, lawns, orchards, grass-plats and truck-patches — the re- 
mainder I propose to divide into four fields. I think of keeping six 
mules to run two three-horse ploughs, and of getting two first-class 
ploughmen. My plan is to select ten or twenty acres of the best 
land in the field for corn — prepare it thoroughly, manure heavily ; 
and if worked in time, and as it should be, it would bring fifteen 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 281 



barrels to the acre. The remainder of the field to be plastered. 
All stock to be kept off, and the next fall, winter and spring the 
whole field to be ploughed up and seeded in good time and style 
with one hundred and fifty bushels of oats, the thinner spots to be 
treated with one hundred pounds of bought manure per acre. Any 
poorer spots might be prepared and manured, and seeded in rye and 
grass in August. After harvest, all the oat-land to be nicely pre- 
pared and seeded in wheat and grass with guano. With my two 
teams, I could seed well and in time one hundred and fifty bushels 
of oats, one hundred and fifty bushels of wheat, and some rye. I 
would cut my grain and grass by horse-power (I thresh by water- 
power), and would have to hire in harvest hay-making and thresh- 
ing, which could be much more readily done than by the year, as it 
would be a sort of frolic, and the laborers will work bet-ter for a 
short time than by the year. I would spread all the wheat, oat and 
rye-straw not needed for bedding stables and covering Irish pota- 
toes, &c, upon the thinner portions of the fields seeded last spring 
in grass. In this way, the thin portions of the farm could soon be 
brought up along side of the best of the field. I would use all of 
my manures, not applied to corn and potatoes, by top-dressing the 
thin parts of my grass land. I have long considered an oat-fallow 
the best cleaner of lands and the best preparation for a good wheat 
crop, and top-dressing the best way to use our home made manures, 
and I speak from long experience. 

By this plan, I could keep but little stock at first during winter, 
as the straw should be spread over the grass-lands and well-plastered, 
and a small dose of lime, say ten or fifteen bushels per acre, which 
I think enough for a single application ; in the last of May or first 
of June, if the grass would justify it, I would purchase a few poor 
young horses, or cattle, or sheep, which would fatten by a little salt- 
ing, and sell them off in the fall, which, I think, would pay much 
better than raising and winter- feeding. Upon this plan, I think the 
grain would pay better than the stock business now, when Wander- 
ing Sambo claims so large a share of all eatable stock. I would 
raise only a few good hogs for home use, and keep them up within 
protecting distance. By this course, I could better secure myself 
from a yearly loss. My farm improved and crops greatly increased, 
would require less labor, and the wandering freedmen will have ra- 
pidly disappeared from our midst, and the wild briar and broom- 
straw will have ceased to threaten our total ruin. 

This I offer as the best I can now do, fondly hoping some other 
more practical farmer will so improve upon it as to give us, through 



282 THE SOUTHERN [May 

the Planter and Farmer some far better plan, by which we all can 
rapidly rise from our present despondent condition. 

With best wishes, Mr. Editor, for the highest success of your 
most excellent paper, which every farmer should take and write for, 
and peace, happiness and prosperity to our dear old mother of 
States, 

Geo. C. Gilmer. 

P. S. — This plan I deem the best for me, while labor is so very 
unreliable ; and until I can get all my fields clean of the briar and 
broom-straw, and get them well-taken in grass again, I should en- 
deavor to get the lot manured for corn fit for a first-rate meadow, and 
permit it, and all other good grass-lots in the field, to remain for 
mowing. By this course, we would require so much less labor, our 
wandering freedmen would soon have to look out elsewhere, and our 
lands would so rapidly improve, that in a few ye>ars our whole coun- 
try could be made so attractive that all who would could sell for good 
prices. The portion of n^ farm I have been working shows this 
day as high a state of improvement as it ever did, and by this plan 

1 will be able to work so much more, and thus improve it all the 
more quickly, and thus enable us to induce the very best class of 
immigrants to come into our State ; and, in a few years, we may 
fondly hope to see Virginia again the first State of the old Union. 

Then let us all arouse and determine to do all we can to achieve 
this so desirable object. It can be done — it must be done — if *we 
will just resolve to do it. Arouse, then, dear brethren of the 
plough, all, all depends upon us; and we now have no politics to 
squander our talents and waste our time on. Then let us all resolve 
to apply our whole mind, soul and body to the accomplishment of 
this great object. It is due to our God, to our. country and to our- 
selves. 

G. C. G. 

Supposed Expense of My Plan. 

2 hands' wages— $200 each, 400 
Board of each, $100, 200 
6 mules — finding, wear and tear, 600 
150 bushels seed-oats, at 50 cents, ■ 75 
5 tons bought manures, 400 
150 bushels seed-wheat, at $1 50, 225 
10 tons bought manures, 800 
Extra hire in harvesting, threshing, &c, 250 



Amount of expenses, $2,950 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 283 



Credit by 






100 acres in oats — 2,000 bushels, 


1,000 




100 acres in wheat — 1,500 bushels, 


2,250 




20 acres in corn — 240 barrels, 


1,200 




100,000 pounds haj, 


1,000 




Total amount, 


5,450 




Expenses, 


2,950 




Profit, 




•2,$P0 


The oats ought to bring 3,000 bushels, 


1,500 




The wheat ought to bring 2,000 bushels, 


3,000 


< 


The corn — 15 barrels per acre — 300 barrels, 


1,500 




The hay, 


1,000 


7,000 


Expenses, , 




2,950 



At this estimate, there would be a profit of $4,050 

and as to the land, who can tell its vast improvem n"? 

G. C. G. 

Near Charlottesville, April 22, 1868. 



White Labor and the Tenant System. 

My Bear Sir^ — I have read with much pleasure the very sensible 
and practical communication of Mr. Washington, in your April 
number, on " Small Farms, White Labor and the Tenant System," 
possibly Jhe more, as it accords in some degree with speculations of 
my own, in a hasty communication, made by request, to the Whig 
sometime in October, 1865. Several intelligent and well-informed 
gentlemen (Scotch) have concurred in the views presented in that 
letter so far as they go. And from information obtained by a some- 
what extensive correspondence, as Commissioner of Immigration, 
and otherwise, I am satisfied that families of the agricultural peas- 
antry of Great Britain might be advantageously settled on many 
farms in Virginia, to the great advantage of the proprietors and 
themselves — allotting to each family a good cabin, with five or ten 
acres of land for their own cultivation, upon which they could sub- 
sist themselves, supply skilled labor, the men, the females and larger 
children excellent domestics, and in harvesting and light work, all 
would be glad of employment at moderate wages. In their own 
country they pay rent for inferior accommodations to what we could 
give them. With a small rent here, or with none, and fuel without 



284 THE SOUTHERN [May 

charge, the transition to them would be regarded, and be, in fact, 
independence. 

The English, Irish, Scotch and the Welsh, the latter for raining, 
and especially for working the extensive slate quarries, would be an 
invaluable addition to our industrial population ; and although they 
might not bring much money with them, would increase the aggre- 
gate wealth of the State to an extent which cannot now be fully 
estimated. 

{The class of tenants for the large estates, which I had in view, 
are all men of more or less capital, some of them quite wealthy, 
and would bring with them their sons, and a large addition of agri- 
cultural labor. And the operation of the system would bring into 
the State a considerable amount of money to be invested in the 
purchase of lands. 

I have not time, even if I felt competent, to discuss the subject 
in all its most important bearings upon the general interests of our 
mother State and her people ; but I do most earnestly hope that 
those who can, will address themselves to it earnestly, looking to 
our mother country as the source of the most desirable supply of 
emigrants for Virginia. I enclose, as you request, the extract 
from my letter to the Whig in October, 1865. 
Very respectfully, yours, 

Wm. H. Richardson. 

April 25th, 1868. 

EXTRACT. . 

" The recent overthrow of our system of agricultural labor im- 
poses upon the landholders, particularly of Virginia, the. absolute 
and urgent necessity of determining at once how that labor can 
best be replaced, not only with reference to themselves, but to the 
great interests of the State. 

" The public papers inform us that there is a vast emigration to 
this country from Great Britain and the Continent of Europe ; but 
the English, the Scotch and the Irish, because of the identity of 
language, are the people for us. The climate and soil of Virginia, 
unsurpassed on this Continent, aad her geographical position, offer 
advantages to the honest and industrious emigrant, far beyond the 
free lands of the far West, and superior, it is believed, to any that 
can be found elsewhere. 

u With such of these as may not wish, or have it not in their power 
to purchase land, let the tenant system, as it exists in England and 
Scotland, be introduced into Virginia — particularly upon, and com- 
mencing with the large and rich estates. Every intelligent tenant 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 285 

might be expected to bring with him a reliable class of well-trained 
laborers, who, with himself, would constitute an invaluable addition 
to our industrial white population, of orderly, "law-abiding men." 
The benefits which might reasonably be expected from such a sys- 
tem, would be speedily diffused and exert a most salutary influence 
generally, but specially upon that class of our native white people 
who have owned few or no slaves, and who ought to be more intelli- 
gent cultivators of their own lands than they are now or ever have 
been. 

" As regards the comparative operation of the tenant system (so 
to speak), let us take, for illustration, an estate upon the upper val- 
ley of James river of fifteen hundred or two thousand acres. Upon 
such an estate there was often a negro population of fifty, sixty or 
seventy in number — sometimes more — with not above fifteen or 
twenty effective laborers or ' working hands' — the residue consist- 
ing of women and children, and elderly men and women, many of 
whom, though very well able to do some work, and if they had been 
white people would have been obliged to do it, had none required of 
them by their owners, and did none. 

"Now, suppose the estate to be clear of the negroes, and culti- 
vated by such a tenantry as by proper efforts the proprietor can 
readily obtain, what would be the difference in results to himself 
and to his children in profit and in comfort, and to the State in the 
scale of an increased population, intelligent, frugal> industrious, and 
capable of estimating the value of civil liberty ? 

" I entirely dissent from those who advise the proprietors of large 
and valuable landed estates to sell off their property in small farms. 
Lands sufficient for all emigrants who desire to purchase and have 
the means, may be purchased almost anywhere in Virginia. But 
let the large (many of them ancient) estates be preserved entire, 
and let the proprietors take measures for setting them with such a 
tenantry as can now be readily obtained by proper exertions, and 
who can doubt that mutual profit and mutual comfort, to both land- 
lord and tenant, will be the result, and great good to the general 
interests of the State ? 

" Negro labor, where there exists no power to enforce the per- 
formance of their contracts, cannot now be relied upon, and it is 
too probable never can be. 

"Virginia is yet in many things almost an empire, possessing 
agricultural capabilities, yet to be developed, of incalculable value, 
not to speal^ of her mineral treasures. 

" Passing by, for the present, the great Valley and the valleys of 



286 THE SOUTHERN [May 

the rivers east of the Blue Ridge, let us take the Piedmont region, 
as remarkable for its salubrity as it is for fertility in some parts and 
barrenness in others. It is needless to speak of the former portion ; 
but of the latter, the barrenness is only, it is believed, for the pres- 
ent, since the worn out tobacco lands have a recuperative power, 
which, in skilful hands, can, and it is hoped, will yet be developed. 

