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against their waste; and of making profit from the manure machinery by the sale of beef, butter, mutton and wool.

Are none of these things possible to us ? The heaviest cost we annually encounter, except in the gratification of our personal tastes and habits, is the pay and maintenance of laborers. Can we not reduce their number, and limit our cultivation to the surface which it is possible, in some way, to manure? If your present corn field of forty acres produces two barrels to the acre, can you not, by concentrating your efforts on one half of that surface—by green manures, thorough and timely culture—greatly increase the yield and sensibly diminish the cost of production? And will not this rule apply as well to all the crops you cultivate ?

It is believed that these questions can be answered in the affirmative. The matters involved in them are of vital importance, and our necessities demand immediate action in the direction to which they point. Let the farmer who has satisfied himself that his occupation, as now conducted, is profitless, prepare at once for a u new departure." Let him begin the use of green manures, as the readiest and cheapest revenue at command—repeating, if necessary, upon the same surface. And should he obtain from them the benefit they elsewhere afford, let him not, after the good old Virginia custom, in such cases made and provided, forthwith abandon tfceir use! He is poor, but he has a few cows. Let him contrive to feed and shelter them well during the coming winter, and, at the proper season, procure them access to a thoroughbred bull. By continuing such care and management for a few years, at the end of them he will have an improved herd, from which profit can be derived. Meanwhile, let him make good use of the improved manure which he will find to be at once accumulating. It is not probable that he has a sheep. Let him contrive to procure six, if no more, and, if it be possible, breed them to a thoroughbred ram. Keep all the ewe lambs, and begin to feed the flock sparingly in early winter, that their digestive organs may be able to manage the full feeding which hard weather will require. In a short time he will have as many sheep as he should have. Then, with a full herd and flock of improved animals, the further exercise of energy and common sense will greatly advance his position and prospects. They will not probably make a fortune for him, but will materially assist in securing bread, meat, and a home for his family. These blessings he now holds by a tenure which cannot even be called precarious. His efforts at rising out of his hereditary agricultural ruts will be greatly aided by the regular reading of one or more of the agricultural periodicals of the day. Without believing everything he finds in them, lie can yet see what is elsewhere accomplished by the use of means which lie in his own reach.

The writer of this article, in but rehearsing to his fellow farmers what most of them know as well as he dors, disclaims any assumption of uncommon wisdom, or the possession of its fruits, lie is also their fellow sufferer ; and the picture he has drawn would

scarcely be an exaggeration had he sat for it himself. He has, however, at a comparatively earlier date., become restless in traveling along the road to ruin, and earnestly looked out for some impediment to his progress in that direction. He hopes to have found it. Clogged in every effort by want of money, he has slowly adopted as many of the expedients here indicated as have, so far, been possible to him: and while no great results have yet been achieved, has already found grounds of encouragement. The manure from his farm, still discreditable in amount, has been nearly doubled, while the amplitude of his manure heaps has effected a great economy in the guano department. His place is assuming an air of improvement, and his efforts, if not actually cheered by "the gentle dawning of a bright success," are encouraged by the hope of their ultimately procuring, under the blessing of Providence, exemption from some of the ills that now so heavily press upon the disheartened rural population of Southside Virginia. M. B. Amelia County, Va.

[Note by the Editor. —It is an absolute luxury to see an example like this. Our correspondent is one of the most accomplished gentlemen in the State, and we can bear witness to his untiring devotion to its interests, and his lively concern in everything tending to ameliorate the condition of our people. In such examples is to be found the power that will silentiy but surely work for us the changes that our necessities demand shall be made.

The example of Father Oberlin, in the Ban de la Roche, changed for the better in temporal things, a whole Department. Our people are blessed beyond anything he had to encounter, and should resppnd with proportionately less pressure, and we know they will if those in our midst, to whom fortune has been kindest, will not abate their in'terest in the general well-being 5 and will put this interest into deeds, as our correspondent has done.

We are glad to know that the condition of things, represented by our correspondent, is not universal on the Southside. We present an example : An estimable gentleman living in Surry county, gives this as his experience since the war : "I came out of the war without a dollar j I now own, paid for, three fine estates, and every cent of it was made out of the land." Upon being asked how he did it, when so many were complaining that there was nothing in the business, he answered, " By giving the same close and unremitting attention to my business that you people do in town to yours. I keep an absolutely accurate account with every field, and every person on my estates. I take nothing for granted, but see that everything is in the shape I desire it. I know of no possible business in which I can make money as rapidly as I am making it now, and hence have no desire to abandon farming. I might groan forever over my losses in the past, but that will not make my pot boil." Why, now, should this gentleman stand alone? Business ability is not confined to towns, it belongs to the race, and must be exercised if we expect to advance as-other people have.]

It does not make much difference how intelligent a man may be in other respects, nor how much capital he has to start with; if he has had no experience in the business, he lacks the main element of success.

[For the Southern Planter and Farmer.]

FARMING AS A BUSINESS.

Problematical as it may seem to the casual observer, yet it is nevertheless true, that fanning as a business in this country, and particularly in Virginia, pays less than any of the principal occupations of our people.

The able statistician, Col. J. R. Dodge, of the Agricultural Department, in the Report for 1873, uses the following significant language: "The returns for farm labor are substantially in inverse ratio to the numbers engaged in it." That is, that the census valua-tion of farm products are generally greater in those States having the largest proportion engaged in other industries, and vice versa smaller in those States having the largest percentage of their population engaged in agriculture.

Let us contrast the most exclusively agricultural States with those least so, giving the percentages of farmers and the value of farm products to each person engaged in agriculture. Some allowance must, of course, be made for differences in the fertility of soil and the facilities for transportation to market:

Tor Cent. Value.

Mississippi 81.29 $282

Alabama 79.84 231

South Carolina 78.48 202

North Carolina 76.G4 214

Virginia 59.26 211

Per Cent. Value.

Nevada 6.69 $801

Massachusetts 12.66 442

Rhode Island 18.30 404

New Jersey 21.32 676

Connecticut 22.06 606

In contrasting Virginia with New Jersey, we find that 59.26 per cent, of her population is engaged in agriculture, while in New Jersey only 21.32 percent, tire farmers; and while the value of the products in the former is only $211 per ca/>it<<< in the latter it is $676—more than three times as much. Virginia has but 11.97 per cent, of her population engaged in manufacturing, while New Jersey has :!!!»") per cent, thus engaged; demonstrating clearly, as Adam Smith said, that k *a strictly agricultural community can never be a prosperous one," and proving the influence of manufactures on the profits of agriculture. The statistics prove also another significant fact: that while the 84.90 per cent, engaged in manufactures in New Jersey earn each, males and females, annually,$432, the 59.26 per cent, of Virginia farmers earn only J 105. 50, [n order to ascertain the average earnings per capita ofthoe iged in agriculture in Virginia, we must take from the average vain ■ per capita of farm products $211, the capital employed in the shape of lands, teams, tools, expenses, &C, which, for convenience, we estimate at one-half.

This gives us $105.50 the actual earnings, which is too great, as any practical farmer knows, as the expenditure for labor is not half the cost of raising a crop.

The following is compiled from the census of 1870, showing the earnings of operatives in the several industries mentioned:

Wages per Capita_

Manufacturers—General ,.. $377

Do. Boots and shoes 463

Do. Cotton 295

Do. Wool 335

Do. Iron 564

Do. Leather 414

Do. Tobacco 356

Mining 482

In some special manufactures requiring a high degree of skill the operatives earn much more, as in the manufacture of sewing machines they earn $705 average.

In the above tables only average results are given. In glancing over them and contrasting the earnings in manufactures and mining with the pittance to the poor, hard-working farmer, is it any wonder that so many of our active, enterprising young men desert the farm for something that pays better ? We must ma'ke farming more profitable, or they will continue to leave the avocation of their fathers.

To enumerate all the causes that operate to depress farm industry would swell this article much beyond its desired limits. Want of system, defective cultivation, and bad management, all operate to lessen the profitable results from the farm. But the greatest hindrance to, and weightiest incubus upon, profitable farming is the Exchanging element, aided by capital, combination, and corners that suck the life-blood of rural industry. Here colossal fortunes are made by depriving the hardy sons of toil out of their honest earnings. Aided by the professional element, they control legislation, State and Federal, that operates to confer the greatest good upon the favored few. It's a shame on our government that agriculture, which feeds all other industries, is barely left a meagre support, while other industries are fostered and encouraged to prey upon this foundation source of the nation's wealth. The legalized swindle of national banking robs the industries of the country annually of nearly twenty millions of dollars, filched mostly from the pockets of the agriculturists. Money is liberally used to influence legislation in robbing the honest working people and to promote schemes for wholesale plunder. Rings and combinations have grown insulting and exacting, and openly advocate measures to increase their predatory powers. The press of the country, the educators of the masses, controlled almost entirely by men whose interest it is to cheapen subsistence, is profuse in praise of farming and rural pursuits, and lavish in advice to farmers' boys to stick to

the farm. If the editors and writers had ever BARKSD their bread "in the sweat of their faces" on the farm, and borne the heat and burden of the hay and harvest field, they would then know how hard and discouraging it is to labor for $105 a year, the meagre competence for a year's hard work. Sentinels of the nation's safety ! Guides of the country's progress! come to the rescue of the toiling masses who produce the meat ami bread that feed and the staples that clothe the nation. Hard times are upon us, and no wonder, since agriculture languishes. Ceres, though loaded down with sheaves, stands ragged, sad and disconsolate, weeping o'er her forlorn subjects. Yours the duty to relieve, to sustain, and to cherish her. Provide no more subjects until those she has are better cared for. To drop this mythological figure, there is something radically wrong somewhere, when farm labor fails to afford a decent support. No wonder that our lands are depreciated and homesteads for sale, whose once thrifty and happy owners are now hopelessly bankrupt. No wonder our prisons are filled with the nation's wards, and large sums drawn annually from the State treasury to defray criminal prosecutions, the bulk of which is for thieving. Disguise it as you may, Virginia farmers cannot afford to pay at present more than a bare support to laborers when in health. When sickness comes into the cabin of the laborer, want comes along with it, and the inmates steal for a living.

The exchanging element would say, of any other commodity than subsistence, u increase the demand, and consequently the price, by limiting the supply." To raise no more than we can sell profitably, is the true economy. To reduce our surplus products to a paying standard, by a diversification of crops, and, as far as possible, raising everything and manufacturing what is needed on the farm, is the only way we can hope to succeed. To secure profitable diversification, we must increase the number of manufacturing industries, and bring about a healthier balance of supply and demand. We have only to follow in the lead of more prosperous communities to insure prosperity to our long-languishing industry. We must lessen the percentage of exchangers and increase the number of manufacturers; raise more grass, more stock, and more manure; hire Less help and do more work, especially brain work, if we expect better results.

The picture we have drawn of Virginia farming, proven by facts and statistics, is indeed a dark one, but, nevertheless, it is true. If we would correct the evils that retard, and the wroqgfl that prey upon our industry, we mint see our situation clearly and look our difficulties squarely in the face. Thank God, our situation is neither hopeless, nor the evils and wrongs that embarrass us irremediable. As a class, we are organizing for action. Slowly hut surely will come deliverance and relief, if we are true to each other, to our families, and to ourselves. Self-interest, as well as the highest instincts of patriotism, demand that we shall assert our rights, promote our happiness, and elevate our calling. As we support all, we

must seek to promote the welfare of all, by laboring in every honorable way to secure and perpetuate an honest and just government. We must seek to arrest the evil tendency of the age. For—

" 111 fares the land, to hast'ning ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates and men decay; Princes and lords may flourish, or may fade; A breath can make them, as a breath has made; But a bold peasantry, their country's pride, When once destroy'd can never be supplied.

Halifax county, Va. R. L. Ragland.

Note by the Editor. —It is needless to commend the ability of Maj. Ragland, for we all know it. There is no sign of the times in Virginia so hopeful as the growing disposition to fight radical evils. Capt. Chamberlayne, elsewhere in this book, sounds the slogan of change, and we trust he will not lack followers as brave as he is. If the " exchanging element" works evil instead of good, it will have to be remodeled or abolished. If anything clogs the general progress, we are not true to ourselves if we cease our opposition until it is removed. But is not the trouble more deep-seated than the " exchanging element." To us it appears to lie in the fatal policy we have ever pursued of dividing our power instead of concentrating it. Sobieski, than whom no cause ever boasted a truer knight, deemed his work thrown away, for Poland deserved to be a slave. Instead of harmony she had strife; and the great matter of her deliverance was sacrificed because her reason did not rise superior to internal difficulties, which were never solved, and which weighed as a feather against the vital issue of her life as a people. Are we a people in harmony? Witness the deplorable bitterness of feeling now existing between the towns and the country. Combinations of individuals for the purpose of pelf avail nothing against a general unity of interest; and this is proved, in the most unanswerable way, by the very figures the Major presents; for he shows that where manufactures prevail the agriculturist is more than three times as well q/fas where they do not.

We want a strong State, and never tire of declaiming about our resources. What have we done with these resources? Not taken practical interest enough in them to have even a collection made of them, to say nothing of the provision of a proper person to be ready at all times to explain where they are, what they promise, or anything at all about them. How have we induced the establishment of manufactures ? By too often holding the rights to our available water-power at prices that nothing but an insane man would give; and so keeping them, as millstones around our necks, to impoverish us (for they must pay taxes) and our children after us. As the earth is of God's making, and not ours, no man has a right to hold any portion of it without either putting it to use himself or letting somebody else do it. Where factories have been established, how have they been fostered? By diligently cursing the North, but sending to it for nearly everything we use. Wealth comes by the conversion of products as well as by the growth of. them ; and every laborer's mouth to be filled in town helps the price of every laborer's produce in the country. How do we provide mar. kets for our products ? States noted for rapid growth in wealth have one great central market, to which everything tends, because where there are the most buyers there will be found the most competition; and where there is the most competition there the best prices will be secured. This is a natural law too plain to be expounded. We in Virginia, on the contrary, have markets all over

the State, each one fighting the other, and none of them of sufficient prominence to make any particular figure in the markets of the country at large. And so on to the end of the chapter.

To make fanning profitable, other things must be made profitable too, for a State is a complex affair; and it behooves our representative men, among whom the Major has long been prominent, to make the inquiry general and searching, and wherever defects exist (and we have shown they are not few) to see that a remedy is applied : and the sooner this is undertaken the better it will be for all of us.

That better legislation than we have had is needed, we suppose no one will deny: but how it is to be done, with the negro as a voter, we are not prepared to say. Thus far, sheep and suffrage have not worked together, and the sheep have invariable gone down. With the vote of the negro, and demagogues to use it, there is a right good prospect of our bearing for some time longer the ills we have in this direction; for if we credit the announcements we see in the papers, about election time, signed " Many Voters," we are compelled to believe that men are to be found throughout the State who would not refuse to take office.

No laborer, whether white or negro, has occasion to steal, if be will work. That the latter do steal, is as old as the race.

"Negro," faid I, "horrid demon—nepro still, if slave or freedraan— Think again before yon answer tins one question. I Implore: Have you yet no sense of feeling—do you mean to live by stealing, Or by working and fair dealing— tell me. tell me, I implore; On your honor, as a negro, will you labor as before?" Quoth the negro: "Nevermore."

[For the Southern Planter and Farmer.]

TOBACCO.

The tobacco crop this year is said to be much larger than is usually made these latter days. It being the only crop upon which the planter can most confidently rely for the means to meet the onerous taxation imposed upon him, an increased area was planted. There were fine seasons for its growth, time enough for it to ripen, and the finest sort of weather for housing it. There are many ways practiced in curing it. If it was desired to have it dark, it was cut and housed, and then, before it had time to yellow, moderate fires were left under it during the day until the leaf was cured, and then increased so as to dry the stem, taking some seven or eight days for the process; but the heat should never be so great at any time as to force the oil out of the tobacco along with the water it contains. Others, after curing the leaf—taking for the purpose some three or four days—would stop the fires, and fire afterwards in damp weather to keep it from getting in soft order, the which, if permitted too often, will stripe the tobacco and make it chaffy. If one desired to euro hifl tobacco bright, it was permitted to remain either in the house or on the scaffold, a little crowded, until sufficiently yellow— the time for which would depend upon the temperature of the atmosphere, it requiring a little warmth for the purpose; then firing as above. Then, too, some permit it to remain on the scaffold to cure as long as the weather is fair, then firing afterwards when likely to get too soft. Others again hang it up in their barns as soon as cut, and leave it to cure in its own way.

It having been thoroughly cured in some way, leaf and stem, the last of November, or any time thereafter when in suple order, it can be taken down and packed on platforms, lapping the tobacco about a foot, and weighted (but not very heavily), setting up pine bushes or wheat straw around the bulk to keep it from drying out. When the stripping commences, the tobacco should be well shaken to loosen it and to get rid of some of the dirt generally adhering to some of the lower leaves. A reliable hand should be selected to cull it, taking off the bottom leaves and those that are badly eaten by the worms. It is then thrown to an assorter, who looks over the plant hastily and throws it to the pile to which it belongs—to the long dark, or long bright, or short of both sorts, or separately, or to the lug pile. The long tobacco is tied up neatly in bundles of five leaves, with split ties of the same quality, taken most commonly from a torn leaf, or from one that has been injured by the worms. The ties should cover the ends of the stems and extend just low enough down—never more than an inch—-to hold the leaves well together. Short tobacco is tied up in bundles of six leaves, and lugs of eight. The leaves in every bundle should be of the same length, except the lugs. The tobacco is packed as it is stripped, often in packs not longer than a tobacco stick; and when the stripping is completed, and the weather favorable for the purpose, the whole is repacked in much longer piles, and heavily weighted. A little olive oil, or hog's lard, melted, used in the handling adds much to its appearance. The tobacco is taken from this pile and sold loose; or, if it is intended to be kept on hand or prized in shipping order, it remains in the pack until the last of March or first of April, and is then rehung and dried out by having small fires under it, if the weather should not be favorable for the purpose. If it is permitted to get soft it loses all the benefit of having been repacked. After it is entirely dry, on some balmy day thereafter it can be taken down and repacked, and heavily weighted, ready for prizing, or to remain on hand safely-for any length of time.

The increase in the consumption of tobacco keeps pace, if it does not go beyond its production; so we need not be afraid of making too much—provided, it is of the best quality. Its use has become universal; whether for good or for evil, let those who use it answer. Men of the highest standing in morality and religion, and of unbounded influence, favor and practice its use.' Princely fortunes are made by very many who engage in its traffic, while the planter gets very poorly paid for the large amount of dirty toil he undergoes in its cultivation, not one of whom coming under the writer's observation ever made a fortune by its cultivation. In order to get the best paid for his labor, let every farmer improve the quality of his tobacco, and let buyers discriminate more in prices between a good and an inferior article, and then the Richmond tobacco market will be just what it ought to be—the best in the world.

Chesterfield county, October 4th, 1875. W. W. H.

[For the Southern Planter and Farmer.]

SHEEP HUSBANDRY.

The English date their improvement in agriculture from the time of their attention to sheep raising; but they had mutton-sheep only, whose droppings are like calves'. They raise immense crops of turnips for their food in winter. And it is this class of sheep my experience is in. Your correspondents seem to consider the value of the wool alone. I consider the carcass the profit; wool pays for the keep—the more the attention and feed, the better the remuneration in both.

You think our farmers are disposed to raise sheep. I have always noticed beginners have strong tendencies to extremes; some think they need no feeding—anything will do them; "they will eat the running brier by the yard." All this is a mistake. They require less than other animals, and they will nibble the tender end of briers; and if the brier was removed frequently, doubtless they would eat the tender shoots as they put out; but this they would f'o as an alterative, as you see cattle sometimes leave luxurious grass to eat old, dry straw. Another erroneous idea—"sheep will bear crowding." Crowd sheep on the farm and they will skin it into poverty; not one will ever be fit for the butcher or the table; none will sell; consequently it will embarrass the owner to know what to do with them. He will have to adopt the plan I heard of: as winter approaches chase them, all he can catch cut their throats for the felt, as too weak to encounter the winter; and thus end in failure, loss, disgust, abandonment.

Advise farmers entering into sheep husbandry to begin only with as many as they can furnish grass enough for in the summer and a moderate supply of food in the winter, a fair proportion of which should be of turnips or other roots, or cabbage leaves—especially for ewes; beans promote the growth of wool. Increase the number as the means of keeping increases, always bearing in mind sheep of any kind will always do better in small than large flocks.

I have now complied with your request in a very plain way, and short; the latter you editors prefer.

Clarke county, Va. J. W. Ware.

[For the Southern Planter and Farmer.]

NOTES AND ITEMS, No. 2.

In speaking of peas, in the October No. of the Planter, I remarked that I was growing the black and another variety called the shinney. My attention was first called to this pea years ago, when farming in another State, by reading the e^say of Mr. Kullin, referred to in the last number, and I then tried, unsuccessfully, to obtain a supply of seed. I have this year grown some two acres of this variety, and am very well pleased with it ; indeed, for the purposes to which I put the pea, I prefer it vastly, as far as one year's

experience can go, to the black, or, indeed,, any pea I have ever grown. Mr. Ruffin's description of this pea is so accurate, and his estimate so just, that I cannot do better than to quote his exact words. He says:

The mottled or shinney pea, which has been so much celebrated in latter years, differs in some respects from all others. The seeds are of a light brownish color, thickly streaked or mottled with deeper brown. It is deemed by farmers who have tried it longer and more fully than myself, to be one of the heaviest vine-bearers, and also by far the most productive in grain. Mr. Robert Chisholm, of Beaufort, S. C, in 1850, first brought this pea into general notice. This gentleman, whose intelligence and observation deserve all respect, made careful comparisons, both by observation and by weighings of this with other then most valued kinds of pea, and reported of them as follows, in the American Farmer, of May, 1851: From the few seeds first obtained and planted in the spring, he gathered the earliest ripe seeds, and sowed them again in July, along with the " cow pea" (or buff?), obtained from four different localities, a red pea (called there the " Chickasaw") said to be very productive, and also another favorite early pea. The products of seeds were not measured ; but, to the eye, there was no doubt as to the superior production of the shinney pea. Subsequently, for accurate experiment and comparison, Mr. Chisholm had gathered separately and weighed the pods (dry) as gathered, from measured spaces of three kinds, and found them as follows: A quarter acre of a favorite kind of red pea yielded of pods..280 lbs

do. do. of "cow peas" (query, buff?) . 82

An acre of Shinney peas, alongside of the cow peas, lbs. 1288

or to the quarter acre, . .. . . 322

It is probable that the much greater weight of the pods of the shinney pea was in some measure increased by the greater thickness of the covering hulls of this variety. Still, there must have been also an important increase of the grain alone.

