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THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. WfooUb to &flrtcultttre, horticulture, auB the ^ousehottr &rts.

Agriculture is the nursing mother of the Arts. Tillage and Pasturage are the two breasts of the Xenopkon. State. SuMy. t'RANK: G. RUFFIN, Editor and Proprietof T. BAILIE, Publisher.

Jv"ol. XV. RICHMOND, MAY, 1855. No.

THE HOUSE. facts relating to the origin and characteristics of the horse, to which I will first invite your a Lecixt.j; i-.v Hon. Zadock Pratt, before THE MECHANICS" INSTITUTE, New YoRK. attention. The horse family is distinguished from all March 8, 1855. other animals by having an undivided hoof, a llliam Mites, Esq.. President of thr Insti-\ simple stomach, and from the position of the tule, in the. Chair. teats of the female.

riends akd Fellow Citizens : It is divided into two classes : the common Mr. President,—In accepting your imi-j horse, with its varieties of workhorse, carriage. tion to address you this evening, I have se- hunter, and race horse; all of which have im- ao the subject portant peculiarities, which I shall mention; of my remarks, tLat | a ad that class, the type of which is oble animal, the Horse. i the corn- It is often said, that as woman holds the mon jackass, and which includes the Cjuagga! j rst place in the affections of man. an(* zebra, not found in this country, and. I the horse j olds the second; and so justly is his estima may say, not wanted either. on bestowed, that beautiful woman, so far Many conflicting opinions have been held om resenting this rivalry, joins with man in as to the country in which this valuable animal lowing the horse a high rank in her own originated, and two now have many adherents, tteem. all others having been given up. These two We cannot wonder at this, when we reinem- are Arabia and Egypt. For my own part, I er the immense amount of benefit which has am inclined to think that Egypt is undoubt- een derived from this valuable animal. A edly entitled to the palm, and all investigation ance at history assures us that improvement mh' confirms me in the belief. Without.

. the breed, of horses has kept even pace with taking up your time with the arguments on ic either side, march of civilization ; and until the various I will only say that the Sacred lalities of the horse were made available for Scriptures, in describing the early stages of ic wants of man, but little progress was made the world, mention the horse as being used in

i the elevation of barbarous tribes to the Egypt ; while, in much more modern times, iportance of civilized nations. when Mahomet fought his battles in Arabia, If the horse has then exercised such an in- there was not a single horse in the camp, lence upou mankind in general, he is cer- proving their extreme scarcity, if not their inly worthy of your attention this evening total absence, in the country. \i I have the additional assurance of interest The horse is undoubtedly tlte most useful the fact that he has never before been made and manageable of all animals known to man. i subject of a lecture, to my knowledge. In gracefulness of carriage, dignity of motion. . In the course of a long and active life, and in obedience to the will of his master, ho- liich has now extended over the space of is superior to every other quadruped. Livelv reescore years alloted to man, I have worn and full of high spirits, he is yet gentle and .t more than a thousand horses in my scr- tractable. Keen and ardent, he is more firm te, and a strong love for the subject has in- and persevering than any other animal, and iced me to give it more than ordinary atten- all these qualities especially fit him for tin- n. My remarks, therefore, will principally purposes to which man has applied him. He- the result of my own experience and obser- works patiently and steadily at the plough, or twn, with the exception of a few general in drawing the loaded carriage; he 'deports - Vor.. xv.- .

IoO THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. himself with pride while whirling along the handsomest in the worid. Every attempt to light pleasure vehicle, or jingling the merry introduce them into any other country has bells of the quick moving sleigh. He some- failed, however. The celebrated Egyptian times dances with delight as he prances along horses were also ridden by the prophet Ma- with Ins martial rider on his back, and he en- homet and his four companions, on the night ters upon the race with as keen a zest as his of their memorable flight from Mecca, in the owner, seeming to exult in success, or, with year 622, and now known as the Hegira. downcast head, to experience shame in de- The Arabian horses are small, only ave- feat. Whilst ministering to so many multi- raging between thirteen and fourteen hands plied wants of man during life, his remains high, rather incUned to be lean, and in tra- are applied to many important branches of veling they rise higher from the ground than manufacture ; and though civilized nations other blood horses, and gather more quickly. make no use of his flesh, it is an important They are generally of a dappled grey, or dark item iu the food of many barbarian tribes, brown color, with a short black tail and mane. where it is considered a delicacy, and a spiri- They usually run wild, and even in that con- tuous liquor is made from the milk of the dition they possess the greatest mildness and mare, which is as eagerly sought after as is generosity of disposition. After they are do- the intoxicating wine by us. mesticated they are played with by the chil- And now let me give you my idea of a dren, have the most favored corner of the good horse. tent, and occupy a deservedly high place in He should be about fifteen and a half hands the affections of the family. This affection high ; the head light and clean made ; wide seems to be returned with more than ordinary between the nostrils, and the nostrils them- sagacity ; for it is authenticated that, the mas- selves large, transparent and open ; broad ter being in danger, the horse has put forth in the forehead ; eyes prominent, clear and every power to the utmost, and so strained his sparkling; ears, small, and neatly set on; endurance that on reaching a place of safety neck, rather short, and well set up ; large arm he has instantly yielded his life. They are or shoulder, well thrown back and high ; wi- usually captured by snares hidden in the sand, thers, arched and high ; legs, fine, flat, tbin by which the feet become entangled, and the j,nd small boned; body, round and rather terrified animal, falling to the ground, is made light, though sufficiently large to afford sub- an easy prey. Their amazing speed renders stance when it is needed ; full chest, affording this the only method by which they can be ample play for the lungs ; back, short, with taken. the hind quarters set on rather obliquely. The Persian horses resemble those of Ara- Any one possessing a horse of this make and bia in general appearance, though somewhat ippearance, and weighing eleven or twelve larger. They are esteemed less highly than hundred pounds, may rest assured that they the Arabian, though I think they have some have a horse of all work, and a bargain which points of superiority. is well worth getting hold of. The horses of Tartary are exceedingly

I will now call your attention to different swift, even outstripping the antelope ; though varieties of horses in foreign countries, and in here their resemblance to favorite breeds our own. ceases entirety. They are large and heavy very in the shoulder, awkwardly The Egyptian horse is generally known by headed, low the name of the African barb. He exceeds made, and very ill-looking. When feeding, their number is placed on an eminence the Arabian in stature, and is principally re- one of the markable for the fullness and height of his as a sentinel, and on approach of danger shoulders and the drooping of his haunches. he starts off, the rest following like the wind. flight Mazeppa, lashed to the The most remarkable specimens of this tribe The fabled of is supposed to be are the celebrated " drinkers of the wind." back of a wild horse, among the wild herds of Tartary. They are wiry and fieshlerss, and shaped some- thing like the greyhound. It is related of one In Turkey, horses are held in the highest of these horses, that he once performed a esteem, which they well deserve, being of the journey of sixty miles, in the hottest period of most docile and affectionate disposition. They a burning African day, without the rider's arc the result of a cross between the African drawing, bridle, or allqvsdng him to relax his and Arabian, and are full of fire and life, withi speed a single instant, until the journey was a light make, splendid head, and great powers

completed. The little African kingdom of of endurance. The tail of the horse is con- I Donkala is celebrated for a breed of horses of sidered an emblem of dignity in Turkey, from large size, which some have considered as the the fact that a Turkish army once lost its 1 ; ;

THE SOU THE UN PLANTER. M standard in battle, when the leader, to inspire ous weather, will now increase much in size the drooping courage of his men, cut off the and appearance under more favorable circum- tail of a horse, hoisted it on the end of a stances. This original stock did not, bow- spear, and rallied his forces to victory. Asa ever, produce the present race of horses in reward, he received military promotion, the England, they having sprung from foreign emblem of which was a horse's tail. The horses, first introduced from Europe and Asia ,-ank of the owner is known by the number of about the time of the crusade of King Rich- tails he is allowed, the highest being three ard the Lion-hearted, and then by several suc- and the officers are called " pachas of three ceeding generations of English sovereigns. tails." It is a matter of historical fact, that the The genuine East Indian horse is of small old Norman chivalry, after the conquest of vatae, owing to the unsuitable climate, which England, always rode the horse and never

seems to be highly unfavorable to his improve- the mare ; and churchmen, even of the highest ment; and the pure native breed is small, dignity, always rode the mare, as a mark of" ugly and ill made, being equally deficient in their humility. form, spirit and cndurauce. By judicious and The native English horses, even in the repeated crossings, and the utmost care in ob- seventeenth century, were very small, though taining healthy stock, a species of horse lias serviceable, and only commanding low prices. been introduced into the country, which will The best were only valued at about sixty compare favorably with any other. The great- shillings, or some fifteen dollars of our moiiey. est and most continued pains are necessary, In an ancient document, issued some time however, or they will soon degenerate. in the eleventh century, I have seen the legal

The European horses will next engage our remuneration in cases of loss of life by negli- horses, but of other ani- attention. One of the most beautiful is the gence, not only of Spanish or Andalusian, which originated from mals and of men. It is worth repeating. the Barbary horse, the only fault l)eing that The owner of a native horse, under such cir- thirty shillings the head is large in proportion to the body cumstances, could claim ; for ; a mare or colt, twenty shillings ; for a mule the mane is thick, long and graceful ; the ears long, and the eyes very animated. The Italian or jackass, twelve shillings : for an ox, thirty pence, or aboiit sixty cents of our money horses are very large and finely shaped ; they were once highly esteemed, but are now prin- for a cow, twenty pence; u pig, eight pence; cipally used for carriage horses and for heavy and if a man lost his life through negligence, cavalry. Danish and Swedish horses are stout his heirs could recover twenty shillings. It is and well built, but slow and inelegant. The a strange thing in the relative value of life, Dutch and German horse is preferred through- that though a horse was then esteemed at the out Europe as a draught horse. The Russian low rate of only fifteen dollars, a man wa? horse is large limbed and powerful, with long held at a third lower, or only about ten dol- stiff hair standing out from the body, and is lars. Though horses and men have both not very highly esteemed. The French horses advanced in intrinsic value since that day, I differ much according to the portion of the am gratified, as an evidence of the intelligence of the present century, that the value country from whence they come ; and the same of hu- may be said of the English and American, to man life has increased rather faster and farther which I shall now invite your attention. than that of the horse. 1 can find no mention made of horses in After that time, in the seventeenth century, England, prior to the Roman invasion by the breed of horses most in demand was the

Julius (Jyj.-ur ; and they are spoken of in his Spanish Jennet, and they were imported for Commentaries in terms of high praise. In all purposes of pageantry or war. The aris- fact he esteemed them so highly, that he tocracy had their coaches drawn by the gra», carried several specimens back to Rome, Flemish mares, which were thought to trot where they and their progeny were in great with peculiar grace, and which endured, better repute for many years. I think that the first than any others, the labor of drawing the lum- known in England were of a kind simi- bering and heavy vehicles of that period over lar to the rough shelties of Scotland and the the then rugged and unpaved streets of Lon- mountain ponies of Wales and Cornwall, don. The very common proverb of " the grey though they Avere of a larger size, probably mare is the better horse," applied to those to the more suitable \ climate of Eng- families where the wife is supposed to rule land, and (.lie better quality of the grazing the house, is said to have arisen from the It i- known that the little hardy" great preference given to this grey Flemjbgh shaggy Scotch pony, with c and rigor- mare over th? best horses of England, lit, ] ;

loJ. THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

may interest some of my agricultural friends punished by heavy fines and penalties. Though to know that a law was enacted in the twelfth the rule was so strict upon the nobility and century prohibiting the use of horses in vae persons of wealth, (for five hundred dollars

plough ; and though it has been a dead letter per annum was then an income of more actual for a 'long time, I think it lias never been re- value than ten times the amount at the pre- pealed. The celebrated English hunter is sent day), the common people might keep any

supposed to derive its origin from a cross be- mares or horses that they thought proper ; the tween the race horse and some heavy Span- greater expense of the breeding horses in- ish chargers, brought into England in the ducing the king to render their keeping obli- reign of Edward the Third, and they have gatory only upon the better classes. While ever Bmce formed a distinct class. It was upon this subject, I am reminded of the ori- during the reign of this king that horses were gin of the term "hobby/' applied to any par- >lfirsfc classified, giving us reliable data to ticular idea a man may take up. We fre- trace them down. Up to the period of his quently hear the expression " he has got on to rule, one circumstance had operated to keep his hobby horse." The term was first used in

up the large size and strength of the horse, this way : the Irish horses are small, and of without reference to his improvement in other a peculiar appearance, and at one time were

respects ; this was, the immense weight of ar- much sought after by the whole English na- mour worn by the riders in time of battle tion^ They were termed " hobbies," and the and the objection could not be removed until name of the horse finally became fastened upon the discovery of gunpowder. After this time those who sought after them so eagerly, and the breed of English horses steadily improved the remark, "he has got his hobby at last," though, long since then, the progenitors of came to be used with reference to any other the gigantic horses of the present day were thing which occupied a large share of the brought from the marshes of Walcheren, and thoughts of any one. the ancestors of Eclipse and Flying Childers Queen Elizabeth repealed most of these en were imported from the sands of Arabia. actments of her father, to give greater facilities Even then, the Duke of Newcastle, con- for the possession of horses suitable for car- sidered the best authority in the kingdom, riages, those articles of luxury being first in said that the meanest hack of foreigu extrac- troduced in her reign. Up to that time, a tion could produce a better progeny than the queen herself possessed no better mode of con-

finest sire of a native breed ; and no one was veyance than to ride on horseback, on a pil able to foretel that the time would come when lion, behind a gentleman, and in the imposing the princes and nobles of other lands would coronation ceremony, as at other times, the be as eager to obtain English horses, at an queens did ride in that manner. The neces- exorbitant price, as the English ever were to sity of obtaining good horses for so many car procure those of foreign extraction. riages gave rise to a largely increased de Before leaving this branch of my subject mand, which did much to improve the breed, excited for the American horses, it may interest you though the number employed consider that to hear some of the stringent laws made to able alarm at one time, so much so, a bill " secure the improvement of the breed in was brought before the House of Lords to England. restrain the excessive and superfluous use of That stem and despotic old king, Henry coaches." Fortunately it was not passed, the Eighth, paid particular attention to the though it is an evidence of the simplicity of matter, and he did not hesitate to enforce the our forefathers in that age. most arbitrary provisions to attain his end. I will only mention one other English horse, One was, that no brood marc should be al- before proceeding to another topic. It is lowed unless she was at least fourteen hands Flying Childers—the first native born English

high ; and to this circumstance we may attri- race horse, and the progenitor of the now un- bute, in a great measure, the almost total ex- equalled English horse for the race course. tinction of the small breed of Scotch and He was the immediate descendant of an Ara-

Welsh horses. Also r every archbishop and bian horse, obtained from Aleppo ; and as he duke was obliged to keep seven stud horses, was the first so he was the fastest race-horse each above three years old, and not less than ever in England. He ran over a race course fourteen hands high. Every clergyman whose three miles, six furlongs, and ninety-three income equalled five hundred dollars per an- yards, in six minutes and forty seconds. At num, and every layman whose wife wore a another time be ran four miles in seven mi- French or imported hood or bonnet, must keep nutes, and in one single minute he ran within one such horse. Any failure to do this was a small fraction of a single mile. This speed THE SOUTHERN PLANTER I S3

never been quite equalled in this country, hardy; they were of Spanish extraction, and the fastest horse being Fashion, and the had been brought into use by the natives to a quickest time being seven minutes and thirty- great extent, though many wild herds of im- two seconds, over a course four miles in mense numbers still roam freely over the length. The great double race, between prairies of our western territories. Eclipse and Sir Henry, ha3 often been spoken The race cf horses which originated these of as one of the best contested and most re- now used in this country and in Canada were markable. I think that Sir Henry was the imported from various nations. better horse : and, in the first race, he beat In 1609, one horse and six mares were Eclipse by twenty-two feet. In the second brought to Virginia from England. In 1625 trial, however, he was beat by Eclipse by a few Dutch horses from Holland were im- eleven feet, and the victory was undoubtedly ported into New Netherlands, now the State gained by the superior management of his of New York. In 1604, M. L. Escabot rider. I refer to the fact as evidence of the brought the first horse into Canada and Nova necessity of having good riders, and those Scotia, then known by the Indian name of who thoroughly understand the animal, as well Acadia. The first horse brought into Massa- as to have a good horse itself. chusetts was from England, and was imported Though I am not an advocate of horse by Francis Higginson, in 1629. In 1678 racing, I consider it an innocent and benefi- they existed in considerable numbers in Louis- cial amusement when compared with many iana. The Indians on Red River, in Texas, others : and I believe the day is not far dis- used them in 1690. The early French set- tant when America may invite every other na- tlers in Illinois had them in considerable tion to a trial of horses, and beat them with numbers in 1750. ease. The same vessels brought over the first With regard to the horses of America, we importations of cattle, sheep and swine, and learn that large numbers were brought over they have increased so as to form a most by the early Spanish and English discoverers. astonishing portion of the wealth of the The first were imported by Columbus, on his country. second voyage, in 1493. The first brought to In the present year, 1855, the number of any territory now belonging to the United horses may be set down at five millions, States, were landed in Florida, in 1527, by worth on the average sixty dollars a piece, Cabaca De Vaca. They were allowed to run and valued in all at three hundred millions of loose during the dissensions that followed, and dollars. The whole number of horned cattle multiplied to an almost incredible extent, es is estimated at twenty millions, averaging pecially in South America. Although the cli- twenty dollars, and valued at four hundred mate in South America would seem to be suit- millions of dollars. able for the proper development of the horse, The number of sheep is twenty-three mil as it is for cattle, yet he has never attained te lion, at two dollars, equalling forty-six mil- more than secondary importance. In large lions of dollars. wild herds, they roam about, acting in admi- The present estimated value of swine is ore rable concert to oppose the attacks of wild hundred and sixty millions of dollars, being beasts, which share the vast wilderness with thirty-two millions head, worth on the average them. Men have often fallen victims to their five dollars apiece. temerity in approaching them, arid travellers From the small beginnings I have mec have frequently found their own horses shake turned, the whole value to this country is now off their burdens, break away from restraint, the immense sum of nine hundred millions of and dash off to meet: a body of their free com- dollars, and the value of the land used for panions, if they happen to meet them. The agricultural purposes is three billion and five native;-, take them with the lasso, and only hundred million of dollars, the whole covering ride the horses, leaving the mares to run an area of about three hundred and five mil- wild. They make no attempt-; to breed, but lions of acres. flatch a horse when they need him, and break The West India horses may properly be him to their use by the most violent measures. classed with those of America, and they gene They never bring them to market; and it is rally exhibit the characterizing marks of the United States. It wlwn the West wan first explored were snore is a mark-. J peculiarity of the Canadian hcr3e ;