" Who that has passed along the canal and railroad has failed to 
observe the galled and gullied hills in Amherst and Nelson counties, 
which seem to be utterly barren and irreclaimable ? But this is not 
so, as here and there some 'oasis in the desert' proves, as I have 
seen myself. 

Having, in the month of April last, enjoyed the hospitality of 
Mr. Zachary Lewis, of Nelson county, for more than a week, I had 
an opportunity of seeing what enlightened industry can effect in 
that region. There, upon hills which had been galled and gullied 
in the olden time, until they seemed to be incapable of production, 
every acre upon the rolling or hilly surface of a large farm was 
covered with fine crops of small grain and grass, not one unproduc- 
tive spot visible, excepting, perhaps, only the homestead, which 
comprised quarters for sixty or seventy negroes of all ages. 

" Put an English or Scottish tenantry upon the apparently barren 
hills of Nelson, Amherst and other counties in the range of the 
tobacco growing region, and what would be the result? Probably 
the introduction there of sheep farming, with heavy crops of tur- 
nips to be fed off upon the plan of folding by means of moveable 
hurdles, thus consuming every particle of the turnip crop, and in a 
short time enriching the land. I am not sufficiently informed to 
speak positively as to this mode of improvement, and the estimate 
is consequently rather conjectural than positive, but certainly the 
men who have thriven upon the Scottish hills, can scarcely fail 
in Virginia. We need not follow the lambs, the mutton and the 
wool to market, but let us glance over the entire Peidmont region 
from North to South, a very large portion of which is already rich 
enough for any agricultural enterprise, and it is easy to estimate 
what would be produced from it by an intelligent and industrious 
tenantry. Reference has been made to sheep husbandry ouly, but 
that same Piedmont region can easily produce every bale of hay, 
every bushel of Irish potatoes, every pound of butter and cheese, for 
which there is a demand in the markets of the tide-water region of 
the State and south of it — much of which has hitherto come, and is 
now coming from the North. At this time butter commands, in the 
Richmond markets, fifty to seventy-five cents per pound. Northern 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 287 

hay in bales is plentiful, and I recollect seeing it, some years ago, 
more than one hundred miles above Richmond for feeding the packet 
boat horses. 

"If we pass beyond the Piedmont region into the Great Valley, 
which is now penetrated by the canal and railroads, what limit can 
be fixed to its capacity for the production of grain, flour, fat cattle, 
horses, sheep, swine, indeed all that the East and South require 
from a soil unsurpassed in fertility. 

" Let us hope that the next Legislature will give early and ear- 
nest attention to this most important subject. But let not the land- 
holders of the State wait for the action of any body. Let them be 
wise in time and act immediately for themselves and their own best 
interests. 

Excuse, if you please, this hasty and imperfect effusion — very 
far short, as I feel it to be, of the magnitude and importance of the 
subject. 

" Very respectfully, 

" Wm. H. Richardson." 



An Experiment in the Use of Salt. 

For the crop of 1867, we were compelled to plant in Tobacco a 
piece of land, in regard to which we feared three things : 

1st. Clover : it was clover very thickly set, which had not been 
grazed. 

2d. The cut-worm : it was very rich and full of vegetable matter. 

2d. Spotting: it was wet and level — very hard to drain. ; 

We applied about a bag of ground alum salt to the acre in 
March. 

We did everything else we could. By ploughing, high hilling and 
draining, we kept the clover down. Did the salt help ? 

We were not troubled with cut-worm. 

The spotting was not as bad as in other parts of the crop, where 
no salt was applied, because we did not expect to be troubled with 
it. How much credit musl we give to salt ? 

S. A. S. 

Our success in life generally bears direct proportion to the exer- 
tions we make ; and if we aim at nothing, we shall certainly achieve 
nothing. By the remission of labor and energy, it often happens 
that poverty and contempt, disaster and defeat steal a march upon 
prosperity and honor, and overwhelm us with reverses and shame. 



288 



THE SOUTHERN 



[May 




EUGENIE, 

Owned by H. G. White, Esq., Framingham, Mass. Got by "Bro- 
ther Jonathan 2d," 2570, out of " Ada," by "Earl of Warwick," 
465, etc., etc. 

Corn and Hogs. 

From carefully conducted experiments, by different persons, it 
has been ascertained that one bushel of corn will make a little over 
ten and a half pounds of pork gross. Taking the result as a basis, 
the following deductions are made, which all our farmers would do 
well to lay by for a convenient reference, that — 

When corn sells for 12J cents per bushel, pork costs 1J cents per 
pound. 

When corn costs 17 cents per bushel, pork costs 2 cents a pound. 

When corn costs 25 cents per bushel, pork costs 3 cents a pound. 

When corn costs 33 cents per bushel, pork costs 4 cents a pound. 

When corn costs 50 cents per bushel, jjork costs 5 cents a bushel. 

The following statement shows what the farmer realizes in his 
corn when sold in the form of pork : 

When pork sells for 3 cents per pound, it brings 25 cents per 
bushel in corn. 

When pork sells for 4 cents per pound, it brings 32 cents per 
bushel in corn. 

When pork sells for 5 cents per pound, it brings 45 cents per 
bushel in corn. — Journal of the Farm, 



1868]. PLANTER AND FARMER. 289 




iorticultoral department. 



Virginia Horticultural and Pomological Society, 

At a regular monthly meeting of this Society, held at the office 
of The Southern Planter and Farmer, on Monday evening, the 
13th April, the subject under discussion being " the general culture 
and treatment of apples," Franklin Davis, Esq., opened the subject 
with the following able essay, which is sustained by his own expe- 
rience and practice for years past. He handles the subject well, 
and gives much information that will be gladly received by our 
readers. The remarks of the gentlemen who followed him were to 
the point, and this first discussion of our Society may be pronounced 
" a decided success." 

At the monthly meeting in May, John M. Allen, Esq., will, ac- 
cording to appointment, give us his views on "the culture of the 
grape." 

Mr. President, — The subject before this meeting for discussion 
being the culture and general management of apple orchards, I will 
offer a few remarks pertaining thereto, not that I think they con- 
tain anything new or more than is already known to every one here, 
but in the hope that they will open the way to a general discussion 
of the subject by wiser and better informed heads. 

The apple, we must admit, stands at the head of the list in the 
catalogue of valuable fruits ; it is a fruit for all seasons, and almost 
all countries, soils and situations. The long time it can be kept in 
a green gtate, and the many uses to which it may be applied, to- 
gether with its capability of withstanding long distances of trans- 
portation, make it an item of considerable importance to the com- 
merce of our country. Not only in our own towns and cities do 
they find a market at very remunerative figures to the grower, but 
a demand is already created abroad for products of our orchards ; 
large quantities of American apples are annually shipped to Eng- 
VOL II — 19 / 



290 • THE SOUTHERN [May 

land and other foreign countries. The Newtown or Albemarle Pip- 
pin, as it is usually termed here, will command a higher price in the 
London and Liverpool market than any other apple ; large quanti- 
ties are annually sold in New York for shipment to these and other 
European markets, and the prices obtained for the choice ones is 
almost fabulous. With this taste created and the demand estab- 
lished, it is an easy matter for us to reap advantages from it. The 
limits of successful culture of this apple are very circumscribed, yet 
we have a considerable scope of territory in which it finds a conge- 
nial home. Nowhere perhaps in the country does this apple flourish 
better than in the Piedmont region of our own State, and there it 
can be grown to great profit, as well as many other sorts. But suc- 
cessful apple culture is not confined to this section alone ; East and 
West of it they do well ; tide-water Virginia can and does make it 
a very remunerative crop, as many of her people can tell you. 
Then looking upon it in a pecuniary light, is it not advisable for us 
to give it all the encouragement we can as a means of building up 
the shattered fortunes of our people ? There need be no fear of 
overstocking the market ; the demand is ahead of the supply, and 
the increasing population of our large cities, as well as towns and 
country, together with the more general use of this fruit, will tend 
to better prices than have heretofore been received. Our humble 
opinion is, that whoever plants an apple orchard of properly se- 
lected sorts, and takes care of it, lays the foundation for a sure and 
handsome income. In selecting a site for an orchard, we may say 
that it is generally conceded that a southern or eastern aspect is 
to be preferred ; yet some contend that a northern slope is best. 
Our observation has not convinced us that there is any material dif- 
ference in the product on either of these exposures. Perhaps in 
the Northern States it may be best to plant on a southern or east- 
ern slope, that the fruit may have the full benefit of the sun, and 
that the wood may mature earlier, so as to be better able to with- 
stand the rigor of their winters. On the other hand, in the south- 
ern portion of our country, where protection from the scorching 
rays of the sun is desirable, a northern aspect may be best ; the 
sun's rays striking obliquely upon this slope, does not have the same 
force as when striking direct, as they would upon a southern expo- 
sure ; but while it may make but little difference which of these ex- 
posures we choose in this latitude, there are serious objections to 
planting in low narrow valleys, especially if there should be a run- 
ning stream of water through them. In these low and sheltered 
places the atmosphere becomes heated from the solar rays during 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 291 

the day time, which causes vegetation to start earlier than in ele- 
vated or more exposed situations ; then when the cooling influence 
of radiation has lowered the temperature of the surface of the 
earth, the air in immediate contact becomes chilled and heavier, and 
finding its way into the valleys, will often show a difference of sev- 
eral degrees of temperature, and as this approaches the freezing 
point, then comes the danger from frost. We have frequently seen 
the foliage of trees killed up to a certain line of elevation along the 
side of a hill or mountain, while above that line all escaped unhurt. 
This matter of elevation is not, however, a question of much im- 
portance except to those living in a hilly or mountainous country. 
Let the soil be a well drained one, either naturally or artificially so, 
and then we can hardly plant amiss. Almost any soil that will grow 
good crops of corn will produce fruit also. It is useless for us to 
attempt to point out any particular character of soil that would be 
preferred above all others, for one variety seems well adapted to 
this, and another to one of a different quality ; for example, the 
Winesap flourishes best in a light sandy loam ; no where does i^ 
produce as abundantly or as well developed fruit as in a soil of that 
sort ; while the Pryor's Red must have a strong clay loam to de- 
velop its good properties and make it profitable to the grower. 