This mottled or shinney pea I saw in Pendleton, South Carolina, in 1843, and heard it recommended as a valuable kind by different farmers. One of them was the Hon. John C. Calhoun, who gave me a supply of seed. After some years trial and of comparison by the eye of this with various other kinds, I abandoned the mottled pea, for some of its peculiarities which recommended it to other persons. These were—1st, the long time of successive ripening of the pods, requiring different times of gathering, and slow work. 2d. The difficulty of beating out the seed from the hard, tough and closely joined hulls. But neither these nor any other objections counterbalance the greater productiveness of the mottled pea— which quality I aid not test by measurement, and therefore did not suspect. * * * * * *

It was also noted, as a peculiar value found in the mottled pea, that the vines were pulled up, still green and full of leaves, after most of the pods were ripe, and were thus cured for hay.

a

Li

This last peculiarity noticed by Mr. Ruffin is one that recommends it very highly to me. To-day, after three light frosts, the black pea vines are entirely denuded of leaves, and the stalk apparently dried, ■while the shinney is full of perfectly ripe peas and green, luxuriant leaves, and the stem still green and succulent. I have used an acre or two of peas for feeding my horses and milch cows in the stable, and find them superior to the best clover, with oats as grain feed; while with the pea no grain is required. The peas cut for this purpose were the black, and the ground being in good heart, they ran and intertwined so thickly as to render mowing a difficult task The shinney pea grows more upright, with very little disposition to run, and I'think, without having a great deal of experience, will be far preferable as a crop for feeding green on this account.

Another advantage that it possesses for this purpose is that the peas, when fully ripe, are very difficult to shell out; while the black pea, if ripe, will, if cut, after being exposed to the sun until dry, shatter out very badly. With my limited experience, it would, perhaps, be presumptious in me to express a positive opinion of the merits of the pea as a forage crop. But as I have been practising soiling to a greater or less extent for ten years, and during that time have tried almost everything that has ever been used for the purpose, I feel at least that I may say what my own practice for the future shall be, unless my experience is different in the future from what it has been in the past. I shall hereafter devote at least one half of the land hitherto devoted to rye, oats and sowed corn for soiling to the growing of peas for that purpose, as I am satisfied that more and better food can be raised in this way, and at less detriment to the land. Indeed, I am inclined to think that, as in the case of clover, the entire crop grown may be removed from the soil, and the roots will improve the land. I have somewhat modified my views about the best method of planting peas. Until this year, I have been very much in favor of drilling them in, in rows two feet apart, and running the coulter between the rows. I believe now, for the general crop, I prefer broadcasting. My reasons are that you get more vine and vastly more roots by broadcasting than by drilling, and that the latter are thoroughly distributed through the entire soil. One and a quarter bushels of the shinney pea or one and three quarters of the black is about the right quantity for an acre.

Two years ago I bought a peck of small, round, white pea, called by the grocer jf whom I bought them the Gallivant. These were !i broadcast about the middle of July on a piece of very poor, Bandy land, and superphosphate at the rate of 200 pounds per acre sown with them, and the whole harrowed in together. The peas Came up finely, and made a splendid growth, and by the last of Sq>-tember, when they were turned under to prepare land for strawberries, they stood abont two feet high, very thiek, and full of peas, only a few of which were ripe. This pea I found was a hush variety, and ran very little, if any. I speak of it now becauf I think it would be an excellent thing to sow in corn at the last plow-

ing, as it would give a very fine growth before frost, and not interfere in anyway with the pulling of fodder or cutting up the corn. The seed being very small, a bushel, or even less, would be sufficient to seed an acre. Buckwheat may be sown the same way, and gives a very good crop on good land without any apparent injury to the corn crop. As a means of putting all the stock on the farm in splendid condition in the fall at a very small expense, I consider these two crops, grown in this way, invaluable. Hogs turned into a corn field where the peas are plenty will scarcely ever touch the corn, and nothing will put them forward faster. My observations in the gathering of the crop of peas this fall has convinced me that superphosphate will pay when applied to this crop. Next year I shall use 100 pounds per acre on all my peas, and 200 pounds on some as an experiment— : being fully convinced that it will pay in the long run better than upon any other crop I can apply it to.

About plowing in peas, I find myself compelled to differ from most persons, though Mr. Ruffin seems inclined to the same opinion with myself. I do not think that the crop should be plowed in when green and succulent, but that it is best to wait until it has fully matured, and has shrunken very much in bulk. Indeed, I do not know but that it may be plowed in with equal advantage at any time during the winter. The leaves of peas are very soft, and decay rapidly, and when they fall upon the ground they appear to cling to it, and are scarcely ever blown away. Many of those of this season's growth that fell from the vines two or three weeks ago, are now nearly entirely decayed, and stick to the soil as if they were glued there, and the soil all through the field is dark with them.

FEEDING HOGS.

The most common practice, both in Virginia and Northward, is to put hogs to fatten in a small, dry pen, and then feed them the most concentrated food. This I cannot think is the best method, and repeated experiment has proven to me that it is not the most economical.

Hogs should be put to fatten when they come off the stubble fields, that they may not lose the impetus of growth and improvement they have acquired in gleaning the fields. I have found a small field of rye sown for the purpose excellent to give hogs a start, as it sheds them off nicely, and starts them to growing finely. When taken off of rye, they should be put on clover, and fed corn moderately until green corn is a little past the proper condition for roasting years. The corn should then be cut up and fed to them stalk and all as long as the stalk is green, after which it should be shucked and given to them in the field. I know that many will say that the hogs will run all the fat off of them if allowed so much range; but a hog that has enough to eat will not travel any more than just enough to obtain clover and grass sufficient to preserve his health. Of course, if any one has a pea field, that will answer very well in the place both of clover and corn, though I prefer feeding corn an

the time. Pumpkins are an excellent substitute for grass, and turnips will answer, though not so well. Hogs should at all times, and especially when fattening, have a supply of charcoal by them. It is astonishing how much they will eat. Every one has observed that hogs that are fall fed on corn and closely confined will lie and pant, even in cold weather. This is caused by the heating effects of the corn, and arises from a feeling really similar to the heart-burn in the human subject. The free use of charcoal neutralizes all acids in the stomach, and hogs that have it to go to at all times will never suffer in this way. It is much more economical to fatten hogs in warm than in cold weather, and they will then consume much in the way of green food that the frost will destroy. All things considered, I think a hundred pounds of meat can be made in August, September and October for about one half what it costs to make it in November, December or January. Chester.

[For the Southern Planter and Farmer.]

WARNING TO VIRGINIA FARMERS.

What has caused the ruin of many nations once powerful and prosperous ? History proves that in most cases it was the deterioration and devastation of the soil; and no nations have ever maintained themselves that did not preserve the elements of its existence, and that of their increase; and all countries where the soil did not get back from the hands of man the elements essential for the return of good yields, have fallen into desolation and sterility.

The belief with which many people comfort themselves, that the land in Greece, Ireland, Spain, and Italy, which once yielded large crops, can ever again be made permanently productive, is completely idle and vain. The emigration from Ireland will therefore last another century, and the population of Spain and Greece can never exceed a certain very narrow limit. Ever since this country was first settled it3 inhabitants have carried on the most rapacious system of farming, and the present generation is aware that it must suffer for the sins of its ancestors. The first settlers raised crops after crops on the virgin soil until the yield declined, when the larger number of them moved farther west, looking for another chance to repeat their destructive operation, while those who remained behind have been, and are trying now, to worry out of the soil as much as they possibly can, instead of economizing and returning what they have taken out of it.

The only efficient remedy against that chronic disease is manure. No system of farming is remunerative for any length of time without manure. Thorough and clean cultivation of the soil, a judicious rotation of crops, with the use of clover and grass, may delay the deterioration of the soil, but not prevent it. The time is bound to come when the land will be too poor to produce clover and grass. Commercial fertilizers, plaster, lime, &C, are in many cases very useful for assisting the effects of manure, but not more. The appli-

cation of this remedy is the more difficult as the patient does not comprehend his condition. The farmers are like a consumptive, whose looking-glass shows him, in his imagination, a picture of healthfulness, who even interprets favorably the most appalling symptoms of the disease and his most severe suiferings, complaining only of a little tiredness. So the farmer is complaining only of a little tiredness of his land—there is nothing else the matter with it. The consumptive thinks that a toddy would restore his strength, but the physician does not allow it, because it furthers the development of the disease. In the same way the farmer thinks that a little guano would help his land, while with the use of it he is only hastening its complete exhaustion.

It takes years before an insolvent, bad manager declares himself bankrupt. He does not give up the delusive hope of rescue before he has ruined his relations and friends, and before.his last silver spoon is put in pawn. Likewise the descent of nations to the condition of poverty and desolation is a slow process of self-destruction, which can last many hundred years before people are aware of the disastrous consequences of their portentous system of farming, when they generally try to help with improvements, each of which is a memorial of the exhaustion of the soil.

The fact that nearly every farmer considers his system of farming to be the best, and that his land will never cease to yield, has caused the most complete carelessness and indifference about the future, as far as it is dependent on agriculture. So it was with all nations which have caused their ruin by their own doings, and no political wisdom will save this country from that fate if the people do not give the proper attention to the signs of the impoverishment of the soil, and to the earnest warnings and teachings of history and science. The land in Virginia is not so far exhausted yet that the present yield of crops could not, in the course of a few years, be doubled, with the help of those materials which have heretofore been improperly wasted. Would that not furnish a basis to settle the question of the public debt upon ?—a question about which many ineffectual plans have been proposed. The owners of land are the only class in Virginia who can pay the public debt, and if they do not their full share toward redeeming the honor of the State, the debt might just as well be repudiated at once.

Nelson county, Va. Louis Ott.

[Note by the Editor. —Such warnings must not only be sounded, but acted upon. The Hon. George P. Marsh has done in America a special service in this direction. His work, u The Earth as Modified by Human Action" shows us the manner in which man has treated his inheritance, and that, from the beginning, he has been t the "lord of creation," with a vengeance. This book is made to last; and no thinking man, especially in agriculture, can have by him a companion who will prove more suggestive, or enable him better to regulate his conduct as a part of the complex machinery the Almighty has set in motion on the earth.]

[For the Southern Planter and Farmer.] THE PROPER ECONOMY IN THE TREATMENT AND APPLICATION OF MANURES

Is one of the most importance in the practice of agriculture; but the main object of the farmer generally, seems to be to get his niam re out of the way and give employment to the man and team when there is nothing else to do ; therefore he employs leisure time, no matter when, to draw out and spread the manure; no mat er In what condition the land or the manure, he gets it out of the way, and trusts Providence for some further benefit. Suppose our capitalists should invest their capital in that way, they would soon be as poor as our farmers are. How should they do ?

They should make a depression in the barn yard, large enough to hold all the wash of the manure heap, and pave it with cobble st< no or concrete and cover it with a coat of water, lime and mortar, well laid on, so as to make it water-tight. Place the manure where the drainage will all be deposited in this tank, let the winter rains leach it— the more the better. If there should not be rain enough, it will pay to procure water in some other way, as water is the best absorbent of all soluble food for plants, and must be the medium through which all nourishments reach their roots, therefore the sooner barn yard manure is made into a solution, the more will be preserved for application directly to the growing plants, which is the most economical way to apply all soluble manures.

As soon as the cattle are turned out of the yard in the spring the manure should be sheltered from the sun, but not from the rain. A slight covering of earth with straw over it; if straw be too valuable, weeds or worthless litter, such as "woods trash," or pine chips from the wood shed, or brush will do as well.

All the winter manure that has been well leached, should be made into hot-beds to start, and also to grow early vegetables in, if there be more than is wanted for starting.

Hot-beds may remain the second year as cold frames, with an additional covering of fresh earth to advantage, which is an economical way of composting long manure that has been leached ; the earth covering will arrest the escaping gases while it is being transformed into humus, the most valuable of insoluble manures, it being capable of re-absorbing as much food for plants as has been set free in the process of its own formation, and giving it out to their roots on their Application.

All soils, whether cultivated or not, are more or less active at all times in collecting and setting free their fertilizing qualities, received from the winds and rains and other sources. The soil that contains the best proportion of humus, will retain the most of the passing plant food, until their roots < all for it ; hut it is best that all soluble manures should be retained in their solution, until the seed to be nourished by it is planted, as it is all ready to he utilized by the plant. It is also ready to be set free by the soil in its continued ac-

tion, and pass off in gas and water unless arrested by the roots of plants, therefore all soluble manures should be applied in a state of solution to growing crops, as the most economical in every respect. The insoluble part should be composted or made into hot-beds and used for two or three years as cold frames, well covered with earth until it has been converted into humus, or it may be plowed deep into the soil, if not too dry, and there left until transformed into humus by the soil. D. S. Howard.

Chesterfield county, Va.

[For the Southern Planter and Farmer.]

ORCHARDS.

Is it not a shame that Virginia—one of the best States in the Union for fruit-raising—should allow thousands of barrels of apples, pears and other fruits of all kinds to be shipped from the North, and even from California to Richmond? Fruit-raising is undoubtedly the most profitable as well as pleasing and agreeable crop that can be raised on a farm. If I have been rightly informed, the editor of the Country Gentleman states that every acre of bearing orchard is worth a thousand dollars, and will pay an interest on the same. I do not think $100 a year so large a sum to clear off of an acre of bearing orchards, and it is very common for a careful fruit-grower to clear $5.00 from a single acre. Now, if the fruit business pays so well, and is such a pleasant business to engage in, why do not more farmers in Virginia engage in it ? The only answer I can find to this question is the want of money to start with.

Now, I have a plan by which every farmer owning a farm capable of supporting his family, can get money enough to buy his trees, take care of them and in from 5 to 10 years have an orchard one-half as large ,as his farm. Let us suppose me, A, owns a farm of 200 acres. Mr. A's first step is to sell one-half his farm, which we will suppose he gets $40 an acre for, or $4,000. Now it takes $10 an acre, or $1,000, to buy the trees and plant the remaining 100 acres. He has now left $3,000 which he will put out at interest at 10 per cent., and let him so draw on the amount that at the end of 10 years (when all his trees are paying) he will use up the interest and principal. This amount with what he can make oif of the remaining half of his farm will enable him to live easier in the ten years than he could possibly have done otherwise ; and now how will we find him at the end of the ten years ? He has only 100 acres instead of 200; but his 100 acres are worth, according to the editor of the Country Gentleman, $100,000 if properly managed, while had he kept his 200 acres the whole farm would probably not be worth $10,000. It would require some nerve to do this, but it is a sure thing if the details are properly carried out.

A business man would not hesitate a minute in such a case, neither should a farmer. Do not wait until your neighbor has succeeded; it will then be too late. "Faint heart never won fair lady."

W. F. Tallant.

[For the Southern Planter and Farmer.]

AMELIA PLANTATION OBSERVATIONS.

The prosperity of the people of Virginia whose occupation is chiefly agriculture, is a subject dear to every patriotic heart that beats in these United States, for if there be one State more than another that claims the lively emotions and sincere affections of the people, it is Old Virginia. And if because of her grand old history she has won the affections and earnest interest of the people at large, surely her own citizens should be deeply sensible of their own obligations to do whatever is possible to build up her dilapidated interests, the chief of which is her agriculture.

We propose to give the result of our observations upon this subject, and suggest what strikes us as not only the necessity but the duty of the moment.

That our lands are denuded of their fertility by incessant cropping without an equivalent return of vegetable matter to the soil is a generally admitted fact. Many remedies are proposed, but that of turning under green crops is most relied upon. This, however, is necessarily dependent upon the ability first to raise these crops. In many, if not most instances, these crops must be produced by the use of a commercial fertilizer. But here we are met with a great difficulty, not that there are not honestly manipulated fertilizers to be had, but the question is which is best for our particular use. The testimony of many honest men will be found adverse to the ad van tages derived from the most reliable fertilizers, while many others-speak of the same in the highest terms, and although the manufacturers guarantee that their fertilizers contain the necessary elements of fertility in their proper relative proportions and solubility, yet it is found that in some soils they produce no appreciable results, •while in others their results are highly satisfactory.

I learn that a fertilizer that has for years produced very satisfactory and beneficial results in the Piedmont region, has been absolutely condemned as a fraud by the boasts in Tidewater region.

The remedy for thes*e things is not derivable from our agricultural schools and colleges, nor from any system of experiment stations, as all these are necessarily open to very serious abuses as their history bas already shown. If we are to rely on manipulated fertilizers, th ■;.- must be made specifically for each region or section of country, and each class of soil therein, and under such conditions that thero can exist neither the temptation nor the disposition to practice fraud in the premises.

It i* admitted by those engaged the most extensively in the manufacture of fertilizers, that in the ordinary course of private enterprise, no one establishment could hope or expect to command a sufficient demand for specific preparation lor the local requirements of sections or regions of country to justify tbem in undertaking the manipulation of the necessary specific preparations, and unless this difficulty

can be overcome we must go on with the same haphazard experiments we have hitherto practiced, and, I fear, with little better results.

But in the face of the united testimony of the best and most successful agriculturists, and the ablest professional agricultural chemists, that a maximum of fertility can be secured by the judicious use of specific preparations, it seems the madness of folly to suffer the original fertile soils of this genial and generous climate to relapse into a waste and barren land, decreasing in taxable value every year, and consequently increasing the burdens of taxation upon the shoulders of the thrifty in a greater ratio than the depreciation. I would suggest, the subject being so very important, even the existence of our main profession, that the State is perfectly competent to take hold of and manipulate specific preparations suited to each section and soil therein, and supply them at the lowest cost for manipulation to every one who desires to use them, taking and requiring a just lien upon all the products of the soil on which they are used until the fertilizer is paid for. Thus giving to every man the opportunity of manuring to the maximum of fertility and making our agriculture productive and profitable, and securing the easy payment of the taxes as well as the State debt. I will not discuss the objections that will be raised against the State enterprise with private enterprise, but will only say that I am informed by the active manager of the most extensive manufacturing company in our State, that it is beyond the reach of private enterprise to produce these specific preparations at reasonable prices.

While Yille's preparation may be a perfect manure for most of the soils of France, and Laws & Gilbert's for England, they are not adapted, nor have they produced their wonted results in this country. Yet, if it is true that there are perfect manures for the soils they are prepared for in their climate, it must also be possible to produce an equally perfect manure for every region and soil we possess, and safely put the use of the maximum quantity within the reach of every cultivator, making him capable of sustaining his proportion of taxation with ease and comfort.

If, then, the British Government has found it desirable to furnish the means for under-draining the soil accessible equally to every one who accepts the conditions, why may not Virginia furnish her own trodden and exhausted people the means of self and State redemption ?

Having thrown out the suggestion, the details can readily be wrought out, and the entire machinery set in motion by our wise and practical statesmen. G. B. S.

Boswell complained to Johnson that the noise of the company the day before had made his head ache. " No, it was not the noise that made your head ache; it was the sense we put into it." "Has sense that effect upon it ?" " Yes, sir, on heads not used to it."

PUBLIC SPIRIT. .

[This Address was delivered the 23d of June last, at Randolph Macon College, by John Hampden ChambbRLATKE, Esq., and we ask for it the diligent examination of every reader of the Planter and Farmer.]

When one who is neither thinker nor orator, neither famous nor learned, is asked to aid in such a celebration as yours, he may well be doubtful both to choose what he shall say and how he shall say it. He has been" in the rough work of life, you in the quiet school. He has been proving, limiting, enlarging and not seldom forgetting the rules and the theories you have been learning and discussing. He must allow for a thousand disturbing forces, your study has been of principles, simple because abstract. He has dealt with men and things, you with pure ideas. If he would amuse you and only amuse, you would hold him forgetful of your dignity. Yet, if lie should try to enforce or to add to the lessons you have here learned of able teachers in pure science or the arts which use it, in logic or its rhetoric clothing, in the genius of your mother tongue or the literature which is its fruit, then you might justly smile at his presumption.

In such a difficulty, he must trust to your good will, and hope the few thoughts he lays before you may atone by their honesty for their lack of brilliancy or of polish.

And yet, after all is said, the lessons we learn in youth are not all that manhood knows; the drill-ground still fails to teach something that the battle needs; and so, without presumption, I may, perhaps, ask your attention to subjects doubtless outside your curriculum, yet, doubtless, worthy of your care.

From the school, call it University, Seminary, College or Academy, we go forth, some to the pulpit, some to trade, some to the desk, some to the field or mine, some to the forum, seen of men, and some to the humbler labor of the hand at plow, or loom, or anvil. Yet, in a sense, we are all one, for whatever else we be, we are still citizens, and I venture to ask you for a moment to consider that large part of your civic duty which is roughly summed up in the term Public Spirit.

Do not think this term forebodes a lecture on politics, or that I shall so much as name the name of a party. Far higher than party and politics lives this spirit, far deeper lies its strength than laws and statutes, far wider its province than Legislatures and Congresses. From it all these things are sprung. By its growth you shall measure the march of man from his primeval cave to his free city, for by its force was bridged the gulf between the lonely sav-a<j<\ shivering and hungry, and civilized man, master of the earth and wielding the powers of nature.