1S4 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

that he always trots, as the Arabian horse al- the driver where he obtained his horses. He ways canters. Other breeds exhibit all the replied that they came from northern New

peculiarities of movement, including the trot, York ; that they were brought out there by canter, and amble; but the Arabian horse some parties who had a mail contract, and never trots, and the Canadian rarely canters. were liked so well that they always kept Besides the trotting horse, we are indebted them. Their own, he said, arrived at ma- to Canada for many of the most serviceable turity earlier, but did not last half as long specimens of the cart and dray horse, of their that the New York horses far exceeded them size, and in the northern part of this state, in endurance, and that there was no such in Vermont, and other sections on the Canada thing as driving them off the track. The line, they arc met with in great abundance. Kentucky and Tennessee horses are good for The United States do not, as I have men- the saddle but not for the collar. In fact, tioned, possess any thing which may be called custom is every thing, and though it will sometimes do much towards training a horse a, native stock ; but many of the horses found here arc superior to any others, owing to for uses to which he is naturally unfit, yet judgment in crossing breeds, care in raising, any horse accustomed to the harness can and by a close observance of all circumstances rarely be made serviceable for the saddle, which will improve good qualities and correct and a good saddle horse is soon spoiled if the collar is put upon him. As the Cod of na- defects ; so that I may say without hesitation, and after long observation, that they combine ture has not endowed any one man with all all the excellencies of other nations. It was knowledge, so he seems to have distributed supposed that the horse sent from Morocco the qualifications of animals, in such a man- to Gen. Jackson, and the Muscat horses sent ner that judicious management will make to President Tyler, would materially improve each superior in a different and distinct the American race; but they were small, sphere. I was once in Boston, looking at the though justly made, and I think the country immense truck horses, and enquired where has derived no benefit from their possession. they came from. I was told that they were Much of this excellence is obtained by obtained from the highlands of New JEIanip- changing a horse from one section to another, shire and Vermont. They were better for for provided the change of climate is not one that purpose than any others, while the which will have a deleterious effect. Thus the lighter spring carts of this section the a horse brotight from the Western prairies to heavy eastern horse is not so suitable. the seaside, soon gains in weight, power of The slow Canastoga horse of Pennsylvania endurance and value ; and the .same is ob- was formerly used in teaming over the Alle- six- served when ao Eastern horse is carried ghanies ; they weighed from fourteen to West. A horse with the heaves, taken from teen hundred pounds, and I have found from New York to Illinois, will be cured of the experience that they had not the endurance disease, and I have noticed many other favor- to labor as the horses qf our section. able changes. Still there is always more or Once the custom was to esteem the Nar- less necessity for acclimation ; but a judicious ragansctt pacer as the best horse in the coun- course of management will result in much try; but that was prior to the Revolution and good to the horse. • The change, however, before my time, though I well recollect seve- will be injurious, if the new climate is not ral fine specimens of the breed. healthy. Thus, a horse taken from here to The horses of Carolina, Georgia and other South Carolina soon depreciatc« and becomes southern states, cannot work as well as those of less value. A horse taken to Mexico feels of a more temperate climate. In fact, I hav< the change of climate at first very sensibly, frequently observed that the horse attained but the purity of the air and the excellence a higher degree of excellence in a temperat* of the feed soon add largely to his useful- section, while mules and the darkey were iitti <'< uess and value, and he is much more highly for the south. estimated than the native Mexican mustang, which partakes of the uncertain and flighty No horse can endure labor all the time. A* character of the people who raise him. A few months in the pasture, after being high horse brought from Kentucky or the Western fed and worked for several years, will renew States, or from Canada, requires about a his energies, as sCated periods of rest and re- year to become acclimated to our section. creation will preserve the vital energies of' Our own horses, when taken west, are deemed man unimpaired through a long life. And l is as be- far superior to any others. On a trip to by a wise law of Providence, which Kentucky I was riding on a stage, and asked neficial to the beast as to the man, a horse ;

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 1: will do more labor in the six days than if he On the subject of the diseases of the horse, were worked the whole setrn. and other points concerning him, as nearly In reference to the peculiar excellence of every one is his own doctor, I will get over the horses of this state, I might say that I that'point very quickly. have driven a pair two hundred and forty There is one thing to be remembered, miles in three days, or eighty miles per day, however, in obtaining good horses, which without injury. Amongst the many hundreds must receive attention, or the stock will in and perhaps thousands of drivers and team- evitably depreciate. It is, that the same sters in my employ. I had a slow moulded stud horse should never remain in the same man by the man of Dana Brown, who drove locality more than three or five years at the for me some ten years, and always drew the farthest. The constant mingling together of largest loads in the same time, and with less the same blood in the human family leads fatigue to his horses, than any other driver I to both physical and mental depreciation, as ever knew. His horses would look better on is peculiarly illustrated in some of the old the same feed than those of any other, and crowned heads and aristocracy of Europe. they always appeared in good condition, Owing to their prejudices against other while those in charge of others gave unmis- classes of society, they have intermarried takcable evidence of improper usage. Forty, with each other, until they have become so

fiftv. and even sixty hundred weight has he closely related that they are far inferior to drawn over the Catskill mountains with one the common people. It is a fact well known, pair of horses, and I am only doing him an that the lower branches of European legis- act of justice to say that he never wore out a latures possess far more intellectual ability lash, and hardly a -mapper, in the whole than is found in the aristocratic branches, time. Whilst other teamsters had sick horses, and it is from this cause. The superiority his were always in good condition. The whole of the American race is mainly owing to its number of teams I had in ore year averaged freedom from prejudices of rank, so that mar- in every three working days 2.600 pounds to riages are made without reference to absolute Prattville and 3000 pound* to Catskill, a dis- high social position. The same rule holds tance of 36 miles, making about two and a good with all inferior animals. There is half millions of pounds in fall. I mention hardly any farmer who is not familiar with

these facts as illustrating the great benefit of the fact as applied to his poultry yard ; and good management of horses, and of good as I said before, it is of immense importance roads. in keeping up the good qualities of the horse In feeding a horse it should be remembered so much so, that great disappointment will that corn ha« a tendency to make him slow, surely result, if it is forgotten. as may be witnessed in the slow moving corn In conclusion, I desire to say that the his- ted horse of Ohio. Oats are more suitable to tory of the horse can hardly be entered into develope all his qualities, and from fwelve to without obtaining a general knowledge of the sixteen quarts per day should be given. various epochs in the history of the world, With regard to the natural longevity of the and in that point of view alone it may be horse, nothing can be said with certainty. considered a matter of no secondary impor They have been known to live thirty or forty, tance. Though apparently only a research and in some rare instances even sixty years natural it ; into one branch of history, opens but ill usage frequently destroys them before a field of examination into the manners and they are nine or ten. I think that under or- customs of different ages, and exhibits ths dinary circumstance- fourteen years would be gradual but -ure march of intellect and intelli-

a fair average. gence from me g< aeration to another. Too much importance cannot be pi ced upon the judicious breaking and management of this noble animal. It should be ma that WiEE Grass;—Mr. J. C. Johnson, of King

I as in office of a child : by no other means can he be William deposited our several

duced to '<> cheerful and ready obed roots of wire grass nearly as large as aspr- A sullen and dogged submission will result, ragus, and perhaps quite as large when they rue. from cruel and brutal treatment, were fresh. They are now a little shrivelled, but:: prompt and eager response to the wish but a medium nor mea$ur< d a full inch and of the ride/, can only be obtained by patient uce.

1 think there are few horses baulky it must have been good inm.1 where they

ure, and I believe most are madi gre . but ( suspect Mr. Johnson would pre- tr> ;-;,-r- ivho are blessed ivifh far lesa i ins fer almost any Other proof of the fact that

the horse himself ha - furnished us. ; ;;

136 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

For the Farmer and Visitor. cure the spavin, the poor brute is given into SPAVIN. the hands of his tormentor to be cured. How- ever well qualified by observation and expe-

W. - BY M. ORMOND, V. P. rience the latter class of men might be to pre- The nature and seat of spavin have been scribe for simple forms of disease, they cannot much mistaken by many men that have owned be trusted to perform an operation, one of the horses afflicted by this disease. They have most difficult and dangerous, and one that re- been put to much expense and anxiety, which quires a knowledge of anatomy and physiology could have been prevented, had ^he disease to diagnosee it with any degree of accuracy. been properly understood. Surely, when men unacquainted with the me- I have in my travels through cities and chanism of a joint, undertake to restore it to towns, met with men, who have told me they a healthy state by means of agents whose ac- could cure a spavin of any kind in one month tions are to them unknown, then their weapons but when I questioned them as to the nature are like a sword in the hands of a madman. of the disease, they knew nothing about it. The treatment of spavin is simple enough,, They did not know how many bones composed but far from being always effectual. The the hock joint, or how it Mr as constructed, but owner of the horse will neither consult hi& they could cure. own interest nor the dictates of humanity, if They might cause, by some counter irrita- he suffers the chisel, or the gimlet, or the tion, the horse to rest the limb, until nature pointed iron, or arsenic, to be used. There could strengthen the injured parts; but in are means that can be taken, which will ac- nine cases out of ten they work the wrong complish our object, and be much more to the way, and in the place of doing good do harm credit of humanity. When we find that there by causing a greater inflammation in the joint is an inflammation in the joint, we should give than otherwise would have existed. As a con- the horse rest, and apply some cooling evapo- sequence, there is more stiffness of the joint rating lotion to the part, but should this fail than there would have been had the poor to accomplish the object, we had better apply brute not had such quackery practised on a stimulant, such as the tincture of cantharides, him. applied in a mild form. Spavin is a compound of two diseases, In the first place it is not best to breed from Known as exostosis and anchylosis. The for- spavined mares or broken down horses. There mer signiiies hypertrophy, stiff joint, absorp- are two causes for spavin, namely : predis- tion of inter-articular cartilage, and substitu- posing and exciting; the latter being more tion of bone. Anchylosis, however, does not rare than the former. It is true, there can in take place in what is called the true joint, the general be found an exciting cause for spavin tibia and astragalus, but it generally appears but if we take the pains to trace back the beneath the true joint, within its collateral or breed of such subjects, we shall find that it inferior articulations, known as the tarsal was a hereditary predisposition, and on the bones. first opportunity it has made its appearance. I have at my office some very tine specimens A horse that has a well constructed hock sel- of spavin, and other anchylosis of joints which dom has spavin. We are most apt to find this malady in short, round hocks. have caused lameness for some years ; and I should be happy to find a man that has the Spavin is so common in these parts that if a ability to cure such spavins and ring-bones. man purchase a horse with a sound hock, he Spavin has been a disease that has had thinks himself safe, but I wish the reader to understand that spavin is not always visible many severe experiments tried on it ; but all to have failed to restore the hock to its former that is, there is not always a bony tumor utate of soundness. Nor need we wonder at be seen on the hock ; there might be anchy- losis of the cuneiform bones, and after the this ; for when the cartilage is ossified, there is no means that we know of to restore those horse has been driven a short distance the it not parts, therefore the horse must naturally have lameness might disappear so that could a stiffness of the joint. There have been a be detected. great many horsemen who have suffered their Many horses have been treated for hip and horses to be treated for spavin in a most bru- stifle lameness when it has been no other than tal manner, by men that have had no more spavin. The hock joint being the most im- feeling for a horse than if it had been made portant joint of locomotion, we should, on of iron. A gentleman has a horse, the sub- purchasing a horse, examine the part tho- ject of spavin, and hearing of one of those roughly, and have a good idea of its form.

1 " raagic mer. ' being in the place," who can The joint is composed of six bones, exclusive —,

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 137

of the tibia and tarsal bones. They are in leader, and tied just behind the back band, also a similar strap from the outside horse's bit to the two layers, the lower is three in number, called | middle horse. A line from the leader, to the left the cuneiform bones, which rest on the tarsal hand of the ploughman, having a loup at the end bones. Each of those bones is covered with | to hang on the wrist. You are now ready for work,

! elastic cartilage, and each admitting of a cer- and he who tries the left hand plough with his hor- tain degree of motion. The diminished con- ses or mules thus attached, will never use another right hand plough. The advantages are so appa- cussion is diffused among them all, and there- rent when tried, that I deem it wholly unnecessary by neutralized and rendered comparatively to enumerate them. If your teams are not well harmless. Each of those bones is covered not broken, the left hand plough will accomplish one only by cartilage, but by a membrane secre- third more work each day than the right hand. If they are well the left still will have an ad- ting synovia, so that in "fact these bones are broken vantage, and if your land is bedded (of conse- formed into so many distinct joints, separate quence giving many finishing furrows) the advan- I from each other, and thereby guarded from tage becomes more perceptible. With the left injury, yet united by various ligaments, pos- hand, every animal is under the control of the sessing altogether sufficient motion, yet bound ploughman. A fast or free horse can be worked I together by the side of a slow one without danger of hurt- | so strongly as to defy dislocation. ing him by his taking too much of the draft. If Rut there is often an injury done to those your leader js thoroughly broken you need care bones that is not always accountable for. The very little whether the other two are colts; all will I smith often does much towards this by his in- go well if they do not gobackwards. Before I let off, to ploughs. jjudicious management of the feet, by not you one word as Any common workman can make a plough that will be a good I making the shoes or feet level, and thereby one, if care is had to these all important points. [causing the weight and concussion to be Let the beam be long, as a short one is hard upon I thrown on the inside splent bone, which pro- the backs of your animals. Let the handles be I duces inflammation of the cartilaginous ends long and sloping back that your ploughman can by the plough. 1 of those bones. a greater beverage more easily control For a 3 horse plough let the height under the beam And should the inflammation not be speedily at the nose or clevis be 17 h inches, measuring from subdued it will soon convert this cartilaginous the bottom or underside of the beam to the floor I substance that unites the splent bones to the or plough bench (for every plough ought to be builded let the land side of the i shank into bone, and thereby have an enlarge- upon a bench) and beam be in line with the iron land side from heel »ment and a stiffness at the joint. to point. The point of a 2 horse plough should I would suggest that the best way to free set to land l£ or 2 inches. By thus constructing get rid of using that most | our country from this malady is to select such your plough you can outlandish looking affair called a Buck, which stock for breed as is perfectly free from such they say will make a plough almost go in the op- Idiseases, and leave the young colts at home ; posite direction from the power attached, it is so I when we require the services of the dam. and very adjvslabU. We will suppose your plough I not do as is so commonly done in this vicinity made right. If it comes from your shop repaired too land, middle horso |now-a-days^-tie the colt to the side of its and takes much work your

closer to the leader ; if too little land, put him fur- dam, and drive it all day. It is much better ther off as the plough will follow him. If too deep, to leave the colt at home fasting, than to over- tie back bands back a few links ; if too shal- Idrive the little animal so as to ruin him for low, put them forward a few links. I have my life ploughs so made that we wear them nut without ever making any alteration at the clevis. I should have said that you may increase orlessen the depth of your plough by lengthening or shortening your For the Southern Planter. traces. A Farmer. By request, I am induced to enquire why the P S -The farmers of lower Virginia are wo- farmers in lower Virginia do not give the prefer- fully behind the age in the use of agricultural im- ence to the left hand tools and are plough ; not because there is plements. Many of them have good any difference in the work done by tbese ploughs, totally at a loss to use them to advantage. The if the mechanical construction is proprietor know how to is the same ; but be- misfortune the does not cause there is a great advantage to be gained in give instruction as to their use. This is the se- ithe attaching animals to the left hand, and the cret; farmer's sons are not practically taught: over- Seam can be better managed, and therefore the seers for generations have remained unimproved. plough on the whole works better and easier to the You have labor here, if you wish more, to bring ploughman. this to be thought of. The ploughs of lower Vir- It is thus explained: j The leader or line horse ginia, and indeed most of their implements, are •works in the furrow, and to the short end of the miserable contrivances, put up by Yankees, and by thribble tree. From his haim ring a 4 foot crow- negroes who know nothing of the mechanical prin- ding stick passes to the bit of the middle horse, ciple. % similar stick from the haim of the middle horse, fco the bit of the off horse. Now see that your The Violet grows low, and covers itself with its norses stand up abreast, let a coupling strap pass own tears, and of all flowers yields the most deli- from the bit of the middle horse to the trace of the cious and fragrant smell. Such is humility — !