We do not attach as much importance to the preparation of the 
soil before planting as many do, depending, as we do, more upon 
the cultivation afterwards ; yet we would not discourage a thorough 
preparation of the soil previous to setting, for so far that is very 
good ; but no matter how well the land may have been prepared, 
nor how well the trees may be set, if they are neglected afterwards 
they cannot flourish ; give them diligent, unceasing attention. 
Every farmer knows how to make his corn grow, and every gar- 
dener knows what his cabbage needs to insure a good crop ; if we 
apply the same principle of cultivation to our young apple trees,, 
we would have no difficulty so far as cultivation is concerned ; this 
is essential to the vigorous and healthy growth of a young tree. 
When the land cannot be, cultivated, a mulching of a few inches in 
thickness will be found to answer the same purpose; it should be 
applied over a space embracing the whole area occupied by the 
roots. Whatever material is used for the purpose should be applied 
thick enough to prevent weeds and grass from pushing through it. 
Where mulching has been used for a few years, it will be almost ne- 
cessary to continue its use, as in that time the roots will be found 
to occupy a space near the surface, as we see the trees in the forest 
where the leaves have been allowed to remain. To discontinue the 



292 . THE SOUTHERN* [May 

mulch and resort to cultivation of the soil, it would be found that 
that could not be done without serious injury to the roots ; they 
would, too, be more exposed to the severe midsummer droughts that 
so often prevail here, while we think that a good mulch, if con- 
tinued, would obviate the necessity of stirring the soil ; yet, in con- 
sequence of the many difficulties in the way of using it on a large 
scale, we would advise the alternative of frequent stirring of the soil 
during the season of growth ; this should be shallow, say three or 
four inches in depth. If this is continued from the time of plant- 
ing, the roots will seldom find their way so near the surface as to be 
disturbed by the cultivator. While the trees are yet young and 
most need cultivation, some crop that requires summer culture might 
be allowed to occupy the space between them, provided the fertility 
of the soil is kept up by a generous application of some fertilizing 
agent. No crop, however, should be allowed to grow near the trees, 
nor within the area that the roots occupy. Low hoed crops, such 
as potatoes, peas, beans, melons, &c; corn and tobacco, may also 
be grown with benefit to the orchard, but they draw heavily from 
the soil, especially the latter, from the date the trees are planted 
until they attain a size sufficient to bear a fair crop, Our object 
should be to make wood. We are very well aware that the wood- 
producing and fruit-producing principle are antagonistic, yet we 
cannot have much fruit until we have gotten a good supply of wood ; 
it is therefore seldom desirable that a young tree should produce 
fruit, for it is always done at the expense of its growth. Different 
varieties of the apple seem to require different periods of time for 
reaching the fruit producing state, but it is expected that all, sooner 
or later, arrive at that point. While young, the pores are open or 
unobstructed, the circulation of sap is free and rapid, and the ten- 
dency is to form leaf buds ; when older, the circulation is not so 
free or easy, and being retarded from whatsoever cause, the natural 
tendency is to form fruit buds. This is why dwarfed trees are more 
prolific than those on free stocks. The apple is made dwarf by 
budding, or grafting on the Paradise stock, the pear on the quince, 
and the cherry on the Cerasus Mahaleh, &c. These stocks being of 
a more diminutive growth than the species worked upon them, 
check the descending flow of sap, and it is then formed into fruit 
buds. We may induce a young tree into early bearing by lacerat- 
ing the branches, or by bending down their ends during the grow- 
ing season. As we said before, anything that tends to check the 
growth of wood will tend to fruit-producing. In nearly all instances 
where the habit of growth of the tree is upright, it will be more 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 293 



tardy in reaching the productive state than those of a horizontal or 
drooping character. 

Pruning, next to the cultivation, is the most important matter in 
the management of the orchard, but it is so often performed by in- 
experienced hands, and those who have but little idea of the prin- 
ciples that should govern the operation, that it is a question with us 
whether there is not really more injury incurred by an injudicious 
use of pruning instruments than would be experienced by no prun- 
ing at all. Before we begin the operation we should know our sub- 
ject ; we should know what is needed, and how to accomplish the 
desired end. To train a tree properly, we should commence while 
it is quite young; different varieties require different pruning; and 
we also believe that trees in different latitudes require different 
training. In the North they require sun and light ; in the South, 
shade, to protect the stems and roots from the scorching solar rays; 
but in either section we deprecate the practice of training trees up 
four, five, or six feet before they are allowed to branch ; this leaves 
a long stem exposed to the sun, frost, and wind, and a host of in- 
sects that prey upon the bark and wood, besides the deleterious con- 
sequences arising from sudden changes of the atmosphere. It is a 
very common thing to see these stems injured from these causes in 
a way that soon destroys the whole tree. Let them branch close to 
the ground : they will grow twice as fast as when trimmed up as 
high as a man's head ; they will be more vigorous, and less liable to 
diseases and the attacks of insects ; besides, they will always be 
found able to support themselves, never needing the support of a 
stake. While I think that some of the innovations made upon na- 
ture's laws may be, and are to our advantage, yet in the matter of 
training trees that are planted in the open field we might profit by 
patterning a little more after her. See how strong and sturdy each 
tree will grow when left to itself; it throws out its branches strong 
and numerous on every side, and with this abundance of branches 
will be found a corresponding supply of vigorous roots penetrating 
the soil in every direction in search of food. When we cut off a 
branch we strike an indirect blow at the roots. It will be found 
that the tree that has the fewest branches will have but few roots, 
and vice versa ; this is demonstrated to us in our nursery operations 
in thousands of instances. It is also found that the side of the tree 
that has the most branches will also have on the same side a larger 
share of roots ; this is obvious, as one is directly dependent upon 
the other ; destroy the roots, and we destroy the tree ; remove all 
the branches, and with them the leaves as they appear for a few 



294 THE SOUTHERN [May 

times, and it will share the same fate. The greater part of the food 
for the tree is drawn from the earth through the roots ; this sub- 
stance, then, in the form of sap, passes from the roots through the 
stem into the branches and leaves, then undergoes a preparation, 
commences its return, and in doing this is gradually absorbed or de- 
posited in its course, forming the substance of the tree. When the 
leaves are all far removed from the tree, as is the case when the 
tree is trained with a long naked stem, this process naturally goes 
on much slower, and the returning sap becomes in a great measure 
absorbed before reaching the lower part of the trunk and the roots ; 
this causes the tree to become top-heavy. As the trees grow by a 
circulation of sap from the roots to the leaves and back again, it 
follows that the nearer the leaves are to the roots the more rapid 
this circulation is accomplished, and the faster growth proceeds. 
No sap is of any consequence in the formation of wood until it has 
passed into the leaves and there been elaborated, the roots them- 
selves being formed by deposits of this prepared sap returned from 
the leaves. Among the many other advantages of low-headed trees 
is that the fruit is less liable to be blown off than on tall, long 
branched ones, that would be swayed to and fro by the wind ; the 
fruit is also more easily gathered, less liable to bruising when drop- 
ping off, besides the branches so shade the ground that little or no 
cultivation will be needed near the tree, and this will save it from 
many a rude bruise from careless ploughmen. 

In training trees in this way, it is necessary to begin in the early 
stages of growth. As they generally come from the nursery they 
are not in the best condition for low training. It is the too com- 
mon practice with nurserymen to trim their trees up too high, and 
also to plant their trees too closely in the nursery rows to allow a 
proper development of branches. I, as a nurseryman, plead guilty 
of this error ; and while I am aware of its being wrong, I must at 
the same time endeavor to please my customers ; and until they 
learn that it is better to have a tree with all its branches, we must 
continue to take them off. The longer trees stand in the nursery 
rows, at least after the second year's growth, the greater will be the 
difficulty in training them properly after transplanting. We would 
begin with trees say two years old, and prune off the ends of the 
branches, and head back the leader say to one half of last year's 
growth, having an eye at the same time to giving it a symmetrical 
shape ; but for the loss of roots in removing the tree this pruning 
would go on farther than to rightly proportion the head ; then an 
annual watching will be necessary. We would not advise pruning 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 295 

further than to cut out branches that cross or appear to crowd each 
other ; by careful watching this will always be attended to while 
the branches are small. The taking off of large limbs should be 
avoided, and we think small shoots along the branches, except the 
water sprouts should not be disturbed. Many sorts, amongst which 
are the summer Sweet Paradise, Gravenstein and Dominie, grow 
with such open heads as to preclude the necessity of scarcely even 
cutting out a branch. Nearly all these will need will be to keep 
them in shape by occasionally stopping the ends of straggling 
branches. After the trees have attained a condition to bear full 
crops, but little trimming will be advisable farther than to remove 
all dead branches. Neither should long neglected old orchards be 
severely pruned ; better to let the large limbs remain on rather than 
take them off at the risk of premature decay of the tree ; and, as 
before stated, we believe there is more^ harm done by excessive or 
injudicious pruning than would result from no pruning at all. As 
for the proper season for pruning, this depends almost entirely upon 
the object sought. If we wish a more vigorous growth of wood, 
prune between the cessation of growth in autumn and the re-com- 
mencement of the same in the spring ; if we prune for inducing the 
formation of fruit buds, let it be done during the season of growth; 
this weakens the growth, and fruit buds are then formed instead of 
wood buds ; this severe pruning or pinching checks the flow of sap, 
and the more it is checked in its circulation, the more likely it will 
be to produce fruit buds. The theory is, that in this slow circula- 
tion that the sap is subjected to, it becomes more completely ela- 
borated in the tissue of the tree, and is therefore better adapted to 
the formation of fruit buds. Now if we want to produce fruit buds, 
we can prevent a free circulation by bending the branches down, or 
making incisions around the branch ; but if we wish to develop a 
vigorous growth of wood, we give it a vertical position, or prune 
back to two or three buds ; the sap being concentrated in these, 
makes a strong shoot. To direct tie sap from the vigorous to the 
weak parts, cut off all the superfluous shoots on the strong ones 
early in the season, and let them remain on the weak ones as late 
as possible ; the fewer young shoots there are on a branch, the 
fewer leaves there will be, and the less sap will be attracted to that 
part. We should bear in mind that leaves are essential to the 
growth of a tree, and should be careful to not divest it of an undue 
portion of them. "Every leaf that is removed from a tree in the 
growing state tends to lessen its growth ; hence the necessity of al- 
lowing the young side-shoots to remain on weak parts. Pinch the 



296 THE SOUTHERN [May 

strong shoots early in the season ; this will check the flow of sap in 
that part, and turn it to the weaker ones that have not been 
pinched. 

In pruning bearing trees, we should keep an eye on fruit buds ; 
in the apple, these are generally on short spurs distributed along 
the branches. In the apple as well as the pear, these are generally 
formed two or three years previous to bearing. For the first two 
or three seasons, they produce but a rosette of leaves, continuing to 
lengthen. After they have fruited, they generally branch, and, if 
properly managed, will continue to bear fruit for many years. The 
trees in a fruitful condition will be found covered with these spurs 
on all parts, except the young shoots. This is, however, different 
in the peach, apricot, and nectarine, and they require a different 
mode of pruning. They bear their fruit upon the shoots of one 
season's growth, and the most important fruit branches on these 
trees are the most vigorous shoots of the last season's growth. 
These contain both fruit and wood buds, and in order to insure an 
annual supply of these important shoots, it is best to cut back du- 
ring the winter and early spring, say one-half of the last season's 
growth of each branch. The number of fruit is lessened, but the 
remaining portion will be so much improved by this process of thin- 
ning that it will more than compensate for the trouble. And by 
this contraction of sap, a much more vigorous growth of branches 
will be formed, and these, possessing a good supply of fruit buds, 
will add greatly to the chances for a crop of fruit the next season. 
But this mode of shortening is not applicable to the apple and 
pear, when, as we said before, the most important fruit bud's are 
found upon the spurs along the branches of the older wood of seve- 
ral years' growth. After an apple tree has reached a good bearing 
age, we do not think it well to prune farther than to remove 
branches that cross each other and water-sprouts, and pinch the 
ends of straggling or rampant shoots, so as to maintain a desirable 
shaped top, and to direct or attract the sap from one part to ano- 
ther ; and it must be remembered that winter or early spring prun- 
ing will promote a vigorous growth of wood. While summer prun- 
ing or pinching lessens the growth of wood and adds to the fruitful- 
ness of the tree, by careful attention to stopping by pinching such 
shoots as are drawing too much from other parts, a proper propor- 
tion may be established, and but little other pruning will be needed. 