This great principle has shown itself independent not only of codes, but of climates and religions. It has flourished under despotisms and decayed in republics; it has ennobled Pagans ami it Las by times refused to adorn theocracies; it has lived though oppressed by evil laws, and it has all but died where each man was

free to do what was right in his own eyes. Its splendor made famous the petty states of Greece, the little republics of Italy, and the Arab Empire in Spain; its death foreboded the downfall of Rome, and its absence left the huge powers of Asia a prey to the first comer. Poland fell because she lacked it, the Irish Kelt with all his virtues has been a slave for the want of it, and its force made the Northman the founder of the modern world, and carved out for him kingdoms wherever he set his foot, from the shore of the narrow seas to the beauties of Sicily and the desert of Judea.

Let us not think then that freedom or formal belief, climate or fertile soil, pride of birth or glorious memories can give us Public Spirit, and, beyond all, let us not set down content that we have it and satisfied with our own virtue, a virtue that will never preserve us, if it live only in our infancy.

To define Public Spirit would be hard, and is. happily needless. We all know it to mean, in general terms, a devotion to the public, the common good, an active desire to advance in all directions the progress of the society we belong to, the State whereof we are members. It is not hostile but complimentary to individuality of character, and it waxes great where, as in England, individual force is everywhere apparent, in thought and art, in theology or in trade, or even in manners or dress, just as it wanes and dwindles where some absorbing tyrant, some Augustus or Torquemada or Napoleon impresses one shape on all-men, and where as once in Scotland the Kirk, and always in China, ancient prescription moulds in one mould the minds of generations.

Needless to say that the first requisite to Public Spirit is knowledge, knowledge general and knowledge special. To touch on the general knowledge needed is beyond my province, as also that branch of the special knowledge by which you follow our race in other lands, to see how our literature grew, and in what forms our thought is embalmed. But there is a special knowledge more special yet than this, and which is perhaps of necessity left out of the studies through which our schools conduct you, and I ask you to look with me into the past of our Commonwealth of Virginia to learn from her story how, with the strength of her public spirit, her power and fame both rose and fell, and to inquire why once and again that spirit grew and flourished, yet in one long period sickened and pined away.

Virginia passed through a peculiar development, and one little acted on from without. She was settled for the most part by races of strong individuality, English in the low lands; Scotch-Irish and Dutch in the valley, and French Huguenots grouped here and there on her tidal streams. Lovers of the field and farm rather than of the counting-house or the factory, her people found themselves holding a territory complete in itself, and furnished with frequent rivers which so met everywhere the needs of their trade as to forbid its concentration. Thus they lacked the bonds of cohesion which cities give, and living in rude abundance they repro-

duced here much such a society as that which in England Fielding

drew and Walpole corrupted. Among them ; therefore, we should look to find much strength of individual character, with loose social tics and little public spirit. But one element is yet to count. This Virginia of colonial days was essentially an aristocracy. Without going into the vexed questions whether the first colonists were gentiy or convicts, whether our historic names were brought to us by debauched spendthrifts and transported felons, or by cadets worthy to fight by John Smith's side and to sail with Walter Raleigh, we must still agree that the Old Dominion was ruled by a landed aristocracy. Now, aristocracies, so their base be wide enough, are favorable to the growth of public spirit. This aristocracy was widely rooted in the respect of the people, was trained in the learning of Europe and cherished here at Williamsburg, the pursuit of knowledge, adding to public grants such private gifts as made of William and Mary the greatest and the richest foundation of learning in the New World. It was forced, too, to master by wise counsel, as well as active work, the ruggedness of nature, the craft of the Indian, and the prowess of the Frenchman.

At all events, when the colonies had outgrown their bands and the war of Independence gave birth to a new people, in Virginia of all the colonies we find the most public spirit. Not, mark you, the quickest flare of revolt, not the noisiest clamor of passion, but that deliberate conviction of duty, that steady devotion to the common purpose, that power of organization, that trust each man gave his neighbor, lhat persistence utider failure, and that firm confidence in the event which, together, make of mobs armies, of rebellions revolutions, and of scattered provinces a great people.

That whole period from the debate at the Burgesses House to the decision at Yorktown, from the provincial declaration of the Apollo Hall in Raleigh Tavern to the treaty of '83, was instinct with public spirit. In Washington stripping his own Virginia of means and men to seek the common good at Boston and New York. In Henry, straining every nerve as Virginia's Governor, to hold up the hands of Washington. In Nelson, devoting his house to the guns of his countrymen, and giving his estate to the public purse ; in that Roman matron who bade her sons come back no more to their Valley home, if on their heels Tarleton should ride; in Henry Lee of the Legion, never losing trust in the great plan and the greater genius of his commander, and with his little troop covering the long, long retreat from middle (Jeorgia to Dan river, to become, at length, part of that great leaguer to which gathered at Yorktown,

Lafayette from the Valley, Washington from Long Island, and

Boehambeau from the Windward Lies.

These thingfl are an oft told tale, and when war was done and

peace came with tasks yet harder, when destruction ended and son-struction began, when the pullers down were sailed to be builders

Up, that same public spirit lived to ends yet greater and on a scale far wider. Then Virginia created the Union despite the loss to her

which prophetic Henry saw, then Washington gave eight years of his mature wisdom to his country, and then, likewise, with self-denial almost above the human, laid down a power well nigh absolute and wisely, as few of the sons of men are wise, warned his countrymen to limit his great office, whether worthily held by stitesman or patriot, or, as might be, in other days, made the prize of intrigue or the spoil of some lucky captain. Then Virginia ceded the boundless Northwest, and then she consented to make herself in the Senate small as Rhode Island. Then at one blow she abolished entail, primogeniture and the privileged church. Then Madison taught all the country through the Federalist, Marshall laid the foundations of our jurisprudence, and John Taylor, of Caroline, raised the empirics of the farm to the science of agriculture. On every hand, from 1775 to 1825, we find Virginia full of vigor at home, respected and powerful abroad, because full of public spirit.

With further instances I will not weary you, the rather as we easily remember what we take pride in and because I have a sadder task, but I hope more useful. With the year 1825 the heroic period of Virginia may be said to end, and a decadence followed which we are apt enough to forget, but which to study is our highest duty, since the lessons it teaches are needful—yesterday, to-day and to-morrow—if our decadence is to be followed by steady and long-eontinued progress in strength and power.

The decline of Virginia's power is generally acknowledged, but you will often hear men say it was comparative only and not positive, and that whatever its extent it was due to the democratic element of our institutions and sprang from universal suffrage, for, be it known to you, there still lives among us a class of minds to which Democracy is as the red flag to the bull, and whose religion it is to pronounce the ballot-box anathema maranatha.

Now, I am here to preach no politics, but, as observers of affairs and students of history we can see this view is false. The decadence could not be caused by universal suffrage, because the suffrage was not extended till long after the decay was plain. It could not be caused by democracy, because no such effect followed the establishment of extreme democracy and the widest limit of suffrage, both before in New England, and afterwards in the new commonwealths of the West. Moreover, to take a wider view, public spirit, and with it the most splendid prosperity, has.been seen in countries the most democratic, in the best days of Athens, in Rome when at length the plebeians had seized a full share of power, in the Free Cities flourishing by their democracy amidst robber barons and petty kings. Public spirit, and with it prosperity, blessed the cantons of the Swiss amidst their snows, and grew, thriving and indestructible, in the Hollow Land, guiding and shielding the raging Democracy of those Beggars of the Sea, true Sons of Civilis and of Herman, who held their free rights against Alva and Torquemada and all the wrath and power of the Empire which girdled the world with the same constancy wherewith their race conquered and still holds their teeming soil from the hungry waves of the Northern Ocean.

Leaving these narrow notions, all too straight to fit the facts, let us see when and why this decadence of Virginia took place.

I venture to date its beginning in the year 1825, and to call it absolute. If relative, then it depended on the progress of her neighbors, but we know their progress was not yet begun. The great West was still all but a wilderness, and not yet the granary at once and the market of New York and Boston, Philadelphia and Baltimore. The Appalachians still barred the way from East to West, and the single point where nature leveled them had not yet been seized by the genius of Clinton.

The Erie Canal was opened to traffic only in 1827, and only then New York began to be a city. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was only begun in 1827, and in 1830 Baltimore was still a straggling village. The Pennsylvania Central was hardly a project, and the Hudson and Erie Roads not even dreams. The coal of Pennsylvania had not been opened, and the cotton of the South was yet but insignificant, the whole product being, in 1825, but 720,000 bales, not enough either to invite the people of Virginia to its culture in the South or to furnish to New England those mines of wealth, the factories of Lowell and Falls River and Lawrence.

Till 1815 Virginia led all the States in power and in influence; from '15 to '25 she stood still, and then for long years she grew weak from day to day.

The race of The Fathers was dead or dying. Washington, first in death as in life, had departed in 1779; Jefferson had yet one year of labor for us; Madison still held at Montpelier assemblies whither came the eminent of all lands to hear the oracles of experience, and Marshall still adorned the bench. But The Heroes neared their natural limit and none followed to take their place. With Monroe ended the era of Virginia Presidents, if we except, as we must, the accident of Harrison and the blunder of Taylor. To Madison was to succeed Tyler, to Washington, Wingfield Scott.

The interval is long, but not longer than the step from the fruitful period to the barren.

What labor prodigious and what noble aims made splendid that fruitful time! Marshall, creating a system of law, yet found time to give us his life of Washington. Taylor's great estates and his profound inquiries into agriculture, gave employment for a life, yet his work, Construction Construed, opposed to the sentiment of the time and defaced with every crabbedness of style, is yet a monument of thought. Benry Lee's leisure produced his " Memoirs," an essay of military history, solid as Thucydides, glowing as Napier, and to-day tho only fit record of the transcendant powers of the greatest soldier of English blood. Look where you will, devoted labor and lofty thought is seen. Washington founded the college which long bore and still should hear his name alone; he attacked the Dismal Swamp and projected water ways through it which should make a Virginian city the port of North Carolina, a work but within the last decade completed; Washington, again,

gave his mighty aid to the great design of drawing together the waters of the Chesapeake and Ohio, and thus, whilst Clinton was still a school-boy, a Virginian surveyed the route and made the plans for two highways of commerce between the seaboard and that vast basin, which, then a wilderness, he saw would be the home of empire and the hive of men. Madison, too, bent his great mind to drafting laws that should create on the Virginian shores of Chesapeake, the city of the mid-Atlantic, the city which, through the apathy of deadened Virginia, is now found on Patapsco's narrow banks. And lastly, consider Jefferson, not content with the part he played in the Revolution, in the chair of Virginia's government, in the embassy to France, and eight years in the White House, Jefferson who introduced both the tomato and the rice plant, and found time to invent a plow; Jefferson, whose Declaration made an epoch in the history of man, and whose Notes on Virginia even yet stand alone; consider Jefferson, hoarding the golden sand of his last years, and, careless of his fortune, leaving his children and his memory to his country, completing, ere he died, and starting in its noble work the University of Virginia, his last, and mayhap, if he had lived to guide it, his best gift to his kind.

Such the Heroic age, the days of action and of thought to noble ends. Swift came after it the time of torpor and almost death. To paint it, I fear, will seem exaggeration. But, in truth, to exaggerate it is hard.

In all directions we took the downward path or sat still and weak. Virginia had given birth to the Constitution; she had overthrown the false reading Adams made of it; she had furnished presidents for eight out of nine terms, and directed the policy of the country at home and abroad. Now she was to suffer Van Buren and to be betrayed by the reaction that thrust Harrison forward.

Nor is this date of 1825 chosen arbitrarily or because then John Quincy Adams entered the White House. In history, literature, and law, as well as politics, the age of production was gone; that of compilation and of commentary had come. The notes on Virginia, the Federalist, and the series of Supreme Court decisions belong to the first period. To the second, mere compilations and commentaries like Rives' and Tucker's, and a mass of pleas for slavery, whose very names are already half forgot.

Turning from these provinces of thought to those material things this age at once prizes and affects to contemn, we find no progress. In the long period from 1825 to 1855 Virginia made no discovery of physical facts, set on foot no new industries, her old mines were abandoned, new ones remained unopened, her railroads crept painfully ten miles a year. The canal, losing its first impulse, fell back on State aid, languished and stood still, a costly failure. Lines of rail to the West were vaguely projected, and meaning little effected nothing but to punish individual inertness by the creation of a burdensome public debt. One line, diverted from its true course by every accident or whim, halted ten years at the Blue Ridge and

gave up the ghost at Mill Mountain, leaving on miles of hills and valley the skeleton of a work never inspired by faith and purp

the other line on the south of the James dragged tediously its scattered links and abandoned quite the plan of the few who founded it and reckoned without their host in counting on a Public Spirit no longer awake. Thus, on the one side was left Northern Virginia and the lower Valley and the wealth of farthest Potomac to be severed from the State and gathered by the grasp of Baltimore; and thus on the other the riches of the Southwest, and the products of Tennessee and North Georgia and Kentucky, were left to find what market they might, and to beat in vain on the walls of nature's making, which in other States man was piercing, but which the sloth of Virginia suffered to hem her in.

Whilst Pennsylvania explored her coal and iron, Virginia let a wilderness still stretch pathless between the ores of cis-Alleghany and the coals of Kanawha. Still the harbor of Elizabeth vainly offered her roadstead, fit for the navies of the world, and vainly stiil ran down by the hills of Richmond an infinite power. Agriculture alone made a show of prosperity, and that only on the fertile banks of our rivers, on the grassy hills of Piedmont, and among the thrifty dwellers of the Valley. Elsewhere waste was the rule and want the consequence; the white population of many counties absolutely decreased, and deer and beaver throve undisturbed where once Carters and Byrds, Elands and Spottswoods and Berkeleys had discharged the duties of the citizen and adorned the pleasures of the host. Here and there one still remained, like Edmund Ruffin the farmer, like Joseph Cabell the canal builder, like Fontaine or Tunstall. faithful to their ideas. The iron and the flouring mills of Richmond, still in time of dearth, showed how plenty might be had. Here and there a forge was still fitfully hot, and from the hills of Charlottesville and Lexington and the ancient city of Williamsburg the light of culture still feebly shone, but seemed to shine in vain.

Public spirit, in truth, was all but dead. No museums were established, no libraries endowed, no schools founded. The outer world we left to itself, or appeared at Washington to talk of a power gone from us. Our Legislature grew to be a scene of small intrigue, where the common good was forgotten and log-rolling replaced patriotism. New York debated, extended, and completed her Erie canal; Baltimore devised her road to the lakes; while Virginia legislators swore and sweated and scrambled over a mud pike from Poverty Hill to Scuffletown.

Culture itself miniehed and dwindled. The University was soon

willing to lose the great names that .Jefferson had called to her aid, yielded to the public sentiment that distrusted five thought, and preferred men safe to keep the beaten track ; and having once had Bonnycastle, Long, and Key, boasted now, and with justice, of her Harrison and her Rogers, but, in spite of their genius and labti followed more and more, as years went on, a science that never in-

quired except of books, a philosophy of vague eclecticism, and a system of teaching where the spirit of thought gave place to the spirit of u cram."

The ancient foundation of William and Mary, despoiled by the Revolution of all her wealth, yet long maintained her strength of spirit and love of culture. In 1779 Jefferson became one of her governing board, and made large changes in her system to fit the new needs of a new time. Washington was her chancellor from '88 to the year of his death. The college still remained till 181J the official guardian of State surveys, and under Bishop Madison and Dr. John Augustine Smith her teaching kept abreast of the knowledge of the world, and trained almost all the generation of Virginia's lesser heroes—Tylers, Roones, Gileses, Leighs, Lomaxes, and Baldwins.

In 1826, Dr. Smith was tempted, as so many other Virginians, to leave Virginia, and losing his great powers and extended knowledge, William and Mary struggled henceforth with varied fortune, until after the death of President Dew in 1846, she sank, as her chronicler tells us, to a "hopeless condition," and sought, in the hope of sectarian patronage, the fatal alliance of sectarian zeal.

The Institute, always useful in its sphere, yet found its highest aspiration during this period in following the United States Military Academy as Peter followed the Lord.

Of other schools, properly speaking, there were none. The sectarian spirit did, indeed, design a few, but the sectarian spirit stifled them, and Virginia was left either to the itinerant ignoramus from New England or to the High Schools which had sprung up in the shadow of the University, and which walked humbly in her footsteps. Of literature and the scientific spirit there was an utter lack. In poetry we had Poe, abnormal and overrated as he is, and exotic to our country. Put him aside and you seek vainly for his fellow.

While Agassiz not only taught but discovered nature's laws, while Lowell and Bryant sang, while Irving and Bancroft, Pres-cott and Motley wrote, from that torpid generation of Virginians, sprang nothing that will remain. Our oratory became mere appeal, our logic a shriek or a threat; what should have been knowledge of the world became contempt of all beyond our sacred soil; braggart exaggeration usurped the place of history, and self-praise forbade self-examination.

Elsewhere, discoveries led to new generalizations and theories that agitated the world; we shut our ears to them. Elsewhere, skill and mechanic adjustment daily supplanted human muscle; with us, man and horse still essayed to rival steam, and crank, and lever. Elsewhere men looked to present need and future achievement; our study was of the past, our pride in our ancestors, and of our apathy and isolation we made a virtue.

Little wonder, then, that our population fled from us, seeking soils not more fertile, skies less genial than our own. Little wonder that to pierce the Blue Ridge we imported a Crozet, to climb it an

Ellett. Little wonder that we must ask New York for her Crawford to design the monument to Washington and find in Massaehu-setts the eulogist of his fame.

Then, indeed, we had to go abroad for all we needed from the dictionary of Noah Webster to the hoe of Oliver Ames. Legendre, and Davies, and Church, gave us all we had of pure mathematics ; Anthon furnished what he called classics ; the senilities of Goodrich, and the Aims J rhetoric of Abbott and of Ileadley served us for histories; thousands took Harper and Godey for literature, and there were those who worshipped, as poetry, the jingling commonplace of Longfellow.

But, not to weary you with instances, no man past his majority but knows that when the end came of the second period of our history it found our homes full of other men's work, our fields tilled by tools of other men's make, our crops carried in other men's ship s, our schools taught by other men's books, our wealth gathered by Other men's hands, our very pride founded on other men's lives.

The general fact is true as it is sad, and it is part of its sadness that it is hard to prove in detail. There is not, properly speaking, a history of Virginia, military, social and industrial. The facts must be painfully picked from reports of corporations, census tables and chance records, and, above all, they must be proved, and they are proved chiefly by negation For in 1859, Virginia still had no State census, no geologic survey, no safe depository of records; her very boundaries were and are still uncertain, one being now in dispute, and another allowed to rest, only because the apathy of Tennessee rivals the apathy of Virginia.

This line of inquiry is not new to me, will not long, I hope, be new to you. With patience, and labor, and frankness that spared nothing, and spared, least of all, that false and ignoble vanity we often take for patriot'sm, I have laid before you the general condition of Virginia when the stock of John Brown's attack od Harper's Ferry ended that period and ushered in another.

The colors I have used are dark, the State I have pictured was weak. But, fellow countrymen, we come of strong blood, our race can withstand much from without and from within ; it is a race which stumbles sometimes and falters often, but which has never yet utterly fallen.

Thirty odd years had weakened our strength, but not yet sapped our will. That period had rusted or softened our intellect, but our hearts were still strong, and when war Came from without, the moral quality of our race sustained us, and in a moment awoke that public spirit which had seemed dead, hut w;is only sleeping. The slothful became energetic, the luxurious hardy, the arrogant submitted

to discipline, the Belfish subdued self to'the eoininon good, and the

four yean began of sacrifice, devotion, endurance and achievement

Of the victories and the marehrs in the field, of the patience and the self denial in the homes, of the ragged valor in the ranks, ami of the splendid genius of the leaders Virginia showed, I need not

tell you. Of them enough and more than enough, the truth and more than the truth, you are likely to hear all your lives long, at every cross-road, and by every household hearth. What concerns us is to see the condition which forty years had brought us when that war began, to explore the cause of that decadence, and to ask how we, of this time, shall march not down hill but up.

That condition I have shown you, truly, I believe. Its cause, we have seen, was not democracy, as some falsely say ; neither was it, as others tell us, lack of energy. Energy we had, enough and to spare ; an energy which overflowed across all our borders ; an energy which Virginians showed in Tennessee and Mississippi, in Georgia and Alabama; an energy which made the Virginian respected in all the new States of the West, and by which, once rid of the trammels that bound him in his home, he subdued the South to cotton and won from the Indian the basin of Ohio and Tennessee. Carrying with them that energy, Virginians felled forests, broke prairies, founded commonwealths and ruled societies from the Alleghany to and beyond the Rocky Mountains. They swarmed out from their old hive and settled whole counties and states. In their new homes they were.leaders of trade and of thought; they were bishops, soldiers and senators.

The traveller, go where he might,—to the mouth of Mississippi, to the frr-oif plains of the Northwest, to Texan prairies or the golden valleys of the Pacific coast—still found Virginian names in honor, Virginia's sons in power. Her Breckinridges, Clays, Aliens, Thur-mans, Garlands, Taylors, Thorntons, Baldwins, Prestons, her Becks, Penns, Maynards, Starkes, and ten thousand beside, prove what energy and worth could still be born of her, and by some strange law must still fly from her soil. Emigration, seen already in 1825, had become in^the years 1832 to 1850 a steady stream, which drained away our very life-blood, until it seemed we were to repeat the story of the Irish Kelt, who has for centuries showed in other lands a virtue stifled in its native home, 'and reaped in every kingdom of Europe the rewards denied to him in Ireland.

Neither Democracy, then, nor native sloth is the cause we seek, and, leaving the negative for the positive method, I should be false to you as well as to myself if I should shrink from declaring what seems to me the root of the evil.