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. ANALYSES OF SOILS. chemists,) as fools or knaves, without proof LABORATORY 01' THE STATE CHEMIST, and without reason. No. 29 Exchange Buildings, I shall not follow this article in all of its Baltimore, Mar. 15, 185&. italics, as it is as full of assertion as it is bare the To Editor of the Southern Planter ; of proofs. I shall only examine some of the special allegations as they are made. Dear Sir : —In the first number of the fif- " teenth volume of your paper, is an article on 1st. Liebig, the most celebrated of them," the Analyses of Soils, in which their claims &c, " his compound proved utterly worthless are first misrepresented and then of course in its application to the growth of crops." condemned, in a style as flippant as the state- This is untrue. Liebig's Compound acted ments are incorrect. This article is copied well on crops, but could not be prepared at byyou from The Michigan Farmer, who thus a price which would make its application writes : profitable. He only made the mistake which " During the past ten years there has arisen thousands unacquainted with manufactures a class of men, who at all times were willing had made before him : the cost of the raw to make all the processes of agriculture de- material and its manufacture left no margin pend on the announcements which were to for profits, and hence the manufactory did not come from the laboratory of the chemist."' pay ; but at' this day, manures are made, " According to the notions they promulgated sold and used with profit, dictated by the it was just as easy to grow a crop of wheat same principles which actuated Liebig in his on a field of dry sand, as it was on the best factory. If Liebig is to be sweepingly con- iimestoue soil that ever lay ' out of doors;' demned, then with him must be condemned and all all mineral manures : lime, magnesia, plaster, so with other crops : these mediums would prescribe as quickly for a soil as a spirit bone dust and salt, must be declared useless, rapper for a diseased person." because he declared their essential necessity

The first paragraph quoted above is untrue. to all crops grown for food, and inasmuch as So far as my knowledge extends, there is not there was no natural source from which sili- a respectable analytical or agricultural chemist cate of potash and soda could be procured who has maintained that all the processes of as manures, and he endeavoured to provide agriculture depended " on the announcements for this by forming them artificially, and the which were to conu hum the laboratory of manufactory was too expensive to be followed the chemist." with profit, we have an ex cathedra announce- As to the second, there may have been, ment that his compound was utterly worth- and doubtless are, quacks in chemistry, as less, and therefore chemical science of no there are in medicine, law, divinity, and in use to agriculture the editorial profession. But should an ho- We next have a letter of a Mr. S. W. nest press condemn the science of medicine Johnson, " a young gentleman pursuing a because quacks have professed to cure all dis- course of chemical instruction at Munich." eases with some infallible pill or potion ? Or This gentleman first adduces Boussingault's shall law, " whose font is justice, and whose testimony against soil analyses, ;< that they seat is the bosom of God," be abolished, be- are more curious than useful." Why did not cause men, under its mantle, have practised Mr. S. W. J. also state, that Mr. B. believed knavery ? Ought the holy calling of the mi- that manures owed their value almost exclu- nistry, its purposes and uses, to be dispensed sively to the nitrogen (one of the constituents with, because men, under its guise, have vio- of ammonia) which they contained, and that lated its holy precepts ? or should the agri- therefore it was useless to ascertain the cultural press be suppressed, because some amount or determine the nature of the mine- who conduct it, and who hold themselves up ral matter in a soil, because mineral manures, for guides, know neither the operations of as such, could produce but little benefit ? agriculture from practice or experience, nor If persons admit the force of this reasoning, its theory from study or science ? It is an that mineral manures, as lime, plaster, bone- easy matter to make an allegation, but the dust, salt, &c. &c, are useless, let them also proof is .sometimes difficult. If any one, coincide with the opinion of Boussingault, under the knowledge of " The Michigan which is contradicted by the practical expe- Farmer, or the editor of any other paper, has rience of every country where farming has made professions such as those quoted above, been practised, from the banks of the Rhine let the Michigan Farmer publish his name, to the Potomac, and by farmers of every age, to year and condemn his pretensions, and not brand from the days of the Pharaohs the I a class of men (agricultural and analytical 1855. :

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 139

As to the assertion, " that analyses were The work quoted above is a most admirable made by Liebig, Rose and others, in which one on the principles of agriculture, and can x material difference existed/' I think it very not be recommended too highly to the farm- doubtful that any such trial was ever made, ing community, and I am sure that no intelli- and more so, if made, that some of them gent planter or farmer of Virginia, after hav- failed to detect important elements found by ing once read it, would be without it for others, if they carefully examined the sam- double its cost. The Michigan Farmer goes ples. Indeed, if we are to judge of the cor- on to speak of the benefit of " soils lying

rectness of the other statements of this wit- fallow," " of fertility depending on a, change ness (Mr. S. W. J.) by this one—that the ad- in the condition of the soil," " of insoluble dition of one ton of guano to an acre of soil ingredients becoming soluble," and then eomes " would make no perceptible difference in the the following : Tn fact, if it be admitted that results of an analysis, we must utterly dis- the chemist can estimate quantities with the credit every thing he says. The addition of utmost accuracy and nicety desirable, yet he the phosphate of lime in one tenth of that cannot get qualities or conditions in their quantity of guano, can be ascertained, and in true light." If the writer knew any thing of less than that quantity to the acre has been chemistry he need not be told that the qua- again and again detected in my laboratory. lities or conditions of substances, as to their I shall not further discuss this subject, but solubility, &a, so far as vegetation is influ- refer you to my Fourth Report to the House enced by them, arc as easily determined as of Delegates of Maryland, page 42, as marked their weight. He evidently knows nothing of and herewith sent. analytical chemistry, and his opinion is worth The article from the Michigan Farmer nothing. then goes on to speak of the " physical con- You state, Mr. Editor, that you have been 1 dition' of the soil, as if the determination of induced to quote the above remarks because that was not equally a part of an analysis as letters have been written to you on the sub- well as the mere determination of the con- ject of soil analysis, in which great stress stituents. was laid on the knowledge to be derived

Stockhardt is next appealed to. He may from them, as better than good cultivation say, but I have not seen or heard it, that a and the manure bed ; and you likewise ad- mere chemical analysis of a soil will not show mit that something may prove advantageous its productiveness—and no agricultural che- for a short time, as a, temporary stimulant, mist of any standing has ever said that it and that stimulants exhaust in proportion to would. Stockhardt, however, most emphati- their power of forming an unnatural yield. cally declares the necessity of a knowledge Now, in reply : agricultural chemistry no- of the constituents of a soil as an indispen- where teaches proper cultivation nor the ma- it sable guide for properly manuring it. Nei- nure bed to be dispented with ; nor does ther Stockhardt nor any one else, who has recognize any such thing as a stimulant to a ever given much attention to the subject, soil ; nor does it any where tolerate slovenly would pretend to estimate the productive qua- cultivation. It insists on thorough cultivation lity of a soil by a chemical analysis alone as the sine qua nan of succei-s. It- teaches but he nowhere in his lecttires speaks against the necessity of certain substauces in the soil the utility of soil analyses, but holds them, as indispensable to fertility, and by analysis when properly performed, as indispensable not only discovers tb.e quantity of these sub- adjuncts to the application of manures, and stances, but also the form in which they exist, the interpreters of the principles on which and directs how to change them into a proper depend successful results. His meaning then form, if they do not already so exist ^ and is perverted, if his language be correctly also determines the quantity of the necessary " constituents which a. good crop of wheat, or quoted ; for on page 24 Stockhardt's Che- mical Field Lectures to Agriculturists, Cam- any other crop, takes from the soil. The bridge, 1853," speaking of the nourishment quantity of mineral matter, viz : lime, mag- of plants, he says, " for this reason then, an nesia, phosphate of lime, gypsum, salt, and exact knowledge of the chemical elements of potash, &c, in an acre of boil, can be deter- plants, of the soil, of water, and of the air, mined by it with more correctness than prac- must be deemed indispensable." Again, on tical nieu ever apply them as manures. u p. 49, On increasing the growth of plants As to trusting to a, mere chemical analysis by manuring," he speaks of the absolute ne- of the soil to measure its productive capacity, cessity of a knowledge of the constituents of no chemist at all acquainted with the practical the toil, in order to apply the proper manures. operations of agriculture would t;ike the con- 140 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

stituents of a soil per se as a measure of its ca- For the Southern Planter. pacity. In my 2d Report to the House of De- HARROWING WHEAT. legates of Maryland, p. 23, I have stated the conditions of soils under which vegetable life Mr. Editor : —I would say that on or best flourished. " From the known and ascer- about the first of March last I wanted to sow tained conditions of soils of known fertility, clover and timothy seed among my wheat, from the composition of crops that are grown which, in some parts, was nearly covering the for food, from the effect of %he application of ground. I thought the top of the ground manures, it is to be concluded, that the pro- too hard to sow and leave the grass seed ductiveness of a soil, to the extent of the pro- to chance whether it got into the earth or not, duction of tlte plant, is due, 1st, to the pre- so I ordered two horses to be hitched to a sence in exact ratio, of the mineral consti- heavy twenty tooth drag (teeth straight) and tuents named above, viz : lime, magnesia, pulled it all over the wheat grounds. The potash, soda, j>hosphoric acid, sulphuric acid, crop of wheat is some fifty bushels, golden chlorine, Sfc. flint seed. This operation caused great sur-

prise all it. 2d. Tluz condition in which these sub- by who witnessed or heard of stances are found, as to their solubility. Some took me for a madman, that was deter- mined to destroy as fine a lot of wheat as any 3d. The capacity cf the soil, as to its in these parts; others, passing the road stopped physical texture, to supply the growing plant and looked on with astonishment ; some, not with organic food from the atmosphere. believing their eyes at a distance, must come The proportion of the several mineral con- into the field to see and know if I was really stituents adapted to produce fertility, and the ruining my wheat. But, sir, so far from ruin requisite physical structure, can be found, or it has been a means of improving the wheat, at least approximated, by a large number of as may be seen by strips left through the careful analyses, made in different seasois, of field not harrowed, and the operation is so fine soils which are already productive. for putting in the grass seed, I think, sir, The kind and quantity of manures best uone should hesitate to drag their wheat in adapted to renovate worn out lands can be early spring. I would say, however, if the shown only by their analysis, and the noted land is of unusual lightness, then it would be results of manures upon these lands." injudicious to drag. The wheat then requires These are the doctrines which were laid the roller, not the drag. down more than four years ago; and daily If you, sir, choose to make any use of what observation of the results of manures, predi- is here communicated, you are at liberty to cated on soil analyses, and experience in do so. Yours, truly, making these, and the testimony of intelligent Wat. Huntington. practical men, have confirmed faith my in Drake's Branch, Charlotte. their necessity as the cheapest and most cer- tain aid to the fertilization and renovation of worn out lands. To make Honey.—Take five pounds of cof- If there be any gentlemen in your state fee sugar, and two pounds of water ; heat over desirous of having these analyses inade let ;/ a slow fire ; when nearly scalding hot take them send samples of their soil to this office, from the fire, and add one-half pound of honey and I will guarantee them, to the full extent in the comb ; when blood-warm add one-fourth of my means, from any toss which they may of a pound ; when cold strain and add five sustain in consequence of my recommenda- drops of the essence of peppermint. It will tions. They will find, that the analysis of add to the flavor if there is a little bee bread soils leads to the cheapest, speediest and most in the comb. This is excellent on buckwheat certam method of improvement. cakes. Try it. I. P. James Higgins, Royalton, N. Y., March, 1855. State Ag. Chemist of Md. Rural N. Yorker.']

How to raise Onions.—This vegetable Measurement of Hay in the Stack.— requires salt, to bring it to perfection. Put it Ten cubic yards of hay, well settled, will in at the rate of six bushels to the acre. Ma- make a ton, except in the case of clover hay. nure from the hen-house, and a coating of Twelve cubic yards of that will also make a ashes, will produce onions that will make a ton, or near enough in all eases to buy and I person's mouth water, as well as his eyes. sell by. : H : . — :

THE SOUTHERN FLANTi. '1.41

INDIAN CORN. Product of Indian Corn in Ohio, Ken- tucky; Tennessee, Indiana, and Il- Some valuable information in relation tu Indian linois, - 30,579,80f» Corn, and the extent to which It is produced in the Product of Indian Com in Alabama, United State.-, is given in the last number of the Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mis- Cincinnati Railroad Record. We condense the sissippi, North Carolina and South most important facts and figures. The writer con- Carolina, 120,424,00a rends that Indian Corn i~ the most important 'crop We thus see that the five States in the Valley in the United State*, and that if the Cotton were of the Ohio raise about double the 1 obliterated, ii would not work so much injury as raised in fifteen States of the North and South. If the loss of two-thirds of the crop of Indian Corn. we add to this the products of Western Pennsyl- And yet the culture o; maize is confined to a belt vania and Western Virginia, also in the Valley of of about thirteen degrees. In fact, three-fourths the Oh' o, the product of this valley 'will be more of the con; raised in the United States is produced ;': the crop of the United States. between the 33d and 42u degrees of latitude half The foreign export of corn has never been large. spier south of the former or north of the latter. in comparison with the domestic consumption. It corn is not a profitable crop. But little is raised is however considerable, and is rapidly increasing. in Europe, as the climate is not adapted to its cul- The following figures exhibit the export of Corn ture. The produd Her acre in this country, on

- meal for each successive; thn y, ai since J8S5: good land, is rhonf forty bushels, and generally speaking; it it the most certain ferop raised. In Bushels. some portions of Ohio, one hundred and fifty-five [u 1835-38, 449,179 bushels have been produced on an acre. The corn hi 1838-41. - 1.272.312 1841-44'. - crop of the I'nH'-il State's; ai intervals often years, in 2,098,192 1844-47, - 18,992,122 icaa at! fojlot : In liushels. in 1847-50, - 25,069,035 In 1850-53, - 8,328,795 1 - Crop of IVgQ, census df J -is 1 ' 377,531,875 Notwithstanding the falling off in 13GO-5::, the Crop of 1*49, census of 1850. - 592,071.104 export of Indian Corn is really increasing. In was much larger than in the pre- Actual increase. 214,539,229 1854, the export vious year, and this must continue to be the case. The ports of Europe, such as Great Britain, to •')-) Increase, pi-r i eat. which the expert has been chiefly, are learning the taste for it; so that, Nov,-, tel ii- compare this increase with that use of corn, and acquiring a or the other lca'din'g crops, and we have these being the cheapest grain, it will ultimately become- figures the one most in demand. .There is another important aspect in which lc< . Increase of Indian C,ohY, 58 per cent. view this immense product, viz : the commerce in Wheat. 10 corn, and its tonnage and movement. According Oafe, 20 record, the ports af Cleveland, Sandusky, " [bo the Wool, 50 • Toledo, and Chicago, on the Lake, probably receive Cotton, 24 j 'and export full twenty millions of bushels of corn. Potatoes. " ,: ! look the whole country, not less than fifty Tobacco. If we to millions bushels of corn arc moved in bulk. But This is certainly a very remarkable result. It in addition to this, all the whiskey and fatted hogs, Snows that both nature and agricultural economy with a large part of the cattle of commerce, are are agreed that Indian Corn is the great staple, corn in another form. They would not exist for the most profitable article cultivated in this coun- market, if it were not for corn. Now, we have in try. The Cotton Crop has increased very rapidly United States three millions of fatted. ; the t>t; c7 but we sec not half bo fast as that of Indian Corn. which at least two millions are ratted on com.

The census shows another fact : that either in We have six hundred thousand barrels of whiskey, the extreme South or North, the averages fail off which enters into commerce, and we have at least so fast as to confine the practical growth of maize half a million of cattle fatted on corn. In tonnage to the central belt. Thus then, we have this aggregate Bush. 50,000,000 bush, of corn, 1,600,000 tons. Average of corn per acre in the States of 2.000,000 hogs (at 200 lbs.) 200,000 " Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, South 000.000 bbfs. of whiskey, 100,000 <: Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia, - 10 500,000 cattle. 170,000 ; - Average of corn per acre in the States of Ohio, Indiana, and - 30 Kentucky, Aggregate, 1 ,970,000 Average of corn per acre in New England, millions of tons, then, is the least of freight New York and; New Jersey. - - 28 Two furnished the various lines of transportation in In New England and New York corn raises a 1849-50. But at the current rate of increase the pretty good <-rop, where it can be grown; but corn crop of 1800 will reach nine hundred millions there is but. a small quantity which is worth culti- of bushels, and the amount of freights furnished vating in this article. by it will be not less than three millions of tons. A stronger illustration of the sectional growth Now this is enough, in addition to the passengers of corn will be found by taking the corn crop of that would necessarily be furnished along the lines, certain localities, thus: to furnish a profit for three thousand miles of rail-

Bushels. way ! Product of Indian Corn in New Eng- But this falls short of the reality. For as the land, New Jersey, and New York, 30.794,000 crop increases, the surplus increases much faster. —

142* THE SOUTHERN PLANTEK.

