THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



67 



to. In a general point of view, the value of 

 human excrement is an important question, but 

 the discussion of the purity of Mr. Minor's pro 

 duction, although far more interesting to that 

 particular gentleman, is infinitely less so to much 

 the larger portion of our readers ; and as the 

 paper belongs to them and not to us, we are 

 only "obeying instructions," in determining to 

 condense into general statements, particulars 

 that may hereafter be furnished. Mr. Minor 

 must also pardon us, if instead of copying the 

 three letters referred to in the u Farmers' Cabi- 

 net," we state in general terms, that they con- 

 tain very flattering testimonials as to the efficacy 

 of this same poudrette applied to corn, wheat, 

 and grass ; they are also backed by similar state- 

 ments, of the highest authority, in the "Ameri- 

 can Farmer." But as the reports from this re- 

 gion have been so unfavorable, we will insert 

 the following letters of an opposite character 

 from Mr. Lyons and Dr. McCaw. Mr. Lyons' 

 statement will perhaps help considerably in re- 

 moving the burden of failure from Mr. Minor's 

 shoulders, to the season. Dr. McCaw's letter is 

 a very interesting one, for there is no greater 

 desideratum with the tobacco planter, than an 

 article which would secure him a good stand of 

 plants. 



To the Editor of the Southern Planter: 



Dear Sir, — As I differ "tolo ccelo" from Mr. 

 Taylor, of Union Village, as to the value of the 

 !£ Planter," I enclose you the subscription for two 

 years, and charge you nothing "for my trouble ;" 

 I will ask, however, the privilege of making- 

 one or two suggestions. The first is, that you 

 will in future put the "month" upon the cover 

 of the Planter. My reason for this suggestion 

 is, that although I read the paper as soon as it 

 comes to my hands, yet frequently desire to re- 

 fer to it, and wishing to find the " Planter" of a 

 certain month, I am obliged to open many num- 

 bers very often before I find the one desired. — 

 This occasions some trouble and dela}? - , which 

 would be avoided if the month was printed upon 

 the head of the cover * 



The next suggestion is, that probably some 



* This suggestion has been made before, and we 

 are perfectly aware that it would be a convenience 

 to our subscribers. But our subscription list varies 

 so much from month to month that we are compelled 

 to strike off a large edition of covers to provide for 

 contingencies: if the month were printed upon the 

 covers, the excess would be useless to us, whereas 

 they can now be used for succeeding months. But 

 this consideration should not prevent us from com- 

 plying with this request, if it were not so easy for the 

 subscriber himself to supply the defect, by writing 

 the name of the month on the cover when he receives 

 the paper. — Editor. 



- Vol. IV.— 3 



of your correspondents and contributors have 

 done injustice, unintentionally, to Mr. Minor in 

 relation to his Poudrette. This inference is 

 founded upon a little experiment of my own, 

 which I will state. I purchased of you, as you 

 know, two barrels of poudrette, which you re- 

 ceived from Mr. Minor, and I caused them to bo 

 applied to a portion of my turnip patch and to 

 a lot of mangel-wurtzel. Before the manure 

 was applied, I had a conversation with Mr. Wood- 

 fin in relation to the use of poudrette, and espe- 

 cially as to the manner of applying it, and at 

 the close of it he kindly offered me a bushel of 

 his poudrette, for the purpose of being applied 

 in comparison with the poudrette obtained from 

 you, which I of course accepted. I directed 

 my overseer to divide the ground into three parts 

 by an intervening furrow, and to apply to one 

 portion of it the poudrette received from you, to 

 another that received from Mr. Woodfin, and to 

 the third, the common stable manure. The re- 

 sult w T as, that the beets failed from being planted 

 too late, and a wet and backward spring. The 

 turnips were very luxuriant, and of fine size, 

 but were injured from not being properly thinned, 

 and those manured with poudrette were better 

 than those manured with stable manure, but I 

 could not perceive that there was any difference 

 in growth between those manured with Mr. Mi- 

 nor's poudrette and Mr. Woodfin's. 



The foliage of each parcel was very fine, and 

 the turnips were of fine size and flavor. I was 

 struck, however, by the fact that the turnips 

 which were manured with poudrette, fired in a 

 manner which I have not before remarked, so 

 that while the turnip was yet growing, the leaves 

 became perfectly yellow and then fell, and in 

 some instances, the turnip itself seemed to be 

 entirely decayed, and I thought, though it may 

 have been imaginary, that the turnips manured 

 with Mr. Minor's poudrette fired more than those 

 manured with Mr. Woodfin's. Both certainly 

 fired very much, while the turnips manured with 

 stable manure fired very little. What caused 

 this firing I pretend not to say, but it seems to 

 have been the effect, in part at least, of the pou- 

 drette ; for if it had been occasioned hy the sea- 

 son, each parcel of turnips would have fired 

 alike; and my inference, therefore, is, that there 

 is either some ingredient in the poudrette which 

 is too heating, or it was applied in too large 

 quantity. Of course I do not intend to contro- 

 vert any fact stated by any of your correspond- 

 ents, nor do I affirm that the barrels of poudrette 

 which I purchased did not contain materials si- 

 milar to those found in the barrels which some 

 of them opened, for I did not see my own bar- 

 rels opened, but sent them unopened to my over- 

 seer, with directions to apply the manure ac- 

 cording to Mr. Woodfin's advice. But I infer 

 that Mr. Minor could not have intended to prac- 

 tice an imposition, because if he had, I should 