It is to be found in the repression of free thought and free inquiry, which the institution of slavery thought necessary for its protection. The leaders in the heroic period were to a man enemies to slavery and incredulous both of its expediency and its rightfulness, and it was they who offered the great free ordinance for the Northwest in 178 k Had natural causes .met no hindrance, slavery w r ould doubtless have been gradually abandoned. But the unwise war made on it at the North, begun by Aaron Burr as early as 1800, avowed in New England in 1804 and 1810, and pushed by John Quincy Adams with ever-increasing bitterness, forced Virginians to identify its pro. tection with their right of self-government. "A poor thing," w e

cried, with Touchstone, "but mine own," and shall I not do what I will with mine own ? The abortive but frightful attempt of the negro Gabriel in 1800, and the Southampton insurrection in 1882, brought

terror in to confuse reason, and turned prejudice to passion. 1> eame the demand for cotton, raising its price from it cents in 1830 to 17 cents in 1884, and the corresponding ris % e in the value of the negro, and a triple band tied us to slavery: first, the just and beneficent theory of State Rights and local self-government; second, the pride of race; and third, the greed of the pocket.

Determined thus to maintain slavery, we had next to justify it. This we did by clinging to one interpretation of the Bible ; by triumphantly citing the example of the patriarchs, and by finding all doctrine in the famous case of Onesimus. On such texts as ''servants obey your masters," a whole dogmatic theology grew up, fit rival for narrowness and intolerance to that which from such words as "The powers that be are ordained of God," taught the Jacobites of Englaud the doctrine of Passive Obedience, or that, its antithesis, which the Independents and the fierce Fifth Monarchists invoked when they pulled down the prelates as " troublers of Israel," and smote off Charles' head with the "Sword of the Lord and of Gideon."

Slavery once bound up with the Bible and with fixed belief, inquiry into the one and doubt of the other became a crime; all change was looked on as danger, and every novelty distrusted. Where, as in England and the States north of us, men were free to discuss all things, there they had no slavery. Hence, with us. society sternly repressed individual thought on this institution, and on all the facts and fancies which we believed to support it. The next step was to glorify it, and apology became eulogy. To this, too, a literature was devoted. To belief in this eulogy or to acquiesce in it society gave its smiles; to all question of it, gave frowns, suspicion, and ostracism. As, too, it was glorified here only and by us alone, it followed that the rest of the world and the opinion of other men we •d fust to value, and then not to regard at all, and turned to the conte oplation solely of ourselves and our virtues.

Now, you cannot limit the mind without dwarfing it, nor shut off all light without weakening the eye; so, when we left our faculties unused we began to lose them, and digging for ourselves a mam-mouth cave of darkness, we went near to be blind as its fish.

The effect was soon seen, as I have tried to indicate it to you. For authors we had commentators, for statesman politicians, for merchants shopkeepers. As wherever prescription and tradition rule, to the old all power was given, and youth was thrust aside. In like

manner laws and lawyers multiplied, hut truth escaped us. Routine study was never m >re zealously pursued, and the University provided for us law Btudenti complete apparatus of teachers, case rep moot courts, while it taught tin 1 art of medicine without a olinic, and

I? licensed as physicians tin n who had never felt a pulse. The

of our science we found in books instead of nature: not a discoverer nor an investigator was left among us; the very spirit of

inquiry was gone, and you might hear, as I have heard, an educated country gentleman gravely maintain that the bird called rail or sora every fall turns into a frog, and spends its winters buried in the mud. Fighting-cocks, hunting-dogs and race-horses we still bred in purity and excellence, but so little was known of the laws of species and the methods of breeding, that for all other domestic animals accidental mixture was the rule and degeneracy the fruit. History was so little studied for its lessons, and the laws of wealth so little understood, that I myself heard the late John M. Daniel, a leading writer and thinker, declare his belief that political economy is, as Swift thought it, all a fancy, and that wealth has no laws, proving his sincerity by the astonishing assertion that the fall of the Roman power was due to the exhaustion of her Iberian mines, and that the Spanish Empire declined because of the decrease in the supply of gold from America.

Our people poured out in ceaseless streams to create or to enrich a half-score of States. In the forty years from 1820 to 1860 our population increased only 50 per cent., though living was cheap, early marriage universal, and our rate of reproduction above the average. So late as 1860 we had but 35,000 residents of foreign birth, and Richmond, out of fifty chief cities of the country, had the smallest foreign-born population. Our comparative numbers had made us in 1800 and 1812 the first State of the Union; in '20 we were second; in '30 we were third; in '40 fourth, and in 1860 fifth; so severe was the drain of emigration and so strong the wall we built against immigration, whether of men or of ideas. In wealth, too, the same course was seen, for there is reason to believe that our slave-owning agricultural class was bankrupt in 1840, and was saved from utter ruin only by the steady rise in the demand for cotton and the steady increase in the value of slave property—an increase vaguely estimated at four per cent, per annum on the stock of slaves.

The ruling class had to restrict all activity of thought at home and to fight against science and opinion abroad to maintain its safety. Energy repressed here burst forth to bless other commonwealths or to adorn other societies. McCormick would invent a reaper; he goes to Chicago to perfect it. Maury dreams of great theories of wind and wave, but goes to Washington to work them out. Brooke thinks to help toward the ocean cable, but 'tis in the service of the United. States he invents his device for deep sea soundings. Mahan would teach science, but he must go to West Point to write his textbooks.

Here in Virginia, of labor-saving invention we wanted nothing, for of the labor of slaves we of the governing class had enough, and naturally we had no wish to relieve of drudgery the white man not owning slaves, nor to make him rival the slave in production nor ourselves in leisure.

Here in Virginia, there was no longer room for energy, for we had determined we had all things in having slavery; there was no

room for inquiring minds, for wc had answered Pilate's question, and asked, "what is Truth?" We said, "It is our peculiar institution."

The True, the Beautiful, the Good, and the Useful being thus attained, there could be no further common object, and consequently there was no need for Public Spirit. Hence, a people claiming peculiar freedom from the vice of avarice, refused to contribute to public works which adorn or defend a State. Hence, a people, reverencing above all things tradition, refused to preserve the memorials of their own history, and wilfully forgot the warnings of their wisest advisers. Hence, a people, glorying above all in their individuality, shrank from every undertaking except with the help of the State, and while they spoke with contempt of associated effort, and found degeneracy and weakness in the arts which make great cities, in this whole generation they produced no leader of thought, no model of style, no discoverer of truth, but fell to one dead level of mediocrity and ignorant content.

This state of things could not last in the modern world and among our race, and in the decade that began with 1850 signs of re-action appeared. At the University a school of history and a course of experimental and analytic chemistry were established, and a philologist trained in the profoundest schools of German research was called to train the young in the spirit as well as the words of Greek thought. The number of its pupils correspondingly increased, aid the same impulse being felt elsewhere, the classes seeking instruction gradually widened and the standard of teaching steadily rose. Efforts never seen before were made to extend on the one hand the railroad to the Ohio, and on the other to complete the highway which should lead to the middle valley of Mississippi from the tides of Atlantic. The iron industry of Virginia suddenly expanded, and around Tredegar, at Richmond, sprang up a score of specialized iron works ; the milling interest grew fast, ship building increased, sugar refining began, the coffee trade promised to make of Richmond one of its chief centres, and the great granite bed of Henrico, Chesterfield, and Dinwiddle, which had been left undisturbed since, in 1825. it furnished stone for Fortress Monroe, felt again the drill and the blast, and yielded material for the monument to Washington, and for the United States custom-house at Richmond'.

The Virginia Historical Society made efforts at life, and a blind reaction against the pressure of the general causes I have recited showed itself in the custom which then began to obtain of sending our youth abroad to bring from active BOcietii s and centres of thought new ideas to enliven the torpid mind of Virginia. The State Agricultural Society was formed, and Subordinate associations aided it

to collect the products, to report the progress, and to enlighten the labors of that great industry. Public opinion revolted against the

laws restricting the riffht 01 manumission, and the courts wire forced to construe them strictly as to the heirs at law, and with all liberality as to the devise of freedom and property to the slave.

Before this reaction, however, was more than fairly begun, causes wider thau those which governed Virginia's special history, precipitated the war. That it found us unready, you know. But war is the simplest of the arts, and, as all the world knows, we proved such masters of it as that we maintained for four years our lopsided and incomplete civilization against great odds, and upheld our obsolete idea against the thought, the science, and the art of the world.

We failed, of course; but in the failure awoke that Public Spirit which, like the insensible heat of vagrant gases, had laid hidden and-latent, but was readv to blaze out when pressure came to make solid their mass and visible its force. Of the war and of what followed it—of its efforts and sacrifice, and of the endurance, the hope, and the common purpose with which we adjusted and must still adjust our society to its new environment—I need not speak, for it is known to you all.

It has been my task to show how we weakened ourselves by narrowing our thought. Of one institution, whether it was good or evil in itself, or under other circumstances. I say nothing, but I have shown how evil it was, when, to maintain it in the face of the world's opposition, we were led to restrict thought, to dictate belief, to forbid discovery, to contemn the social principle, and so to destroy Public Spirit. With that institution our theory of States Rights had nothing to do. The theory was just, was natural to our race, and was necessary to our free development, and to save us from a centralization that must become despotism. It was worth fighting for, and it would have triumphed but for being to the apprehension of the world and to our purblind fancy, bound up with slavery and, therefore, falling with it. But they fell with a difference, Slavery fell dead, State Rights, Home Rule, Freedom was but wounded ; for slavery is mortal, freedom deathless.

Already that principle of Home Rule, silent in both camps, as need was, and hid in the dust of marches and the smoke of battle, already it asserts its native power, victor and vanquished alike confessing its virtue.

Your generation, my friends, inherits the glories of the two great periods of Virginia's history, and yours is the task to shun the deadly errors of those years when principles were forced into unnatural connection with accidents, when inquiry was silenced lest change should follow, when facts were ignored lest dogma should be weakened, when dread of comparison shut the eyes of Virginia to all excellence outside her boundary, and when, with, a limit put to knowledge, a veto on progress, and a bridle on energy, associated effort ceased from amongst us, and Public Spirit found its lowest ebb.

Be it yours to welcome every truth, to seek light wherever it may be found, to encourage the widest exercise of man's powers, and to forbid no province to his activity. Thus and thus only shall you prove all things, and. hold fast to that which is good, and thus giving free rein to every impulse of individuality, shall you preserve that Public Spirit to noble triumphs of peace and war, to conquest

over the yet unknown realms of nature, to solve many a social problem yet in doubt, and to subdue to man's final use and benefit, those passions of his nature which still master him and divide him from his neighbor.

In the life of nations decades are but as moments, centuries but as hours, and, however a people may fall, if it but preserve knowledge, and the love of knowledge, it rises again stronger for the lesson of defeat. >

Scarce seventy years have passed,since Prussia, enfeebled by a paternal despotism, and so destitute of public spirit that she even contemned her own noble tongue, was, as if in a day, trampled to the earth by the Corsican, and lost, not only all that Francis lost, but lost her honor too.

Yet, you and I have seen that same Prussia so full of Public Spirit, so strong through the strength that Stein and Scharnhorst organized, but which the school, the laboratory and the spirit of enquiry gave, that she beat down with one blow the house of Haps-burg, and with another destroyed the Napoleonic idea, prostrated and despoiled the great French people, and set on a dull Ilohen-zollern's brows the Iron Crown of Charlemagne.

Or look at France, in her fall and her rise. Mastered by the Napoleonic legend, as Virginia by slavery, subordinating all her thoughts to the one fancy, that power and glory, wealth and stability lay in that idea, sixteen years she obeyed it, stifled opinion, forbade (toubt, and shut her eyes to the example, her ears to the warning of the world; limiting knowledge lest it should shake the dynasty, making self-examination crime, and self-praise virtue, she found herself at length destitute of Public Spirit, with an army distrusting its leaders and itself unworthy of trust, and a people rash as it was ignorant, and as ready to cry " treason, treason," as it was incapable of self-confidence.

Yet, we ourselves have seen the wonders wrought by that same France in the five years since the benumbing tyranny of the Napoleonic legend was broken, and since the health-giving pressure of adversity forced the mass of the people into unity, and evolved the fire of Public Spirit. In five short years she has bound up her wounds and brought order out of the Commune; she has more than regained her industrial force, and stands to-day more respected, more powerful, and more worthy the name of nation than ever she was when the glory of Louis made her a gilded misery, or when the Little Napoleon flattered her vanity to blind her eyes and sap her strength.

So low as these great states Virginia has never fallen ; nature has gifted her with a ncble empire; fertile soils blossom for her. and genial skies smile on her. Countless streams make green her valleys and gathering into the mighty volume of her rivers roli by many a stately haven to her own great land-locked sea. Her people inherit the blood of the noblest races of men. To her in her virgin days came the patient, unyielding Dutch, the quick-witted

Huguenot, devoted to his beliefs, the rugged Scotch-Irisher, untamed by tyranny, and the self-contained, large brained Englishman, conqueror and ruler of the modern world.

Heritage, more magnificent never had sons of men than you and your generation. Prize it, I beseech you ; guard it as you Vould your honor, and give it to those that shall follow you, not unsullied only and laid away in the sluggard's napkin, but with yet added worth of labor, of thought, of virtue, and of deed.

Note by the Editor. —We give space to this address by Capt. Chamberlayne gladly ; because the time is come for us to look at things as they are. Whether we agree with his conclusions or not, we cannot shut our eyes to the facts he presents, and they do not, by any means, flatter us. It is high time that we cease to waste breath over the "glory of the past," and to address ourselves to the urgent demauds of the present. We have been quite long enough a mutual admiration society ; we must realize that we, even we, have faults, and some very grievous ones. No spur to good deeds should be so sharp as the consciousness of descent from an honorable stock ; but the man is beggarly who boasts of it without having himself added to its lustre. Virginia the widow, is not Virginia the bride. She has been despoiled of her portion, # and tasted of bitterness, and yet she is not wholly cast down. Sons are still left to her, and what are they if they will not prove themselves worthy of such a mother? The way is open to them to assert their manhood, and the day is at hand for its exercise.

THE PERFORATING POWER OF ROOTS.

It is indeed wonderful how easily the roots of plants and trees bore through hard impacted soils in search of the nourishment. They use for this purpose a sort of awl, of immense power, situated at the end of the root, and capable, with the aid of the other root machinery, of thrusting aside heavy weights, and getting through almost any obstructions. Yet the awl only consists of a mass of microscopic absorbent cells formed by protoplasm or vegetable mucus—■ the fluid in which vital action is first set up. The roots of the elm and maple will bore through the hardest soil of walks or streets, enter drains, twine about water pipes, and penetrate through the seams of stone or brick structures. The roots of some plants have been known to pass through eighteen inches of solid brick work, and make their appearance in a wine cellar below. . Plants have a great power in overcoming obstacles, when foraging for food. They are like a hungry animal which no fences can restrain when there is food beyond. The movements of roots in soils proceed on certain principles of utility in connection with the welfare of the plant. Some need more moisture than others, and the roots will drive through rocks to obtain it; others need silicious food, and will penetrate through a clay bank to reach the desired foraging ground. The urgency with which nature drives plants and animals in pursuit of food is almost irresistible.— Journal of Chemistry.

[For the Southern Planter and Farmer.]

A VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION—WHERE ARE WE DRIFTING TO ?

Being engaged in two important occupations, ray time is so completely filled that I have always to write in a hurry. I shall con-douse as much as possible.

The negroes were set free and turned loose among us without any preliminary training for freedom. We had contended that the negro, left free to direct and # control himself, could not live to any advantage in a temperate zone, wljere long winters prevail, and subsistence must necessarily be dug out of the earth by patient, persevering toil, backed by judgment and economy. Of the truth of this proposition I am now as fully convinced as ever. But he is here with us, and free at that. Those who know nothing about Sambo may prate as much as they please about his excellent qualities: they are at a safe distance from him, and know nothing of the subject that they protend to discuss so sapiently. But one thing is certain—I speak most emphatically —we must control the negroes, ovruin is inevitable both to them and us. I do not mean by this startling declaration that we should deprive them of a solitary right that legitimately belongs to them as freemen; but the great law of nature declares in divers ways, too clearly to be misunderstood, that "knowledge is power," and that inside of the grand circle that it sweeps are to be found wisdom, peace, safety, and prosperity. This law also declares just as clearly, that ignorance enthroned is a pozver for evil.

Knowledge belongs comparatively to the white race, and must have full sway and scope in all the grand departments of business, or else prosperity and progress will ever be a mere phantasm of the brain—a coveted goal that will never be reached. The negroes are the best laborers that we have or can get, but they are liable to undergo great changes in the future, unless we control them and keep them in the right channel. If left to float at will, they will zigzag in every direction along the cross and complex currents of a boundless swamp. As for white laborers, it is nonsense to talk about them where land is cheap and farming very unprofitable, they are only adapted to sections where land is scarce and rich.

Directly after the negroes were set free they were hired mostly for wages, and working under the control and direction of the whites both races bid fair to prosper. But a great change has come o'er tin 1 spirit of our dream. In the mind of the negro a great deal of idle time is the sine qua non of happiness. He can grasp the present, but all the powers of his intellect combined into one mighty focus fail to illuminate the dark future one inch in advance of his nose— ever di</ <tn<l tvet will, bating a far ezceptioni. Since be has been set free, lie has taxed his limited intellect to the utmost to discover some plan by which he can give a large portion of his time to fishing, hunting, meetings, visiting, polities, and general idleness; hut how to make money, accumulate property, and secure the solid comforts of life, are questions with him of minor importance.

Finally they settled down upon the plan of renting land and paying said rent in cotton. This is now the negroes' plan originated by themselves, and it is fast bringing both races to temporal ruin, as I will clearly show. The white man argues thus: '"A half loaf is better than none'; the negro is free any how; so if he pays his rent I don't care how he works, or what he does, or how it's done." The negro, on his part, argues thus: "My rent must be paid in cotton, so I will plant the most of my crop in that article, that when the rent has been paid I may have enough left to fill my pockets with greenbacks; then boots, calico, flour, whiskey, tobacco, mule and buggy, will elevate me high above, both at home and abroad, the dusty footmen that tramp along the pad !" The negroes have no more judgment about the proportion of corn and cotton that they should plant than children. Remember, whites, that the negroes are among us. They must live. If they starve, so will you. Don't flatter yourselves for a moment that the negro race can starve in your midst without dragging you down in their fall! The course that has been pursued has furnished the world with more cotton than it needs, and has raised the price of all the necessaries of life, plunging the whites into bankruptcy and ruin, and bringing the negroes to the very brink of starvation ! We may toil day and night to make cotton, but the more we make the lower the price, and the higher are provisions. Upon this line we may work until we become walking skeletons, and remain all the while miserably poor and half-starved, while all the world outside of us is laughing at our folly, and growing fat and saucy upon the unremunerated sweat that issues from every pore!

But to the negro again. We do not control him ; he controls us ! He idles away fully one-third of every year, counting from Christmas to Christmas. He makes no manure, and about half a crop upon the land that he pretends to cultivate. Soon the land will be so poor that he cannot support himself and pay rent. What then ? You will take the land from him and let it rest, or sow it in grain. But what will become of the negro ? He will be compelled to emigrate to Africa or the West, or they will go about in gangs, like prowling wolves, plundering the country and robbing the whites! You may call this sensational, or a mere phantasm of the brain; but consider, if you please, the signs of the times and the causes now in full operation, and their legitimate effects. The seasons for the last two or three years, in this section, were almost perfect; yet starvation is now at our doors. I have seen nearly all the renters in a neighborhood gathered around one small farmer that happened to be so fortunate as to have a little money, corn, and meat, offering to gather his whole crop in one day for a little something to keep soul and body together! When you see a dozen buzzards gathered around one dead snake, or as many crows pecking away at a stray nubbin of corn, or hear the blackbirds chattering in the cracks of your corn-crib, know ye that starvation is not far off.

And what is the cause of all this ? Various reasons have beeta

assigned; but the-real cause is, the negroes have the agriculture of the South pretty much in their own hands, and they arc just about as well qualified to manage it as so many children. If we give them a farm upon their own hook, they cannot run it unless we advance to them; if we do that, they cannot pay the advance back unless we unsettle them and leave them right where we found them. Many a white man has brought himself to grief on account of allowing the negro the pleasure of running a farm at his (white man's) expense, vainly supposing that Sambo could support himself, pay rent* and debts, and do it all by skinning only a half-crop out of the land.

Well, what is the remedy ? Is it to be found in sowing more grain, or planting more corn, or making less cotton? All these are generally pointed out by the savans of the South as constituting an effectual remedy. They are not the remedy, only the would-be effects of a proper remedy applied. The true remedy is—find there is no other—for the whites to take the great business of agriculture into their own hands; then the reins will be held strong and steady, and the "world's backbone" kept in the proper position. A course will be pursued adapted to secure the permanent welfare of both races for the present and future. It is generally admitted that the whites must have "political supremacy," or the country is ruined. Be not deceived; it is just as necessary that the whites should have agricultural supremacy to save the country from ruin.

Finally, all sorry hands must be hired for wages. Renters must be able to support themselves; must be directed in pitching their crops and working them; must be required to make manure and keep up fences. The land they work must not be allowed, at least, to become any poorer. The law against vagrancy must be rigidly enforced against both black and white; drones must be kicked out of the hive and put on the chain-gang under an overseer. More grain must be made, and less cotton; barn-yard manure must receive more attention, and guano less. The low price of cotton and high price of provisions furnish an argument that will convince tillers oi: the soil, by and by, that they have been pursuing a wrong course. The tyrant necessity is the only argument that Southern fanners will listen to. This old tyrant is now marching everywhere through the South, and 1 discover a growing disposition in the Southern people to pull off their hats and make him a bow.

I now hear much talk about sowing more grain, planting more corn and less cotton, arid making more manure, &c, &C« Many of the whites have a little reserved farm of their own that they are trying to make rich; hut outside of this they rent the balance of their land to the helter-skelter negro, who is fust wearing it out. I again ask the question: If this course is pursued much longer, what will become of Sambo ? I am n >t his enemy, but a better friend to him than he is practically to himself, lie must be compelled in some way to improve the hind he tills, or else after awhile we slnill he compelled to ship him or do worse. When tin- black man has worn out the land allotted him, he will not be allowed to fall back upon

the white man's few "bale acres" that he has nursed as carefully as his own children.