For example, pbe above tonnage requires but, It abounds in Alumina, Bisulphuret of Iror 100,000 bushels surplus on a crop of tiOO.000 bush- Sulphuret of Lime, Acid, Ammonia; and som sis; but if tbc crop becomes 900,000 bushels the other ingredients according to another analysi: surplus will be more than 200.000. There is rea- but many grains of allowance should be mad soi to believe, therefore, that the corn crop of for the present infancy of agricultural chemistry I860 will actually furnish employment for 4,000 miles of railway. Bait. Amerratn. The first experiment 1 made with thi clay was upon a remarkably light piece of Ian that I was endeavoring to improve by th

I Published by order of the Executive Committee'.} [application of our common red clay ; at th

1 same time I hauled out about twenty bushels < BLUE CLAY. this earth. It was here spread, sown in oats an

I design ia this communication to present clover seed ; the clover vegetated upon al to the consideration of ihc State Agricultural but died out during the summer upon the Ian

Society of Virginia my expeiience in the tt.se upon which the red clay had been apph'ei of blue clay and the effects resulting from its but continued to grow finely and luxuriant! use. where the blue clay had been applied ; an 3Jy farm is located in the county of Prince during this year some of the stalks of clove George, three miles south of James river; the grew to be knee high, and was the best on th land i.s generally light, with a clay subsoil, but farm. After this, I have continued to use portion? of it have no clay substratum. On from year to year, until I have nearly applie portions of this farm marl is found varying it to every part of the larm, and some portion in strength from 25 to 75 per cent. AH the twice, with very satisfactory results. Upo arable land has been marled in the propor- some portions of the light land I have know tion of 300, or more, bushels io the acre. And the blades of corn to turn yellow, but whethe the most of this marling- was executed at least it was owing to a superabundant application ( fifteen years ago. this earth or to other causes, I have not ye This marl is about six feet thick, mostly dry. satisfied myself, but uniformly it makes the Ian of a buff color, containing clam shells, oyster produce more corn and the blades are of and other shell.-, some perfect, others decom- deeper green. On wheat, the increased pre posed partially: next to this marl is found a duct particularly on my light fields, ha blue marl, inferior in quality, of a blue color been very apparent both in the growth of th abounding in sand. This marl contains very straw and the number of bushels. This eart large bones, some of the vertebral bones, mea- is particularly adapted to the growth of peas, suring eight or ten inches in diameter. This think I may safely say the growth of the vine blue mar! is about four feet thick. Immediately have been nearly doubled since the commence subjacent is found this blue clay of unascer- ment of its use. Now al! my corn land is so we tained depth, but which has been excavated to down in peas, unless I am deficient in seet the depth oi twelve to fourteen feet. This This gives me an additional product of whea clay in physical appearance presents a homo- that I estimate at four to five bushels t gentous mass, but by careful examination it the acre. This mode of getting a green fallot is found to contain innumerable shining parti- with peas I consider to be the more economic? cles. This clay is blue in its appearance, feels with me, and I get a more luxuriant growtl and cuts like soap, tenacious but somewhat I avoid the trouble and expense of fallow friable. By atmospheric exposure either at ing land exclusively for peas, and the troubl the pit or after having been applied to land of getting in the peas is much less with th it soon breaks up into small masses, eufficiently corn, for it is not necessary to give any add fine to he spread with a spade or hoe, or tional ploughing, and I am not yet satisfie detriment t even to be scattered with hand, as I have that the pea crop produces any some'imes used it as a top dressing to clover. the corn crop. But I have now an experimer Rain and freezing also sufficiently disintegrates in progress to ascertain the fact. it tbfr agricultural purposes. I consider it one I have taken some pains to sow my Ian of our best fertilizers, not inferior to lime or in eastern shore bean, and here again the valu mar!, abounding in carbonate of lime. Its use of this manure is very apparent, the benefick was commenced l>y me more than twelve years effects being equal, if not greater, than whe ago. It was analyzed by Professor Hare, of applied to peas ; but this latter plant beloDg the University of Pennsylvania, but I have to the pea tribe. misplaced the report. was of that He opinion My usual mode of using it is by applyip it possessed no fertilizinsr property whatever. about a hundred and fifty bushels to the acre Professor Rogers, pi" the University of Virginia, But this year 1 applied about two hundre also subjected it to analysis— " Composed, (he bushels more to land that had had an applies s-ays) almost entirely of a silicious clay, having tion of an hundred and fifty bushels of thi a few shining particles of mica. ' earth. My corn is decidedly better than ; Silicia, ) ever was on this field before, and the pea almost cntirclv. Alumina, $ as luxuriant as if they had been heavily ma

Qixde of Iron, about 7 percent nured ; but where this earth was applied thi Carbonate of Lime, a trace. year the peas were much better than the pea Sulphuret of Lime, a trace. on the land which had had an application c Carbonaceous Matter, a trace. this earth three years ago. ;

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. I4iv

It is true, for several years I have been bean becomes more abundant, and the clover

remarling my lands, also with marked benefit, increased in growth and improved in color ? but it is only with the marl 1 remove to get corn and wheat increased by the application of" access to the blue clay, as I consider I get more an eartii that causes the sheep sorrel to benefit from the latter than the former. This re-appear on land from which it had disappeared opinion is not peculiar to myself. Dr. A. Bry- by the use of marl and lime. From this and

ant, a farmer of Prince George, informs me other considerations. 1 should infer thai acidity that he has discovered greater benefit from the is not opposed to fertility. use of his marl, than is manifested by that This earth also possesses the power of" of his neighbors, and he attributes the superior counteracting the injurious consequences result- benefit to the fact that he is in the. hahit of ing from an over application of the carbonate mixing about four feet of this clay, which of lime, or what is popularly called marled he finds at the bottom of his marl pits, with his burnt land. The bisulphuret of iron being marl. So far as my experience goes, I have placed in justaposition with carbonate of iirne, never used this blue clay to lands that had not chemical affinities may produce new combina- been marled or limed. I carried some a tions. Sulphuret of lime may result, and pro- distance of four miles and applied it to land that ductiveness the ultimate consequence, or the had been limed; a close, stiff, tenacious soil, and caustic properties of the lime may be neutra- applied it to clover with marked benefit. lized. On ray farm an example may be seen of This earth acts promptly. On one occasion, a piece of land in which all vegetation was

the clouds indicated rain ; I ordered a boy to destroyed, mould, &c, gone, and the land haul several loads and scatter it on clover, presented the appearance of worthless sand. and in a very few days the benefit from its which has been restored to comparative produc- use wa3 very apparent in the increased vigor tiveness by no other manure than this blue and greenness of the clover. This earth is clay. This clay is usually hauled upon the soluble in water. Soon after a rain, if one land after it is broken up, sufiered to remain rides or walks in a field on which this earth has until it breaks up into flakes or becomes some- been spread, a strong sulphureous odour is what pulverized, when it is shattered. Here manifest and rather unpleasant; the same may we occasionally find round balls about the size be discovered at the pits. This is much more of large marbles and round, presenting a dirty evident after a rain than at any other time. appearance on the exterior, hut internally iheee- Again: another fact connected with the sol- balls are crystaline. To what principle', to- vent powers of rain is, that vegetation is con- which ingredient in its constitution are w*> siderably increased in the direction of the indebted for its fertilizing property ? Is it descent of water where this earth has been because its nietalic oxide forms a base with applied on the sides of hills. which humic acid unites, and this combination It is beneficial to lands that have not been is subsequently easily dissolved by r.dn water. limed or marled, to our knowledge. and is thus assimilated by the growing crops? Mr. McGee, of Prinre George, who lives Or may not this oxide form other combinations twenty miles south of James river, has used with lime or other inorganic substances? or may this earth, and also what is called olive earth, it not more properly be. a positive manure, with decided improvement upon lands that had independent of chemical affinities or atmospheric combinations ? had no lime or rnarl ; but this land may he naturally calcareous. This blue clay is found We are thrown upon the ocean ol" conjecture;: piled at the bottom of his marl pits ; he applies about theory may he upon theory, and one three hundred bushels to the acre. A portion hypothesis upon another without affording of hi3 land was remarkably poor and light satisfaction to the man of science, or without he observed it has been in succession of crops materially benefitting the agriculturists. under the regular rotation, for a great number Professors Hare and Rogers inform us of years, and was unproductive, producing that alumina abounds in this earth. Who knows about one and a half bushels of corn to the the effects of whale oil, fish oil. &c, uniting acre. After the application of this earth, with this earth ? It is impervious to water in without any additional manure, the same its present condition in the pits. It may in this land produced about four barrels; wheat and form retain other organic animal matter. But clover also grew successfully. it is not my object to discuss a theory or advo- cate a system, but to invite the attention of Another fact connected with this earth is farmers of a very important character. The sheep to the use this invaluable fertilizer. sorrel, a plant common with us and remarkable The effects of this earth on the appearance for the acidity of its leaves, generally disappears of my land, on my growing crops, upon peas, after vegetation, land has been marled or limed ; but it clover and eastern shore bean

reappears after the use of this blue clay and are positive realities that it. is impossible to grows more abundantly and luxuriantly, and eradicate, and I shall continue to use this earth this is the most serious objection to the use so long as beneficial results follow its use. All of this clay. Now this fact presents a stubborn of which is respectfully submitted to the con- reality "against some of the fashionable theories sideration of the Agricultural Society of the of the day. Hen peas are increased in quantity State. Rort. Harrison. and are more productive the eastern shore ; ML PUasant, 1854. IU THE SOUTHERN PLANTER PARSON SURELYS EXPERIMENT. his wife was utterly astonished upon learning the nature of ' i:v the contract her husband had a. c. SERffitK l

I entered into; but the pastor only smiled and The small parish of Fallowdale had been bade her wait for | the result. for some lime without a pastor. The members Time flew on; at length the | hot midsummer were all farmers, and they had not days ' much money i were at hand. For three weeks it had not to bestow upon the support of a clergyman yet rained and the ; j youn? corn was beginning thev were all willing to pay for anything that to curl up beneath the effects of the drought. could promise them any due return of good. In this extremity the people bethought them- In course of time it happened that Rev. Abra- selves of the promise of their pastor, and sorae ham Surely visited Fallowdale. and as a sabbath of them fastened to hie dwelling. passed during his sojourn, he held a meeting in '•Come." said Sharr, whose hilly farm was the small church. The people were pleased suffering severely, we want some rain. You With his preaching, and some of them proposed remember your promise." inviting him to remain with them and take '• Certainly," rejoined Mr. Surely. " If you charge of (heir spiritual welfare. will call a meeting of the members of the par- :_l, 1 ...:n u :.l r__ _ -v • • •• Upon the merits of this proposition there was ieh, I will be with you this evening a long discussion. Parson Surely had signified With this the applicants were perfectly satis- his willingness to take a permament residence fied, and forthwith they hastened to call the at Fallowdale, but the members of the parish flock together. could not so readily agree to hire him. The hour I'or the meeting came round, and "I don't see any use of hiring a parson."' Parson Surely met his people at the church; said Mr. Sharp, an old farmer of the place. they were all there, most of them anxious and "He can do us no good. If we've got any the remainder curious. money to spare, we'd better lay it up for some- "Now, my friends," said the pastor, arising thing else. A parson can't learn me anything." upon the platform, " I have come to hear your To this was answered that stated religious request. What is it?" » meetings would be of great benefit to the • We want rain," bluntly spoke farmer Sharp: younger people and a source of real, social good "and you know you promised to give it to us." ' to all. Aye— rain, rain." repeated half a dozen "I don't know about that," said Sharp, alter voices. " iie had heard the argument against him. Sharp " Very well. Now when will you have it 1 was one of the wealthiest men in the parish and " This very night. Let it rain all night long," consequently one of the most influential. "I've said Mr. Sharp, to which several other? imme- heard tell," he continued, " of a parson that diately assented. could pray for rain and have it come at any "No, no, not to-night," cried Deacon Smith. t time. Now if we could hit upon such a parson " I have six or seven tons of well made hay in

as that, I would go for hiring him." the field, and I would not have it wet for any This opened a new idea to the unsophisticated thing." minds of Fallowdale. The farmers often suf- " So have I hay out," added Mr. Peck. "We fered from long droughts, and after arguing, won't have it rain to-night." awhile longer they agreed to hire Parson Surely " Then let it ram to-morrow." upon condition that he should give them rain "It will take me alt day to-morrow to get my whenever they wished for it, and, on the other hay in," said Smith. hand, that he would also give them fair weather Thus objections came up for two succeeding when required. Deacons Smith and Townsend days, and at length, by way of compromise, Mr. were deputed to make this arrangement known Sharp proposed that they should have rain in to the parson, and the people remained in the just four days. " For," said he, "by that time church while their messengers went upon their all the hay that is now out can be got in and we errand. need not cut any." " Stop, stop," uttered Mrs. When the deacons returned M. Surely accom- Sharp, pulling her worthy husband 6martly by panied them. He smiled as he entered the the sleeve. " That is the day we have set to church and with a graceful bow he saluted the goto Snowhill. It mustn't rain then ! " This people, there assembled. was law for Mr. Sharp, so he proposed that the " Well, my frierrds," he said, as he ascended rain should come in one week, then resuming the platform, in front of the desk, "I have heard his seat. But this would not do. Many of the your request, to me, a*nd strange as it mayappear people would not put off so long. "If we can-

I have come to accept our proposal ; but can do not have rain before then, we'd beuer not have it only on one condition; that is that your it at all," said they. request for change of weather must be unan- In short, the meeting resulted in just no con- imous. clusion at all, for the people found it utterly im- This appeared very resonable, since every possible to agree upon a time when it should member of the parish had a deep interest in the rain. farming business, and ere long it was arranged "Until you can make up your minds upon that Mr. Surely should become pastor of Fal- this point," said the pastor, as he was about imvdale, and that he should give the people leaving the church, " we must all trust in the rain whenever they asked for it. Lord." And alter that the people followed him When Mr. Surely returned to his lodgings from the place. — — :

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 14£

Both Deacon Smith and Mr. Peck go* their Cure for Grape Mildew.—Mr. J. Hayes hay safely in, but on the very day that Mr. gives through the English Gardener's Chro- Sharp and his wife were to have started for nicle the following cure for the grape mildew Snowhill, it began to rain in right good earnest. Take half a pound of black soft soap, from Sharp lost his visit, but he met the disappoint- three to four ounces of black sulphur, the ment with good grace, for his crop smiled in the rain. same quantity of soot and quick lime, and Ere another month rolled by, another meeting add water sufficient to enable them to be was called for a petition of rain, but this time worked with a paint brush. As soon as the the result was as before. Many of the people vines are pruned, paint the wood well over to dig, rain had much and would prevent them. with this mixture, rubbing it well into the Some wanted the rain immediately, some in rough parts with the brush. I have not seen two and some in three days, while others wanted the least symptoms of mildew since I have to put it off longer. So Mr. Surely had no oc- of doors, casion to call for rain. used it, either in the house or out One year rolled by, and down to that time although we had plenty of it before the appli- the people of Fallowdale had never once been cation was tried. This, therefore, may be able to agree upon the exact kind of weather worth the notice of vine growers in foreign they would have, and the result was that they countries, the ingredients employed being began to their eyes to the fact that this open cheap. world would be a strange place if the inhabi- tants could govern it. While they had been Olive versus Lard Oil.—At a late meet- longing for a power they did not possess, they ing of the Farmer's Club, connected with the had not seen its absurdity, but now they had, in American Institute, Prof. Mai*es asserted that good faith, attempted to apply that power under " the belief that it was theirs, they were getting what we received as pure olive oil in the . beyond their sphere. They saw that Nature's market, is nothing more nor less than the laws were safer in the hands of Nature's God surplus lard sent by our pork merchants to than in the hands of Nature's children. France, where it is transformed into the ge- On the last Sabbath of the first year of Mr. nuine article of sweet oil, and returned to be Surely's settlement at Fallowdale, he offered to used at the tables of those very persons who break his connection with the parish, but the exported it in the solid state." This is cer- people would not listen to it. They had become attached to him and to the meetings, and they tainly refreshing information for the lovers of wished him to stay. pure sweet tabic oil among us, and is no "But I can no longer rest under our former doubt perfectly true. We venture to say, contract in regard to the weather," said the that not one tenth of the oil sold for that of pastor. the olive, in our country, is any thing else "Nor do we wish you to," returned Sharp. than lard oil. " Only preach to us, and teach us and our chil- Any person can convert the common lard dren how to live and help us to be social and happy." oil sold for burning in lamps, into as good t- Aud," added the pastor, while a tear of sweet oil as that which is generally sold for pride stood in his eyes, as he looked for an olive oil, by the following process : Take say instant in the face of his own happy wife, about a quart of the common oil, and place it '"All things above our proper sphere we will in a clean tin pan, and set it on a stove ; bring leave with God, for he doeth all things well." it up to about the heat of scalding water, and then add about 'one quarter of an 03. •Salt and Ashes for. Wire Worms.—Last of sal soda, dissolved in half a teacupful of spring I had a piece of meadow land in a high hot water. Stir this into the oil for about state of cultivation, which I ploughed on the five minutes, then take off the vessel, and 16th of May about six inches deep, and turned allow it to cool. When the sediment settles the grass all under : I then harrowed it tho- on the bottom of the vessel, the clear should roughly on the 19th, and planted with pota- be poured off into a clean bowl through a to--. After dropping the potatoes I took white cotton cloth, to strain it. The oil ob- good ashes two parts, Nova Scotia plaster one tained by this treatment is sweet and pure, part, and salt one part, and put in a good excellent for oiling fine machinery, and for handful previous to covering. I had only 80 making perfumed oil for the hair. Scientific bushels to the acre, and the largest crop of America/'. grubs and wire worms I ever raised. So much for salt and ashes to destroy worms. Quantity of Lime in Burnt Shells.— My potatoes were very badly eaten by the One hundred and eight bushels of shells will worms. B. B. Hackstaff, make seventy bushels of quick lime, which Lawrenceville, N. Y. will slake to one hundred and twenty-five Rural N. Yorker.'] bushels. Farmer's Register. 146 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER

" I have been sixteen years in Virginia, " says Mr. Bailey, " and commenced seeding corn for

summer feed the first year I came. I have never

missed doing it but one summer, and then I learnt

its value by being without it, more than I did any

year that I had a plenty of it. "I have sowed the early northern eight-rowed

corn two seasons, and found it was no earlier, and

that it produced but little more than half as much THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. as the Virginia corn sowed at the same time. When the northern corn was large enough to cut RICHMOND, MAY, 1855. or in blossom, the Virginia corn was not so for-

ward, but it was larger and longer, and produced TERMS. more and better feed.