In conclusion, we cannot but urge upon our people the importance 
of the cultivation of the apple as a source of profit; and, with a 
soil and climate so well-adapted to its growth, we have everything 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 297 



to encourage us in the enterprise. The few orchards of importance 
that are now yielding crops in this State bear evidence of the profits 
that await all who .will bestow upon them the necessary attention. 
We are familiar with one orchard in this commonwealth comprising 
about forty acres, that, in 1866 netted its owner over $2,700. In 
1867, the same orchard produced a crop valued at $7,000. A far- 
mer, in another district, informed me that his orchard of about two 
acres, last year netted him $600, besides what he used for heme 
consumption. And I learn, from what I deem a reliable source, 
that the apples produced in Niagara county, New York, the past 
season, were sold for over $510,0.00 — over half a million of dollars. 
Now, suppose we had a few counties in this State producing apples 
to that extent which might easily be brought about, would we not 
soon feel the salutary effect of it in our pockets ? But as one of 
our Pomological sages has written, ■ ' It is not, however, merely as 
a source of income, that the cultivation of the finer fruits become 
profitable — the family which is at all times supplied with delicious 
and refreshing fruit from its own gardens, has within its reach not 
only a very important means of economy, but of real domestic com- 
fort." 

An influence is thus introduced of an exalted character ; a ten- 
dency is directly exerted towards the improvement of the manners 
of the people ; every addition to the attraction of home has a salu- 
tary bearing on a rising family of children ; the difference between 
a dwelling with well-planted grounds and well-furnished with every 
rural enjoyment, and another where scarcely a single fruit tree sof- 
tens the face of blackness and desolation, may, in many instances, 
and to many a young man just approaching active life, serve as the 
guiding infjuence between a useful life on the one hand, or a roving 
and unprofitable one on the other ; between a life of virtue and re- 
finement, from early and favorable influences, or one of dissipation 
and ruin, from the overbalancing effects of a repulsive home. Nor 
can any man, even in the noon or approaching evening of life, 
fail to enjoy a higher happiness with at least an occasional inter- 
course with the blooming and loaded trees which his own hand has 
planted and pruned, than in the noise of the crowd and tumult of 
the busy world. 

Feanklin Davis. 

Richmond Nurseries, May 6, 1868. 

At the conclusion of Mr. Davis' most interesting essay, Mr. Allan 
remarked : While fully coinciding with the greater portion of the 
very interesting and instructive essay just read by Mr. Davis, he 



298 THE SOUTHERN [May 

felt constrained to object to the impression which was likely to be 
created by what had been said concerning the preparation of the 
soil for an orchard. He (Mr. A.) thought that thorough prepara- 
tion of the soil by ploughing and subsoiling was not only of prime 
importance, but essential to success with the orchard. Nor did he 
think that constant cultivation of orchards was desirable. He pre- 
ferred mulching the trees well and putting the orchard down in 
grass. If the ground had been well prepared, and care was taken 
to prevent the grass from closing around the trees, this was the best 
method. It was better to cultivate, however, than to let the grass 
close around the trees or grow tall. He also called attention to the 
point now in dispute among scientific horticulturists as to whether 
the theory of ascending and descending sap was correct. 

Dr. Johnson thought that much importance should be attached to 
planting and training trees in such a manner that they should be 
their own protection against the direct rays of the sun during our 
hot summers. Also, that our orchard grounds would be much ben- 
efitted, and require but little cultivation if the trees were planted 
sufficiently close and permitted to grow in such a way as to thor- 
oughly shade the ground. He also remarked, incidentally, that, 
though fruit-growing was our " manifest destiny" in Virginia, we 
must not expect to attain great results at once. Much time would 
be necessary to determine what portions of the State were best 
adapted to the various kinds of fruit. It was hoped that the infor- 
mation disseminated by our Society would save many persons from 
costly and vexatious experiments ending in disappointment. 



Always be Planting a Tree." 



Considering the cost, and small amount of labor, there is no one 
thing that so amply repays as the planting of a tree. Well-grown, 
it becomes always an object of beauty, a source of joy to the owner 
and his family — a pleasure to visitors and to the residents of a neigh- 
borhood — adds an appearance of increased value to the premises — 
improves the general effect of the scenery — becomes a protection 
from cold winds — reduces the severity of the temperature — enhances 
the rental value of a residence — often more admired than the most 
costly building ; and, finally, can never be viewed without a thought 
of the supreme creative Power which " doeth all things well." — 
Iforticulturist. 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 299 

An Olitory Medley. 

" Once my garden took up half my care, 
Other business claimed the minutes I could spare." 

Mr. Editor, — In reply to your invitation to supply an article for 
your May number, I contribute the following olio, relating to many 
matters of interest connected with gardening, which, although it has 
been always considered an important part of domestic husbandry, 
has recently become of far greater concern to the people of the 
Southern " districts' than it ever was at any previous time. 

I desire it to be understood that I write particularly for the ben- 
efit of the ladies, those excellent housewives of our Southern homes, 
who have this department of household economy under their special 
charge, and who, intent on relieving their husbands of as many 
cares as possible, deny themselves of even some of the comforts of 
life; and, refusing to be " indulgent of their ease," rise early, and 

"Cheered by a sense of duty, leave the bed, 
When living embers on the hearth are spread." 

To all such, these desultory lines are dedicated ; and if they shall 
tend, in any degree, to lighten their toils or to render their labor 
more productive, I shall be richly rewarded. 

The first thing to be done towards good gardening is to have the 
land coultered or spaded very deep. I prefer the first named in- 
strument for this service, This should be done in the fall of the 
year ; and as soon as broken, the land should be raised into high 
hills, in order to render it more pervious 'to the winter's frosts and 
to protect it from the rains of that season, the water of which will 
more readily pass off, by which the usual super saturation will be 
avoided, and thus the ground will be far dryer and lighter, and so 
earlier and better fitted for cultivation in the spring. In the man- 
agement of a stiff clayey soil, this is indispensable. 

Those who have never tried it will be amazed at the result of the 
experiment. They will find that their land will be "in order" at 
least ten days sooner than that of their next-door neighbor, who 
follows "the fashion of his fathers" and allows his soil to be soaked 
and sobbed through the winter. 

To prepare for sowing your seed, cut down the hills with a hoe, 
so as to level the land ; then coulter or spade it deep, as before. 
For early vegetables, the rows should be laid off as nearly " east 
and west" as the surface of the land will allow. Raise ridges five 
or six inches high, rake them on the south side (not on the top) so as 
to give them an inclination of about forty-five degrees : open the 



300, THE SOUTHERN [May 

drill near the bottom of the ridge, so as to give the seed, and the 
tender plant When it shall have sprung out of the ground, the pro- 
tection from the north wind which the ridges will thus afford, and 
you will be surprised to see how much sooner it will make its ap- 
pearance and how much faster it will grow, than if left without this 
protection. 

All of the earliest sowings should be managed in this way. 

The character of the vegetable to be raised should be regarded. 
Those which have no tap root should be planted very loiv, though 
not covered very deep ; whilst such as have this root should be 
planted on ridges. 

To insure very early tomatoes, cucumbers, cymlins, and such 
like^ select the seed of the earliest varieties and plant in hot-beds 
three inches apart each way ; when about to transplant, take the 
plants carefully up with a garden trowel, having previously made 
the bed thoroughly wet, so as to make the earth adhere to the 
plant. 

In this way, you remove much of the dirt with each plant ; and 
if carefully done, they will grow off in their new home without be- 
ing at all retarded by the removal. Should the sun be very hot, 
the plants should be sheltered for two or three days after being 
transplanted, by having grass or weeds thrown over three or four 
short sticks placed around them. 

Much economy may be practiced in the cultivation of gardens, 
which those who are straitened in their land limits would do well to 
consider and to practice. As a proof of this, let me say that I 
often grow four crops on the same square in one year, having three 
of them growing at the same time. I sow peas in rows four feet 
apart, planting Early York cabbages three feet apart between the 
rows. Between each of these, I plant late cabbages. 

When the pea-vines are removed, I plant a row of celery in the 
place from which they have been taken ; or two rows of beets, sal- 
sify, turnips or the like — all of which have done well — none of them 
interfering with any of the others. 

When you have plants of any kind large enough to set out, never 
wait for " a season ;" but, having laid off the ground and marked 
the places where the plants are to be set, make holes five or six 
inches deep with your planting-stick and fill them with water, taking 
care not to let any fall on the surface, by which the land would be 
baked around the plant on the appearance of the sun. Allow time 
enough for the water to be entirely absorbed before you insert the 
plants, which should be pressed very lightly around the roots, and 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 301 

they -will grow off more readily than if planted when the land is 
thoroughly wetted by rain; 

The above hints are the result of an experience of many years of 
close attention to gardening — in which I took great interest as long 
as the facilities were left me for prosecuting my operations to my 
satisfaction. 

Now, however, it may be said that " Othello's occupation is 
gone ;" for when the Southern Confederacy went down, my gar- 
dener went off, and the " wards of the nation" have such a pen- 
chant for garden-palings that I find it impracticable to keep my 
grounds onclosed, and so they have gone to waste, waiting for a 
brighter day to come, when, I trust, we will be enabled to do better 
than at present. I have lost none of my fondness for the occupa- 
tion, which I regard as one of the most interesting and refined in 
which man or woman can engage. 

I comfort myself with the reflection, that although 

"You may break, you may ruin, the vase if you will, 
But the scent of the roses will hang round it still." 

Nor am I without hope that the vase itself will yet -be restored 
whole as before, and adorned with like precious flowers as once 
gratified and delighted all who came within the range of their in- 
fluence. 

As all practical suggestions are valued according to the authority 
by which they are sustained, and as I do not desire that the above 
shall be over-estimated, I attach my name, and will be thankful if 
all your correspondents will do likewise. 



Danville, Va. 



Th. P. Atkinson. 



Strawberries. 

Mr. ^Editor,— -In compliance with your request, I give you the 
reasons that induced me to cultivate largely this, the earliest and 
most delicious of our fruits : m 

1. Because it is the earliest and most delicious of our fruits, in 
my judgment. 

2. It matures, in our latitude, when we have the most abundant 
rains. Ordinarily, the harvest of it is over when the drought sets 
in. 

3. It stands drought as well as clover or black-eye pea. 

4. It stands the winter as well as wheat or clover. 

5. It recovers from the heat or drought of summer in the fall 



302 THE SOUTHERN [May 

rains, and puts on strength for the severest winter and next spring's 
crop. 

