182 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



ass. And yet, how strange that the produce of this unscriptural connection should 

 exceed either of" the progenitors in so many qualities that give usefulness to each 

 —in size, strensth and activity, excelling the one in longevity, hardiness, sure- 

 footedness, caution and self-possession — in traveling over dangerous precipices, 

 so much excelling the nobler of the three. After all, give me a mule for being 

 "rough and ready" to work at all times, and to last next after iron. nemo, 



THE RIGHT WAY TO MANAGE A FARM. 



To the Editor of The Farmers' Library : Charleston, August 15, 1846. 



Dear Sir: Having just read the communication of "S. B." in your July No. 

 I take the liberty of presenting you with an oasis which the admirer of scientific 

 planting may meet with in his route across the desert laid down by S. B. In the 

 summer of '45, while wending my winding way through South-Western Georgia, 

 I had the misfortune to lame a valuable horse while crossing one of the " cord-' 

 uroy" bridges indigenous, I believe, to that region. It was four miles to the 

 aearest plantation in my rear, and nine to the next in my route; so I shouldered 

 my saddle-bags and took the back track, leading my horse. The place to which 



1 was now backing., I had but a short while previously passed, but not sufficiently 

 ■contiguous to enable me to form any conjecture as to the chance of my being en- 

 abled to obviate the " phix" in which I was placed. 



I reached my destination about noon, and found the proprietor just in from the 

 labors of the forenoon. The good taste displayed in the different buildings, &c. 

 which presented themselves to my view, notwithstanding they were constructed 

 of logs, gave me considerable hope that I should not be long detained on my 

 travels. Upon making known my situation, I ascertained that my only chance 

 to purchase another horse would be up in Americus, 27 miles distant — to which 

 place the proprietor happened to be going in the morning, and kindly offered me 

 a seat in his buggy. By this time the melodious peals of the dinner-horn saluted 

 my auriculars, and the pugnacious condition of my gastric functions made an 

 invitation to pot-luck peculiarly interesting, and not to be declined — for here I 

 felt assured that cow-peas, corn-bread and ham were not the order of the day. — 

 Arrived at the domicil, and our ablutions performed, I was escorted by my host 

 to the dining apartment — a commodious shed, erected for summer use, under the 

 wide-spreading boughs of an ancient oak — where I was introduced to the land- 

 lady, whose fine personal appearance drew from me my best city bow and salu- 

 tation, which was returned with such dignity and lady-like composure as to put 

 me at once upon my Ps and Qs. The dinner I found most excellent, and of a 

 variety that would have flattered the most fastidious gourmand. 



After dining, my host in^rited me to a stroll through his grounds, which, he 

 informed me, contained exactly 75 acres under cultivation. Passing the garden, 



2 acres, I noticed flowers, shrubbery, and vegetables, of every variety, blending 

 in beautiful contrast, and exhibiting a skill that I had noticed in no other gar- 

 den. The different jmlches of corn, cotton, peas, potatoes, vVc. &:c. ice. present- 

 ed a neatness of cultivation and luxuriousness of growth that I never before ob- 

 served, even in the fancy farms of the North. Expressing surprise at the small 

 <juantity of land in cultivation, for his force, he informed me that he planted 

 fully as much as could be properly tended. His products, however, were aston- 

 ishing. His yield of corn was, the past season, 05 bushels to the acre, and the 

 arrowing crop'would be much larger. I do not now remember the yield ojf cot- 

 ton, but it was very heavy. I have seen nothing in Mississippi or Louisiana 

 to come up to it. 



His barn, stables, mill, gin-house, Jcc. were upon a new plan to any I had 

 seen. The difl'erent manure bins showed that this article claimed particular 

 attention, and the proprietor informed me that he never cultivated more land 

 than he could keep well manured : and that, notwithstandin-i the smallness of 

 his plantation, his crops would outmeasure many of his neighbors' Avho culti- 

 vated four times the quantity. Amid all my travels through the States, I have 

 never found an individual who appeared better informed upon all points relating 

 (:n4) 