One Dollar and Twenty-five Centl per annum, '"' I have often sowed in drills, and though the which may be discharged by the payment of One Dollar labour of tillage is greater, I have never found only, if paid in office or Bent free of postage within six months irora the date of subscription. Six copies for Five any resulting advantage in product. On a farm of Dollars; thirteen copies for Ten Dollars, to be paid about one hundred acres of grazing, plain and invariably in advance. meadow land, I have usually sowed from fifteen 8oj 83^" No subscription received for a loss time than one year. twenty-eight bushels of corn for summer ar.d 8J^° Subscriptions may begin with any number. winter feed. gjgf* No paper will be discontinued until all arrearages " The ground for this crop should be ploughed in are paid, except at the option of the Editor. the fall or early winter for an early spring crop, 02^* Office corner Main and Twelfth steeLs. and well manured at that time if stable manure is ADVERTISEMENTS. to be used; and the ploughing maybe deferred A limited number will be inserted at the following rales: for the summer crops until the spring and sum- Per each square of ten lines, first insertion, One Dollar; each continuance, Seventy-five Centf. Advertisements mer. In all cases, if the land is not rich make it out of the City must be accompanied with the money, to so. For the first crop sow about the middle of insure their insertion. April, or a few days earlier or later, according to ' it is indispensably necessary that subscribers or- the season, but at all events as early as possible. dering a change should say frcrn, what to what post office they wish the alteration made. It will save time to us and For the- next crop sow again in about twelve or lose none to them. fifteen days. Let the interval between that and %^° Postage on the Southern Planter, (when paid in the next crop be still longer, and increase it for advance,) to any part of the United States one cent and a each successive sowing, as the season becomes haW per quarter, or six cents per annum. more and more favourable to the rapid growth of the corn. GREEN CORN FOR SOILING AND FOR HAY. " The ground having been got into good order, It has always been a favorite idea with us, the I harrow in the corn, and if after four or five days sowing of corn for soiling and for hay; and though I find much of it uncovered, the boys go over it

we have tried it several times, and have always with sticks about an inch diameter and three feet been disappointed on account of the difficulty of long, and mash down the grains that are not co- curing the fodder, we have never despaired. Now vered. But on clover sod, or other fresh ploughed that we are on a farm where the absence of cross land, after spreading the manure as evenly as pos- then fences, the scantiness of the herbage, and the dan- sible over the surface, I sow it with plaster, all with a light two- ger of depasturing up-country cattle, make it ex- sow the corn and turn under to giyl pedient and safe to keep stock confined during the horse plough, ploughing only deep enough covering. I follow the first plough with summer, we mean to try it again. a good Mason's subsoil plough. The But to avoid blunders as far as possible, we Ruggles, Nourse & a sharp point and share, is wrote to Mr. Lewis Bailey of Fairfax for his ex- firet plough, with with one horse, and runs about three perience with corn; and having received, it, we worked one, is inches deep ; the subsoil plough, a light shall novv communicate it to the public. Mr. as deep as the horses can pull it to advan- Bailey is known to some of our subscribers by worked the guage wheel attached. the fine beasts he has exhibited at both of our tage. Both have <; State Fairs, where he has taken premiums on an I sow from three to four bushels per acre. essay on dairy management, on ploughing with For four horses and fifteen milch cows I have used oxen, and on his stock of various ages and differ- about two acres per month. My cows are fed in a ent sexes. Better stock of their kind—and they morning and night in the stables, and run are our favorites, theDevons—have not graced the short pasture during the day. My horses are fed r.b.ow grounds. in the stable all the time. The first and second

1^** , .

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 147

rack will not yield as much per acre as later sowings, the hardest fallowing on green clover for for because the season is not so well adapted to the food, and never hurt a horse by it. Indeed, growth of corn. ten years, when we practised soiling habitually, " I begin to feed it as soon as the tassel appears, or pasturing the horses on good grass or clover all cutting after the dew is off in the morning, and night through the late spring and the whol© sum hauling in in the evening. But when the corn mer, we lost only one per cent, of our team, or >/onve- gets its full growth, cut and feed at your one horse in ten years out of an annual team of aience. ten horses. We know farmers who make their "I hare found much difficulty in making hay of it. com. and summer-fallow pretty tight land, with which is intended for early winter fodder I cut That scarcely a grain of corn, by following Mr. Gilmer's and stand up in the field, never laying it on the plan of spelling their horses alternately. ground. I make medium sized shocks, using two It is true that a horse with his belly-full of green bands, either of straw or fodder, (straw is best,) food must be treated in a somewhat different man to secure it, and tie one quite near the top, the iier from one who ha-* only a moderate portion of other as low as convenient. What 1 wish for later highly stimulating food, or colic or broken wind feed I cut and lay in swathes, like wheat left by necessary will be the consequence ; but it is only the cradle, only spread more over the ground. to give him more time to eat and digest his food, It is left there to wilt for three or four days, then to give it to him heavily at. night and more taken up, if free from rain-water, and laid on a and at mid-day, when he requires any how top stack, or as we term it, fodder house, with both sparingly victuals. ends open. It is put on the frame, just as tops are- most generally more rest, than from two to two and a half feet thick, securing the We shall return to this subject at another time, top with the corn, straw, or coarse grass to keep and treat it more elaborately. It has a very im out the rain. If the corn lodges or blows down, portant bearing on the rural economy of the whole and does not rise again, you will be obliged to lav- South. For the present we have written enough. it on a top stack frame, as it will not save well in But not too much, if the advice we give is fol- the shock. On no account bind it in sheaves, as lowed, and our subscribers decide, not to try an the rain gets under the bands, and will produce experiment, but to follow the simple rules of Mr. Bailey. We feel confident that an observance of I estimate the yield to average from seven to them, a patient and intelligent observance, will eight tons of dry winter feed per acre." save thousands of dollars to the community. It Here, then, according to the statement of a man is not too late to begin this year, for the most with fifteen years experience, in Virginia, is a cer- that any one will have lost by our delay in this tain resource for abundant grass and hay in one article will be only the first sowing, or one month's and the same plant, and here is a quality which feed gives our noble and beautiful rnaize an additional claim to rank first among the cereals in this coun- INSURANCE COMPANY. try. It is the only plant we know of which gives ALI5EMAKLE bread, grass and hay in one. This Institution, advertised in this number of

We know that repeated failures have discouraged the Planter, is a Virginia Institution, whose man the many persons who have tried it, but we hope agers, as most of its stockholders, arc well known they will not yet despair. We know that intelli- to us. We have enquired of that one among their gent persons, who will admit the suitableness of number with whom we are best acquainted, and this for product cows and hogs, will yet discredit feel authorized to recommend it to the public. the practicability of using it as a food for horses We have done a considerable amount of

that are hard at work ; but, in refutation of the Insurance with the concern upon our own argument^ they can adduce, we beg to remind account, and greatly prefer it to the Yankee Com- 'them that Mr. Edmund Ruffin, among his rar-m». panies, of whose solvency and management we randa as commissioner, states the fact that the know nothing. Some of these have laid a heavy Cuban horses of all sorts eat. nothing else. The tax on Virginia and then have failed to give the -ame fact was stated to us a good many years expected security from loss. We know of several ago by our friend N. P. Trist, Esq., sometime con- cases in which this Company has paid its losses -ui at the Havana, who informed us that the di- promptly, and we believe that no useless impedi- minutive but hardy and vigorous horses of the the of losers. island, (they use stallions there entirely,) fed on ments will ever be thrown in way are particularly nothing else, will go on the gallop, the common The life and fire departments friends the interior gait, sixty miles of a day, with a heavy rider. worthy of attention of our in has in opera The splendid mules they have, too, for their vo- of the State,, This institution been tion only ab~out nine months and by its caution.",, lantes, or huge gigs, eat no other food, though prudent policy has already secured a large hold on they are all Kentucky raised and accustomed to public confidence. Agents in the principal towns ton in the ear. We have ourselves done some of of the State. ;

148 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

Jefferson County Dogs.—A writer in a bull stag, say, yoke him iu, and " let him rip." the- Charlestown Spirit of Jefferson, complains With kind treatment, they can in that way be bro- of the depredations of dogs upon sheep. ken more easily than in any other mode we know Within a circuit of a few miles, in the south- of, and without the barbarity of tying their tails ern part of Jefferson, it is stated, $400 worth together. of sheep have, within the last two months, We think our horse breaking friends in Augusta been destroyed by dogs. The writer estimates and Rockingham had better try this plan and re- that there are 3000 families in Jefferson port the result. county, and that there is an average of two Prom the dogs to a family—making the enormous num- Boston Cultivator. ber of 6000 dogs in that small county. Some Messrs. Editors:—A little more than one families have as many as five and six dogs. year since, having three fine colts, that were An army of 6000 dogs to prey upon the wholly untutored, I adopted a new expedient for bringing property of the people of the county the wri- them into subjection, which suc- ceeded to a charm. Several of my neighbors ter thinks a serious evil, and advocates a tax availed themselves of the privilege gratuitously as a remedy. It is maintained that " it costs offered them by the use of my apparatus in as much to keep a dog as it does to keep and breaking their colts, and in every case they rear a hog. But if that estimate is too high, were delighted with the ease, safety and thor- take one-half of the above estimate, and still ough success of the scheme. Last Autumn, we have the enormous sum of $15,000 to having bought another large and vigorous colt of three years past in age, and wishing to bring keep the dogs of Jefferson county ; for surely it under subjection, I resorted to the same no one will deny that it costs half as much to method that was found so effectual last season, keep a dog as a hog. Fifteen thousand dol- which has been equally satisfactory, both to lars ! (exclaims the writer). Money enough myself and my neighbors, who have either to educate all the children in the county for availed themselves of the use of the apparatus,

one year, and, at present prices, give a "half or have witnessed its operation ; and in compli- barrel of flour to every family in the county." ance with their suggestion, I send you a drawing of the run round, now in rig in my yard for breaking colts. To the machine thus completed, I harness the colt, I care not how Stocking Knitting Machine.—This is amoug ugly or UHgained, buckling the pole strap so the latest novelties in New York. It was patented short that he will have no slack harness in 1851, but, with the exception of a few in Con- then tying his halter to the cross-bar, I pull off necticut, has not been practically tested. The his bridle and let hitn have a fair chance, and

Mirror says : his own course. He never runs at first for fear A girl ten years old can knit half-a-dozen pairs of the wheel before him, but alternately trots of stockings in a day, working the machine by and stands still. After the colt has been har-

. hand or foot. In a factory, with motive power, nessed an hour or so, 1 seat myself astride one person can manage a dozen macnines. The the rear pole at the point where the inner stocking is entirely made by the machine, from end of the bar supporting the whipple-tree is top to toe, and no nimble fingers of industrious attached, when he generally starts offal a rapid elderly maiden, sitting by the hearth corner, could speed ; I retain my seat until the colt comes 'widen' or 'narrow' or 'heel' or 'toe' more perfectly. to a stand, which is always after he has been The invention is now in the hands'of a stock com- from six to twenty rounds. I then feed him pany, who are about to apply it in a large factory a handful of oats, and put a wisp of hay in the in this city, and who offer for sale rights to use the machines. rope which confines the pole strap, and leave him to pursue his own course. He should be kept harnessed in this way through the day, BREAKING COLTS AND OXEN. being visited frequently with the oat dish, and supplied with hay, where he can help We are indebted to Mr. Howard of the Boston himself at will. The second day, let the colt be bridled, with Cultivator for the following cut and description of leading lines attached, and fed a few oats as a mode of breaking colts, which it strikes us is soon a3 harnessed, then left for some lime to first rate. promenade at his leisure, then' drove, and We wrote for it, because on the farm of W. W. taught to start and stop at bidding. After Gilmer, Esq., many years ago, and afterwards at being drilled in this way for half an hour, make Col. T. J. Randolph's, we saw a similar device for fast one of the wheels to a post a little outside of the range, and leave him for an hour or breaking oxen—similar, but simpler, in that no- more, thus teaching him to stand ; keep him thing was required but the post A. and one of the harnessed through the day, occasionally feed- poles B., with its free end fitted to receive the bow ing, driving, backing and teaching him to stop of a yoke. To that simple contrivance it was only and to stand still, but using no harsh measures, necessary to haul up a young steer, or an old one, for none are needed. After three such days : — —

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 149

of training, I have always succeeded in making Dickey's Butter-Worker.—An advertise- a celt completely manageable, and hesitate ment of this now almost indispensable fixture not to take my wife on board a cutter or wagon in every well managed dairy will be found for a ride, having done so repeatedly. I con- upon the cover of the journal. In confirma- sider the above method for breaking colts tion of the testimonials of those cheap, safe, expeditious and effectual, and those accompanying who have examined the affair, say that a who have tried the butter worker, we may colt broken to go in that machine will go add, that we had one of them used in our anywhere. own dairy during the past year, and speak Explanation the of Drawing. —A A post set knowingly when we award it the credit of firm in the ground, and rising three feet, with a having already saved in labor alone its first shouldered three-inch round tenon or pivot at cost to say nothing of the superior quality the top. — of the butter over that worked hand. B B Two straight rough hard weod poles, by We thirty feet long, eight inches in diameter at the have no hesitation in recommending this but- butt ends, and four inches in diameter at the ter-worker to dairymen, as being well worthy tops. One of these poles is confined on the top their attention, and preferable to any thing of of the post, six feet from the butt end by a the kind that has come under our notice. round mortice, three and a half inches in diam- Farm Journal. eter. The other pole is lapped into the first. near their but ends, made fast by locking, and by a two inch pin. TO CURE SHEEP SKIN WITH THE WOOL ON C C The hind wheels of a lumber wagon, fitted on the end of the poles. Take one table spoonful of alum and two D. Crossbar, a rough pole twelve feet long, of saltpetre pulverize and mix well together,, bolted at each end on the long poles, four ; then sprinkle the powder on the .flesh side- feet from the wheel hubs. of the skin, and lay the two flesh sides together,, E Rough pole, bolted on one of the main poles and on the cross bar. to support the leaving the wool outside. Then fold up the whipple-tree. skins as you can, and hang them in a dry F An augur hole bored through the forward place. In two of three days as soon a? pole, in which is fastened a rope for confining they are dry, take them down and scrape them the pole strap of the harness. with a blunt knife till clean and supple. Phineas Fir.Ln. This completes the process, and makes a most excellent saddle cover. Other skins which you desire to cure with the fur on, may be treated in the same way. We can speak in favor of the above recipe It does all it promises. Such skins make excellent mats for in-doors. Farmer'.-i Com- panion.