6. The bloom is rarely forward enough to be damaged by the 
frost, and never wholly killed by the latest frost. This has been my 
observation for ten years. 

7. No insect will attack it. 

8. No rogue can steal it. The best eye cannot distinguish a ripe 
one from a green one the brightest moonlight night; while the sense 
of feeling is too tedious a guide for patience or profit ; besides, this 
sense will as likely select a half ripe as a ripe one ; and, while you 
are gathering, you are guarding, in the day-time, from morn till 
eve. 

9. Almost every other crop has drained our soil of its appropri- 
ate nutrition, and the strawberry is a capital succession. 

10. With the proper fertilizers, proper cultivation, and the best 
varieties, it is the most profitable investment in horticulture in Vir- 
ginia. 

11. It is impossible to exceed the demand in the country for this 
fine fruit. 

12. You can transplant from March till December. 

Leo. Rosser. 

Oak Hilly near Richmond, April 16, 1868. 

N. B. — I extract from my Horticultural Diary a statistical state- 
ment of the Strawberry Harvest in the vicinity of Richmond for 
seven years past, which may prove of interest to growers of this 
fruit : 

1861. Harvest began May 11th, closed June 14th. 



1862. ■ 


a 


" 17th, 


<< 


18th. 


1863, 


a 


" 23d, 


u 


13th. 


1864. 


a 


" 21st, 


a 


11th. 


1865. 


,i 


" 6th, 


a 


May 31st. 


1866. 


« 


" 15th, 


« 


June 5th. 


186T. 


cc 


'" 18th, 


u 


15th. 



L. R. 



Pear Blight. 

Ed. So. Planter, — Is there any remedy for fire-blight in the pear 
tree ? Or, rather, has the cause of it been discovered ? Eor, if its 
origin is known, there may be some chance of providing a remedy ; 
otherwise, very little. Experience has proven that Mr. Downing's 
theory of frozen sap will hardly do. The electricity theory is no 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER 303 

better, if as good, and I arci slow to accept Mr. Median's idea that 
the blight is caused by a fungus, unless he will explain why other 
fruit trees, such as cherry, plum and apple, are not affected by the 
same. 

It seems to me that if the pear-tree will absorb fungi, the cherry 
and apple will do it also. What think you of it ? Have you any 
theory on the subject ? And what remedies do you use ? 

M. 

"We prefer to let Mr. Meehan speak for himself concerning his 
theory of fire-blight. We confess that our mind is still unsettled — 
with, however, a bias in favor of the fungus. If we properly un- 
derstand this theory, it is that a parasitic fungus germinates in the 
bark of the pear-tree, grows around the stem and destroys the cir- 
culation of the sap. Why it is found only on the pear, we cannot 
say. The only remedy of which we know is the free use of the 
knife as soon as signs of decay ar,e perceived. This is not always 
successful, but it is the only thing worthy the name of remedy yet 
discovered. 



Norwood, Craven County, N. C, \ 
March 30, 1868. J 

Editor Southern Planter and Farmer, — During the month of 
February, I planted twelve barrels of Irish potatoes on ground that 
was old, but in good heart and heavily manured with stable manure. 
I expect to get these potatoes into market about the latter part of 
May or early in June. And the ground no$- occupied by them, to 
which I shall add about ten acres of new-ground, I propose to plant 
in potatoes for November digging. 

The information I desire is this : Will spring potatoes, dug in 
June, and as seed, recommitted to the ground within two or three 
weeks, produce the same season ? 

If matured, I have no doubt they would, but how, if immature ; 
as early potatoes usually are ? 

Last year, not caring to run the risk, I ordered my potatoes (30 
barrels) from New' York. I propose to save this outlay, if it be 
possible, this year. 

If you can give me the desired information, you will greatly 
oblige 

Y6ur subscriber and friend, 

E. M. Williams. 



304 THE SOUTHERN [May 

We would advise our correspondent, under no circumstances what- 
ever, to plant new potatoes. Even if they were all well matured, 
which it is hardly possible for them to be, in time for summer plant- 
ing, it would be almost throwing away the chances for a moderate 
crop to plant them in the same ground the same year — worse than 
that the same month — that they had been grown upon. 

The tendency to degeneration in the potato is greater, perhaps, 
than in any other vegetable; especially is this true in the Southern 
States ; and our experience is, that whenever a good crop is desired, 
the only safe way to secure it is to procure seed from another sec- 
tion, the North being preferred. 

We know of no surer method of hastening this natural tendency 
to deterioration, than by planting new tubers ; and it would take a 
very few years of such treatment totally to eradicate the potato. 

In some portions of Virginia, the Peach Blow variety seems to 
be an exception to the above rule, and home-grown seed may be 
used, but never the same season in which they are raised. 



"Wine Plant." 



The following has been handed to us by a Philadelphia ." Sub- 
scriber." Extract — Weekly Tribune. American Institute Farmers 
Club— New York— meeting, Tuesday, March 3, 1868. 

Rhubarb Wine.-*— The Club unanimously adopted the following 
resolution : 

Resolved — By the Farmers Club of the American Institute, " that 
the selling of common rhubarb or pie-plant, in its different varieties, 
as a Wine Plant, is an attempt to deceive and to defraud the peo- 
ple of this country." 

Mr. Carpenter. I am glad this resolution has passed, but it i s 
not strong enough. This wine plant is more than an imposition. 
It contains none of the properties of wine, and it is injurious. 
Hundreds of barrels are brought into this city (N. Y.) and sold at 
from twenty-five to fifty cents per gallon, and is used to adulterate 
other wines. 

A. S. Fuller. I am glad to see this subject introduced — other 
miserable wines have been encouraged. We have had quite enough 
of Portugal grapes that grow on the Hackensack river. 

Dr. Snodgrass — Was glad the Club had taken the initial step to- 
wards condemning these wines, and he hoped the day would come 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 305 



when they would unanimously protest against the exhibition of all 
alcoholic liquors. — Gardener s Monthly. 

[We had thought that this ridiculous humbug had long since exploded in 
the Northern States, and had hoped never to hear of it in the South, but we 
learn that parties are travelling over this State and North Carolina, givim 
most marvellous accounts of the profitableness and usefulness of rhubarb fc 
wine. 

If any of our readers are disposed to invest in it, we suggest to them as pre^ 
ferable the common dock weed, which would, we think, make a wine far supe~ 
rior to the rhubarb, at a smaller cost. Indeed, we see no reason why sheep- 
sorrel might not be used for the same purpose. The whole thing is a gram? 
swindle. — Ed. So. Planter and Farmer.] 



Wine— A Mode of Making It. 



[We clip the following from an exchange. It will be valuable to many of 
our readers who, from a few vines, wish to make wine for home consumption. 
as it is a simple and economical method. — Ed. So. Planter and Farmer.] 

I do not profess to be posted in the methods of wine manufac- 
ture — not even with any method. But I have lately become ac- 
quainted with a mode adopted by one of my neighbors, which I 
propose to report to your readers, and leave them to decide upon its 
value and the correctness of the reasoning which induced him to 
adopt it. The method and reasoning are these, as far as I can 
state them : 

The ripe grapes are first mashed in a tub or vat, where they are 
allowed to remain till active fermentation ensues. They are then 
drained — not pressed — for a given period. The liquid thus ob- 
tained is carried to the cask intended for it, and allowed to continue 
its fermentation through a syphon. This first drawing he calls his 
first-class, or No. 1 wine. 

He next adds to the grapes, still in the tub, water and sugar, in 
quantity, as he says, sufficient to give the mass as much sugar as it 
had in the beginning. This he also drains off, after fermentation, 
and places in another cask, to be treated as the first. This makes 
his No. 2, or second quality of wine. 

The grape mass is still to undergo a similar process for the third, 
and in some cases the fourth time ; draining, not pressing, each 
time. This makes his third class of wine and vinegar. 

Now for the theory, if I can succeed in stating it. Nature, in 
the process of ripening the grape, has only prepared a portion of 
the juice for wine ; while that retained in the pulpy or cellular por- 
vol. ii — 20 



306 THE SOUTHERN [May 

tion has yet to be disengaged or set free by fermentation. His 
theory is, that this fermentation disengages it ; and draining is pre- 
ferable as a means of separating it rather than pressure, which 
brings out the pieces of the skin and harder substances. — Horti- 
culturist. 



Shipping Strawberries. 

To our correspondent who complains that his berries did not 
reach market in good condition we hardly know what to say. We 
certainly cannot explain it without more of the details than he has 
given us, though there are many reasons why he might have failed 
even with the best boxes. The boxes may not have been properly 
packed in the crates, or sufficiently well filled, to prevent jostling ; 
or the berries may have been too ripe, or of some variety that will 
not bear transportation. 

The boxes used by him (those made by the American Basket 
Company) are among the most approved now in use, but the 
"Beechen" basket, though higher priced, is preferred by most of 
our small fruit-growers in this vicinity, as being neater and more 
durable. 

Messrs. Allan & Johnson, of this city, inform us that they are 
now ordering largely of both kinds for persons who experimented 
with them last year. 

We think we can assure Mr. H. that if he will grow the right 
hind of strawberry, say " Russell" or " Wilson," will gather them 
when not too ripe, and pack the boxes tight enough to prevent their 
shaking about, he may send them hundreds of miles and be sure of 
their reaching their destination in good condition. 



Cultivation of Pear Trees. 

B., Baltimore County, Md., says: I, last fall, planted out a 
small orchard of pear trees, and want to cultivate them according 
to the best system. The ground, last year, was heavily manured 
and subsoiled to the depth of some fifteen inches, and planted in 
potatoes. After the potatoes were dug, it was again well ploughed, 
and the trees planted early. 

Now, will you tell me — 1st. How you would proceed if they were 
your own ? 2d. Have you on hand a number of your Monthly, in 
which you explain fully your method of cultivating trees in sod — if 
so, I will send on and get it. 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 307 

We should seed the orchard down to grass this spring. If they 
were planted originally with the view of cultivating between, and of 
course set very wide apart, plant another lot so as to make double 
the number, and give the whole piece up to the trees. Be careful 
not to let the grass grow long about the young trees, or it will take 
away the moisture, which the young trees ought to have. Cut down 
the grass several times a year, and this will do it. Let your trees 
branch very low, and they will soon keep the grass down for them- 
selves. Top dress occasionally to maintain the fertility of the soil. 
This is the whole system in a nut-shell. It is not " our" system. 
When a boy, we could not but note the superior health of trees in 
pastures, and on lawns which were regularly mowed, over those 
grown in vegetable gardens where the soil was constantly dug about 
the roots ; and all we have since said has been only this and nothing 
more. — Gardener's Monthly. 



Cabbages. 

