FARMERS' REGISTER, 



115 



guard the farmer against error, as to inform him of 

 an improvement in fiid husbandry. 



For tliree successive years I gathered about ^ 

 a bushel each year of choice peacli stones, i laid 

 them by in a safe place as I collected them, and 

 about the first of October planted them in rows 

 where 1 wished to form a nursery. In ihe two first 

 trials, not a single one sprouted and came up. 

 About one out of fifiy germinated in the third 

 trial. I was much at a loss to account for three 

 fatal failures. I was informed by two or three 

 farmers, that if I would crack the stones in the 

 spring and plant the kernels, ihey would come up. 

 I tried that plan and made another entire lf\ilure. 

 And just about that time I read in the Cultivator 

 the remarks of an eastern iiirmer on the suf>ject ; 

 in which he impressed the idea that nature'' s plan 

 should be followed, and that nature's mode of pro- 

 pagating peach trees is to drop them from the 

 tree when ripe, and to cover them with washing 

 rains, the rooting of hogs, or the leaves of the 

 tree. .So that he inferred that peach B\ones should 

 be buried as soon as taken from the tree before they 

 get dry. He then gave his own experience lo 

 prove the correctness of his reasoning. 



Immediately upon reading his remarks, I re- 

 membered having selected stones and planted a 

 nursery for my father while I was a boy, and that 

 I had accidenily managed it as this eastern farmer 

 directs, and the stones all came up and afterwards 

 made a fine orchard. I have since planted some 

 stones in the summer as soon as gathered, and 

 have succeeded m getting a stand. 



Francis H. Gordon. 



Clinton College, Dec. 28, 1839. 



KXTRACT FROar AN ACCOUNT OF AN AGRICUL- 

 TURAL EXCURSION INTO ST. JOHn's, BERK- 

 LEY, [S. C] BY THE EDITOR. 



From the Southern Cabinet. 



The parish of St. John's, Berkley, is long and 

 narrow, extending from the Eastern branch of 

 Cooper River to a short distance above the Eutaw 

 Springs, a distance of near 50 miles. Its eastern 

 boundary is the Santee, and its western, the 

 parish of St. James, Goosecreek, embracing the 

 western branch of Cooper River. The lower 

 section of this parish includes some of the finest 

 lice plantations in the state. But of these it is not 

 our intention, at present, to give any account, and 

 we shall, therefore, confine our remarks to middle 

 and upper St. John's. The soil of this parish 

 embraces almost every variety, with perliaps the 

 exception of tlie stiff clay. In the lower section, 

 the clay preponderates, so far as lo form what 

 may be termed a clayey loam. In the middle, 

 much of the land cultivated is a light sandy loam, 

 while in the upper part, the sand predominates, 

 forming a very light soil. In this classification, 

 we of course confine ourselves lo the hiirhlands 

 under cultivation. Throughout the whole parish, 

 pine barrens abound, and along the Santee, and in 

 other places, portions of the swamps are reclaimed. 



The crops cultivated are cotton, corn, peas, po- 

 tatoes, groundnuts, (in small quantities.) and rice 

 in sufficient quantities to supply the demand for 

 family use. Cotton of course, is the principal crop 

 intended for market, while the others are generally 

 planted only to meet the demand of the plantation, 



j though we were happy to find that on some 

 [ plantations, corn was also one of the crops raised 

 lor sale, and that it was profitable. 



We were sorry to find, that no rotation was 

 adopted, but that usually, the fields supposed best 

 adapted to the culture of particular crops, were 

 selected for these crops, and under such were kept 

 with little variation. Yet lo such an extent do 

 they now carry the manuring system, that these 

 fields, with the exception of those cultivated in 

 potatoes, have actually so improved as, in some 

 instances, to yield from 50 to 100 per cent, more 

 than formerly. This has been brought about, as 

 we have already stated, by manuring, and in 

 nothing were we more pleased than to find how 

 universally this practice has been adopted, and 

 how strenously all are engaged in this laudable 

 work. When we first visited St. John's, so little 

 was the system of manuring afipreciated, that the 

 fijw who had commenced the practice systemati- 

 cally, were actually laughctl at by their neighbors 

 as visionaries — not that manuring was wholly un- 

 attended to, but because they thought it impossible 

 to manure the whole of their crops. Little atien- 

 lion, therefore, was paid lo the subject. What 

 little manure was made, was placed in meager 

 quantities around ihe corn, or some crop near the 

 homestead, and the cleariiig of new land was 

 relied on to su[)ply the places of I hose fields which 

 were worn out by constant culluic. In this re- 

 spect, we were happy to find there had been a 

 great change of opinion, and consequently of 

 practice. On every plantation we visited, (and 

 we have understood, on all or nearly all,) the 

 collecting, preparing and applying of manures, is 

 considered of primary importance, and is now 

 conducted systemaiically. The manure most 

 used, is what is here called " compost.^^ It con 

 siats ofquantiiies of leaves, gathered in the woods 

 and carted into the stables, cattle, sheep and hogs' 

 pens, and from thence into the fields. A specific 

 number of hands and carts are set apart for this 

 work, and on no account (on most plantations) 

 are they diverted to any other. Dr. Ravenel has 

 one cart and mule, with the driver, and two young 

 negroes, (a girl and boy, who could not be em- 

 ployed advantageously in the fields,) constantly 

 enfTa^ed in haulinij in "<ras//," consistinf; princi- 



rTiO ^ J or 



pally of pine and oak leaves, raked up in the 

 woods adjoining. The distance is not great, and 

 with this one, thus employed throughout the 

 whole year, and the use of two ox carls, for five 

 or six weeks in summer, he manages to keep 

 every thing well littered, and to make about 15,000 

 ox cart loads of manure, each load averaging 

 about 50 bushel baskets. On this he pens about 

 60 head of cattle during the winter, (all of which 

 he regularly feeds.) and about 150 to 160 during 

 summer, about a dozi'n or more horses, a tolerable 

 large flock of sheep, and a number of hogs. 



Major Porcher and Mr. Joseph Palmer keep 

 four carts constantly at work, but the distance they 

 have to cart is greater. We did not ascertain the 

 number of animals penned by either of these gen- 

 tlemen. At Major Porcher's, we saw a quadran- 

 gular pile of manure, taken from the stables alone, 

 the base of which would measure from 80 to 100 

 feet, and which was from 5 to 6 feet high. That 

 from the covvpen we did not see. We regret we 

 had it not in our power to visit the plantations of 

 Messrs. Joseph Palmer, Jae. GaiUcard and Thos. 