NEW CORN-CUTTING MACHINE. H. E. Wilson of this county has invented a ma- chine for cutting' up corn, which it is believed wif' form a considerable addition to the agricultural implements of the country. He is about to apply for a patent. We find the following notice of it in, the Daily Republican The Indiana Corn-Cctteh.—This is the nsrua given to a new agricultural machite, for which a patent is to be applied for by the inventor, H. E Wilson, of Hendricks county, now one of the door keepers of the House of Representatives. Wc have examined a drawing of the machine, which is intended to cut two rows of stalks as it proceeds, something after the manner of the machine reapers though not exactly. The knives, as the machine progresses, are made to cut diagonally, downwards, side while the stalks fall back upon racks at each ; and are occasionally discharged by means of a lever, the effect being similar to that of the horsc- rake contrivance of this kind, reversed, or bottom up. A working model will be got up for practical experiment. If good, the machine will be very rnlnnblc to the farmer and cattle feeder. 150 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER

WOOL DEPOT OP THE foESSRS. CRENSHAW. ' himself and knows a. great deal of the subject Oar readers who are interested in wool may Poetically, and consigned them our wool at once, remember that They last .summer we called their atten- have rece«% effected a sale of all their tJoi) to the wooli, an(1 establishment, > 'hough they labored of a woo! depot in this \ under the usual City, by difficulties of a the Messrs. Crenshaw, and suggested the new undertaking and had to con importance of tend with the additional having a market here at home in disadvantage of a depress- preference ed wool market and hard times, to relying on more distant places of and had, is was to be expected i:i the outset, Whether from respect of our advice, or a comparatively from other small stock, we may congratulate reasons, we ;;re pleased to know that their consigners,

as well as the firm, on their 't many sent their wool to the Messrs. Crenshaw, success. ho have r"or the information of those farmers lately sold their whole consignment at who may prices aot have read what we said of benefit which are very satisfactory to the parties the of a we Lave heard wool depot last year, we will merely state that, from, and must be so to all, since they so far iVom letting a smalt lot go st a sacrifice and compare very favorably with any sales made during the losing sight of the individual in the mass, a wool past season at more distant points in :he United States. depot always commands better prices the more wool it has, because there can be made a greater We recur to the subject at this time because the season number of the grades of wool, there are never for the new crop is approaching and growers must be less than six, we think, adapted to each particular making their arrangements to sell. The department of manufacturing. So that a firm enterprise of the above gentlemen has been tested which had ten thousand pounds of each kind by success, and we now, more confidently than would stand a much better chance for good prices before, recommend our friends to try them. There than a man who had only a few hundreds which is this further inducement to consign to them ; j could not be " stapled,'' from its small quantity. the more wool that can be brought together in I one At the Messrs. Crenshaw's establishment all of house the more certain is the manufacturer to the wool of man's is sorted come after it and the better chance consequently each consignment and for a separate account kept of it, and though all of a good sale. There is no wool factory of any kind in that grade is sold in the lump, yet each man gets Richmond—to the shame of the city be it more for it in that way than if the buyer had to .spoken —so it is only adding to the expenses of sale purchase and sort it himself, because he must to stop it here in the usual way. Still as rc-sel! all that he does not want. It may be news each farmer produces too little to sell directly to many of our farmers who work up their own to the manufacturer, and can offer him no induce- wool at home to learn that they include in one ment to that kind of traffic, it is evident at. agent piece of cloth what would make six or eight differ- must intervene, and the question is, shall the ent kinds in the hands of nearly as many different manufacturer send an agent to deal directly with manufacturers but it is true, and in that fact the farmers or shall they employ an agent to deal ; alone they may see the great advantage of a depot directly with Mm? It is of small moment to to a wool grower. We hope to be able to illustrate the manufacturer where that agent may be located it more fully in our next publishing, in whole or so he is accessible by railroad and can command by in part, Messrs. Crenshaw's account sales. wool enough to make it to his interest to look We have said more on this head than we meant at his stock. But is it not better for the grower when we took it up, but not more than its impor- to employ a,u agent here at home with whose tance demands. We believe in sheep and wool, character and responsibility he is, or may at plea- and if the Planter shall be instrumental in increa- sure become, acquainted, than to trust to a more sing the quantity of both in Virginia we shall not distant consignee ? and particluarly if it is remembered that the expense of transportation, have been without our reward. in detached parcels, is much heavier to the farmer than of a large lot to the manufacturer who buys Foh rm: Bi:n[;e'it or Anti-Ant.—We give you at first hands and can get it from Richmond on his a sure remedy—procure a large sponge, wash it own account at rates almost, if not quite, as low well, pres's it very dry ; by so doing it will leave as from any other point ! the small cells open—lay it on the shelf where We thought well of this enterprise from the they are most troublesome, sprinkle some fice first, considered it indispensible to the growth white sugar on the sponge—lightly over it; two of wool as a great Virginia staple, which we esti- or three times a day take a bucket of hot water mate as of the very highest importance, next to to where the sponge is, carefully drop the sponge wheat; were glad it had been undertaken by such in the scalding water, and you will slay them by reliable and energetic gentlemen as the Messrs^' the thousands, and soon rid the house of those Creasnaw, one of whom is a heavy wool grower troublcsemo insects. [Exchange. —-:

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 151

FAILURE IN A STAND OF GRASS, AND A crop, though worse lodged than any I ever REASON FOR IT ASKED. had. I then reversed the beds with a three horse plough, and, in August, reversed again Fr*xk G. Ruffin, Esa., with a four-horse plough. Then T sowed peas, Ed. So. Planter: buck-wheat and snaps at the rate of a. bushel Dear Sir:—You have farmed some years, to a bushel and a half per acre, harrowed them successfully I suppose, and have lived in that in, and then sowed three gallons of clean timo- time and until recently, adjoining one of the thy seed per acre, and rolled them with a heavy very best agriculturalists of our country. You four ox roller on the 19th of August. It did are also, I presume, intimately acquainted with not rain till the 9th of September, when ail some of the very best farmers of Virginia, and came up well. It was the nicest preparation of the Union ; and you have now become sole I ever saw. The timothy was pronounced 'too Editor of the Southern Planter; and no doubt thick hi the fall The peas, buck-wheat, &o. you have access to all the chief agricultural I thought would protect the young grass from. periodicals of America, in the way of exchange. the cold of winter, and yield some food in the Under such circumstances, some of us small spring; but, to my great mortification and sax- farmers, and subscribers to your valuable pa- prise, the timothy is nearly all dead. I have per, look to you as the great Doctor, who will seeded it again—upon the snow in January give us a cure for all the many ills which now and at the same time sowed by hand sixty threaten our agricultural prosperity. No doubt bushels of mixed lime and ashes upon it. If the many suffering patients will crowd in their it does not look sufficiently thick by April, I numerous cases, and most urgently plead for shall then re-sow, plaister and roll it, as toc> advice ; so will you please excuse an old friend much has been done to give it up so. Now for troubling you with a perplexing case of what was the cause of this failure, and how cao his, and modestly requesting a prescription it be prevented in future? The land was tho- therefor. roughly drained by five blind ditches, and as Having long been convinced that the culti- nice water furrows as I can make. I think it vation of the grasses would yield more profit to was too light, and admitted the cold to the the outlay, and be far more easy and pleasant roots. My Randall and orchard grass was labor than i3 imposed by any other crop we much injured, seeded upon heavily-guanoed can make, at least under the present disastrous wheat lands. reign of the joint-worm, Hessian fly, and tobac- So you see we arc trying to improve in thee« co fly, and (with us last year by far the worst parts. We are about to have an agricultural of all) the destructive hordes of chinch bug club of twelve members, first for the benefit of which assails with equal destructiveness every ourselves, and then to give out our results to crop, save only the tobacco, pea, and buck- the public through your paper. We expect to wheat, I was induced to try my hand upon the hold our first meeting next month, and then grasses. I have succeeded pretty well until once a month at each member's house, succes- last summer, when the greatest effort I ever sively, when we will minutely inspect every made, was completely foiled. I will lay the thing of agricultural interest on the whole circumstances before you, and beg for some ad- farm. We will select a subject upon which vice, which I trust you will give, and thus save each member will be required to experiment, many from the like heavy failure in future. and to give the result of his views in writing A change in the public road brought a por- one of these will be selected and sent to your tion of my prettiest and most expensively im- paper monthly ; and from this much good will proved flats into full view; and I resolved to result to each member, and if so, to our breth- beautify it by putting it into meadow, the best ren of the plough elsewhere. If these pieces ever seen in these parts. The lot of six acres should prove worthy of publication, and the was in tobacco year before last. In the fall like societies could, as they should, be gotten of that year I doubled the beds of eighteen up all over the State, it would greatly lessen feet to thirty-six feet, with a four-horse Living- your labors, and at once swell your paper to ston plough, and cleared out the furrows nice- double its present size and usefulness; and be- ly with shovels: by the spring it was as tho- one great means by which it might be placed roughly pulverized as any land I ever saw. in the hands of every farmer of Virginia at Last spring I seeded it with oats—three bush- double (half?) its present price. You shall els per acre—with the intention of ploughing hear from me more fully next month. In the them in, and then seeding the land with peas, mean time permit a friend to give you a little buck-wheat and timothy; but the chinch-bug hint. One great cause of the Virginia farmer's compelled me to cut them. They were a fine doing so little, is, first, he is too much a mac 152 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

of intention, going to do great things, but al- at a future day. There is no reason why they ways postponing its commencement, "We are should be. too slow. Now as you occupy a high place in We hope the Planter will now be issued punc- our midst, and a good example iroinyou might tually. It was out the first of April, and under t«ll well on us, suppose you, at once, do as I the management of Mr. Bailie we think we can think you promised to do. Just add on a little promise punctuality for the fature. When we lag steam and press out your paper on the first of we hope our friends will remind iis of it. each month, for which it is intended, and not wait until the month is half-gone ere we get it. Again, make your year close on the day of TARTARIAN SHEEP. the Virginia Fair; at which time require a full We have seeu several accounts going the rounds, payment of your dues, and I think your col- of Tartarian sheep, and they are said to possess the lections would be far more prompt, as the Fair, merit of yeaning twice a year. We have not paid of itself, would remind us of the pittance due much attention to them, looking upon them as a you for a whole year's good we had been re- sort ofBarnum, and thinking that those who know ceiving from your labors. what Tartary is, would not be apt to go there for Most respectfully yours. sheep, or any thing else in the Agricultural way, unless perchance they have a fancy for learning to Geo. C. Gilmer. live on mare's milk. We merely notice them now Buckajdand, Albemarle, March, 1855. to say that those who wish sheep that have lambs twice a year can get them more cheaply perhaps than from the owners of the Tartarian stock. In We are very painfully aware that we are looked the more Southern States sheep yean twice a year rapon somewhat in the light of a Doctor, as our habitually. In Mississippi ire know they do; we j'riend, Mr. Gilmer, asserts, and have protested have heard the same thing of Georgia, and we pre- against being " the physician in spite of himself," sume is is true of South Carolina, especially on the wntil we are tired of it. In this particular instance, coast. Thither then let those look who want that we do not think the history of the case is given kind of stock, or if not so let them import the with sufficient minuteness, and we suspect that Dorset sheep of England, who possess this quality -.evcrai circumstances are unintentionally omitted in a slight degree. by Mr. G., which it is important to know before But in our climate is this peculiarity any recom- giving an opinion. mendation to a breed ofsheep, and under our ordina- Not the least among these is ry farm is it desirable 1 It is ihe kind of soil. management as much For instance, if the land is of as our best farmers do to raise one -crop of lambs she character of soil of the Southwest Mountain, well, and those who do that woula be better em- a great deal of which is washed down upon Buck- ployed in setting the example to their neighbours eye land creek at some points along the mountain than in trying experiments of such questionable streams utility: which flow into, and indeed form, that creek, then, from our knowledge of that land, and NOTES. BY RUFFIN. our experience ESSAYS AND EDMUND of the pea crop on it, we would not hesitate to say that the land had been made too It is unnecessary for us to say a word in com- Sight by the peas and by repeated ploughing*/ In mendation of any agricultural writing of Mr. RuffiD, (and of an opposite character the failure might re- and we now intend to do little more than give sult from defective drainage, which frequently notice that, a volume of his essays have just been exists to a most injurious extent, even when least published by our enterprising friend, J. W. Ran- suspected, and in some cases where the greatest dolph. The volume embraces fourteen essays, -ind most praiseworthy 'efforts have been made nearly all of them of a practical character and to drain thoroughly. some of very great V3.1ue. We have read most of them in another form, but have only had time, But we publish Mr. G.s communication to call since the date of their later appearance, generally the, attention of others to it, who may explain, if in an enlarged and improved form to read " the f hey can, the unfortunate result of his so perse- essay on Draining," which we have studied closely. vering attempt to get a stand of grass* It is the best treatise for the agriculture of his We are glad to hear of the determination to get particular section, and for the kind of land he up a farmer's club in that neighborhood, which we professes to prescribe for, that we have ever seen. know well and deem a very improvable section. We don't know an -equal investment for ten times However shortlived snch associations are, (and the money. they generally last bus a short time,) we have We are sorry that the typography and getting acver known them fail to do much good. Why up arc not equal to the merits of the work. It is they are so ephemeral we may attempt to explain | badly printed THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 15S

KIDGELINGS. CAPACITY OF BOXES.

A correspondent wishes to know whether Itidge- We published in the last issue a table of the ca- i.ings can be safely castrated, and whether they pacity of boxes. An acute friend has favoured us Jhave the procreative power. with the following in correction of that. A com- When a colt is first dropped the testicles are parison of the two will show the errors of the firs*. ear the kidney*. They are soon forced into pro- publication. jrer position by the contraction of the duct in

i ..-'nich they are lodged. But it sometimes happens Inches square In. deep Will contain Cubic la. I hat they are stopped in transitu—occasionally both !but more frequently one—and are permanently re- tained in the abdominal cavity. Whether, when A box 24 by 16 by 28 1 barrel, 10752 " palf gelt, the power of procreation remains, depends 24 " 16 " 14 J barrel, 5376 " " Ion circumstances. If the hidden testicle is in such 16 " 16-8 8 1 bushel, 2150.4 " 12 " 11.2 " 8 bushel, position A 1075.2 f. in reference to surrounding organs as to cc 8 " 8.4 " 8 1 peck, 537.6 " rompress it and prevent its full development, the B " 8 " 4.2 I gallon, 268.6 ( 8 " S " 2.1 bower does not exist ; if its " but position allows full > A gallon, 134.4 7 " 4 i " 4.S development then the power does exist, though " I 4 " 4 " 4.2 1 quart, 67.S " the animal is rarely so rigorous as he otherwise 4 " 4 2.1 1 pint, 33.5 iwould be. This explains the contradictory ac- counts we hear in regard to the procreancy or [impotence of such horses. results I It from the above that an attempt to cas- SEYMOUR'S PATENET BROADCASTING hrate them is not always successful, but is always MACHINE. ftttended with great risk. To get at the testicle an 'incision must be made into the cavity of the abdo- We again call the attention of our subscribers- pen, and if peritonitis—an inflammation of the to this machine. Since the last number of the lining membrane of the cavity—does not ensue Planter was published we have sowed with it one idirectly, as most likely it will, it is very apt to be hundred acres in oats, and they arc now up. We produced by the irritation of the operation of never had a crop so well seeded or that promised belding. To do that the hand must be introduced better. knd the testicle felt for. In th» search or- other As to the quantity of work that it will do, ws gans be may injured, and if found and removed it can only state our own experience. One horse will produce considerable hemorrhage and irrita- works the machine with perfect ease, it being no tion, especially if of full size. None, therefore, heavier than a single gig. The driver, in our case, pat a surgeon, and a good one at that, should La was so engaged that he c'ould not get to the work- permitted to perform the operation. sooner than an hour by sun arid had to leave it Ridgelings are generally " squealers,'' but they about the same time in the evening. We had four are almost always fine horses, hardy and vigorous, three-horse harrows in the field and a three-horse which is some compensation for the trouble they plough to 3weep the water furrows. The land give. If we had one, we should not value him a required only once harrovi ing to get it in order, cent the less on account of this objection, and the tilth upon the fall, and winter ploughing bc-irc would rather prefer him for the saddle or quick remarkably fine. Dividing the work of preceding irsft. In fact, we are in favour of gentlemen's and following the machine, as occasion required, so ridkig and driving stallions, and regret that the as to keep all the work well up together, we found fashion and false delicacy are opposed to it. that it was perfectly able to keep ahead of then. It sows a breadth of ten teet, as fast a horse can CBAUNCEY P. HOLCOMBE OF DELAWARE. walk, and carrying twobuahefcat a time, does not We regret to announce the death of this gentle- require as many stoppages as are necessary with man. He was one of the most useful, public a man who seeds by hand and can carry a much pirited and distinguished farmers of his State, less supply with him. The seeding, too, is entirely ind was in the full tide of life and energy. His independent of the wind and was done with us a.a ieath is a real loss to the agricultural public, par- well during very high winds, which prevailed ticularly at this time, when he had undertaken to most of the time, as during a calm, because the tart a movement in opposition to that one-sided seed are delivered so close to the ground. We not tind of protection which taxes farmers for the only recommend the machine, therefore, to every benefit of manufacturing and commercial interests farmer, but we urge them to buy it, not on Mr. d at the same time, by a reciprocity treaty, ex- )0ses thern to the competition of a great grain- Seymour's account, who is nothing to us, but lg country. their own. : — ,,