Let a wise course be pursued in due time, and soon our country will resemble a garden; provisions will be cheap, and cotton bring a remunerative price; our wives will he happy and our children merry; Sambo will again look sleek and oily, and will whistle and sing as he did in the good old days of yore. But, in order to reach this happy state, the white man must hold the reins, both political and agricultural, and not the negro.

Stellaville, G-a., September, 1875. Jas. H. Oliphant.

[For the Southern Planter and Farmer.]

THE BEST REMEDY FOR POOR LAND.

The first article in your October No., by S. M. Shepherd, is the best article on this subject I ever saw in an agricultural journal. I reread it to find some point on which I could not agree with him, but I could not. The article must be original; I never read of or talked with a man who dared put forth such views on the subject of weeds and pasturing lands.

Weeds, ever since the fall of man, have been considered one of the legitimate consequences of disobedience in our first parents, and it has always been considered the orthodox practice to pasture lands too poor for anything else, in order "to bring them to," as they call it.

There is no greater fallacy than to suppose lands can be benefitted by laying bare to the sun. The droppings, on which so much reliance is placed, are left in the same situation as the soil, only more exposed to the sun, which robs them of everything useful to plants, except the salts they contain, of which the land perhaps has a superabundance.

Ths tramping of the soil when wet is another evil of grazing, the effect of which has been so well observed by Mr. Shepherd.

Notwithstanding it is so well known that grass will run out on lands continually grazed—so much that the fields must be enlarged, or the stock diminished from year to year, until the value of land required to support the stock has raised the question in some parts as to the policy of grazing or soiling during the summer—the farmers still cling to the idea that their pastures are recuperating until the grass entirely runs out, and the weeds, that nothing will eat, kindly begin to restore something to the soil; then they begin to be deeply concerned lest the weeds should get the start of them and scatter their seeds—to prevent which they mow them and put them in the mud holes in the road, or cart them to a dry place and burn them, the same as they used to treat the martyrs.

Mr. Shepherd also observes, very truly, that "the great want of our lands at this time is vegetable matter." Our worn out lands have been stimulated with lime until everything has been worked out of the soil but the mineral substances, the particles of which are

capable of being magnetized, and if the proper moisture be present to afford the necessary conducting power to electricity every particle becomes a magnet, and with the lubricating*effect of the water they arc enabled to arrange themselves according to the laws that form solids, particularly if stirred in any way by plowing or tramping, which causes the soil to become what is termed baked. There is no way so effective in destroying the adhesion of the mineral particles in the soil as to insert a particle of non-conducting vegetable matter between them. Plow in the weeds, if they are the curse of Adam; they will decompose and prove a great blessing to a baked soil.

A few years ago I saw an account of an experiment showing the effect of electricity on the soil. The author, reasoning from analogy (which is very apt to lead us astray), considered that a little artificial electricity might have a good effect on vegetable life. He accordingly passed currents of electricity near the roots, through the soil, which he was obliged to moisten freely to favor its conduction, but observed no marked effect, except a slight induration of the soil. This w T ould seem to favor the theory of the influence of magnetism under favorable circumstances in the cause of baked soils, without the consciousness of the author of the experiment.

Chesterfield county, Va., Oct. 10, 1875. D. S. Howard.

£For the Southern Planter and Farmer.]

PERUVIAN OR TALL MEADOW GRASS.

I notice in your paper for March some remarks on Peruvian or tall meadow oat grass. Having some little experience with this grass, 1 will give it to you, and compare it with orchard grass and timothy. Peruvian grass is very hardy and always does best when sown in the fall, although it may be sown in the spring, if so desired. It will make a crop of hay sooner than any other grass I have ever sown. In the fall of '73 I sowed a piece of land down to wheat and Peruvian grass. In '74 I made a good wheat crop, and the same fall I mowed considerable hay from the same land, and it now looks like an old sod, and I think will now make ten tons to the acre (by cutting twice) this summer. Sowed also in fall of '73 a small lot in rye ; in spring of '74 I mowed the rye for my stock ; the Peruvian grass then came up and headed out. When compared with orchard grass and timothy it stands as follows: Timothy can be cut but once no matter how rich the land or how fine the season ; while Peruvian grass can always be cut twice and sometimes three times, and will make fully as much hay at cadi cutting, and as good :i- to quality if />n>/><r/j/ ourecL Peruvian grass must never be allowed to get wet, for when wet it turns yellow, which injures the looks of it very much. Neither timothy or Peruvian grass can withstand drought like orchard grass. Orchard grass 18 a year longer making a crop and a sod, but when once a sod is made it lasts forever, while a Peruvian or timothy sod does not last but five or six years at best. If the season is favorable the difference between orchard

grass and Peruvian is not so perceptible, but when a drought sets in orchard grass will soon shoot ahead of either Peruvian Grass or timothy. I believe Peruvian Grass does better on poor land than orchard grass ; but on good land if you want a grass that will stick to you like a faithful friend, through summer and winter, wet and dry, orchard grass is the grass for you to sow. Peruvian grass I place second and timothy third.

If Mr. H. G. H's neighbor will compost his manure and then apply it to his grass he will derive twice the benefit from his manure that he now gets by applying it green. He may argue as he pleases, but the best of his manure is carried off in the air when applied green. I think he is right about getting a good sod, but get your sod and save your manure. Apply the compost on the top.

Montgomery county, Va. , W. F. Tallant.

[For the Southern Planter and Farmer.] COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS.

DO THEY PAY THE FARMERS OF VIRGINIA ?

Having been a farmer in Virginia for 35 years, and having used commercial fertilizers for the last 20 years (save the four years of war), I have come to the conclusion that they do not pay the farmer who raises only wheat, corn and grass. I believe that if the Chincha Islands (which gave a start to these commercial fertilizers) had never been discovered the State cf Virginia would have been twenty millions of dollars better off to-day than she is—nay more, I believe the sum spent in fertilizers that have paid no profit, together with the actual depreciation of the land by the use of them, would, several years ago, have paid the State debt, and yet I believe more of them are being used this season than ever before—building up the manufacturers of it, most of them outside of the State, forcing all the money to the commercial centres and impoverishing the farmer, and worse still, his land, which is his all. I take the ground that bone, lime and plaster only are permanent improvers—that all others are merely stimulants to the soil and crops, and, like-whiskey to the human system, the more and longer you use them the more certainly they destroy. In the first place, the actual commercial value of these manipulated fertilizers is from $14 to $24, and the farmer is made to pay from $45 to $55. Then apply it to the wheat crop if you please, which is considered the money cereal of our State, and see the result. The average crop of Virginia is about seven bushels per acre, worth, in market, at present price of wheat, after taking off cost of transportation, $7; take off the lowest cost of fertilizer per acre, say $3, and I believe it is nearer $5, and you have $4 left; take out one bushel, equal to $1, for seed, and you have $3 left for plowing, seeding, harvesting and threshing an acre of land. The cheapest labor known in the world, even in China, could not live at that. In fact a good hearty man would eat up the remnant of his crop

(after taking out seed and fertilizers) while making it. Does this pay ? I am told we must use fertilizers to get our land in grass. My experience is that it is a positive injury in that respect; for four years out of five now, we have droughts in June and July, and these fertilizers, being heating in their effects, contribute with the drought to destroy the young grass, and, in truth, I can point to fine farms (where those manipulated fertilizers of almost any brand have been used for years, discarding the use of plaster) where not even weeds will now grow without a dose, and an increased dose of these stimulants : and suppose it does give a set of grass, it acts merely as a stimulant, and the grass is grazed off or mowed, and in two years the stimulant gives out, the grass dies and leaves the Tand exhausted and bearer than before. My observation is, that bone and plaster are the only fertilizers that will grow grass permanently on all soils. Lime is a greater improver on many soils, but not on all, many of the red soils in Piedmont Virginia having sufficient lime on them. Peruvian guano and all, or many of the manipulated fertilizers, honestly manipulated will pay on tobacco, where the crop will average in price §10 per hundred, for the best of them will make a crop on land that would make none without it; and on soils so entirely exhausted that it will bring absolutely nothing, and can't be injured. On wheat and corn it will not pay unless at $2 a bushel for the former and §1 a bushel for the latter.

Then what are the farmers in Virginia to do? It is clear that a Virginia farmer making ten bushels of wdieat to the acre, at a cost of $5 per acre for fertilizers cannot compete with the rest in raising wheat, 40 bushels to the acre, without fertilizers and paying but little more freights to the seaboard markets, than we do 100 miles off, which is an outrage on the part of these railroads. I say stop using stimulants at any price. Save and husband all your farm manures, from stable, cowpens, ashes, liquid manures, &c, &c. Don't throw your soapsuds out on the ground about your floor, and don't let the ashes and wood pile manure accumulate like little mountains, but husband and apply all to 50 acres if you can: if not 50, to 20, 1<» or '2. Use as much bone or lime on 2, 10 or 20 acres, more as you have means to buy, and apply plaster, which is the cheapest and best of* the three, to all your cleared land, whether in grass or crop-}. Sow down in grass that 2, 10, 20 or 50 acres, and next year take as much more and improve the same way. and on all your unimproved land graze sheep. If our legislators are afraid of their popularity for re-election, and won't give US a dog law, get $2 worth of strychnine and you can protect any moderate BifcS farm for a year against dogs. By these means. Mr. Editor, the poorest farm in the State can he made to blossom, anil, with economy ami industry^ the owner can

soon Q9c bone, lime and plaster enough to make it produce anything;

but. my WOTd for it, his land and lie will get poorer and pOOrCT every year with the use of these manipulated stimulants. 1 will write you in my next some facts and experiments in the use of plaster, which

I believe is the best fertilizer of all for its price, so cheap that it is within the reach of all, and not a stimulant as some suppose.

Valley, Piedmont and Tidewater Farmer.

[Note by the Editor. —Our correspondent is very nearly right. The use of Peruvian Guano has certainly impoverished our lands and people. In general terms we think Bone the best of all fertilizers. Lime and Plaster are barely manures—they are generally thought to act chemically. The injurious effects of Peruvian Guano were recognized soon after its use was commenced. The amount of ammonia contained in it was too great for its phosphates, and being a powerful solvent it took out of the land those mineral elements in which the guano itself, was deficient, making a fine crop at the expense of the land. It was to remedy this defect in Peruvian Guano that manipulated manures were first made, and bones and phosphatic guanos were first used for that purpose. Manipulated guanos when honestly and judiciously compounded have generally made better crops than Peruvian Guano alone, and instead of impoverishing have improved the land. They certainly enable us to get a stand of grass on land where it would have been impossible to Have secured it without them. Of course the benefit of the use of a commercial fertilizer whether in grass or improvement of the land, as well as the improvement from any other source, can be neutralized by a scourging system of grazing or cropping, but the fertilizer should not be blamed for that.

We think our correspondent is too sweeping when he says the commercial value of these fertilizers is from $14 to $24 per ton. "We have before us one of Prof. White's reports to the State Agricultural Society of Georgia, in which he gives the commercial value of 16 of these fertilizers, ranging in price fron $35 to $55 per ton, and the lowest value affixed by him is $25, (which, by the way, is that of a natural guano), and the highest is $54 63 per ton, which is affixed to an article sold at $50 per ton. These values do not include the cost of bagging and freight to place of sale, which is from $3 to $5 per ton. This would show that the standard fertilizers made by responsible parties generally contain the value of the money charged for them.

We agree with our correspondent in the estimate he places upon bones. When pure, and unsteamed, and finely ground, they are very valuable, and will be found more profitable, pound for pound, than Peruvian Guano. Bone Dust and Bone Meal are slow in their action, and this has led to having them dissolved with acid. When ground as fine as flour they act as quickly as dissolved bones, and are more economical to the farmer, at a higher price than coarse bone, or dissolved bone, because they contain all of the ammonia, the greater part of which is destroyed when dissolved, and they contain no moisture, (33 to 50 per cent, of dissolved bone is water and acid,) and being much more active than coarse bone a smaller application will give the same result,, thereby reducing the capital necessary to fertilize a given area.

Would it not be a good idea for farmers who distrust manipulations to buy guano and finely ground bone and mix them themselves? A mixture of one-fourth to one-third Peruvian Guauo with three-fourths or two-thirds Flour of Bones would, we think, make a fertilizer which would neither impoverish the land or burn up the grass—would make a paying crop of wheat—insure a stand of grass and so put the land on the road to permanent improvement.

Our correspondent owns some of the largest and richest estates in the Valley, Piedmont and Tidewater districts of Virginia, and has no compeer as a farmer in these sections of the State. We thank him for this article, as well as for his proposed article on plaster.]

CULTIVATE MURK FRUIT.

There is no doubt but that the free use of good fruit is highly conducive to health, and, indeed, almost indispensable to it. Much of the sickucs- in the western country is occasioned by the want of it. It is tlie great scarcity of good fruit that creates Bach ■ demand for physic. The various fevers and bilious disorders prevalent in the Summer Beason are more owing to the want of it than to any other cause. And not until fruit is generally cultivated and used as an article of medicine, instead of the physician's prescription, we have no doubt it would he far better for the patient.

Fruit is more needed throughout the summer season than almost any other part of the year. The farmer cannot take a step which will add more to his ow T n joys and to those of his famil} r , than by having such a succession as will furnish him with fruit the entire year. ^ ,

First on the list in spring time comes the delicious strawberry. But a little spot of ground is used for its cultivation for the use of the family. Its healthful qualities are well known. Cities well supplied with it are remarkably exempt from disease while the strawberry season lasts. We have accounts of wonderful cures effected in ancient times by its use. There are many varieties, but it is not our purpose to note the best of these at this time.

Next in order comes the raspberry—a most excellent fruit, and indispensable to every family. Then follows the blackberry, the cHerry, currants and gooseberry. Then comes the apricot, the peach, the nectarine and the plum. Apples and pears also commence ripening early in summer, and the winter varieties, if properly stored, may be kept till the appearance of fruit the next season. Who will not'have this succession ? How much it would add to home happiness.

[For the Southern Planter ami Fanner.]

WHAT MAKES THE RIGHT KIND OF A WIFE.

In noticing one of your publications I saw the piece written "On the right kind of a wife." But our correspondent never once said what made that good wife; and what made her smile so much. It is the affectionate husband, one who encourages her efforts with a smiling face, and helps her out of her little troubles; one who makes pleasant Burroundingf at home. When she looks at her children, helpless innocents, For whom the world has no inheritance but a lazy father, and her children, half-clothed and half-fed, beseeching her to them such things that she is not able to do within herself; can she be happy at h e if she has any pride or respect for her family r

The man is the head of the woman, and it is natural for the woman to look to her husband to do things for herself and children, though look in vain many a time; hut when .she has Confidence in him, ami knows that ho will manage his affairs fcQ the interest of his family, she is Contented, and though she may he deprived of his

company all day, she looks forward to the time when he will be at home with an affectionate smile for her and a kiss for the little ones, and then cheerfully speaks with her of the events* of the day. When this is the case she is compelled to be happy. Bat when he starts in the morning and spends the day walking about, or sitting with idlers, who have nothing to do but laugh and talk and drink whiskey when same one offers it to them, and then at night comes home with a frown, perhaps cursing or abusing his wife because things have not gone on right, and if she asks him a question she^i gets no answer but yes or no, or, I don't know, and that in the shortest way possible. Now I ask how can she be happy there, or how can he be happy there? They see nothing at home to make them happy but poverty and disgrace, and that has never made any one happy. If the man wishes to have a smiling, dutiful wife, he must be a smiling, affectionate and encouraging husband. Woman ! weak woman ! how can she senile unless she has something to make her smile, for smiles can never come naturally from a sad heart.

From a Lady Friend.

[Note by the Editor. —We are willing to concede that good wives are the rule and bad ones the exception. We are willing to go farther than this, and say that where there is one wife who fails to do her duty as such lovingly and cheerfully, there are two husbands who fall very far short of this, yet it stands out as a fact that the happiness of homes depend almost exclusively upon the wife. We cannot agree with our fair correspondent. A man of business spends very ±ew hours with his wife, and he, after all the toils and conflicts, and often disappointments of the day, if he goes home and finds the one for whom he has toilc «,nd labored all day in anything else than a cheerful mood he feels that all his toil and labor have been in vain. This is not sentimentalism, it is sober fact which every man knows and feels. The man who, when met with a smile, repulses his wife, is a brute, and don't deserve to have a home of any kind.]

[For the Southern Planter and Farmer.]

A NEW REMEDY FOR HARD TIMES.

Ten years ago the war closed, and I have been looking forward, from year to year, thinking that the next would bring us better times, but I see no change and we cannot expect much better times until we do better ourselves. All must go to work. We spend too much time taking pleasure. We must not stop our work to go to every place of amusement, and spend our money foolishly. If we do, we will ever be at the foot of the hill. And young men, let me whisper softly in your ears and tell you that time is flying with rapid strides, and old age will soon be here, and if you wish to live comfortably in declining years you must make provision in your youthful days. Many of the young men spend too much time in courting ; or going to see the girls. And nine times out of ten they would think more of you if you would stay at home and try to accumulate something to take care of her when you get her. Go to work and try to buy a home

for her; try to have a plenty there when she conies. It is a mistaken notion to try to get the <jirl first. Make every preparation for her, and then you will find it an easy task to select some fair one to call your own. Some young men aie live or ten years trying to get married ; they perhaps succeed at last, and they carry her from her father's bouse, where she lived comfortably, and they have no home to call their own. And he is too poor to give her a neat apparel. Now, young man, commence from the first day of the year, and set down every hour you loose, and at the end of the year you will find you have lost months ; and in five years you will find you have lost years doing nothing. And now, young ladies, I have something to say to you. The times have heen when you could get a dress from ten yards of cloth ; now it takes from fifteen to twenty. You could once fix up your hair in a becoming manner with the use of a few hair-pins ; now it takes about a dozen different things to get it " tucked up " in the present style; and then it resembles a knot on the earners back. Ami it takes you all your time to keep in the fashion. Now hard times will certainly remain with us as long as things go on this way. If you would spend your time in learning household duties and reading useful books, laziness and the frivolities of fashion would sink to rise no more.

From a Subscriber.

[Xotf BY the EDITOR,—There is a good deal of sober common sense in what our subscriber says, and our young men and young women would do well to profit by it We differ from our friend, however, in some respects. We do not think a young man ought to wait until he lias a home before he marries. Upon thi' contrary, we think that if a young man is sober and industrious, the sooner lie marries after he attains his majority the better, provided, of course he makes a suitable choice.

It is well known that most of our young men never save anything until they are married, and while we may argue against it as much as we please, the fact stands out undisputed and indisputable.

Men must have company, they are naturally gregarious, and a good wife is the best and most economical companion a man can have].

DOES PORK-RAISING PAY IN THE OLD STATES.

This question is frequently discussed, and usually answered in the negative. A writer in the American Agriculturitt comes to the

conclusion that pork-raising does not pay in New England, that pork sells (on account of Western competition) for less than it costs. This may possibly he true in hundreds of 4*868, hut when he goes oh to enumerate what pays better, he mentions sheep, in mutton and

lambs, as paying better than pork; hut this is quite a miscalculation,

as mutton does not bring more per pound, on an average, than DOlfc, and from the most caretul experiments of Lawes and Gilbert it is proved that the pig utilizer in growth "-!<> per cent, of its fond, while the sheep does only 12 per cent. This may he considered as a demonstration that a pound of pork is produced at less cost than a

pound of mutton. Very little can be claimed on pasture for sheep that does not apply to the pig, The pig is a grass-eating animal, and has often been found to increase from one to one and a half pounds per day upon clover. Any comparative trial upon feeding sheep and pigs upon grain or upon food of the same cost, will demonstrate that the sheep has no advantage of the pig. He also mentions that grazing and fattening cattle is more profitable, but in this he is quite as much at fault, for beef does not, on an average, bring as high a price as pork ; when higher it is exceptional, and the cattle do not utilize so large a proportion of their food as pigs. One hundred pounds of corn will make more pork than beef, as can be very easily tested if one is feeding a few steers end pigs at the same time. We have tested it by the following experiment: Fed two three-year old steers, weighing 1,200 pounds each, upon good hay and corn meal, and five pigs, eight months old, weighing, on an average, 160 pounds each, upon sugar beets and corn meal; counting a pound of beets equal to a pound of hay (which is above the usual estimate for beets). The result was that it took six pounds corn meal to make one pound increase live weight during forty days, while it required only four pounds of meal to make one of live weight on the pigs. The steers ate 480 pounds each of meal, and gained eighty pounds. The five pigs ate 1,000 pounds of meal and gained fifty pounds each, or 250 in all. The pigs were a cross of Chester-White with common blood. We found that the pigs would eat just about the same weight of beets as the steers of hay, and the same of meal. Pigs eat much more, proportionally to weight, than steers, and gain much faster.

One great reason that pigs are condemned by Eastern feeders is, that they keep them too long, mostly in a store condition, wherein they are always kept at a loss. The pig, to be profitable, must in no .case be kept beyond twelve months, and ten months is the better rule ; at which latter age they should weigh 300 pounds. We have no domestic animal that utilizes its food better than the pig, and none that pays a better profit unless the product brings a higher price.

SUFFOLK HOGS.

A great deal of pains has been taken by interested parties to bring the Suffolk hog into public notice and popular favor. I have just been reading an article in one of the agricultural papers in which the writer says "we think the Suffolk keeps easier, matures quicker and makes better pork than any other kind of hog, at least in northern Ohio." This is saying a great deal. If it is true, there is no longer a doubt which breed of hogs a farmer ought to keep. But those who are interested in the sale of other breeds will hardly admit all that has been claimed for the Suffolks. Take the claim that it "keeps easier." In one sense this may be true. Probably a Suffolk hog will not eat as much as a Chester-White of the same age, but the reason can easily be found in the fact that the former is not

nearly as large as the latter. While the Suffolk eats less, it alao makes less pork. And as the object in keeping hogs is not to see how many can he kept on a certain amount of food, but to obtain the largest possible quantity of pork from the food consumed, the

fact that one breed does not eat as much as another should have no bearing upon the choice <>(' breeds. There is no doubt that the Suffolk "matures quicker" than some other breeds. In certain localities this would be a very desirable quality, while in others it would be a decided objection. If small hogs are wanted, the Suffolk will fill the bill. They stop growing at an age when the Chester White has hardly reached half its size, and while the latter keeps on growing the former is rapidly fattening.