* * A good and rather stiff loam is best adapted to Cabbages. 
They require a considerable portion of manure if the land is not 
naturally rich, or if they are cultivated as a part of a regular rota- 
tion. The cause of failure is generally in the careless manner of 
planting. * * 

The ground having been well prepared, and being in good heart 
and tilth, the plough should open a deep and narrow furrow. The 
plants having been carefully taken up without breaking the fibres of 
the roots, the tops should be cut off to about two inches from the 
crown ; then from a basket where the plants should be carefully 
laid, dip the roots of each plant in a pail of moisture formed by 
mixing rich mold with urine to the consistency of soft mud, drop- 
ping the plants in the furrow two feet apart. A slight push will 
cause them to adhere to the fresh soil, and this treatment will sel- 
dom fail. The repeated use of the plough between the rows is ne- 
cessary for the growth of the Cabbages as well as highly useful to 
clear the land. By this mode of cultivation much labor is saved, 
and if the ground has been well-prepared and sufficiently manured, 
an astonishing weight of solid food for cattle is obtained, which, in 
my humble opinion, is far preferable to any of the root crops. The 
best sort to plant in the field is the large red, or the Scotch Drum- 
head Cabbage. — G. W. N., in Mirror and Farmer. 



308 THE SOUTHERN [May 



Enquiry Answered. 

Editor of Planter and Farmer, — Allow a subscriber to recom- 
mend to your correspondent Watermelon, from Prince Edward, the 
use of charcoal — powdered very fine and sprinkled over the plants 
as soon as attacks from insects are observable. 

He does not know that it will prevent the ravages of the Lady- 
bug, but for all other insects that feed upon young and tender 
plants, it is "dead-shot." 

He does not recollect ever having seen the "Lady-bug," and 
hence knows very little of its character and habits, but feels confi- 
dent that great benefit may be derived from its use. Your sub- 
scriber has applied charcoal, prepared in this way, to cabbage- 
plants when apparently destroyed by small bugs, and has invariably 
found that the bugs would disappear immediately and the plants as- 
sume a vigorous and healthy appearance. He prefers applying 
while the dew is on the plant, in order that quite a large proportion 
of the coal may remain on the plants. 

Will Watermelon try this, and give the Planter and Farmer the 
result ? 

As rains frequently wash off the charcoal almost as soon as ap- 
plied, one application may not be sufficient, and therefore careful 
watching is necessary to determine whether a second or third may 
not be needful. 

Subscriber. 



Horticultural Patents. — S. says: I notice that a patent has 
been granted to one Mr. Vermilga, of Dayton, Ohio, for an " Invi- 
gorating Composition for Fruit Trees," consisting of 

3 lbs. sulphate of copper, 
1 lb. sulphur, 
1 oz. saltpetre, 
-J lb. iron filings. 

Judge Cadwallader, of Pennsylvania, has decided that want of 
novelty is fatal to a patent-right. There is no novelty in the 
above — all of the items, and in about the same proportion, have 
been used to " Invigorate Fruit Trees," by those of old time. The 
taste for horticultural patents is a curious one. Why not patent the 
use of dead monkeys for pear trees ? Dead hogs have been tried, 
but monkeys would be a "novel" idea. — Gardener's Monthly. 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 309 



ionstjjolb §tpartment. 



Bees. 

To Editor of Southern Planter and Farmer : 

Dear Sir, — 111 health and pressure of engagements have pre- 
vented me from preparing an article on Bees for your May number, 
as you request. In lieu of such article, I send you some articles on 
the subject, published in the. Charlottesville Chronicle last year, 
which I can fully endorse. I mark such changes as to adapt them 
to your paper. 

In my own apiary, I use the Langstroth hive. I prefer it as im- 
proved by Mr. Richard Colvin, of Baltimore. I have a model hive 
bought of Mr. Langstroth himself, but Mr. Colvins's are far better 
made, and his improvements I think valuable. 

I assume that no one acquainted with the present state of Bee- 
culture would be content to use any hive which did not employ 
movable combs, the essential feature of Mr. Langstroth's invention. 
Yours, very respectfully, 

Wm. Dinwiddie. 

Langstroth on the Honey-Bee. Third Edition. J. P. Lippin- 

cott & Co. Philadelphia : 1865. 

Patent-Office Reports for 1863 and 1865 — Department of Ag- 
riculture — Articles on Italian Bees and Bee-Keeping. 

We think it well at this time to lead our readers aside from the 
dreary prospects of our political condition, to contemplate the more 
pleasant subject presented in the volumes which head this article. 
Whatever else our conquerors may take from us, we suppose they 
will still leave us the privilege to work; and it is an object with all 
of us to find a field of labor which shall be pleasant as well as pro- 
fitable. Bee-keeping seems to embrace these requisites in a re- 
markable degree. We believe that our readers in general are not 
aware of the great advances which have been made in this science 
in the last twenty years. These advances are, in great measure, due 
to two clergymen, one the Rev. Mr. Dzierzon, of Prussia, the other 
the Rev. L. L. Langstroth, of this country, who have greatly ex- 
tended our knowledge of the subject by scientific discoveries made 
by ingeniously constructing the hives of the Bee so as to place the 
whole life and work of these wonderful insects under the eye of the 
patient and enthusiastic observer. 



310 THE SOUTHERN [May 

The essential principle in the structure of their hives, adopted 
nearly simultaneously by both these gentlemen independently of 
each other, is this : that each sheet of honeycomb must be kept 
separate from each other, and capable of being easily removed, ex- 
changed, and replaced. This end is attained by bars or slight 
frames to which the combs are so attached as, in Langstroth's hives, 
not to touch the side, bottom, or top of the hives, allowing the bees 
free passage and ventilation in every part. 

It will be at once seen that hives so constructed give the greatest 
facilities for inspecting their interior. Enthusiastic observers have 
made such use of the.se facilities, that hardly an important point in 
regard to the nature and habits of the Bee now remains obscure. 
The result is that Bee-keeping more than any other branch of rural 
economy, is regulated by well-defined and clearly-established laws, 
and may be conducted with almost perfect certainty of success. 

Mr. Langstroth's book is a complete manual of Bee-keeping, 
illustrated with numerous cuts, putting the young Bee-keeper in 
possession of the most accurate information in regard to the whole 
subject, and explaining every point in the structure of his hives, 
even to giving exact bills of the lumber required in their construc- 
tion. It will richly repay perusal to any intelligent person, whether 
he proposes to keep Bees or not. We design to give a rapid sum- 
mary of some of the more important conclusions reached, as the 
simplest means of making our readers aware of the present state of 
the science. 

In every healthy hive of Bees at the time of swarming, there are 
found three kinds of bees — drones, worker-bees, and a queen. The 
drones are the males, the queen is the only perfect female in the 
hive, the workers are females imperfectly developed. 

The queen is the mother of the whole colony. Her fertility is 
prodigious. In full season she lays from one to three thousand eggs 
per day. From sixty to one hundred thousand Bees are often reared 
from a single queen in one season. 

The impregnation of the queen is the result of her meeting with 
a single drone once for life. The drone perishes in the act. It 
takes place on the wing high in the open air. 

The eggs of an unimpregnated queen will produce drones only. 
Those of an impregnated queen will produce drones or workers at 
her option. The workers under some circumstances lay eggs. 
These produce drones only. The worker bee emerges from its cell 
a perfect insect in twenty-one days from the deposition of the egg. 
Queens are hatched from worker-eggs by one of the most wonderfu 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 311 

and beautiful processes in all natural history. The partitions of 
three contiguous cells are removed by the Bees, and in their place 
is constructed a single cell very much like a pea-nut in size, shape, 
and appearance. This cell they supply with peculiar food, called 
the royal jelly. The queen emerges in sixteen days from the depo- 
sition of the egg. When bees lose their queen by accident, or when 
they purpose to swarm, they raise from one to a dozen or more 
queens. In case of swarming, as soon as the first of these young 
queens is ready to emerge from her cell, the old queen leads out the 
swarm. The first queen which emerges instantly proceeds to destroy 
the others yet unhatched. 

The queen lives about four years ; the workers one year ; the 
drones only a few months. 

Bees may be easily tamed, so that instead of rushing at you in 
anger when you open their hives, they will greet you as a friend and 
come up to feed from your hand. 

By the aid of movable combs natural swarming can be dispensed 
with entirely, or you can regulate it within such limits as you may 
desire, so as to prevent the losses which often result from excessive 
swarming and from the running away of your Bees. These combs 
also enable one to strengthen weak swarms, or to combine several 
swarms with the utmost facility, and in general to manipulate these 
fiery insects with an ease and familiarity that is astonishing. 

The formidable sting of the worker-bee is only too well known. 
The drones have no sting. The queen has a most powerful sting, 
but no amount of teasing, squeezing or provocation can induce her 
to use it against you. She reserves it exclusively for mortal combat 
with other queens. For an account of a most extraordinary combat 
of this kind, see Langstroth, pp. 205-7. 

The affection of the workers for their queen is very noticeable* 
They open the way for her with all deference as she passes through 
the hive. When she stops, they cluster around her, caressing her 
from every direction with their antennae, offering her honey, and 
giving every evidence of unmistakable affection. When they lose 
her from any cause, their grief is frantic. They rush through the 
hive in every direction, sometimes suddenly stopping when they 
meet, crossing their antennae as if to interrogate each other, then 
as suddenly rushing on through and out of the hive, scouring the 
whole neighborhood in search of their mother, the whole mass per- 
vaded with the deepest sorrow, indicated by a plaintive wail touch- 
ing to hear. When you have caused this trouble by a temporary 
removal of the queen, it is most beautiful to see their joy if you re- 



312 THE SOUTHERN [May 

turn her to the hive. Those nearest her instantly change their note 
to the characteristic contented, happy hum, which is caught up and 
carried on until every Bee in or out of the hive is brought in and 
clustered around the queen. Sometimes those favored with nearest 
access embrace her with such ar^or and persistency that she is lite- 
rally hugged to death. 

We are not surprised that some of our friends have expressed to 
us a doubt whether these results of the investigations of Langstroth, 
Dzierzon, and others, are really true. It seems incredible to many 
that so much should be known with such accuracy about the myste- 
rious recesses of a Bee-hive. We can only advise such persons to 
see one of Langstrotfl's hives, with the latest improvements, to con- 
vince them that to those who use these hives the whole life and 
work of the Bee is laid open to observation. 

The introduction of movable-comb hives marks an era in Bee- 
culture both in Europe and in this country. " The general diffu- 
sion of the Italian Bee," says Dzierzon, "will form as marked an 
era in the Bee-culture of Germany as did the introduction of my 
improved hives." Dzierzon introduced these Bees into Germany in 
1853. Several attempts were made to introduce them into this 
country, but not with success until the year 1860. The previous 
use of movable combs had prepared the way for their rapid diffu- 
sion. The Patent-Office Reports for 1863 and 1865 give full par- 
ticulars of the management of these Bees, whose superiority it seems 
was celebrated in the days of Virgil. (Georgicon Lib., IV. 98.) 
Dzierzon, we learn, now cultivates this variety of the Bee exclu- 
sively. 