154 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

EFFECTUAL METHOD FOR DESTROYING the corn crop, but which is amply proved in RATS. the high prices. If, in 1855, (as is very pro- bable,) the wheat crop should be a good one, A correspondent of the Genaessee Farmer it will be larger than that of 1852, so that gives the following method for destroying rats. that year is the proper one to compare by. He says " One day a stranger came to the house Table ok the Wheat Crop in 1852. to buy some barley, and hearing my father Mention the difficulty he had in freeing the Product to each house of these tenants, said disagreeable he Slates. Bushels. inhabitant, in he could put him in the way of getting rid of bushels. them with very little trouble. His directions

simply these : were mix a quantity of arsenic ! Maine, 350,000 i with any sort of grease, and plaster it pretty N. Hampshire. 230,000 * thick around all their holes. The rats, he Vermont, 000,000 I said, if they did not eat the poison, would soil Massachusetts, - 220,000 1-5 their coats in passing through the holes, and Rhode Island 3,500 i Connecticut, 50,000 1-40 as, like all furred animals, they are very New York, 15.000,000 5 cleanly, and cannot endure any dirt upon their New Jersey. 2,200,000 5 coats, to remove the offensive matter they Pennsylvania 17,800,000 i would lick their fur, and thus destroy them- Delaware. 350,000 5 Maryland. 5,200,000 9 tselves. This plan was immediately put in Ohio, 22,300,000 11 practice, and in a month not a rat was to Indiana, 7,200,000 8 be seen about the house or barn." Illinois, 11,000,000 11 Michigan, 5,800,000 12 Wisconsin, 5,000,000 15 STATISTICS AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE Iowa, 1,800,000 9 WHEAT CROP. Kentucky, 2,500,000 2} Missouri, 3,500,000 5 article As an of commerce, wheat has been Tennessee, 2,500,000 2; raised in surplus in several countries; but, Virginia, 13,000,000 9

' taking the whole earth into view, the produc- N. Carolina. 2,500,000 3 1.200,000 2 tion of wheat has never equalled the demand S. Carolina, Georgia, 1,300,000 n it. There have always been countries for Alabama, 350,000 A which, in pursuit of greater gain from other i Mississippi. 150,000 i crops, or, in consequence of natural deficien- Florida, 1.200 1-40 1-1000 cies, have not raised enough for their own Louisiana- 500 Texas, 50,000 1 :»ood ; and, if we equalize the crop, we shall Arkansas, 250,000 1 5ind there has never been enough. California, 30,000

1 3

In giving the statistics of wheat in this 1 vountry, we state in advance, that the produc- Aggregate, 123,925,200 5 tion of wheat, in the interior of the United States, is of great consequence and interest to This may be regarded as a full crop for the our western railways. A single fact will place year 1852; and although, as in the States of this in a striking point of view. In the year Kentucky and Tennessee, the statement is in 1854, the- wheat crop of Ohio fell short of a some instances low, on account of the basis in fair average, ten millions of bushels. The these States, the crop of 1849 being a defi-

whole of this was taken from the surplus cient one, yet, in the main, it is very nearly that which would have been carried to market. correct. The consequence is, that a single railway fell Now, the fair allowance to each person in bhort in its freight business to the extent of the United States is five bushels, which is just

seventy thousand tons ! the amount; but we have three millions of The following is a table of wheat produc- negroes in the South, and probably two mil- tion in the United States for 1852, being found lions of whites in the same region, whose

by adding the average annual increase to the bread-stuff is almost exclusively Indian corn, i census of the crop for 1849, and substituting The allowance for the fire millions is twenty- the crop of Ohio, as ascertained by the State live millions, and supposing the stock on hand

Assessors. In 1851 the crop was not as large to be ^iifricieut for seed, this is all, even in a as in 1852. by probably twenty-five millions of good year, we have for export; but, what can

bushels: a fact which has not been generally we have from such ;i crop as the Ia^t? Abso-

recognized in the noise which was made about lute! '. nothing.

\ , ; : — — ;

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER

In the above are three classes of States, (as amounts to about one and a half millions to the wheat crop,) divided as follows : and require about seven and a half millions of bushels for their consumption. We have then 1st. The Surplus States. —These are, Vir- this result of the wheat commercial move- ginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, Indiana, ment, viz Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa. Foreign export, - "25,000,000 bash. 2d. States which supply themselves. — Domestic export, - 15,000,000 These are New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Consumption of cities and Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The towns in the producing last two States are included here for reasons States, - - 7,500,000 stated above, because their crops in the table are below their usual average. Aggregate, - 47,500,000 3d. States importing their bread. —These are, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode This is equal to one million six hundred Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, N. Caro- thousand tons of freight. It is very easy to lina, S. Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Missis- see from the above statement, where the great sippi, Florida, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, ports for the distribution of wheat are. The and California, sixteen States, or more than principal ones are as follows: Philadelphia, half the American Union. These are the ma- Baltimore, Richmond, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, nufacturing, cotton planting, sugar, and mining Sandusky, Toledo, Detroit, Milwaukee, Chica- States. These States find it, as they think, go, St. Louis and Cincinnati. In a comaion more to their interest to buy ether people's wheat year, such as 1852, 1853, and as we bread, than to make their own. suppose we shall soon have again, the ship- In a common year, such as 1855, (with no ments from these ports will verify the above blight on the harvest,) may be, the surplus tables in every particular. Boston, New States will export something like the following York, New Orleans, &c, handle a great dea:

: amounts of wheat, viz : of wheat and flour, but they are not orig ii3l shipping ports of this article at all. Pennsylvania, 5,300,000 bushels. In a short time we expect to show the whok Maryland •2,700,000 agricultural export of Ohio for 1854. Mam- Ohio, 11,300,000 field's R. R. Record. Indiana, •2,200,000 Illinois, 6,000,000 Michigan, 3,000,000 Breeding Turke vs.—Every turkey breeder Wisconsin, 3,000,000 is not aware of it, but it is a fact, that Of Iowa, 300,000 either sex, one old turkey is worth two year- Virginia, 5,500,000 lings for rearing young ones. A turkey does not arrive at its growth and maturity till tb> Total, 30,300,000 next fall after two year* old, and of conse- This is fourteen millions of bushels more quence, to its full strength and vigor for bree'd- than what can be afforded for foreign export iug in the best manner. The continual repe- but this fourteen millions is what the manu- tition of keeping young gobblers and pullet? facturers and planters cat, and enters only for breeding, as some people do, reduces the

into the internal commerce ; so does the whole size of their 3'oung till they arrive at scarcely amount of what is carried to foreign countries, half the weight they should do. Besides tali, for that must be carried to port. the young of these immature birds are ex-

Of the above fourteen millions, about eight ceedingly tender, and much more difficult fee millions are consumed in New England, and raise than those of old birds. We have tried *i.e residue in the South. this thing thoroughly, and are convinced of We come now to the question, What is the the difference. movement of wheat in commerce ? And what Were we to choose our bird3 for the rorj is the railway movement? It is not very best breeding, both hens and cocks should not pfficnlt to ascertain this. We have about be less than three years old, and then the cock (as above) forty millions of bushels exported should be from a different stock from the hcos from the producing Stat"-:. That must all We think that turkeys bear breeding from, be carried off. Then we have the consump- close affinities less successfully than any other tion of wheat in the large cities :md towns fowl— at least we have found it so-—and we of the producing States, which mu-t be would never breed a cock to hens when closely transported from fifty to one hundred miles. related, if it could be helped. "Montgomery TV population of these cities and town" fAdper. 156 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

For the Southern Planter. and gardens. This is not our object, but merely to USEFUL HINTS FOR VIRGINIA GARDENERS. give a few plain hints, which may serve to guide those who have sound judgment and discretion. BY E. G. EGGEMNG, FLORIST. _Wc remark, first of all, that plants are oftener May is the third and last of the spring months, killed by having too much water than for the want and as most of the vegetables are already in of it. Plants should have water only as they the ground, the chief duty to be performed is need it, in other words, when they are thirsty. to keep the garden clean. This will constantly As to plants in green houses, in pots or tubs, water employ the diligence of the workman, as "grass, and should be supplied only when the earth is dry and noxious weeds spring up continually and in the dusty. How often it i,s to be poured on must

greatest abundance. " Our directions for the kitchen depend upon many circumstances, and we can garden, this month, will mainly relate to such not give any rule for the guidance of the gardener, plants as mature late iu the season. save that already given. The water used should KITCHEN GARDEN. not be such as is just taken from the well. That Egg Plants should be planted out now, so is too cold. The water should bo drawn and soon as a wet spell of weather prepares the ground allowed to' stand exposed to the influence o\' the for the purpose. Soon after they are removed sun at least one day before it is employed. they should -be covered with trash tobacco, to As to watering vegetables in the kitchen garden, guard them against the ravages of the fly. If we do not approve of that at all, except as we •once attacked nothing can save them. Preventive have indicated in former numbers. We would measures are the only safe measures. substitute deep cultivation. Where the spade is Peas and Radishes.—A few of each may be used let trenching be resorted to, and in the field Howed at short intervals to keep up a supply. with the plough, subsoiling is the remedy. By Cabbage Plants—These should still receive an breaking the earth deep it will retain more moist- application of lime or trash, as heretofore directed, ure and in very dry seasons the sun's rays will draw k> preserve them from the insects. up moisture from the lower deeps. Tomatoes—A full crop may be planted without Water applied to trees soon after they are planted delay. When removed from the bed they- should may do good or harm, according as it is judiciously be supported by sticks if they are tender and or injudiciously applied. When a tree has been weak. The soil should not be over rich, and it is put in the earth no water should be given until it especially important that the plants are not gives signs of having rooted itself and is beginning shaded. Let them stand where the sunshine will to grow. If put on sooner the plant does not fall full upon them. absorb the water and it only serves to rot the Peppers—These may be transplanted during the roots. After the tree begins to grow then the month. application 'of water will greatly facilitate its /lower garden. p'rogress. Trees planted out late in the fall should Like the kitchen garden there is scarcely any- never be watered, as generally through that sea- thing to do this month but to keep things clean. son and the winter the earth is well supplied with Should the green fly make its appearance water from the clouds. upon the rose bushes, notwithstanding attention Water should not be supplied to any thing, whe- to the cautions heretofore given, we know of ther trees, flowers or vegetables, during the hotter no efficient remedy but a liberal use of trash parts of the day. Early in the morning, or late in tobacco. the afternoon are the proper periods, and the latter A Caution—It is often the case that when the always preferable. garden is hoed it is done carelessly, with here and When water is applied, to guard against the there spaces untouched by the hoe. Every inch baking of the earth, the space immediately around of the earth should be disturbed. Furthermore, should be covered with tan bark, or trash, or ma- it is the custom, after hoeing, to rake over the nure—indeed any thing will answer that will shield surface, taking away all tb.£ weeds which have the ground from tlie fierce heat of the summer sun.

been rooted out. This is improper. Let the This accomplishes a double good : it prevents the weeds lie on the surface, where they not only do earth from baking, and the formation of fissures no harm but are a, positive benefit. If they are which let in the heat to the roots of the plant, and chopped up when the sun is shining (and the retain the moisture which else would be evapo- ground shouid be heed at no other time,) they will rated by the sun. wither soon and die. Then as they lie they shade In watering trees*, most people commit the error the earth and keep it moist, while they enrich of putting the water where it is not wanted and it as they decompose. If left growing they would where it can do no manner of good. That is to exhaust the soil and impoverish the plants, but say, they pour the water just around the stem of when cut down they may be allowed to lie where the tree, where there are no fibrous roots to suck they fall and no injury will ensue but a decided it in. It should be poured down where the outer good. ends of the roots extend, as there it comes into Watering Plants— From the constant enquiries immediate contact with the mouths of the tree, which are addressed to us wherever we go we are which imbibe all the nourishment that is obtained convinced that a small opuee in this number can from the soil. bo profitably employed with some suggestions concerning the use of water in the green-house, in the garden and the field. Water enters largely CUTTING CLOYER FOR HAY. into the composition of all the vegetable creation and i.i essential to tlie healthy growth and develop- We had promised a respected correspondent to ment of every plant. Some plants require more publish, this month, the essay of Mr. Edmund than others, and our task would be endless if wr curing clover buy, but -.•:• attempted to go into specific details concerning all Ruffin, on cutting and r.he shrubs and plants cultivated in conservatories find that we have over-calculated the capacity of :

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 157

the Planter and have no room for it. But those TEE WATER MELON. who wish to see the essay, can do so by purchasing The history of the watermelon, so much es- Mr. Ruin's book, just published, to which we teemed for its sweet, delicious and cooling have referred elsewhere. In the same connection, juice, as well as that of the muskmelon, or thev will please see the following, extracted from canteloupe, which is equally prized for its rich p. li of the present volume of the Planter aromatic pulp, may be traced back to remote Mr. Ruffin, if I remember aright, after turning antiquity. The former, which is generally clover, so barely to wilt both the recently cut as considered as the melon of the Jews, mention- sides, throws into little heaps, enough to be con- ed in various places in the Bible, is believed veniently taken by the hay fork and carried to the little stack. I tried this plan with a part of my to have originated in Egypt or Southern crop one year, and foimd the scorching sun not India, where it has been cultivated from time penetrated only parched the top of the piles, but immemorial. It would appear that it was un- them to a very considerable depth. Since then I known to the ancient Greeks and Romans, as ' let one side be exposed to the sum just long respecting it enough barely to wilt it, then turn and lap the no definite information can be brows, and let the other side be also dried and gleaned from their authors. The muskmelon, wilted. Then at once take from the rows to the which is represented to have been a native of little stacks. is only of labor This not a saving Asia, was known to the Greek and Roroaa Brat makes better hay. physicians, and its properties and uses de- We think it will be time to publish the essay in scribed by them at length. Dime, very few persons cut clover before that time ; The kind of muskmelon most esteemed no one can this year. And as the Planter now among amateurs in various parts of Europe, appears the first of the month it will do then and described, is the " canteloupe," so called as well as now. from a place about fourteen miles from Rome, the country seat of the Pope, where this fruit For the Southern Planter. has long been cultivated. This variety is IRISH POTATOES. stated to have been brought thither from that part of Armenia which borders on Persia, It really seems that the Irish potato is where it grows in the greatest perfection and about to become extinct. I understand that abundance. The flesh of this melon, when they are selling in Richmond at six dollars fully matured is delicious, and may be eaten per barrel, which is at the rate of at least a with safety, without injury to the dyspeptic or dollar and a half per bushel, and " small* po- those of the weakest stomachs. The form of tatoes" at that. the canteloupe is generally roundish, with a It may be well to state, that some years rough, warty, or netted outer rind or skin. ago, seed being scarce and dear, I raised some The size of the plant is rather small, and the from the slip, in the way of transplanting flesh for the most part of a yellowish color, yams and sweet potatoes ; and the result was, though with some it is green. that the slips produced better potatoes than Paten? Office Report. those planted whole and growing up in clus- ters. Nothing is gained by having more than two or three slips in a place. True, you make WILL ASHES DISSOLVE BONES 7 more potatoes in number, but all of them will Owing to the indisposition of farmers ge- be small. nerally to use sulphuric acid to reduce bones Let house-keepers and gardeners try the to pulp or powder, many persons, knowing xperiment the present year, and I will vouch the value of the bone3 cast away from the that if the seasons be good and the ground kitchen of every farm house as worthless, suitable, there will be no failure, if the slips have racked their brains to discover some be carefully drawn. This ought to be done means of turning them into account. Some by holding down the old potato with the left have had them broken and ground like plas- hand, and carefully insertiug the thumb and ter, which when mixed with the soil becofflfes fingers of the right hand along the slip to be a valuable and lasting manure, but not very drawn for transplanting, and carefully slipping speedy in its operation. It has beex\ known t off the old potato with the thumb and finger to many that bones heaped together, and co :r.dg. vered with some moist substance, would heat Let us try too this year to raise seed from and soften, and could thus be prepared for the the apple or ball which grows on the vines. field; but the best account we hare seen is There may be a good chance to renew the the following, given in a reeenl number cf stock and arrest the rot so destructive to the the Country Gentleman. tweed of Irish potatoes. Let us try it, at all If the question be asked, will ashi : diasoltfc