In regard to the claim that the Suffolks make "better pork than any other hog " in northern Ohio, I do not see how it can be proved. I do not know that the meat of this breed of hogs sells any higher in market than that of other good breeds. That the pork is good I have no doubt, but that it is better than can be obtained from other breeds I seriously doubt. The writer to whom I have referred w r ould make us believe that the Suffolks are the most profitable hogs for the farmer to keep. That.is in regard to the first cost of the stock. The profits of this business do not depend entirely upon the receipts. The expenses must also be considered. If a farmer wants to grow 2,000 pounds of pork, and is obliged to buy his pigs, it may make considerable difference with his profits which breed he choses. Probably the amount of food required to produce this amount of pork will be about the same whether a small or a large breed is taken, but in one case more pigs must be obtained than in the other. The price of the pork will be the same in either case.

In the case of poultry, the product brings so much higher price that the profit is greater if the stock is kept healthly. Dairy products also bring a higher price ami pay better, but the pig is the best animal to utilize the refuse of the dairy. When farmers learn that the pig is simply a machine to make pork out of vegetable food, and they adopt the economical principle recognized in running other machinery, to keep it going to its capacity, there will be no disappointment about the profits. The simple point to be made is, the farmer take- nearly or quite twice the length of time necessary to reach a given weight, say 800 pounds, and the loss is in the keeping the pig half of the time without growth.— Live Stock Journal,

An honest reputation is within the reach of all men; they obtain it by social virtues and by doing their duty. This kind of reputation, it is true, is neither brilliant nor startling, but it is often the most*useful for happiness.

Thk farmer who is too poor to take a paper devoted to his interests, will always be poor in purse and management. 4

[For the Southern Planter and Farmer.]

VIRGINIA DELEGATION AT THE NORTH CAROLINA

STATE FAIR.

The delegation from the Virginia State Agricultural Society, an gentlemen representing the trade interests of Richmond, Petersburg and Norfolk, attended the North Carolina State Fair at Raleigh, and were very courteously received.

After visiting the extensive Fair grounds and fine exhibition on Wednesday, the I3th instant, where they were met by and introduced to the officers of the Society and many citizens of the " old North State," they were invited in the evening to be present at a general meeting of the Society, which was held in the House of Representatives, in the Capitol, and .had seats assigned them. An address of welcome was then made, which was responded to by Col. Knight, President of the Virginia Society, and also by Messrs. Ruffin and Watt of the delegation.

An interesting address was then made by one of the professors of Chapel Hill University, on the subject of an agricultural department in that institution. Dr. Elzy, one of the Virginia delegates and professor at the Blacksburg Agricultural College, was then called on, and made a most admirable off-hand speech on the subject of technical education, which for its practical good sense, made a most profound impression on his hearers. The meeting closed'with the most cordial feeling between the citizens of the two States who were thus thrown together.

Substance of the Remarks of Col. Knight, President of Virginia State Agricultural Society:

We have come here, my friends, not for the purpose of speech-making and mutual laudations. We have come to mingle with the people of the "old North State," and to cultivate those kindly feelings which should exist between the citizens of the two commonwealths. We have come to see the exhibition of the products of your soil, and of your mines, the fruits of your orchards, and the cattle which have been bred on your pastures. We have come to take counsel and encouragement in all efforts to restore and advance the material interest of the people of both States. In a mission such as this, we accept your kind welcome. These annual gatherings of the people of the States, bringing with them the products of their skill and labor, have done much to infuse energy and confidence into the individual worker, whereby the general wealth and prosperity are increased.

I could tell you how Virginia, like your own beloved State—both impoverished by a cruel and worthless warfare—has been benefitted by her own Agricultural Society.

Time will not permit, but I may say, in brief, that ten years ago in April last the conflict of war being over, its sad results were on us, (of which it is useless to speak, as they are familiar to us all), and the heavy cloud which overshadowed us seemed rather to increase than diminish. Military government in State affairs, and carpet-bag

government in local politics rendered Ofl powerless. We had from sheer necessity to leave to the powers which controlled us all matters outside of our Immediate fire-side interest, and these were not always exempt from interference.

This impressed the faet that as turners of the domain we had to look to it, and the fruits of honest toil on it, for the support of our wives and children and the means of payment of debts contracted under better circumstances. In this condition of things, our farmers had to hear the largest part of the burden of the adverse times; and with old debts hanging over them, land which they had not capital and labor to work, homes made desolate, they were overwhelmed with despondency and gloom. It was necessary to.confront the situation and in every sensible and practical way to relieve it. A convention of farmers was called to assemble at the capitol which was well attended. The questions presented were earnestly discussed, and hope and confidence were strengthened. Words of encouragement were spoken by members, and by one which went like an electric shock throughout the State. The State Agricultural Society, founded by Ruffin and other men eminent in agriculture, was still an organized*body, and had preserved a portion of its funds from the wreck of war, and it stepped to the front. The friend to whose words I have alluded was elected to the vacant Presidency, and all the other vacancies in the official corps were filled with true and faithful men. A Fair was determined on for the ensuing Fall and a heavy premium list, under the circumstances, was adopted and published. We looked with fear and trembling on the result, as our people were so little able by their personal presence, or otherwise, to contribute to or receive the benefits contemplated and hoped for. An overruling Providence directed all things well, and our first Fair closed with the general impression that it was equal to, if not better, than the best before the war. Six others have succeeded, and the seventh is now nearly at hand, and year by year the last is pronounced best —thus showing the continued progress of our people.

Visitors to our Fairs may now see the stalls, pens and coops filled with cattle, horses, hogs, sheep and poultry, the largest portion of which have been bred in our own State, and for purity of blood and skill in breeding, cannot be excelled in any country.

They will also find agricultural implements and machinery of the best kind, which have been produced by the hands and skill of our own citizens; and will sec the products of the mines fashioned for use in many varied and important forms by our own Foundries. And as the result of these facts, Virginia is fast growing in her agricultural and manufacturing prospects; and for this she is indebted, in a great measure, to her agricultural and mechanical societies.

Our farming people, however, are far from being fully relieved. They have a large surplus dead capital lands which they cannot cultivate, and cannot rent or sell to advantage, and on which they must be taxed The relief from this burden will, I hope, soon come in the shape of immigration. We will not, therefore, despond, but

will cultivate only as much of our lands as we can judiciously and profitably, and leave the residue for the time which surely will ^come when it will be made valuable to us.

This brief picture of the condition of Virginia, will, in the main, represent that of your own State; and, therefore, we may take counsel together and extend to each other mutual encouragement. Let us, then, associate more intimately in all relations of trade and personal intercourse, and, be assured, that the interests of Virginia and North Carolina are "one and inseparable."

Raleigh, N. C. T. K C.

OFFICERS OF THE STATE GRANGE.

Master— J. W. White, Eureka Mills, Va. Overseer —T. T. Tredway, Prince Edward Va. Lecturer —J. W. Morton, Eureka Mills, Va. Steward —Wm. McComb, Gordonsville, Va. Asst. Steward —I. B. Dunn, Washington county, Va. Chaplain —J. C.-Blackwell, Buckingham, Va. Treasurer —W. B. Westbrook, Petersburg, Va. Secretary —M. W. Hazlewood, Richmond, Va. Gatekeeper —M. B. Hancock, Charlotte, Va.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. .

A. B. Lightner, of Augusta. R. V. Gaines, of Charlotte. A. M. Moore, of Clarke. R. L. Ragland, of Halifax.

MAINTAIN YOUR ORGANIZATION.

The Grangers must pardon us for urging them to maintain their organization in tact at all hazards. To do this requires energy, vigilance and good sense. They must not only exert themselves and work manfully, but they must be wide awake and subordinate their intelligence to the great ends contemplated. Without these essential prerequisites no organization can succeed. We have, all over the country, weak and inefficient churches, made so by the want of these very elements; and the same remark is applicable to all secular associations of men. There must be, too, a vital and living interest in the peculiar objects and aims of such associations. This interest must never flag—never give up. It should be kept, all the time, to fever heat. Enthusiasm, is the word. The fire must burn within. No one yet ever achieved success in any undertaking where there was no lively interest felt in its ultimate triumph.

To this ultimatum the Grangers must be brought. They must throw their souls into their work, or else they will die out. One thing they have to guard against, and that is, not to be led astray by the large promises of financial gains, by which we mean that they

have higher and more exalted ends to reach. The heart and mind deserve more care and attention than the body. It is well enough to look after our pecuniary interests, to save money, and to buy as cheap as we can and to sell for the highest figure, but, in the meantime, it is far more important to cultivate a higher moral sentiment and to fortify the mind with the richest stores of information. Tbey cannot perform a more important duty, one that will bring with it more genuine pleasure and permanent improvement than the discussion of such subjects as relate to farm, garden and household. Too many are controlled by the mere paraphernalia of the order—its rites and ceremonies. Lay these aside, and strike for something more deserving our attention. Form libraries, subscribe for useful papers and thus extend the area of knowledge. We must steadily bear in mind that all success depends upon the expansion of the intellect.

The Order has done well not to have anything to do with politics. It has passed over this dangerous shoal and thus silenced our enemies. But let us not be deceived about one thing, that we should ignore the discussion of questions relating to political economy. That is all bosh. It is our duty to investigate such questions, and, especially, the question of the currency. We are more deeply interested in it, at least for the present, than any question of the times. We cannot all think alike about it, and for that reason, if no other, we should seek to interchange views and try to come together.

[Note by the Editor. —We copy the above from The Living Age and Outlook, published in Kentucky. We heartily endorse its sentiments. The past year has been a year of progress among the Patrons of Husbandry in Virginia, and the next meeting of the State Grange, which takes place in January, is looked forward to with a great deal of interest. The last Grange adopted a constitution and this is its year of trial. When the results of the year are summed up we will be able to tell whether it has been a complete success or not. If the system we have adopted has any flaws in it, we will then be able to find them out, and remel dy them. The farmers of Virginia have gone into this movement in earnest— they mean to accomplish through its agency all the good it is capable of accomplishing, and no present disappointment or partial failure will discourage them or cause them to abate their efforts to make it a success.]

Tub National Grange will meet in Louisville, Ky., on the 17th of November.

Tin-; MARYLAND Patrons will petition the next Legislature, to do away with the present system and substitute therefor, private inspections of tobacco.

The California Grangers' Insurance Company has increased

its capital from 100,000 to $500,000. During the first twelve months of its existence it had risks to the amount of $3,000,000 and its aggregated losses were only $ >4(). It is on the mutual plan and the insured participate in the profits. Nothing but country risks are taken and the loss can never, as with city companies, be sev< I

The Executive Committee of the National Grange recommend that the Secretary of each County or Pomona Grange, report to the Secretary of the National Grange within ten days of the close of each quarter, the condition of each staple commercial product, and that the reports of the County Grange be formulated under appropriate heads, and a copy of the complete report furnished each County Grange. This is a good move. By it the Patrons of each County Grange will have in their own hands the most accurate data, from which to estimate the probable prices which will control both, what produce they wish to buy, and also what they may wish to sell.

Junction Grange, Marshall county, Kansas, believing that if the birds were permitted to live, the grasshoppers would, in all probability, ; soon disappear, passed the following resolution : u That we, the members of this Grange, will not allow any one to kill birds on any farm within the jurisdiction of this Grange, and that we hereby give notice to all persons found killing birds on our farms that they will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

(Editorial geprimtni

THE NEXT LEGISLATURE.

During our editorial management of the Southern Planter and Farmer we have carefully avoided medling in politics as such, yet there are some questions which though somewhat political in their nature, or at any rates sometimes used by politicians for party purposes, which are so intimately connected with the well-being of the farmers of the State, that they require at our hands some notice.

We have on every occasion endeavored to impress upon our readers the necessity of a dog tax. We are aware of the fact that, in many localities, this is very unpopular, but believing as we firmly do, that the welfare of the farmers of Virginia and of the whole country would be greatly promoted by the taxing out of existence three-fourths of the dogs that infest the State, and that decimate the flocks of those who try to raise sheep, we do not hesitate to say that it ought by all means to be done. We hardly know what more to say than we have said, but we believe that if the farmers of the State, (a very large majority of whom are heartily in favor of the tax) will only memorialize the legislature en masse to pass such a law, the members will not disregard their wishes. We suggest th,e following as a form which would be convenient and convey distinctly the wishes of the signers:

"We the undersigned farmers of county, petition the Legislature of

Virginia to pass a law imposing a tax of dollars, upon every dog owned by

a citizen of this State, and appropriate the fund thus raised, first, to reimbursing the farmers whose sheep may have been killed by dogs, and the remainder to go to the general improvement of the county." [Signed].

This is merely suggestive.

Tennessee raises $80,000 this year by her dog tax, and other States even larger sums, and sometimes when passing among the freedman sections of our towns, we think that a tax of $1 per head on dogs would largely aid in extinguishing the State debt.

Persons who have never been accustomed to stock, will hardly realize the vast loss the farmers of the State are suffering year after year, by being unable to keep sheep. It may he broadly asserted that there is hardly a 200 acre farm in the State that would not maintain from 60 to 100 sheep in addition to the stock now kept upon it. If we estimate the return at $2 per head, which is very mi. iterate when lambs are selling at from three and a half to six dollars per head, and wool in tit ; from thirty to forty cents per pound—it would very nearly

double the actual protit on many of our farms. Let us /awe a dog tax.

THE FENCE LAW.

Hardly a week passes that we do not receive a communication of some kind with reference to the enclosure law of the State. The present enclosure law, subject as it is to local option, is very good so far as it goes, but practically it subjects a very large class of our citizens to all the burdens of both systems. In many places the no-fence law is adopted, by one county or part of a county, while the opposite system prevails in the adjourning county or township. In this . those living upon the border have all the burdens of both sections to bear.

What we want is a law applied to one or more of the large geographical divisions of the State. Sections bounded by rivers that are lawful fences, or by mountains sufficiently large to make natural barriers to stock, should all be under the same systems. Our legislature should make such alterations in the present law as would conform it to these suggestions, and then it would not work so unjustly to those living upon the line between the two systems.

ENCOURAGING HOME MANUFACTURES.

The development of our manufacturing interest as a means of creating a home demand for the perishable produce of our farms, is another matter that should claim the attention of the in-coming legislature. We already have at different points in our State, some very flourishing manufactories of woolen and cotton fabrics, fanning implements and machinery of various kinds. At Charlottesville, they have a woolen mill and an implement manufactory, which are turning out excellent articles of their class. Indeed the woolen mills of Charlottesville wiib Ihose of Fredericksburg, make goods which in quality, finish and price, will compare favorably with those manufactured anywhere in the North. Richmond, though not appropriating one-tenth of the water power which rolls its almost inexhaustible strength at her feet, has many first class (ketones. In the matter of far.n implements, we have the Watt Caff Brace Plow, the Starke Dixie Plow, the Farmers Friend Plow, and the Granger Plow. Cardwell and Compa-BXtensWc manufactory, devoted principally to making threshers, whieh are superior to anything we have ever seen, at any rate for the price. At Charles T. Palmer's, manufacturer of Valley Chief, Reapers and Mowers, and H. M. Smith iV Co., manufarturers and dealers in all sorts of agricultural implement--. This does notexhauM the list, but it serves to sh«.w something of ul: doing.

With all these manufacturies, three-fourths if not hthsof the mauufa< -

tured articles used in Virginia are made in other Si.

If the legislature would pass a law exempting capital invested !■ manufactures from fist a short time ; long enough to pet the fat-lories in sueces-tul op-

eration; we think it would be calculated to encourage the inirodi" capital. •

THE ETHICS OF BUTTER.

Going through one of the markets in Richmond some time since, we observed, at the stand of a dealer, several packages of "Goshen" (New York) butter. On expressing surprise at this, inasmuch as Virginia shoujd be able to produce butter enough, both as to quantity and quality, to meet the demands of her people, he answered: "We are forced to this course for those who want honest butter, and I will give you the reasons: In the first place, Goshen butter runs perfectly uniform, and every grain of weight you pay for it is actual butter; hence every buyer is satisfied. In the second place, our Virginia folks too often shOw a disposition to the contrary ; the most common trouble is to be found in the large quantity of buttermilk that is left in it. This settles at the bottom of the jar and is paid for at the market rate of butter ; which is too high a price for something that is absolutely worthless ; besides, the presence of this buttermilk makes the butter frothy and causes it to turn rancid directly. Again, when it is marketed in rolls, we have gotten whole packages, in which every roll had a cabbage stalk snugly packed away in the centre; others show pieces of iron or email stones. Again, the heart of the roll will be composed entirely of lard, the butter on the outside running say an inch to an inch and a half thick. We have encountered them, also, packed in the heart with pure ground alum salt; and sometimes filled with clear water. Again, the rule of " tare and tret " appears to be fully mastered ; for we not seldom get firkins marked with the tare usual on vessels of that size and character in which we find the staves, as they approach the bottom, swell to the thickness of some three inches. We pay, in consequence, "butter price '' for.three or four pounds of wood, and that eats up the profit on the package. The trouble and expense attending reclamations for our losses by these " ways that are dark and tricks that are vain," induces us, as a rule, to avoid the purchase of "home-grown butter," except for such of our customers aswill have a low-priced article, and when we can't otherwise avoid it."

This was certainly a delightful revelation. It shows that human nature is marvelously human, no matter where you find it, and that cupidity is confined to no particular section of country, although we have heard, in our time, patriotic Virginians swear it only existed—not in Virginia. Now, "nesting" butter is no less infamous than " nesting" tobacco, and we know of but one remedy for it, and that is to take the trouble to find out the names of the persons guilty of it, and publish them in the papers.

It is a shame that Virginia butter, because of the discredit thrown upon it by the conduct of unworthy people, should rule 5 to 10 cents a pound less fn the market than that from New York, or other places, where honest butter is sold.

THE GRAPE CROP OF ALBEMARLE.

It is certainly a source of great pleasure to us to print such a statement as the following, which we clip from the Charlottesville Chronicle. It shows one direction in which we are diversifying our operations, and, as time advances, we will find a wine interest growing up in this State that will result in adding hundreds of thousands of dollars to the income of our people. The way to foster the "temperance cause" is to induce men to leave off "strong drink,'* and take to light wines. Men are not put into the world merely to exist, but to enjoy themselves, and the Almighty has made ample provision for it in every way. Because some men make gluttons of themselves and die with

apoplexy, does not prove thai food is a bad thi imply shows that we must

rid not nhuse the good things arranged for out enjoyment. In our December number, Louis Ott, Esq., of Nelson, <'<>., will commence a

IS of articles (six in number) discussing the following subjects, viz: 1st. VlT*

ginia as a Grape Country; 2nd. Object of Raising Grapes T (table and wine); 3rd. Tarieties of Grapes; 4th. Planting of and Attending to Vineyard; 6th. Cost and

Yield of a Vineyard; 6th. Making Wine. We are sure that these articles will demonstrate the ability of our State as well as North Carolina, to embark in the business of wine-making on a large and profitable scale, which will demand the services of numbers of men fitted, as Mr. Ott is, by skill and experience, to make it a perfect success. What say Messrs. Stearns, Haxall, Palmer, Crenshaw, Carrington and other wealthy and enterprising gentlemen to the formation of a large manufactory of this kind. The Chronicle says:

''Some idea of the extent of grape culture in Albemarle Co. may be gathered from the facts in regard to the quantity of grapes shipped by express, and the quantity received at the wine cellar. During the months of September and October, 81,797 pounds were shipped by the Adams Express Company. Of these 7 ">. 778 pounds went to Xew York ; 8,828 pounds to Baltimore ; 1,323 pounds to the White Sulphur Springs : 550 pounds to Huntington, West Virginia, and 318 pounds to Charleston, West Virginia.

In addition to this, 84,872 pounds were received at the wine cellars of the Monticcllo Wine Company, making a total of 106,069 pounds of grapes marketed, over and above consumption. The crop was not so large as it was last year, but brought remunerative prices. The wet weather injured the Delaware variety to 6uch an extent that it was almost a failure."

COL. W. C. KNIGHT.

We have the pleasure of presenting to our readers this month the likeness of the President of the Virginia State Agricultural Society.

Col. WlLUAM Carter Kxioht was born in Nottoway county, Va., June 28th, 1818. On his father's side he is of English extraction, his grandmother being a Walton, and nearly related to one of the signers of the Declaration of that name.

Col. Knight's mother was a Miss Carter, whose father had removed to Nottoway from the Northern neck about the close of the revolution.

Col. Knight received his academic education at Prince Edward C. H., under the tuition of Mr. David Comfort. He was sent to Randolph Macon College, in Mecklenburg county, in the Fall of 1832 and remained two sessions ; then to Hampden Sydney College, where he graduated in 1885. From thence he went to the University of Virginia and studied Law and the Modern Languages.

lie was licensed to practice law in 1889.

In 1840 he married, and in 1841 settled himself upon a farm and devoted himself to an improved system of culture. The vast improvement made in this farm may be judged by the fact that though valued at on)] $6 person wbenhecameinpoe*

On, beeold it, at the end of 17 years, for $50 per acre for 100 acres under culture, and |8 per acre for the remainder. If then purchased the eetate known as Wilton, situated on the north side of the .lames river six miles below Itichmond,

where he resided until hii removal to Richmond seven years ago. Though giving

strict attention to the practice of his profession he found time to take an active interest in tlie im provement of his farm ami in the general agricultural improvement of the State. In 1868 he was elected to the Senate of the State from the

districi if Nottoway, Prince Edward and Lunenburg.

Ho took an ae ive part in the formation of the State Agricultural Society, and

in 1855 was elected a member of the Executive Committee, and has continued an officer of the Society to the present time, and for two years past has been its President. He took a deep interest in the improvement of the "Wilton estate. In 1862, the third year of his occupancy, he had 200 acres of very fine clover, which proved a Godsend to the army of General Lee when it was almost impossible to obtain forage elsewhere. He devoted all the resources of the farm to the support of the army during the entire struggle, and the Government was in debt to him more than half a million dollars at its close.

