NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov. 



have sprung up and grow finely ; some advise me 

 to sow the berries — others to obtain the vines and 

 set them out ; and I would feel under very great 

 obligations to you, if you would inform me which 

 you consider the best method and time, &c. 



Respectfully yours, Frank P. Seabury. 

 New Bedford, 9 mo. ZOth, 1853. 



Remarks. — "We can only reply now very briefly. 

 If there are a great many bushes on the meadow, 

 flow it until they are killed, then clean it up and 

 set the vines. If there are hassocks, cut them off 

 clean and cart them away. If there are neither 

 bushes or hassocks, take a bog hoe and cut up a 

 turf and insert the vines. The vines should be 

 taken up with plenty of turf and soil, and the 

 closer you set them the sooner will the ground be 

 covered. There is much difference in the kinds of 

 cranberries, the oblong being larger and richer 

 than the round ones. Transplant as early as you 

 can in the spring. It requires five or six years for 

 the vines to arrive into bearing from the seed. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 SOUTHERN FARMING. 



Friend Brown : — I have been visiting some of 

 the plantations in this section of country, and 

 knowing the interest you take in all matters con- 

 nected with farming, I had thought a description 

 of what I have seen might not be uninteresting to 

 you at this time. First, then, the plantation of 

 Col. Wade Hampton, which is about 3 miles be- 

 low here on the right bank of the Congaree, and 

 contains about 15,000 acres, 2500 of which is riv- 

 er bottom land, the richest lands in the State. 

 Col. Hampton has the finest herd of Durham cat- 

 tle that I have ever seen. I found them grazing 

 in a pasture of some 500 acres, where the grass 

 was from one to two feet high ; the pasture is the 

 part of the bottom lying next the river, and in the 

 bend, so that the river bounds three sides of it. The 

 sight of the cattle on such a plain, with nothing 

 to obstruct the view, except here and there a 

 stately cotton-wood tree of immense size, was beau- 

 tiful ; but when taken with his other stock, which 

 consisted of about 30 horses, 380 sheep and about 

 30 Cashmere goats, the view surpassed anything 

 of the kind I had ever seen before. Col. Hamp- 

 ton has spared no expense to havcthe finest and pur- 

 est stock in the country, — his favorite cattle are 

 the Durhams. He has some 4 or 5 very fine Dev- 

 ©n cows — and some Ayrshire cows that are hard to 

 beat. His stock of sheep are the Bakewell, and 

 as fine a flock as you would wish to look upon. 

 His Cashmere goats were imported some few years 

 ago fromAsia, by Dr. J. B. Davis, of this town, 

 and are likely to prove a very profitable animal for 

 this part of the country ; their wool has been sold 

 as high as nine dollars a pound. He has one of 

 the Brahmin cattle that is a most beautiful animal, 

 the stock of which was imported by Dr. Davis, 

 with the goats, The horses I will say nothing 

 about, except that Col. Hampton has stood at the 

 head for many years of those engaged in rearing 

 and improving that noble animal, the horse. 



His cotton crop now looks well, and the pros- 

 pect is that it will be an average one. His corn 



is uneven in consequence of the severe drought we 

 had from April Ist to July 4 — and will hardly 

 yield more than two-thirds of a crop ; one field I 

 rode through, of 500 acres, was looking well — a 

 part of it very fine indeed ; as I sat upon my horse 

 the stalks were above my head. His method of 

 raising corn, is to plant in rows one way 4 feet 

 apart, and works it but oneway; the stalks in the 

 rows are about 20 inches or 2 feet apart. He has 

 been experimenting with guano on his corn, and 

 he told me he thought it the best and cheapest 

 manure that can be used on his lands — there was 

 a very marked difference to be seen in his corn 

 where the guano was applied, both in the stalk 

 and the ear. He is the most sanguine advocate 

 for guano that I have met with, in this part of the 

 country. Col. H.'s stock of hogs. Brahmin geese 

 and Shanghai fowls, were in keeping with his cat- 

 tle. His resi4ence is on an eminence that over- 

 looks the valley of the Congaree for many miles, 

 and from which is a view of the ridge that divides 

 the waters of the Edisto and the Congaree. In 

 front of the house is a flower garden, covering an 

 area of some 5 acres, which is beautifully laid 

 out and filled with the choicest flowers and shrubs; 

 the display of roses is truly magnificent. In the 

 rear of his house is the vegetable garden and fruit 

 orchards, which are ample, and in which I found 

 some of the finest peaches I have ever seen — varie- 

 ties not cultivated with you. He has a great many 

 grapes; the Lenoir was in eating, and was very 

 fine and delicious. He has quite an apple orchard, 

 which is young yet, but I saw an apple that 

 weighed two pounds, that grew on one of his young 

 trees — the variety I did not know; the trees are 

 healthy and grow vigorously. Col. H.'s residence 

 is one of the finest and most tastefully laid out 

 that there is in this part of the country, in proof 

 of which I need only to say that it was the favor- 

 ite resort of the lamented Daniel Webster while 

 on a visit to this town a few years since. Adjoin- 

 ing Col. H.'s plantation on the north is that of 

 Mr. Thomas Taylor; the soil and crops are similar 

 to those of Col. H.'s. 



Mr. Taylor has a fine herd of cattle, a cross of 

 the Durham and Ayrshire, but they do not com- 

 pare with those of Col. H. Mr. Taylor's sheep 

 are a cross of the merino on the Bakewell ; they 

 looked very fine indeed ; he told me his last clip of 

 wool averaged 5 1-4 lbs. to a sheep. The rearing 

 of sheep here, I think, must be profitable, and the 

 business is largely on the increase in this section 

 of country; the river pastures which are subject 

 to inundation from freshets in the river are nearly 

 valueless for planting, but they afford the finest 

 pasturage in the world for cattle and sheep. You 

 will excuse this bad letter, and I will write you a 

 description of the fair and cattle show at x\ugusta, 

 Geo., and will write a better letter if possible. 

 Yours truly, s. D. 



Columbia, S. C, Aug. 26, 1853. 



Remarks. — In some of his future letters we 

 hope our correspondent will give us the average 

 number of bushels per acre of the several crops 

 cultivated in his region. 



Extraordinary Site of a Tree. — At the village 

 of Witherley, in Leicestershire, seven miles from 

 Market Bosworth, a gooseberry tree, with a stalk 