We extract some remarkable statistics from the Patent Office Re- 
port for 1865 as to the working of these Bees in Iowa : 

"In the summer of 1863 I had but two stands of Italian Bees, 
and these not pure. One of these stored 110 pounds of honey, be- 
sides giving three swarms. The other gave two swarms and stored 
96 pounds of honey. All the swarms filled their hives, and some 
of them stored honey in boxes. I had, the same season, 56 hives 
of common Bees, but not one of them stored a pound of honey, 
though a part of them were divided. That was the poorest honey- 
season ever known in this section." "In the summer of 1865, I 
averaged from nine Italian colonies 119 pounds each. The best of 
these shows the following record in my journal : One free swarm, 
taken from it the 20th of May ; 136 pounds of honey taken in 
boxes ; stored by the swarm, 80 pounds ; from the swarm there 
came a swarm, August 15th, which filled its hive and partly filled 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 313 

two boxes. Thus we have 236 pounds of honey, besides two large 
swarms, from a single hive ! The same summer I had 30 stands of 
common Bees, which I prevented from swarming, yet with no in- 
crease from them. I obtained only 1,655 pounds of honey, or an 
average of about 56 pounds of honey to each. The largest yield 
from any was 96 pounds." 

" In 1865 I had an average of 93 pounds from six Italian colo- 
nies, all of which were divided once, and much disturbed by taking 
brood from them to rear queens. During the same time I did not 
take a pound of honey from any colony of common Bees, though I 
divided them all, and gave each an Italian queen." 

" I claim that facts like these are conclusive." 

And so they seem to be to us also. This great superiority of the 
Italian Bee is due mainly to two facts . It is greatly more prolific, 
and it has a longer bill than the common Bee, which enables it to 
gather honey from flowers which the common Bee cannot reach, e. g. 
common red clover., from the first crop of which, it is said, the Ita- 
lian Bee gathers honey in dry seasons when the flower is short, and 
from the second crop of which it gathers honey at all seasons. 

Accurate measurements give no difference in the size of the cells 
of the Italian Bee as compared with those of the common Bee. 
Their bodies are somewhat longer, their strength and agility so su- 
perior that in every encounter they overpower the common Bee. 

In appearance, the Italian Bee is beautiful. The body is more 
tapering than that of the common Bee, which gives it a very grace- 
ful appearance, and it is conspicuously marked by bright, golden 
bands encircling the abdomen. 

Its most remarkable characteristic, however, is its gentle disposi- 
tion. A sheet of comb covered with them may be taken from a 
hive, and not one of them will fly at you, or ever leave its place, 
but patiently and gently undergo any length of examination. Nor 
will they use their stings unless pressed or wantonly irritated. 



Strawberry Short- Cake. — Mix some dough precisely as you 
would for biscuit ; bake in one cake, on a round tin. When it is 
baked, split it open and butter it well. Have your berries prepared 
with sugar, and cream also, if you like ; pour them upon the lower 
crust of your cake and place the upper one over them. 

J. T. H. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER AND FARMER. 



RICHMOND, VIRGINIA MAY, 1868. 

TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION AND ADVERTISING. 

Subscription One Year, $2.00 

ADVEBTISING. 

1 square, 10 lines or less, one insertion, $ 1 00 % page, one year, % 35 00 

1 square of 10 lines for six months, 6 00 % page, six months, 35 00 

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PAYMENTS. 
Subscriptions— in advance. Advertising— annual— quarterly in advance. All others in advance. 



(fbitorial §tparimtnt. 



Error Corrected. 



In the beautiful poetic gem, ' The Violet in the Snow,' which we published 
in the April number of this Journal, the first line of the fourth stanza is so 
marred by the printing of "hue" for " here," that we call the attention of our 
readers to it, that they may make the correction. 

"And then I saw the moral here," is the correct reading of the line re- 
ferred to. 



To Our Subscribers. 

From the commencement of the new series of the Southern Planter to this 
time, there has not appeared upon its pages a single paragraph which even a 
latitudinarian can construe or torture into the semblance of a dun ; and we had 
fondly hoped to be spared the mortifying necessity of breaking the run of this 
record.. But, "who planteth a vineyard and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or 
who feedeth a flock and eateth not of the milk of the flock ?" If, then, the la- 
borer is, indeed, worthy of his hire, why, all we have to say, for the present, 
is, "muzzle" not "the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn." 

We have a word to speak to some of the subscribers of The Farmer, whose 
names were transferred to the list of the Planter and Farmer, and who, after 
receiving, some two, some three, and some even four numbers of the consoli- 
dated Journal, have naively (not to draw too fine a point by spelling it with a 
k), returned the last number sent them, without at all seeming to remember 
that every number they retain costs us a shilling. Why don't they return all, 
upon the obvious principle of justice, which was recognized by the Jewish mo- 
ther, who, when her son was unfortunately killed at some public exhibition, 
approached the manager and thus addressed him : 

"Sar! I be's de moder of de poor Chew lad 
Dat meet misfortin here so bad. 
Sar! I mus haff de shilling back you know, 
As Moses haff not seed de show." 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 315 



Helps for Those who Desire to Write for this Paper. 

The Board of Trustees of the Illinois Industrial University have issued a 
general Circular to the Farmers of that State, propounding, aimong others, the 
following inquiries, which we commend to the attention of our readers as sug- 
gestive of many important topics upon which they may profitably employ their 
pens for the benefit of our Southern Farmers. These inquiries are as follows : 

"Location of Farm. — What is the location of your farm; its distance from 
market town or shipping point? 

" Soil. — Character of surface-soil, as to depth, color and consistency; of sub- 
soil, whether clay, sandy or gravelly ; with varieties of plants and trees grow- 
ing spontaneously? 

- " Size of Farm. — Number of acres in your farm ; number in cultivation '> 
number in woodland or wild pasture ; division of fields ; rotation of crops ? 

" Cultivation. — When was your farm first put in cultivation; kind of crop 
taken off; to what extent does the soil seem exhausted by cultivation ; have you 
used manures, and if so, with what results ; your experience in deep ploughing 
and its effect on soil and crops ; best ploughs or other implements for breaking 
up ground ? 

" Grasses, Clovers, etc. — What do you find most suitable varieties for pastures 
and meadows ; mode of seeding and quantity sown per acre ; largest and aver- 
age yields of meadow lands; average number of live stock of different sorts 
pastured per acre ; -.experience in top-dressing meadows and its effects ; stage of 
growth at which grasses, etc., are best cut for hay; implements preferred for 
hay-making? 

" Grains. — Best varieties of corn, wheat, oats, rye, barley, buckwheat, etc., 
that have been tried in your neighborhood ; the best time and method of pre- 
paring ground for each of the small grains ; time and method of planting or 
sowing; drills, sowing-machines or planters that you have tried and found best; 
best harrows and rollers ; cultivation of corn, with the kind of implements 
used: experience, if any, in cultivating wheat by horse-hoe, or otherwise; time 
of cutting up corn; method and implements; time of cutting small grains; 
reaper or header employed ; practice in shocking, stacking or putting smal* 
grains in barn; largest average yield ; insects and diseases and methods of sub- 
duing them? 

" Boot Crops. — Best variety of Irish and Sweet potatoes, turnips, beets and 
carrots; time and method of preparing ground; mode of planting; method and 
means of cultivation ; largest and average yield ; methods of digging and keep- 
ing; cost and value as compared with grain crops for feeding; insects and dis- 
eases? 

"Legumes. — Best varieties of peas and beans; their management; cost and 
value as feed-crops ? 

" Textile Plants. — Your experience with flax, hemp and cotton; best variety, 
method of planting, cultivating, etc.; value as a farm-crop? 

•' Ground Plants.— Pumpkins, squashes, watermelons, etc.; management ; 
cost and value as a field-crop ; insects and diseases ? 

"Miscellaneous. — Hops, broom-corn, sorghum, onions, chickory ; growth, man- 
agement and value as a farm-crop? 

" Orchard Fruits. — Apples, pears, peaches, cherries, preferred varieties for 
various purposes ; preparation of ground ; planting, cultivation, and pruning; 



316 THE SOUTHERN [May 

gathering and keeping of fruit; packing for market; fruit-houses and cellars; 
value of orchard products as a farm-crop; insects and diseases? 

" Small Fruits. — Grapes, currants, gooseberries, blackberries, raspberries, 
strawberries; varieties preferred; mode of preparing ground ; planting, culti- 
vation, pruning, draining and gathering; value as a farm-crop; insects and 
diseases? 

"Live Stock. — Cattle, horses, mules, sheep, swine; breeds preferred; breed- 
ing of each; rearing and training; dairy management; fattening of animals; 
wool-growing; management of manures; diseases? 

" Other Domestic Animals. — Poultry, bees, silk-worms, etc.; best breeds ; 
rearing and management; diseases? 

"Rural Architecture, etc. — Houses, barns (for hay and grain and different 
kinds of stock), root and fruit houses, etc.; the materials preferred ; best ar- 
rangement for economy of labor and comfort. 

"Fences. — Material preferred; cost per rod and cost of keeping up hedge, 
board and rail fences ; value of hedges for protection ; is it cheaper to fence out 
stock than keep up? 

11 Capital. — Capital per acre required for good farming?" 



Rodunda Island Guano. 



We re-publish, by request of Mr. Newton, the following letter from the Rich- 
mond Enquirer and Examiner ; and, as Messrs. Crichton & Son have the right 
to expect to be heard in reply, we anticipate their request to that effect by an- 
nexing it below as we find it in the same paper of a later date: 

"Linden, Westmoreland County, Va., ) 
The Hague P. 0., April 11, 1868- J 

11 To the Editor of the Enquirer and Examiner: 

"I have received a number of letters, from time to time, making inquiries in 
regard to Rodunda Island Guano. To these letters I have returned civil replies, 
explaining my connection with the article. To-day I have received three addi- 
tional letters, and have seen the editorial in your paper referring to me by name 
as recommending it. Permit me to save myself the labor of further correspon- 
dence by publishing a few lines in your paper. In 1866 I determined to make 
a number of experiments with various fertilizers in corn. For this purpose, I 
purchased several, and was gratuitously furnished others through my agents in 
Baltimore. The land was measured and the experiments carefully made, with 
a view to report results to the Agricultural Society. The results were so unsat- 
isfactory that I made no report of the experiments. 

" In reply to inquiries by Messrs. Crichton & Co., who had politely sent me 
a barrel of Rodunda Island Guano, I stated all the circumstances; regretted 
very much the failure of the experiments, and expressed the opinion that our 
Farmers would have to manufacture their own composts. I proceeded, how- 
ever, to say what was literally true, that although none of the experiments 
were successful, that the Rodunda Island Guano, at half the cost, had produced 
quite as much effect as any of the fertilizers. The season was dry, and the 
failure may possibly be thus accounted for. My letter was not intended for 
publication, although I should have had no objection to publishing it entire. 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 317 

When I saw the use made of the extract in the advertisement of Messrs. Crich- 
ton & Co., I wrote to them that it was calculated to mislead, and I wished it 
omitted in their future publications. They promised to comply with my re- 
quest, but although stricken out of some of their notices, it has been continued 
in others, and has involved me in quite an extensive correspondence. I should 
be happy to see all fertilizers successful, as the improvement of our lands is 
greatly dependent on bought manure i, and I have no disposition to do injustice 
to any of the dealers in them. The Rodunda Island Guano may be a very 
good manure, and worth trying, but I am unwilling that anyone should engage 
largely in its use on my recommendation. 