After the close of the war he removed to Richmond for the purpose of educating his children, and became engaged in the manufacture of agricultural implements in partnership with George Watt, the inventor of the celebrated Watt Plow. At the close of five years the partnership of Watt & Knight expired by limitation. He is now President of the Richmond Stove Company, one of the most active and enterprising manufacturing companies in the city.

In person, Col. Knight is an excellent specimen of the Virginia gentleman, and is noted for his high-toned principle, and manly bearing. Though modest and retiring he is looked up to by his acquaintances and friends, (of which he has a host,) as one of the most judicious and enterprising citizens of the State.

GEN. FITZ. LEE AND HIS MISSION NORTH.

The Potomac Immigration Society has taken the most sensible course we have yet seen taken by any of the emigrant societies, in sending delegates North, to lay before the people who have money to invest the advantages of coming to Virginia to invest it. Nothing will convince the Northern people so quickly that we are in earnest in our desire to have them come down to live among us as to go to them and tell them to their faces. There is nothing that so readily convinces men of each others intentions as personal intercourse.

We are perfectly satisfied that if the people of the North knew the exact state of affairs in Virginia there would soon be such an immigration to this State as would relieve us of all our surplus lands, and our debts too. Let some, more such men as those who recently visited New York go to Philadelphia, or any other large commercial centre at the North, and tell what we are willing to let them do for us, and what we are willing to do for them, and we feel assured that much good will be accomplished.

POT FLOWERS IN SLEEPING ROOMS.

We copy the following on this interesting subject from that sterling paper,

" The New York Journal of Commerce :

New York, October 6, 1875. Editors of the Journal of Commerce :

Is it injurious to health to have plants growing in the same apartments where persons are sleeping ?

Your reply will be considered sufficient authority to decide the matter with a number of readers of your valuable journal. W.

Reply. —It is injurious to health to have growing plants in sleeping apartments. The reason this is so little understood among people of intelligence is to be found in the fact that the action of plants upon the atmosphere having been tested by day and found to be favorable, it has not occurred to the same observers to test it again by night, when the conditions are naturally changed. Carbonic acid is

the product of perfect combustion of carbon, and is therefore producen by the breathing of animals. Upon inhalation the oxygen in part unites with carbon in the system, and the air expired contains 4' per cent, carbonic acid gas. This is quickly diffused throrgh the atmosphere of an apartment, but a continual re-breathing of the same atmosphere without thorough ventilation must result in rendering it unhealthy. A single pair of lungs require for healthy action from 212 to 858 cnbic inches of pure air per hour, containing about four pounds of oxygen. During the day growing plants counteract the effect of a man's breath upon the atmosphere, reversing the process. That is, the carbonic acid gas is inhaled bv the plant through the leaves, which are the lungs, and being therein decomposed, the solid carbon is added to their structure]and the pure oxygen is expired. This only takes place where there; is light. The moment it becomes dark the plants give back some of the carbonic acid gas to the atmosphere. Thus, plants fill a sitting.room during the day? with life "and health, but at nighj contaminate the air of a sleeping apartment.

FLUES FOR CURING TOBACCO—AN INQUIRY.

The following letter was received by a friend of ours, and as the answer to the inquiry it contains will prove of general service, we request that such of our correspondents who have had the most experience in "flue curing," and their con* struction, will favor us with a full and circumstantial uccount of the matter:

Cumberland Co., Va., Sept. 29, 1875.

11 T take the liberty of troubling you with an inquiry in regard to stove flues for curing tobacco. Our present way of building an open fire on the floor of the house is very uncertain, laborious and dangerous. There is, besides, never any certainty as to what the color of the tobacco will be. 1 hear that those who use the fines think them dangerous, as they sometimes burst from excessive heat. Is this the case everywhere our sandstone or granite is used for their construction? I should be glad to know the shape and size of these flues ; how the fireplaces are constructed, and whether a chimney is necessary. If it is, what should be its height? The houses in which I would put them would be 24 feet square.

•' I raise only whit is known as " shipping tobacco," in the curing of which it is only necessary to get a high degree of heat in the early stages of curing. This we cannot do with wood fires, as the blaze will coddle the leaf on the lower tiers. I have used charcoal with great success, but its preparation is laborious and costly.

'' These inquiries cannot, of course, be of any service for the present season. I desire their answer for my guidance in the future. E. R. C.

The State Fair comes off before another issue of this journal, and hundreds of its readers will flock to Richmond. All who are in want of dry goods, fancy goodsj cloths, carpets, oil cloths, &c, &c, should call and examine the immense stock of goods which are offered for sale by Messrs. Levy Brothers, 1017 and LOU Main Street, Richmond. Never before has a larger stock of goods, or one more complete in every department, been offered by Miosis. Levy. Their stock is the Orkj and 'gives employment to thirty or forty lady and gentlemen clerks, all of whom are polite and attentive. See their advertisement.

Mr. Jno. Sanders, of Smyths county, Va.. has just sold 19 head of two year

old cattle in Philadelphia, averaging 1.1'ifA pounds. They were of the -hort horn Durham breed. The Richmond market does not require such large cattle as our Northern cities. This speaks well for our Southwest fanners.

We call special attention to the card of Wilkinson & Wither's Clothing Emporium, on second cover page. They keep a large and desirable stock of clothing and furnishing goods, of style, quality and finish to suit all classes and conditions. Whilst providing for the wants of the finest city trade, they pay special attention to supplying the wants of the farmers and mechanics. They are active, responsible business men, and rapidly becoming known as the leading house in their department in our State. They keep good goods at low prices> and we recommend them with pleasure.

We had the pleasure a few days since of meeting at the Exchange Hotel in this city. Gen. H. H. Hurt, the Conservative candidate for the Senate in Halifax county. The General's empty sleave shows that he has seen service. We found him a very intelligent and agreeable gentleman, and have no doubt he will, if elected, make a useful and valuable member of the Senate.

The Patriot and Herald, published at Marion, Va., by Col. Wm. C. Pendleton, is one of the most readable and enterprising exchanges which we receive from Southwest Virginia. We recommend it to our Southwestern subscribers and to such of our advertisers who wish to reach the rich farmers of Smythe, Tyzewell, Wythe and Washington counties.

St. James Hotel. —This is the best located, as well as one of the best hotels in every respect in this city. The price of board is cheaper than others of the same class. Col. John P. Ballard, the veteran hotel keeper of Virginia is associated with Maj. Hoenniger. See their advertisement.

We call the attention of our readers to the card of Taliaferro & Loving. Mr. F. A. Sanders, of Smyth county, has associated himself with this firm, and will, at all times, be ready to attend to the wants of his friends in Southwest Va. We can safely recommend him and this firm to our readers.

The Districts Fairs. —In our next issue, we hope to give full accounts of the Wytheville, Lynchburg, Staunton and Culpeper Fairs. This number of our Journal goes to press just as the above fairs close, in order that it may reach our readers before they start to our State Fair. The reports received state that all of the above fairs have been a success. Now let all of them unite in making our grand old State Fair such a success as she deserves.

The New York World says: " The speculation in cotton has taken a turn towards higher prices, and the decline which has been going on almost uninterruptedly since March last seems at length to have received a decided check. Prices have been forced down in the meantime more than four cents a pound, and this affords an assurance of safe values which it is impossible to ignore, fortified as it is by other circumstances of more or less significance. The Liver* pool market has become quite active, with a partial advance in prices. That market requires more liberal shipments from the American ports, and bids higher prices to stimulate them. Besides it begins to be suspected that the crop for the current year has been overestimated in placing it at 4£ to 4£ million bales. The planting season was late, the acreage without important increase, the growing crops was assailed by drouths in some sections, floods in other, and latterly by storms, high winds, excessive rains, and unseasonable cold in various parts.

BOTTOM TOUCHED.

Dry Goods at Lower Prices than Ever

Hooey sared by buying your Cry Goods from Levy Brothers,

Who have made large purchases rince the recent decline.

Fancy Grenadines at 8$, lOand l-V per yard, worth 16#, 20and 26c; Itich Styles Fancy Grenadines at L&§,20, 26, 80 and 85c, worth from 26 to 60c.j

Black Grenadines in all qualities from I2|c. up to 82.26 per yard'—this em* ; not only the cheapest, Inn besl assorted stock ever offered in this city:

Ecru Linen Tussore Suiting al *',<•. per yard, worth I6fc; al I2'.c, would be a bargain at 25c ; at I6fc, worth 80c. — these goods must Ik* seen to he appreciated : Silk*Warp Japanese Stripes and Plaids at 80c. per yard, worth 60c.j

Japanese Cloth at I2jc, worth 26c; Wash Poplins, best goods manufactured, at 12$C and Ik-., worth lti;j and 25c; Debeges, at 25, 80, 35, 40 and 60c These goods can he had in all tin; new shades ;

New style Plaid Dress] Goods from 26 to 50c; per yard—a reduction of from twenty*five to fifty per cent, has been made in these goods ; Fast-Colored Lawns . 10, I6f, 20, 2-".. 80- 37^ and 50c;

Also, at the lowest prices, Pongees. Mohairs, Japanese Silks, Jaconets, Cambrics, Linen Lawns, and all other styles of fashionable dress goods: Black Al* it 26, 80, 86, 40, 46, .".(), 00, 7r>, 85, 90c, $1 and $1.26;

Australian Crepe at 50, 00 and 75c., worth 65c, 75c- and $1; Yard-wide Printed Percales and Cambrics at 12*J and 16|c. per yard—regular prices, 16§ and : .")(•.;

Victoria Lawns at 16f, 20, 25 and 30c; also, Piques at 16}, 20, 25, 30, 85 and 40c—all remarkably cheap ; Swiss Muslins from 12.1c. up to 50c. per yard—all very cheap;

Checked and Striped Nainsook Muslins, Checked and Striped Swiss Mus'ins ; Corded, Striped and Figured Piques— all at extraordinary bargains;

L-Onsdale Cambric, first quality, one yard wide, at 16§ per yard; Knight's Cambric. 88 inches wides, at 10c, would be a bargain at 12.]c;

Utica Sheeting, 10-4 wide, in remnants from two and a half up to ten yards, at 40c. per yard ; 50c. is the regular price everywhere ; Remnants of Dress Goods of every description to be sold at less than half value;

ick and Colored Silks at lower prices and in greater variety than at any other establishment in this State; Embroidered Curtain-Muslin, one yard wide, at 25c, worth 37.1 c;

Hamburgh Net for Curtains, at 20, 26, 30, 85, 40, 50c, and up to $1 per yard ;

Hamburgh Lace Curtains from 84 to 830 per set for two windows; Hamburgh Lace Lambrequins, from 82 50 up to $5 a pair—all very cheap and desirable :

Window-Shades in great variety, among which will be found an exact imitation oflace shades, now so fashionable : A large assortment of Curtain Fixtures, such as Cornices. Bands, Loops and Hooks;

Black, White and Lou Hamburgh Nets, at a reduction of 50c; A full assortment of Laces suitable for trimming; A large assortment of Silk Neck Scarfs and Ties: Also, Black Lace Scarfs ami White Lace and Muslin Scarfs;

Ready-Made Dresses for ladies in all of the latest styles, from $8 to $26; A nil assortment of Under-Garments at extraordinary low prices;; A large assortment of Ducks and Drillings for boys' .and men's wear;

Sash Ribbons at 25c, 80c, : and 50c, and on tO 81.25 per yard —all

extraordinarily cheap; A full a-sortinent of Ribbons from a half-inch up to

■even inches at the lowest prices; Gauze Shirts for men and women— boob

low as 10c for men ;

Bustles in all the new styles; also. Hoop Skirts and Balmoralsj Matting, Oil-Cloth * Mil Hassocks; Rubber, Jet and Gold Plated Jewelry in great variety; Summer Shawls, Lace Points and Jackets:

Black Grenadine Shawl orth :\ \ Lace* and Embroideries in endless

variety at low prices; Goodrich A Barn urn's Tuckers at 76c; Machine Needles

at I and 5c; Machine Oil in large bottles at I

('lark's and Coat's Spool < '.»i ton at 7"c par dozen J And thousands Of other articles not enumerated in this advertisement.

Prompt attention : July—tf ' LFVV BROTHERS, Itichnond, Va.

THE

"VHe/O-IIsIT-A.

AND

GIBER MILL

Is superior to any MILL now made, and more sold annually in this market than of all other kinds combined. It does not grate, but thoroughly crushes every fruit cell, insuring all cider the apples will yield.

Send for Catalogue.

CHAS. T. PALMER, jy-ly 1526 Main Street, Richmond, Va.

*~ — " &% F. WATSON'S

RICHMOND.

Having timber tracts n this State sufficient to last several years, with a complete lumbering rafting, and saw-mill organization of fifty men, together with one of the most complete factories in the country located in this city, can furnish Poplar and hard wood (no soft pine) low-priced FURNITURE as cheap as any factory North or West—and fine Walnut FURNITURE cheaper. A stock of one million feet of lumber insures seasoned work, warranted in this and every respect. Manufacture MATTRESSES of all kinds.

Lumber-mill, Indiantown, Va.; Factory, Rocketts street; lumber-yards, Ash and Popla r streets; warerooms, No. 18 Governor (Thirteenth streets,) Richmond. apl

" f A1MM MB DEALER

Wmwm Mm© ftesmmfi ®@m©

PURE BONE FLOUR. PURE DISSOLVED BONE ASH. PURE DISSOLVED RAW BONE 66° OIL VITRIOL. GERMAN POTASH SALTS. Pure Chemicals for making Superphosphaa*

B. J. BAKER & COS.

SOLUBLE PACIFIC GUANO,

FOR TOBACCO, CORN AND OTHER CROPS.

Aftrr t. ii jmn 1 eoBttnuoua use, throughout Virginia and the South, Soluble Pacific Quano baa acquired a reputation for reliability equal to thai formerly enjoyed by the Peruvian Guano, and the Quantity used annually exceed* that <>i any other f< rtiliaer.

It baa been the aim of all connected with this Guano to produce the beat possible fertilizer it the lowest possible cost, and we claim t bal the unusual resource* and racilitiea of the manufacturers have enabled ill. mi to approach this more nearly than baa been donelnany other fertilizer with which we are acquainted. Those who hare been uaing It unite with us in the opinion, that by its use the consumer .

THE GREATEST BENEFIT FROM THE SMALLEST OUTLAY.

\w offer it with great confidence for uae on theTabaeoo and other crops to he gro 1 wa in IB7S,

with iha lamraniTu that it Is, in all respects, equal to what it has been in the past

PURE PERUVIAN GUANO,

AS IMPORTED.

We have a full supply of Xo. I Gnanape Peruvian Guano, from the Government Agent in New York, selected from one of the finest car goe s erer imported, li h dry and in beautiful order, and contains within a fraction of i:t por cent, of Ammonia, which is within two per ct nt. of What the old (hintha Peruvian used to Contain—in fact, it would he diliicult to tell one from the other.

We oiler the^e standard and thoroughly tested fertilizers for Tobacco, Corn, and all Spring Crops, and are prepared to sell them at such prices as will make it to the Interest of consumers ana dealers to purchase their supplies of us Instead of sending their orders to New York, or elsewhere.

For fiu-ther information and supplh B, address,

ALLISON & ADDISON,

mar—tf Seed and Guano Merchants, Bichmond, Ya

S 3£ & 4 tA, 3VJC 3B S 3B3C O ^C IB 3u $

Pleasantly located on Twelfth Street, lacing Bank Street and the Capitol Square. In the centre of the business portion of the city, within one square of the Post Office and Custom House, it is, by its retired location opposite the southeast corner of the beautiful park surrounding the Capitol of. Virginia, the most quiet hotel in Richmond.

The proprietor having had a life long experience in hotel business— first at the Everett House, New York, and afterwards as proprietor of the Spotswood Hotel, Richmond, in its best days—and now assisted by Mr. JOHN P. BALLARD, the popular veteran hotel-keeper of Virginia, assures visitors of the ST. JAMES that no effort on his part will Be spared to make them comfortable and to keep the house in tirst-class style. Coaches will attend the arrival of all trains. Elegant carriages are at all times at the service of the travejing public.

jane T. W. HOENNIGER, Proprietor.

JE*^TLbTLm STYLES, 1874.

CHARLOTTESVILLE WOOLEN MILLS

SAMPLE CAEDS

Are now ready for mailing. Our assortment embraces

TWENTY-FOUR PATTERNS.

Merchants desiring samples, will please ad<lr

CHARLOTTESVILLE WOOLEN MILLS,

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA.

G. W. ROYSTER. J. B. LIGHTFOOT.

G. W B SOT8TER «§k OCX,

Commission Merchants,

Solicit Consignments of Tobacco, Grain, Flour and Produce Generally

Refer by Special Permission to J. W. Lockwood, Cashier National Bank of Va., Richmond; Isaac Davenport, Jr., Pres. First National Bank, Richmond. Grain Bags furnished on application. • aug—ly

mm irase

The subscriber has on hand

of various descriptions, that he wishes to dispose of on very moderate terms, and is still manufacturing others, and solicits a call from all in want of any article in his line, and he guarantees good workmanship, and first-rate material. A. B. LIPSCOMB, my 116 Cary Street, between Adams and Jefferson.

CHESAPEAKE AMD OHIO K. R.

On and after SUNDAY, June 13th, 1875, passenger trains will run as follows:

FROM RICHMOND ; Leave Richmond, 9.30 A. M. 9.10 P. M.

Arrive at Gordonsville, 12.45 P. M. 12.30 A. M.

Arrive at Washington, 7.33 P. M. 6.33 A. M.

Arrive at Charlottesville, 1.45 P. M. 1.24 A. M. Arrive at Lynchburg, 4. 50 P. M. 4.50 A .M.

Arrive at Staunton, 4.10 P. M. 3.30 A. M.

Arrive at Goshen, 5.56 P. M. 5.14 A. M.

Arrive at Millboro', 6.17 P. M. 5.36 A. M.

Arrive at Covington, 7.51 P. M. 7.06 A. M.

Arrive at Alleghany, 8.59 P. M. 8.14 A. M.

Arrive at White Sulphur, 9.15 P. M. 8.32 A. M.

Arrive at Hinton, * 12.15 A. M. 10.35 A. M.

Arrive at Kanawha Falls, 4.20 A. M. 1.25 P. M. Arrive at Charleston, 6.15 A. M, 3.25 P. M.

Arrive at Huntington, 8.30 A. M. 5.45. P. M.

Arrive at Cincinnati, . 6.00 A. M.

Train leaving Richmond at 9.30 A. M. runs daily, (Sunday excepted) stopping at all regular stations.

Train leaving Richmond 9.10 P. M. runs daily stopping at all regular stations west of Alleghany.

Accommodation train leaves Richmond for Gordonsville and all intermediate stations daily (Sunday excepted), at 4.80 P. M.

Pullman Sleeping Car runs on 9.10 P. M. train between Richmond and White Sulphur.

For further information, rates, &c, apply at 826 Main Street, or at Company's offices. CONWAY R. HOWARD,

General Passenger and Ticket Agent. W. M. S. Dunn, Engineer and Sup't Transportation. jy

THE 'WATT PLOW

VICTORIOUS GNJEVEBY FIELD!

A combined T""\IXG PLOW. CULTIVATOR. SU SO LEB, ROW-OPENER, PEANUT-] IG ; Kit. TOBACCO and COTTON SCRAj bR and SWEEP.

No 0110 KIN (J when bright and smooth; no LABOR to the plowman; ONE-THIRD LESS DRAUGHT to the team ; thorough BURIAL of Weeds, Grass, &c. ; great STRENGTH, Durability and Economy in its use, and complete pulverization of the soil.

FARMERS WHO USE IT WILL USE NO OTHER.

Awarded all the Premiums at every Fair attended in 1873.

Awarded First Premiums at every ^a Fair attended in 1874.

Virginia State Fair, Richmond—FIRST PREMIUMS ON THREE AND FOUR-HORSE PLOWS.

Right and Left Hand-ALL PREMIUMS AWARDED THEIR SIZES.

Also at the Plowing Match ALL PREMIUMS AWARDED WHITE PLOWMEN were taken with WATT PLOWS of ONE, TWO, THREE and FOUR-HORSE SIZES; and COLORED PLOWMAN by ONE, TWO and THREE-HORSE SIZES ; being

SEVEN PREMIUMS OUT OF EIGHT.

The superior work done by the WATT, and the complete ease with which it is handled, was apparent to all.

NORTH CAROLINA STATE FAIR, Raleigh, October 10th;

GKORGIA STATE FAIR. Atlanta, October 19th;

SOUTH CAROLINA STATE FAIR, Columbia, November 10th;

STAUNTON, VA., October 13th;

LYNCHBURG, October 20th ;

WELDON, N. C, October 20th;

ORANGEBURG, S. C, November 3rd:

CHARLOTTE, N. C, November 3rd ;

DANVILLE, VA.. November 3rd;

POINT PLEASANT, W. VA., October.

Thus, with its great reputation before, it has gained new laurels this year, which must convince every farmer of its vast superiority over other plows.

^\ e warrant every plow sold to be as represented or to be returned to us. We solicit a trial. Catalogues sent to any address.

WATT & CALL,

SOLE MANUFACTURERS, 1459 Franklin St., Richmond, Va. Special Agents for " The Best" Spring-Tooth Hone-Rake and Gleaner: also for sab- of our own manufacture, HARROWS, CULTIVATORS, and all kinds of I.MIM.EM ENTS at lowest prices— all warranted.

I have a NEW BURDETT ORGAN which I will sell for $150— Manufacturer's price $176—Boxed and delivered at any Depot or Wharf in Baltimore. Terms of payment accommodating.

L. R. DICKINSON.

Also, THREE FIRST-CLASS SEWING MACHINES which

will be sold at a discount of forty per cent on Manufacturers' prices.

TREES! TREES!