!?ente. : '\- T. H. A. bone-? the answer is, No: not -, e proper 158 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

sense of that term—not as water dissolves RICHMOND MARKET!*, APRIL 28, \$!. sugar or salt. But if it be asked whether ashes will reduce bones to a condition in which Apples—Va. $5 per bbl. none in market. Bacon—City they will be speedily available to plants, the cured hog round, lOcts. Western Sides (new) held at 9|c, no old in market, would bring 8AaS{c, answer is, Yes. The Hon. Phillip Pusey as- new Shoulders, 8f a 9c, Hams, 10Jal2£c, Smithfield hoe certained several years ago, and, after care- round, lOJc. Butteb—Mountain 30 to 35 fully experimenting upon the discovery three cts., Roll 20 to 25 cts., do Goshen 35a37 cts., old and inferior, SalOJ cts. published cr four years, in the Journal of the Beeswax—25Aa26£ per lb. Royal Agricultural Society, that bones, if Cotton—9}a9J cts. per lb. Cotton Yarns— cts., placed in a pile and covered over with wood 17al8 cash. Cotton Cordage 29 cts., per lb. ashes, of fossil coal, leached ashes, common Corn—We quote 100al05 cts., per bushel; in small lots, soil, or sand even, will heat and crumble to sales at 105 cts. Corn Meal—Si 15. powder. He showed, as the result of careful Coffee—Rio 10iallj;cts, Laguyra 111 Java 14« experiments, several times repeated, that c, Mocha 15 c. bones treated in this way become a valuable Flour—Stock light and receipts small. We quota country superfine at #11-}, extra $12, family $12^. manure ; and upon the strength of his own Flaxseeb—We quote at $1 60 per bushel. experience he recommended the course to Feathers—Live geese 40 cts. per lb. 'EWlish farmers. Fish— Herrings, N. Carolina, clipped, $7 per bbl., Hali- fax, clipped, No. 1, $5} ; No. 2, $4|. Shad—$8. Macke- friend of ours, in whom we have entire A rel, No. 1, $21 per bbl., half bbls. $11, No. 2, $12 50, No confidence, informs us that seven years ago 3, large, $5 50a6, No. 4, $4 50a$5. Ginseng—30a35 cts., per lb. he fell into the practice of reducing bones by Grass Seeds—Clover $6 75a7 per bushel, Timothy means of ashes, by a sort of fortunate blun- $4a4 25, Herds' Grass $1 25al 50 per bushel. der. Being at the head of a very large fa- Guano—We quote $50 from wharf, $50 50 delivered for Peruvian, Mexican Guano $30a$35. mily, in which fresh meat was largely con- Gunpowder—Dupont's and Hazard's Sporting, F, FF. sumed, he found that his Irish cook was in and FFF, $4i, Blasting, $2,75a$3 per keg. the habit of throwing all the bones out of Hoop Poles—We quote at $7a$8 per thousand. Hides Slaughtered cents lb., — 6} per green weight ; the back window. This drew such a bevy of c»lf skins, green, $1. No Spanish Hides in market. dogs, with voices bass, tenor and treble, about Hay—Sales from store $1 25. the house, that it was impossible to sleep Iron and Nails—Pig Iron, no sales since of note and prices nominal, $32a$40 per ton, Swedes $107 50 per quietly. In order to withdraw temptation ton, English refined and Tredegar $95, Common English from the dogs, and to preserve the bones for $80, American country $35. Cut Nails 4-*c, cash, 5e. the use of his land, to be prepared in some time. way then unknown, he ordered the bones to Liquors—Brandy, Otard. Dupuy & Co. $3a5 per gal.; A. Seignette, $2 25a$ 1; Saze'rac, $3 25a $4 50; Hennessey, be carried and put into an old sugar hogs- $3 95a$5; Peach, scarce at $la$l 25; Virginia Apple, 60c.

head, placed in a grove at a little distance aS5c; do> old, 75c.a$l 50; Northern do, 55a75c; Imitation, i

from the house, and the ashes from the kitch- 45a47Jc. Rum, New England, 45c. Gin, Holland, $la i $1 50; American 45 cts. the en to be thrown on them, hogshead to bo Lead—Pig Cja6jc, cash and time. uncovered that' the rain might fall into it. Labd—Prime Lard, in bbls. 10 alOJc, in kegn, Halite. Whenever an offensive smell arose from the in pails, 13c. Leather—Good stamp 20a22c, per lb., damaged 18c, bones, which was only in dry weather, he poor 15a 17c, upper leather $1 50a$3, as in size, weight'' found that a little water thrown on prevented and quality, the latter price only for superior heavy sides. Skirting and harness Leather is more plenty with less it. As soon as the first hogshead was filled t demand. We quote 20 to 29c, as extremes, principally anotheV was placed by it and filled, and then sales 22a26c. another. His intention was to use the ashes Lime—$1 37J in store, $1 25 from vessel. sad bones on Indian corn, supposing that by Molasses—New Orleans 30a33c. por gallqn. No Cuba and Porto Rico received yet. the next spring the bones would be some- Oats—Stock very light—sales at C5cts. per bush. what softened, so much so that they might be Offal—Bran, 25c. per bushel; shorts, 50c; brown stuiM pounded to pieces with a sledge hammer en a 60c. shipstuff, 100c. Potatoes Stock on band much diminished, and we — f fiat stone. The hammer and the stone were quote $1 65 per bushel. actually procured for the purpose. But no Plaster—Lump sells fit $5 25 oh the wharf, ground bones were found, except near the top of the $9 per ton, calcined $2 CO per bbl; Ryu—$1 25 per bushel. hogshead last filled. Instead of the bones, RlCE—New 6a6i cts. per pound. were found soft saponaceous masses, retaining Salt — Liverpool fine $1 60 per sack from whan the form and size of the original bones, but Sugars—Fair to strictly prime New Orleans 5afiJ- cts, Porto Rico 5aG, Cofl'ee Sugar 7a8{, refined lojf 9}a9J, easily cut none of their hardness. They were crushed and powdered 3Ja9c. with a shovel and mixed with the ashes ; and Shot—7a? $ cts. per lb. and 20. when so mixed, and applied to corn at the Teas—Imperial Gunpowder 55c.u$i Tobacco —Wo quote Lugs at $1 75a5 25 ior ,r.:enor, to hill, they an rate of a half pint the proved good and fine $5 75a6 75. Common Leaf $7 50a3. <:;• elleni manu for corn. "Farm Journal. Common S r.Oii? Good §9 DOalO 50. Fine stemnvng 1JJ. — j :

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 159

Wheat—Prime red $2 57J, do white $2 62J. Good quali- G. H. Houston to January 1856 1 00 ies $2 45a$2 55 per bushel. G. Breant to January 1857 2 00 Richmond rectified 37£a38i cts. Cincinnati Whiskey— Judge W. W. Crump to January 1856 3 75 !2c., 4 mos., nominal, none now in market. L. P. Ellis to January 1856 3 75 Wines— Port, Burgundy $la$2 50 per gallon; Port F. Griffin to January 1856 2 50 luice, $2 50a$4; Madeira, Sicily 45ca$l 75; Old Madeira, J. M. Garland to January 1856 3 75 [2 50a$4; Sherry, Permartin, Duff Gordon and Amontilado, to &2aS4 50. W. M. Harrison January 1853 2 50 Wood—Oak $3 50 per cord, $2a2 25 for Pine, retail W. G. Clarke to January 1856 2 00 Si 50a5 for Oak, §3a3 25 for Pine. Mrs. A. M. Moore to January 1856 1 00 Wool.—The following quotations are for sales of about E. Goode to March 1855 1 00 lbs., at i 0,300 made Crenshaw & Co.'s Wool Depot in Col. W. Bailey to January 1856 1 00 :his city, all of the wool having been previously graded J. Young to January 1856 1 00 iccording to quality and condition : Extra fleece Saxony J. E. Johnson to January 1856 1 00 ind Merino, 55c ; No 1 do. do., 00 ; No. 2 do, part blood, E. Y. Wimbish to January 1856 1 00 Wc; No. 3 do. do., 35c; No. 4 do. do., 33c; No. 5 do. Dr. R. V. Barksdale to January 1856 1 00 lative, 30c Tub washed, No. 3, 29c; do., No. 2, 30c; A. Hamlet to January 1856 1 GO lo., No. 1, 32c. Unwashed 20 to' 25 per cent, discount as n condition. F. C. Stainback to January 1856 1 00 Beef—54 50, 5a5 50 per cm. gross, which is$9al0 and J. W. Pleasants to January 1856 2 00 (11 net. P. P. Nalle to January 1865 2 00 Hogs—$7 J perhuudred, supply moderate. W. J. Webb to April 1855 1 00) Sheep—Mutton sells for $3a7 a piece for ordinary and G. Depp to January 1856 1 oo superior Sheep. G. J. Anderson to January 1853 1 00 Stocks Va. per cents, years) no sales; Va. 6 — 5 (34 J. D. Scott to January 1856 1 00 er cents (25 years) $96; State Coupons $97; Bonds J. 0. Perkins to January 1856 2 CO ;uaranteed by the State, $99 ; Richmond City Bonds, (34 J. M. Thomas to November 1865 1 00 rears) $97 ; Va. Bank stock 74 ; Farmer's Bank stock 104 J. T. Henley to January 1856 1 00 Exchange Bank stosl! $106; Richmond, Fredericks burg James Roane to July 1855 3 00 Lad Potomac Railroa/i stock, 95 dol. ; Va. Central Rail Scad stock 35 dol.; Richmond and Petersburg Rail Road W. R. Hatchett to January 1856 1 OO itock 45 dol.; Richmond and Danville Rail Road stock, R. D. Hill to July 1855 3 00 SO del.; James River and Kinawha stock 13 dol. Miss N. Perkins to January 1866 1 00 J. C. Tuttle to January 1856 1 00 W. W. Porter to June*1855 3 00 PAYMENTS TO THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, T. D. Bell to January 1856 1 00 To the lid of April, 1855. C Dimmock to January 1855 2 50 AB persons who have made payments early enough to W. Goddin to July 1856 1 00 le entered, and whose names do not appear in the following H. Rhodes to January 1853 2 50 eieipt list, are requested to give immediate notice of the W. Palmer to July 1856 3 75 Hussion, in order that the correction may be made in the Col. T. H. Ellis to January 1866 3 76 texi issue J. A. Nun to January 1856 1 00 2. Sampson to January 185G 1 25 W. S. Fontaine to January 1856 1 00 L\ J. Wallace to January 1855 2 50 Col. H. C. Cabell to January 1856 4 00 r. Moore to January 1855 1 00 Dr. T. B. Anderson to January 1866 1 00 A.. Curtis to January 1855 2 50 W. G. Fretwcll to July 1855 ' 1 00 roha Slocum to January 1850 3 50 H. W. Barksdale to July 1865 2 00 r. Gaskins to January 1855 1 00 J. Burton to January 1856 1 00 P«. Wallace to January 1859 4 00 W. F. Wilkenson to January 1856 1 00 3. S. Satcliell to January 1851 1 00 M. D. Echols to January 1855 1 00 Can:. W. M. Walker to Sept. 1855 1 00 B. Dodson to January 1856 1 00 T. A. Allen to January 1856 1 00 W. Wilson to January 1856 1 00 pol. D. B. Hancock to January 1856 1 00 J. H. Tanner to January 1856 1 00 r. Baylor to January 1856 1 00 A. Anderson to January 1856 1 00 EL 3. Hathaway to January 1855 1 00 G. M. Moss to January 1856 1 00 ~\ Huntington to January 1856 1 00 C. Walters to January 1856 1 00

. W. Green to January 185a 5 00 W. J. Carpenter to January 1857 5 00 B. Miller to January 1855 1 00 C. A. Specei to January 1855 1 00 r. W. T. Banks to January 1856 2 00 8. Jones Cralle to January 1856 1 00 Chandler to January 185''. 1 00 J. Collins to July I860 2 00 Gravatt to January 1856 2 00 Dr. J. Morris to Januruy 1855 3 00

; . Whitehead to January 1856 1 00 J. L. Ege to May 1856 1 00 fl. Marshal] to January 1856 2 00 T. Young to January 1858 1 00 jlkley to July 1855 2 00 S. II. Ragland to January 1856 1 00 k Cocke to January 1856 1 00 J. H. Vaughan to January 185G 1 00

. P. Collier to January 1856 1 00 F. H. Mays to January 1830 5 00 11 to January 1856 1 00 C. H. Biuns to January 1856 1 00 !'•».. . :1I a January 1856 I 00 I;. M. Jones to January 185C 1 CO

itchfleld to January 1856 I 00 B. Howell to January 1855 2 00

. Traylor to January 1856 1 00 R. Keatts to January 1855 1 25

. Traylor to January 1»5- I 00 W. R. Hankins (dee'd) to Januar/ 1866 3 00

er to January 1856 1 00 J. H. Hankins to January 1356 3 00

•. . y 1856 00 J. Massie to September 1855 2 00 1 00 C. Q. Good'.vin to January 785G t 00 ']' •.' .1 I muai 1857 1 00 Dai iel to m tar I860 1 00 160 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER

R. F. Ferguson to January 1856 1 00 T. W. Meriwether to January 1854 1 00 A. Burton to January 1856 1 00 R. Hill, jr. to January 1856 2 00 Dr. T. Smith to July 1856 3 00 A. B. Davidson to January 1856 1 00 J. B. Crawley to January 1856 1 00 W. J. Weir to January 1856 1 00 W. B. Taylor to January 1855 1 00 H. H. Hite to September 1855 1 00 E. E. Bullock to July 1855 3 00 P. Fowlkes to January 1856 1 00 W. Boulware to July 1856 2 00 Dr. M. M. Harrison to July 1856 2 00 W. G. Overton to January 1856' 2 00 Rev. E. G. Adams to May 1856 2 00- J. M. Taylor to January 1856 1 00 L. W. Rose to January 1856 1 00 W. H. Fowlkes to January 1856 1 00 J. Tabb, sr„ to November 1855 1 00 Col. J. A. McCraw to January 1856 1 00 J. T. Childrey to January 1856 1 00 J. If. Coleman to April 1855 1 00 John Stewart to January 1856 2 00 Col. E. Shelton to January 1856 2 00 W. Anderson, jr. to January 1856 2 50 Jos. Allen to January 1856 3 DO W. Goulden to July 1855 1 s5 R. M. Nimmo to November 1855 3 75 R. H. Lorton to January 1856 2 00 A. Hart to January 1850. 1 00 B. L. Johnson to July 1855 2 00 R. Harrison to January 1856 1 00 S. S. Moore to July 1855 2 00

W. W. Eustace to January 1856 i 00 Dr. C. Brown to January 1856 00 Samuel Ball to July 1855 1 50 S. Allen to July 1855 00 J. Trice to January 1856 1 00 Dr. T. Johnson to January 1856 oo S. E. Lee to January 1856 1 00 Dr. P. Carrington to January 1855 00 R. Harrison to April 1856 1 00 C. M. Adkisson to January 1856 00 T. G. Turner to July 1855 1 00 E. N. Palmer to January 1856 1 00 E. M. Tompkins to January 1865 1 00 G. W. .Easthrm to January 1856 00 T. J. Blake to January 1856 2 00 R. L. Rudasill to January 1856 00 Dr. E. P. Talley to January 1855 2 00 W. M. Connelly 00 W. E. Meade to March 1857 2 05 W. S. Dabney to January 18,56 00 Capt. J. Phillips to January 1856 i 00 J. W. Dabney to January 1856 00 A. Joyner to January 1856 1 00 D. E. Siggitts to January 1856 00 Dr. T. P. Mitchell to January 1856 1 00 Dr. M. Pendleton to January 1856 00 C. W. Gill to January 1856 R. G. Bibb to January 1856 00 S. Brown to January 1856 W. Gough to January 1856 00 J. A. Padgett to January 1856 T. B. Jopling to January 1856 P. W. Phelps to January 1856 1 00 CONTENTS OF NUMBER V. Capt. T. S. Leftwich to January 1856

George Grounds to January 1856 . FAGS J. G. Wright to January 1856 X 00 Lecture on the Horse, by Zadock Pratt 129 B. Wilkes to January 1856 1 00 Wire Grass 135 M. T. Harris to January 1855 3 00 Spavin 136 W. P. Shepherd to January 1856 1 00 Analyses of Soils 138 W. P. Tatum to January 1856 1 00 How to raise Onions • 140 140 J. C. Page to January 1857 4 00 Harrowing Wheat Measurement of Hay in the Stack 140 Capt. W. It,. Irby to July 1855 2 00 Indian Corn 141 G. N. Gatewood to January 1856 2 00 Blue Clay 142 E. W. Morris to April 1856 3 50 Parson Surely's Experiment 144 Jeffries to 2 00 J. M. October 1856 Salt and Ashes for Wire Worm 145 W. W. Watkins to January 1856 1 00 Cure for Grape Mildew 145 B. M. Jones to January 1856 2 00 Olive versus Lard Oil 145 W. I). Bennett to April 1855 1 25 Green Corn for Soiling and for Hay 146 Dr. W. R. Nelson to January 1856 1 00 Albemarle Insurance Company 147 R. W. Tomlin to January 1856 1 00 Jefferson County Dogs 148 148 Carter Braxton to July 1856 3 50 Breaking Colts and Oxen Stocking Knitting Machine 148 John Harr to January 1856 3 50 Dickey's Butter Worker 149 W. B. Newton to January 1866 1 00 To Cure Sheep Skin with the Wool on 149- 2 00 J. T. Priddy to April 1856 New C»rn-CuUing Machine 149 4- 75 S. P. Normcnt to January 1856 Wool Depot of the Messrs. Crenshaw 150 II. Hill to January 1856 00 Failure in a Stand of Grass • 151 R. Amonett to January 1856 00 Tartarian Sheep 152 Col K. Rowe to July 1855 00 Essays and Notes, by Edmund Ruffin 152 James Jones to January 1856 00 Ridgehngs. 153 T. J. Valentine to January 1856 00 Chauncey P. Holcomhe of Delaware 153 of Boxes 153 R. Martin to March 1855 t 00 Capacity Seymour's Patent Broadcasting Machine 153 Dr. N. W. Floyd to January 1855 5 00 Effectual Method for destroying Rats 154- T. Henshaw to January 1856 1 00 Statistics and Distribution of the Wheat Crop 154 P. M., Pleasant Gap, to January 1856 I 00 Useful Hints to Virginia Gardeners- • 156 T. L. 1855 3 00 Spraggins to September Cutting Clover for Hay 156 T. K. Holladay to January 1856 1 00 Irish Potatoes * 157 J< ssi Barnes to September 1855 1 00 The Water Melon 157- 157 E. Carter to January is.j<; ! 00 Will Ashes Dissolve Bones 158 A. Powell to November 1855 I 00 Richmond Markets 159 '. Planter K. Gibbons to JaiiiarS 1856 1 00 Parmi nit to the Southern