214 



GENESEE FARMER, 



Sept. 



tant elements of nature is very limited ; yet he 

 can do something to dry the soils which are too 

 wet, and warm those which are too cold ; as 

 well as to moisten those whicli are too dry, and 

 cool those which are too hot. A dense growth 

 of luxuriant vegetation, like a thick forest, both 

 cools and moistens the earth beneath it. To 

 destroy all vegetation is to encourage greater 

 sterility. Nature enriches the surface soil, not 

 by diminishing but by increasing the annual 

 growth of vegetables. The most profitable ratio 

 of increase, by skilful rotation, the use of ferti- 

 lizers and scientific tillage, is a point that needs 

 elucidation through the light of well conducted 

 experiments. One object should be to augment 

 the production of more seeds of corn, wheat, 

 oats and barley in proportion to the stems and 

 leaves of these cereal plants. A compost made 

 of a mixture of night soil and leached, with 

 a little gypsum, will doubtless favor such a 

 result. What we have called " breaking the 

 undercrust" to promote the ascent of water, 

 with its elements of seeds held in solution, at 

 the critical period when ears are organizing, is 

 very important. Such deep tilled soils suffer 

 less from the extremes of rain and dryness, as 

 all experience verifies. 



RURAL BARBECUES. 

 Among the objects of interest in Southern 

 agriculture, the annual Barbecues given to the 

 negroes on large plantations, are not the least 

 worthy of note. On these occasions, fat calves, 

 pigs, lambs, kids, turkeys, geese, ducks, chick- 

 ens, doves, quails and fish " suffer some !" Good 

 eating and a plenty of it, with large numbers to 

 participate in the feast, who enjoy it with perfect 

 gusto, is ever a pleasing spectacle. All neigh- 

 boring planters and their overseers sit down to 

 the first table. It is reset, and the " darkies'' 

 succeed, being often waited on by their overseers 

 and other whites. This jubilee is held after 

 corn and cotton crops are "laid by." Both of 

 these promise more than an average harvest. 

 New cotton has begun to appear in market. 

 The rice crop is also promising. Many fields 

 have now growing on them the third crop this 

 season — first a crop of wheat, oats or millet, 

 then a crop of hay made of native grasses, and 

 now a crop of peas, to be followed by seeding 

 in wheat or rye in No'.ember. 



SOUTHERN GRASSES. 

 There is something curious about these indi- 

 ginous plants. They do not begin to grow till 

 after timothy, herdsgrass, wheat, rye and barley 

 arc ripe in this climate. For a crop of hay the 

 land is plowed in June, harrowed, andnot seeded. 

 The grass is mown about the first of August, 

 and yields from one to three tons of good hay, 

 according to fertility. A friend, (a northern 

 farmer,) has just cut and cured three tons on an 



acre, worth S30. He grows good clover, 

 fine turnips, and manures high. A crop of 

 peas is made after early corn. In truth, autumn 

 scarcely ends be.'bre spring begins. Peas are 

 cultivated for hay — cut and cured like clover. 

 A northern dairyman could make a fortune here 

 by making butter and cheese. 



Augusta, Ga., August 10, 1848. 



Butter for the Navy. 



SI^'CE the publication of the Transactions I 

 have received, through a friend at Binghampton. 

 a communication from J. J. Hawley of that 

 place, who has long been engaged in furnishing 

 butter for shipment. His letter fully corrobo- 

 rates and establishes the facts which are stated 

 in the article on Butter for the Navy, (page 43 

 of the Transactions, and published in the last 

 number of the Farmer,) — that, in many parts of 

 our State, butter is made that will stand the test 

 of tropical climates equal to Orange county. — 

 I think it is important to spread the facts before 

 the farmers, and I therefore have presented the 

 annexed extract from this letter for publication. 

 Yours, B. P. J. 



Ag. Rooms, Albany, Aug., 1848. 



The idea that no butter made out of Orange 

 County will resist the action of tropical climates, 

 and preserve its qualities for years, is an utter 

 absurdity. I think that not one third of the 

 butter in market as Orange County, is made in 

 that locality. That county has during ten years 

 past sent out hundreds of emigrants to the coun- 

 ties of Sullivan, Delaware, Chenango, Broome, 

 Tioga, Tompkins and Chemung, and perhaps 

 otliers in the State of New York, who have 

 continued the manufacture of butter for market, 

 wlio at the end of each season have been in the 

 habit of transporting their butter in wagons 

 across the country to the different points of ship- 

 ment in Orange County, and there shipping as 

 Orange County. Many of these persons had 

 for years before emigrating, regular purchasers 

 in New York of their butter, and who it was un- 

 derstood were to take their product each year, 

 when made, and pay the highest market price 

 for it. These relations were in many instances 

 continued from many years previous to their 

 emigrating from Orange County, and many 

 now continue them without the least objection 

 being made to the quality of the butter. 



The term Orange County seems to be misun- 

 derstood. It does not mean, as I understand it, 

 the locality where made, but a peculiar method 

 of manufacture. The perfect neatness and 

 cleanliness of every thing about the dairies : 

 the churning the milk instead of the cream, 

 and the attention to the quality and quantity of 

 salt used, are their principal peculiarities. The 

 chufning of the milk I deem essential to butter 