TI»e ILargest «nd m 90s ft ComwBete

St«*«'fi* otfgruit aiiti tDtnumeiital 'Free* in th*> IT. w.

Beserignive and SMnstrated Priced Catalysises sent as follows: No. t — Fruits, iOc. No. 2—Ornamental 'Jrees, new ed., with colored plate, 25c No. 3—Greenhouse plants, BOc. No. 4—Wholesale— Free.

ELLWANGER & BARRY,

sep Mount ^o pe^Tseric s , ROCHESTER, N. Y.

NURSERYlTOOK.

FALL, 1875.

We desire to call the attention of Nurserymen and Dealers to our exceedingly large, thrifty, and great variety of stock for Fall trade.

Special inducements offered in Standard, Dwarf and Crab Apples; Standard and Dwarf Pears, Cherries, Gooseberries, Currants, Elms, Maples, Evergreens, Shrubs and Roses.

Correspondence Solicited.

SMITH & POWELL,

Syracuse Nurseries, Syracuse, N. Y

^ ^ ^ x BLATCHLEY^S '

<fN Improved Cucumber

B£ Wood Pump is theac-' § knowledge*! Standard *» /of the market, by pop-%fr -,§'%/ ular verdict, the best \~^L-^ pump for the least money. Attention is invited to Blatchley's Improved Bracket, the Drop Check Yalve, which can be with-I drawn without disturbing the joints, and the copper chamber which never cracks, scales or rusts and will last a life time. For Sale by Dealers and the trade generally. In order to be sure that you get Biatchley's Pump, be careful and see that it has my trade mark as above. If you do not know where to buy, descriptive circular, together with the name and address of the agent nearest you, will be promptly furnished bv addressing with stamp,

CHAS. G. BLATCH LEY, Manufacturer, mar-9m 506 Commerce St., Philadelphia, Pa.

Ttioronalitired Stock fofSieT

I am breeding Thoroughbred Devon Cattle, Poland China, and Essex Hogs, South Down Sheep, &c. Also Light Brahma Fowls, and have for sale several pairs of White and Black Guineas. Persons ordering from me can rely on getting as good stock as any in this country. My herd of Devons are of the most improved strains. They took 7 first premiums at our last Virginia State Fair. For further particulars,

F. W. CHILES,

_ fob—6m Louis a C. H., Va-

17RESH ; GARDE ff and FIELD SEED

Ai the old stand cf Palmer & Turpin, 1626 Main street, Richmond, Orchard Grass,

Timothy, Herd«. Clover,

Kentucky Blue Grass. Send for Catalogue, eb-tf W. H. TURPIK

:

BRIMIal" PXiOOTS

bfchT AM) CHEAPEST IS L"SE. Have taken over 3<>© Premiums at

Fairs throughout the South. Send for illustrated Catalogue with Price List,and certificate* of planters who use them.

SOLE MANUFACTUEEBS:

BBSWLY, MILES & HARDY

Louisville, Ky.

WIRE eiS^CS.

Will wot make a Hog's JVose Sort-. Hardware Dealers sell them. BLinger, $1; Tin Rings (iOO), 60e; Coppered Bin*-*.. 50c; Tongs, 8s 1.25; by mail, post-DCCA7UR.1U. paid. Circulars free.

CANCER!!

Attention is called to the great success which has been achieved in the permanent cure of this loathsome disease, by the us^ of

BeMif s Erta Cancer Salve.

Hitherto it has baffled the best medical skill, and th-3 poor unfortunates with this leprosy, clinging to their bodies and eating out their vitals, are left to drag out a miserable existence. Testimonials of the most convincing character are accumulating daily, aud many heretofore incredulous, are now entirely satisfied as to its inestimable value.

F. H. KOBERTSON & SON, Index-Appeal Office, Petersburg, Va., are the General Agents, to whom all letters for information, and orders for Salve should be addressed.

March tf

ELLERSLIE FARM. Thoroughbred HOKSES,

Half Bred HORSES, Pure SHORT HORN CATTLE,

Improved BERKSHIRES For sale.

Price $10 apiece. Address

R. J. HANCOCK, oct Overton, Albemarle co.,Va

©. CX CHAS^ KILLINGLY, CONN. Offers for sale a few Superior PARTRIDGE, COCHIN and PLYMOUTH ROCK CHICKS, at reasonable prices.

Also L.y«i [ . t fr ^ a "^iL£I2 EQN!S - oc Maryland Eye and Ear Institute,

66 N. Charles St, Baltimore, Md.

GEORCE REU1ING, M. P., late Prof, of Eye &

Ear Surgery in the Washington University.

SURGEON IN CHARGE. The large, handsome residence of the late Charles Carroll lias been fitted up with all the improvements adopted in the latest Schools of Europe, for the Bpecial treatment of this class of disease^. Apply by letter to

J. W. FE&GTJSSOIT & SON.,

Book and Job Printers

Corner Main and 14th Streets, Richmond, Va.

Execute in the very best style and on reasonable terms all styles of Hooks, Pamphlets and Job Printing. Secretaries of County Agricultural Societies can have their Premium Ltsts and Blanks printed promptly and in good style by ordering of U3.

CATALOGUES for schools printed in a style that cannot fail to give satisfaction.

COLORED 1*1*1 WrTXJSTCfc

In the most elegant style of the art made a specialty. Orders from the country promptly attended to.

J. W. FERGUSSON & SON.

nov

FARMERS AND DEALERS

PURE BONE FLOUR,

PURE DISSOLVED BONE ASH,

Pure Dissolved Raw Bone,

60° Oil Vitroil, German Potash Salts, Pare Chemicals for making Superphosphate at the lowest market price.

Call at It. J, BAKER & COS.

I -iy

UAi/riMOKi:, >id

IMPROVE YOUR STOCK.

FOB SALE — Alderney and Durham Cattle. Cotsivold and Shropshire Lambs and Berkshire Swine,

premium: aldebnet bum,, "Ezra"

three years old. Sire Imp. Hannibal (618); Dam Lily (500). Price $ 100.

PREMIUM ALDEKNEY RULE "GOLD RUST" two years old. Sire Imp. Southampton (.117) ; Dam California (344). Price $80.

ALDERNET BUIL CHATHAM,

eighteen months old ; now fit for service. Sire Sudbrook (1262); Dam Imp. Rose Harebell (3243) solid color, black points. Price $80.

ALDERXET HULL CALF ACCIDENT,

three months old. Sire Saladin' (447); Dam Minerva (341); one of the best Jersey cows in the State. Price $50. All the above are from Herd-Book Stock, and can be entered in next volume of Herd Book.

HERDBOOH ALDERNET RULE SUDBROOK (1262),!

nine years old ; bred by J. Howard MeHenry; one of the finest bulls in the State. Price $100.

PREMIUM ALDERNEY BULL HANXIRAE,

four years old. Sire Imp. Hannibal (618), Dam pure Alderney Cow, but not registered: took 1st Premium State Fair 1873. Price $80;

DURHAM RULE STOHTEWAEE,

bred by James Gowen of Pennsylvania, roan color, of fine size, and splendid form. Price $100 worth twice the money.

TWO DURHAM C A EVES (Heifer and Bull),

four months old, roan color. Price $30 each.

COTSWOER AMD SHROPSHIRE LAMBS,

at from $10 to $15 each.

BERKSHIRE PIGS,

from best stock in the State. Price $8 single pig, or $15 per pair. The above prices are one-fourth less than Northern prices for such stock. Address

A. P. K0WE,

oct—2t Fredericksburg, Virginia.

SAUL'S NURSERIES, Washington, D. C.

The undersigned offers a fine stock of the following NEW PEARS : Souvenirs du Congress, Beurre 'd ' Assumption, Pitmaston Duchess, &c. NEW

PEACHES : Early Beatrice, Early Louisa, Early Rivers, Early Alexander, &c, with a collection of new peaches raised by T. Rivers. FRUIT TREES : An extensive stock of well grown trees, pear, apple, cherry, plum, apricot, &c.j grape vines, small fruits, &c. EVERGREENS: Small sizes suitable for Nurserymen, as well as larger stock in great variety.

DUTCH BULBS.—Large importations direct from the leading growers in Holland, first quality Bulbs: Hyacinths, Lilies, Tulips, &c, new and rare ; Greenhouse plants for winter blooming ; New Clematises, a fine collection ; New Wisterias ; roses new and rare. A large stock grown in four and five-inch pots— prices low. New Rose, Duchess of Edinborough, at reduced rates. Primula Ja-ponica—stony—in five inch pots. Catalogues mailed to applicants.

sep—tf JOHN SAUL, Washington City, D. C.

Ct

LINDEN GEOVE.'

Importer, Breeder and Shipper of

!ijglish Worses, Slport Horn aijd Ayrshire Cattle, Cotswold, Oxford and Shropshire-Down Sheep,

And Berkshire Pigs of the most Fashionable Blood.

u

SALLIE FAMILY A SPECIALTY " • At "LINDEN GROVE."

The grand Imp. Boars, " Othello," (sire of Sambo 2d, and other prize winners), "Plymouth," Sambo Tenth, First and Second " Duke of St. Bridge," and " Mark Antony," now in use in my herd at r Linden Grove," and offer Young Pigs for sale, sired by them out of my choice Imp. sows, Sallie IVth, IXth, Xth, Xlth, Xllth, XHIth, XlVth, XVth, " Royal Beauty," u Cleopatra," " Bailey's Duchess," " Stumpey," Vth and Vllth, and full sister to u Sweet Seventeen," (same litter.)

Also a few young sows, in pig to some of the above named Boars.

Also, a choice lot of Cotswold rams (lambs, yearlings, and two or Ihree shear's) some of them sired by the renowned ram " Diamond Fleece," ami nil out of imported e?

Also, some fine Ayrshire calves, both sexes, which will bo sold at treasonable prices, from the best milking stock in the country, selected in person from the best breeders in Scotland.

Addres

T, S, COOPER,

" Linden I in>v<\" Sep—ly Coopcrsburg, Lehigh county, Pa.

If you wish eggs all the winter use

SCRAP CAKE or BEEF CRACKLINGS.

It is also a cheap food for hoors and dogs. In feeding this Scrap Cake to hens ' a very small quantity is required, as it is not expected to take the place of the regular food. One pound a day to 30 or 40 hens would give a large increase in the number of eggs. It has been tried with great success. We give copy of an order received from Rev. Dr. Lee.

Ashland, April 12, 1875.

Never saw such an effect as that Beef Meat or Crackling produced t n rm chickens—from no eggs to 15 or 20 a day. Please send me two more cakes by first freight. Yours, Leroy M. Lee.

For Sale by P. J. Crew & Co., Soap Manufacturers, 17th Street, opposite Old Market, Cichmond, Va. Price $3 per 100

nov

BUCKEYE MOWER AND REAPER,

Sweepstakes Tliresta and Cleaner.

Best, Cheapest and most Economical Engine in the market.

Circular Saw Mills ; Mill Stones, Bolting Cloths, Eureka and other Smut Machines ; Belting, Spindles, Mill Picks, Portable Farm and Grist Mills.

Cucumber Wood Pumps with Patent Cast Iron Cylinder. Warranted best and most durable Pump in the market, &c, &c.

JOSHUA THOMAS,

53 Light Street, Baltimore, Md-

g^^Prices and Descriptive Circulars furnished on application, nov

ASK FOR THE

'L0CKW00D HOE."

BLADE ALL STEEL.

Eye malleable iron. Every Hoe warranted* : Best Hoe for general use in the market. The Hoe fur merchants to sell, because it gives satisfaction.

Manufactured by

BALTIMORE STEEL, HOE WORKS, '

and O. H. HICKS & CO.

Jgggj^For Sale by the trade generally, nov

1876-Postpaid-$1.60

THR NURSERY,

A Monthly Mascnzine tor Young Bead-prkbli h Li-! r \ i ki>. 49-Send 10 cents for ■ Sample Number. Subscribe before Knvi inlur, an.I get the last lllr*'*' m irFnEK.

imv i oomfield Street. Boston.

SUI GENERIS,

N V I'll VN < . I \l I VI I KKO.

III.NUV

IVINO,

formerly ol Lyncbburg,Va. Amherst <'.».. Va.

TALIAFERRO & LOVING,

R] NEB \l.

LLU1UIH IVlillLl Consignments of TOBACCO and all other kinds of ( OUNTBY PRODUCE n ipectfully solicited. Office: 1*12 CARY STREET, RIt H-MOND, VA.

1:1 i i

Hon. R. A. Coghill, Amherst C. II.. Va.; Col John L. Eubank, Bath oe», Va.; .i V. Musgrove, Esq., Charlotte c>., Va.; Col. A, G. Pendleton, Giles C. II. Va.; Dr. R L. Barrett, Louisa c. H., Va.; A. i'. Pettit, Esq., Kelson co., Va.; Banks and business men of Lynchburg, Va. not—

If ME. DEMOREBT*8

EMPORIUM OF

FASHION.

Ko. 17 Eart 14th Sin J,

NEW YORK.

A full stock of tin' Latesl Patterns at

SI KG EH IIAMFA(III,L>(i CCS,

82] MAIN BTBEEX,

and

Jims HXYVB*ft,

ROAD STREET, RICHMOND, VA.

[nov ]

PREMIUM I

GRIST MILL.

i> simple, cheap and durable, and rri\ ds all

kind-* of -rain raiild-ly It is adapt d to all kin.Is of liorse-

Sj n 1 -

■ rmcui vi;. W.M. I. BO

.v BRO., PhDadelphia, Pa,

Established 1816.

CHAS. SIMON & SONS,

03 NORTH HOWARD BT„ BALTIMORE, MD.

Dealers In

FOREIGN & DOMESTIC DRY GOODS,

Jon Id rail special atteutlon to thoir splendid

.1

Ity. 8 \\IT'T E

r ^ e 7«n«oiini . ;!Ih0

t'<0 II..!.. V

utC.O.D.'UJt p"y D i

•eium oi tiic money,

i ! PALMAM '.' QUI ^ >J \ MERUIT^fFERAT?|

MASON & HAMLIN

CABINET ORGANS.

UNEQU ALED SSS.DH APPRO ACHED

in capacity and excellence by any ethers. Awarded

AND

AT

NEW STYLES Sr:

Solo and Combination Kta&cre and other rases

PIANO-HARP CABINET ORGAN

DIPLOMA OP HONOR

VIENNA, 1873; PARIS, 1867.

flNlY American Orpana ever awarded any medal UilLl i n Europe, or which present such extraordinary excellence as to command a wide sale there. llllf 1VQ awarded highest premiums at Tndns-riLlinlu trial Expositions, tn America as well as Europe. Out of hundreds then; have not been dx in all where any other organs have been preferred. prPT Declared by Eminent Musicians, in both DLu I hemispheres, to be unrivaled. See TESTIMONIAL CUvt'TJLAR, with opinions yf more than One Thousand (sent free). IMCICT on navin K a Mason & Hamlin. Do not Inulu I take any other. Dealers get lahoki: ( OK-MissiONS fur selling inferior organs, and for UU» reason often try wry hard to sell something else.

most important improve-ever made. Mm Stops. Superb Eta&cre and other rases of new de»!t£tis.

in . . 1>X " ombinaflbn of these instruments. CAOV DAVMCMTC OiBanaeold«oreaeh;oi CAM rAImtPI I O. lor monthly wc^iarterr/

ats; or rented until rent pays f> r the organ. PAT A I nPIICC alKl Olreuhnra with full parte-

uAIALUuUCo

HAMLIN ORGAN CO., 164 Tremont Street, BOSTON; K Union Bquare, NiAV YoltK; or 80 ti 8» , CUICAQO.

CHA^PiOar GRAPE

cultivated; rlnens 10 to I-Ydays«ariier th«u the Hartford. Fruit and hunches large and cm-put Yin.- thrift} , hardy, early hearer, n d.w ■. .i ..ii u. Endorsi

Is. Send for free descriptive circular. J. -

■-■-'in < v.

■i Li ; K \l. « UK k!U ALs. II. .1. 15.V IvIOIf & MIS >.

ttO IVurl St., IfJBSJl \Oltli.

I npoi i In mi rictly first quality

Cial fertili/.

' I: FORRI -Hi: Mauagci of th parttB

FREDERICKSBURG, VA.

A SPLENDID STOCK OF FRUIT TREES.

SOUTHERN WINTER APPLES A SPECIALTY.

STANDARD AND DWARF PEARS. Peach Trees, Cherry, Apricot and Plum Trees, Grape Vines and the small Fruits.

My stock is fine and well grown, on fresh land, with splendid roots.

Will be sold at very low prices. Send for price list.

nov—2t H. R. ROBEY.

GORDON'S FOOD

Tft*E.G>RI£AT £€OffOJHL£CAlj FOOlft FOR STOCK.

Reduces the cost of feeding, both for cattle and horses, one-fourth. Being a perfectly nutritious, health-giving preparation from the seeds of grasses and herbs, in combination with tonic and invigorating root barks, we claim it to be the one thing needful to make a perfect feed. Horses are improved in FLESH, WIND and ENDURANCE. The principle of the action of the food is that PERFECT DIGESTION produces PURE BLOOD, and unon this depends HEALTH, and often life itself. Cattle intended for the knife fatten more rapidly, and the flesh is more solid. Cows increase their milk yield at least one-fourth in both richness and quantity, the final result being much more butter. GERALD GORDON & CO., Patentees and Proprietors.

New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore.

SIMPSON, BASS& CO., State Agents, 1327 and 1331 Cary st., Richmond, Va. nov—

WALNUT GROVE FARM.

THOROUGHBRED and GRaDE JERSEY CATTLE. BERKSHIRE and ESSEX SWINE. BRONZE TURKEYS and BRAHMA FOWLS,

I took 1st premium on Thoroughbreds, (Male and Female,) and 1st premium on Grade Jerseys, also, 1st on Bronze Turkeys at Va. State Agicul-tural Society, 1874.

Prices moderate—Satisfaction Guaranteed. Address,

G.'JULIAN PRATT, mar—ly Way n esboro , Au gusta c<?., Va.

Terms of aflvertising

of Planter and Farmer.

One square, 10 lines or less, one insertion...$2 00

1 square of ten lines for six months 10 00

1 square of ten lines for one year 15 00

M page six months ..30 00

% page one year 55 00

y 2 page six months $55 00

iy 2 page one year 100 00

1 page, single insertion 20 00

1 page, six months 100 Oo

1 page, one year 180 00

artless fob ps:ci

AND

-1ST

Reouires DESC Rit>>, V:If two ,0 «^

horse power : and g bales eithor nay or '& cotton wirhout tramp-£s

ing or estopping. / Thirty bales of hay *

per hour. Twenty

bales of cotton

per hour.

nov

RX.DSDEk;CX &CO

\U SAMV. N.Y.

SALES HAY

".JV, WITHOUT

j^rfHE'P.KTDEOEBICK *PERPETUAL BALING PBES8

BALTIMORE

EYE AND EAR INSTITUTE

NO. 55. Franklin St., Baltimore, 9Id.

JULIAN J. CHISOLM, M. D., Professor of Eye and Ear Diseases in the University of Maryland, SURGEON IN CHARGE. This Institution is thoroughly organized and fitted up with every convenience for the treatment of Eye and Ear Diseases.

4Sr*For further information, apply to r the above. oct—It

SEWING MACHINE EXCHANGE!

After a partial and temporary retirement from the Sewing Machine business, I now RESUME IT AGAIN IN ALL ITS BRANCHES.

Orders received for ALL KINDS SEWING MACHINES, ATTACHMENTS, NEEDLES, OIL, &c.

MACHINES FOR RENT! All kinds Sewing Machines repaired. Machines of any kind supplied to Grangers and clubs at the lowest manufacturers' prices.

G-. DARBY,

TO PLANTERS.

JAS. G. DOWNWARD, Pre> JOHN WHANN, Secy and Treas.

Powhatari Plrjosphate Conppany,

IR/rCIHIIMIOlsriD, "VJ^.

MANUFACTURERS OF

I

I

The above brand of Phosphate is used and highly recommended by the best wheat raisers in Virginia. It is, in every respect, a first class Fertilizer for wheat. A trial will convince you of this fact.

II. D. Twyman, of Orange county, writes us that it exhibited itself finely. He applied 150 pounds per acre, and made 14 bushels to one seeded.

T. W. Bond, of the same county, tolls us, in a letter dated Aug. 10, 1875, that it gave entire satisfaction on the estate of the late John Bond, and gave us another good order.

J. G. Dulaney, of Green county, writes : "After a test of your Powhatan Raw Bone Super Phosphate for two seasons on my wheat crop, I feel satisfied that it is one of the best fertilizers now offered in the market."

R. R. Porter, of North Carolina, writes: "The Powhatan Raw

Bone Super Phosphate, which I bought of you last season, was the

best fertilizer I ever had on my plantation. I used it on wheat, and,

I think, raised double the quantity as when I used no fertilize;. I

ilso used CO, and it acted like a charm."

We also manufacture Pure BONE MEAL and BONE FLOUR, and will be pleased to furnish samples of any of our brands on application.

FERTILIZER

Soluble Sea Island Guano

ESPECIALLY PREPARED FOR THE WHEAT CROP.

Amnioniated Alkaline Phosphate,

The Granger's Manure* This Manure has been used by them foi the past two years, with great satisfaction.

Bone and Ileal Fertilizer.

This article is combined with Potash, and contains all the elemenl necessary for the growth of plant, and maturity of grain.

BALTIMORE AND TEXAS FERTILIZING COMPANY:

Flour of Bone and Bone Meal,

From our Extensive Factory at Fulton, Texas.

Ammoniaeal Matter,

Of uniform quality, prepared from the flesh of cattle, at our Text Factory—an ammoniate superior to Peruvian Guano.

Dissolved Bone.

Bone Phosphate dissolved in Sulphuric Acid, containing 13 p< cent, of Soluble Phosphoric Acid.

Potash Salts

Of our own importation.

Sulphuric Acid,

And all necessary articles to make a good Fertilizer.

For Sale at Corner of South and Water Streets, - - BALTIMORE,

R. W. L. RAISIN & CO.