WiLLouGHBr Newton." 



" Baltimore, April 18, 1868. 
" To the Editor of the Enquirer and Examiner, Richmond, Va.: 

"Sir, — We have just seen in your paper a communication from the Honora- 
ble Willoughby Newton, with reference to his opinion of the Rodunda Island 
Guano, as communicated to us in a letter from him, dated April 3d, 1867. 

"The article referred to does us so much injustice that we ask permission to 
make the following statement in your columns. 

"On the publication of Mr. Newton's letter, he wrote us, requesting that un- 
less we published his entire letter, to withdraw his certificate. We addressed 
the following in reply : 

1 Baltimore, May 2d, 1867. 
' Willoughby Newton, Esq., Linden: 

1 Dear Sir, — Your respected favor of the 1st instant is at hand, requesting 
us to withdraw the certificate, under your name, of the value of Rodunda Guano. 
We regret that you should complain of the publication of your note to us. It 
was for the very purpose of obtaining from you a candid opinion of its value, 
that at the suggestion of a friend we sent you the Guano. 

'Your letter was too long to publish in extenso, (and such things are expen- 
sive in our 'monthlies/) but we cannot see, on careful perusal of it, that we 
perverted, distorted, or ' misled the public' by the extract. 

'The words published are verbatim et literatim — not mutilated, but the 
sentence is perfect as written by yourself. 

'We did not think it necessary to publish the commentary on fertilizers in 
general, nor the fact that 'you thought of engaging largely in the manufacture 
of fertilizers.' 

'Our only intent and purpose being to attract the attention of Farmers to a 
new, valuable and cheap Guano, (not a manufactured fertilizer,) believing you 
would agree with us, that Farmers have been, and are, paying unjustified 
prices f^r manures. 

Very respectfully, yours, 

Wm. Crichton & Son.' 

"A few days subsequently, a son of Mr. Newton was introduced to us by a 
mutual friend in our city; we exhibited to him the letter and response. He 
stated he saw nothing objectionable in it, and handing him the original, desired 
of him to give it to his father, (supposing he had not retained a copy of it,) 
and if, upon perusal, he found any departure from the strict text and context, 
we would withdraw it from publication. We have never heard from Mr. New- 
ton to this day. 



318 THE SOUTHERN [May 

" Mr. Newton did not state to us ' his letter was not intended for publication/ 
or we assuredly would have considered it a breach of courtesy to do so. Our 
sole object in sending him the Guano for trial was for the very purpose of ob- 
taining from his long experienced and practical knowledge an opinion of its 
merits — and this he did by saying what he now reiterates, 'that the Rodunda 
Guano, at half the cost, had produced quite as much effect as any of the fertil- 
izers tried at the same time.' 

"If 'the season was dry, and the failures of others thus possibly accounted 
for,' may we not ask, was not the full effect of Rodunda equally hindered from 
the same causes ? 

"We sincerely regret the annoyance Mr. Newton has been subjected to in. 
the labor of replying to the numerous letters received upon so interesting a 
subject to the Farmer; and further, that he has found it necessary/at this late 
day, to question the accuracy of his own report upon the results of a Guano 
which has, in the past two years, (since his experiment,) earned for itself a 
reputation equal to any fertilizer 'costing double the money.' 

The analyses and reports of Professor David Stewart, M. D.; Dr. James Hig- 
gins, late State Agricultural Chemist of Maryland ; the opinion of Peter War- 
wick, Esq.; Hon. W. S. McPherson, Superintendent of Agricultural Bureau of 
Maryland ; and the numerous highly respectable names published by us of 
well-known Planters and Farmers of Maryland, who have used it on all de- 
scription of crops, and the sale of upwards of 3,000 tons during the aforemen- 
tioned period, sufficiently attest the value and estimation in which it is now 
held, and confirm the valuable opinion expressed by Mr. Newton in the early 
introduction of the Guano. 

"Practical results are worth more to the Farmer than all essays, formulas, 
and theories. Upon practical results we are quite willing to rest the charac- 
ter and value of the Rodunda Guano. We beg to assure Mr. Newton, since the 
publication of his name is not agreeable to him and no longer necessary to the 
introduction of the article, it shall not appear in our future publications. 

"If the letter of Mr. Newton is still in his possession, we cordially invite its 
publication in full, at our expense. 

Respectfully, 

Wm. Crichton & Son." 



We insert with pleasure, as an act of courtesy due to Dr. Gaillard, the fol- 
lowing notice, but not without the deepest regret that in the mutations of hu- 
man affairs the city of Richmond should be so great a loser by the removal of 
a citizen whose fine talents, professional accomplishments, moral worth and so- 
cial qualities had rendered him an ornament of our society and secured to him 
the respect and esteem of so many warm friends. 

We tender to Dr. G. our cordial wishes for his prosperity in his present and 
all future engagements : 

"Dr. E. S. Gaillard, editor and proprietor of the Richmond Medical Journal, 
Va., having resigned the Professorship of General Pathology and Pathological 
Anatomy in the Medical College of Virginia, and having accepted a similar 
Professorship in the Kentucky School of Medicine, the Journal mentioned will 
hereafter be published at Louisville, Ky. The title of the Journal will be, 
The Richmond and Louisville Medical Journal. 



1868.] PLANTER AND FARMER. 319 

"The following gentlemen have become Associate Editors of this work: Pro- 
fessors G. S. Bedford, New York; T. S. Bell, Louisville, Ky.; J. C. Cabell, Uni- 
versity of Virginia; S. E. Chaill^, New Orleans; S. C. Chew, Baltimore, Md.; 
J. J. Chisolm, Charleston, S. C; S. H. Dickson, Philadelphia; F. H. Hamilton, 
New York ; J. M. Holloway, Louisville, Ky.; L. S. Joynes, Richmond, Va.; Z. 
Pitcher, Detroit, Michigan ; Lewis A. Sayre, New York ; Alfred Stills, Phila- 
delphia ; T. Gaillard Thomas, New York ; W. H. Van Buren, New York. 

"All communications should be addressed to E. S. Gaillard, M. D., Locked 
Box 29, Louisville, Ky." 



Ober's Tobacco Compound 

Is a new preparation, offered this season for the first time, and for which Mr. 
Ober asks a fair trial. Knowing that Tobacco extracted annually much lime, 
potash, etc., etc., from the soil, he has striven to supply these in such quantity 
as to sustain and promote the growth of the plant. 

The high personal character of Mr. Ober is the best guaranteee we know of 
that his work has been well and faithfully done, and that he will not knowingly 
deceive the public. 



Death of Joseph Jackson, Jr., Esq. 

At a meeting of the Virginia Horticultural and Pomological Society, held at 
the office of the Southern Planter and Farmer, on Monday evening, the 6th in- 
stant, on the announcement of the death of Joseph Jackson, Jr., Esq., (the re- 
cording secretary of the Society,) the following resolutions were offered by Wm. 
L. Hill, and unanimously adopted : 

It having pleased Almighty God to remove from our midst, by the hand of 
Death, Joseph Jackson, Jr., Esq., the honored and useful Recording Secretary 
of this Society, we deem it a duty as well as a privilege to give expression to 
our appreciation of his worth, and the loss we sustain in his demise: There- 
fore, 

Resolved, That while we recognize and submit to an All -Wise hand in this 
dispensation, we feel that this Society has lost in Mr. Jackson one of its earli- 
est, most active, and efficient members — one who was ever zealous in its behalf, 
and ready to sacrifice personal interest for its advancement. As a faithful offi- 
cer of the Society, as a practical horticulturist and pomologist, as a good citi- 
zen, and as a personal friend, we deplore his loss. 

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be sent to his bereaved family, 
with assurance of our earnest sympathy, and that copies of the same be fur- 
nished the city papers and the Southern Planter and Farmer for publication. 



Book Notices. 



The New Eclectic for May comes to us with an exceedingly interesting ta- 
ble of contents. It should be in every Southern household, and at the low price 
of $4 per annum, is within the reach of many who ought to, but do not take it. 

Address Lawrence Turnbull and Fridge Murdoch, Editors and Proprietors, 
49 Lexington Street, Baltimore. 



320 THE SOUTHERN [May 

The National Publishing Company, 26 South Street, Philadelphia, announce 
that valuable work, The War Between the States — Its Causes, Character, 
Conduct and Results. By Hon. A. H. Stephens, of Georgia. 

They want Agents for it throughout the country generally. 

The Galaxy. The May number of this handsomely illustrated monthly has 
been kindly sent us- as an exchange, and we are glad to see that it is sustained 
by some of the best writing talent in the country. The price is $4 per annum 
in advance. 

Addrej. Messrs. Sheldon & Co., 498 and 500 Broadway, N. Y. 

The Leader. This spirited and most ably conducted weekly, which we no- 
ticed as forthcoming in our April number, has been received, and is fully up to 
the standard claimed for it in the Prospectus put forth by the Publishers. It 
is filled with original matter, strong editorials, spicy correspondence, good sto- 
ries, etc., etc., and is offered at the low price of $3 per annum. 

Address The Leader, Baltimore, Md. 

It. H. Allen & Co.'s Catalogue of Agricultural and Horticultural 
Implements is a most valuable pamphlet, filled with illustrations and descrip- 
tions of the latest and most improved implements now in use in this country. 

The price is $1, but its value to any practical farmer or horticulturist far ex- 
ceeds its cost. 



Commercial Report. 

Richmond, Va., May 1, 1868. 

Within the past two weeks, there has been more activity in general trade, 
many country merchants being in the market for Spring stocks of goods ; but 
there is a perceptible falling off in receipts of produce, owing to the fact that 
the Farmers throughout the country are busily engaged in seeding crops and 
getting ready for Tobacco-planting. Under light receipts the Tobacco market 
is well-sustained, and we give below a comparison of quotations: 

May 1, 1867. May 1, 1868. 
Common Lugs, light weights, $2 50 ($ 4 25 3 50@ 6 00 

heavy weights, 4 00 ($ 6 00 5 00(a), 7 00 

• Good Lugs, 6 00 ($ 7 00 7 50(a), 9 00 

Bright Lugs, i 10 00 ($,20 00 10 00($14 00 

Fancv Lugs, 22 00 ($40 00 15.00($25($40 

Common Leaf, 7 00 (a). 9 00 7 00($ 8 00 

Medium Leaf, 10 00 ($12 00 9 00($10 00 

Good Stemming, 13 50 ($17 00 12 00($15 00 

Good Shipping, 14 00 ($17 50 13 00($16 00 

Good Manufacturing (bright), 15 00 ($25 00 16 00($25 00 

Bright and Fancy Wrappers, 35 00 ($125 00 30 00($100 00 

Not having heard from two points in the State, we are compelled to omit the 
inspections, this month. 

Wheat— We quote Prime Red, $2.70; Prime White, $2.80 

Corn— Prime White, $1.10; Yellow, $1.11. 

Oats — 40 cents. 

Rye— Scarce, at $2. 

Flour— Country Family, $14.50($15 ; Extra, $13@13.2o ; Superfine, $12($ 
12.50; Fine, $11@11.50.