THE SOUTHS 



RN PLANTER. 



76 



Hence the impropriety of grazing land when 

 wet, rendering it so close and compact that it is 

 not open for the admission of these things, nor 

 lo the fertilizing influence of the atmosphere. 



It is a fact now generally admitted that the 

 enclosing system, in conjunction with clover 

 and plaster, is the cheapest mode of improving 

 old lands. 



After the autumnal frosts, when the land is 

 well covered with herbage, the rain, in the com- 

 mencement of a shower, dissolves the fertilizing 

 principle of the lifeless vegetables and lodges it 

 in the soil. It is owing to this circumstance 

 that wood land enclosed, so as to prevent slock 

 from treading it, improves much faster than that 

 which is not. The land becomes open and po- 

 rous, from the frosts of winter, so that the sub- 

 stance of the leaves, &c. can be carried into the 

 soil in the way above described. From the same 

 cause, lands cut down two or three years before 

 they are cultivated, with all the timber, brush, 

 &c. left on them, produce much better. 



From the foregoing remarks it might be in- 

 ferred that I am opposed to top-dressing. I 

 should think that the top-dressing of very hard 

 places would not be very philosophical. But at 

 the same time, if the soil be very porous, or the 

 article slow of decomposition, the plan will not 

 be found to be a bad one. In the latter case 

 the protection of the young grass and the shading 

 of the soil, may more than counterbalance any 

 washing from the surface. 



I shall be sorry, if in my aim at brevity, I 

 may have become unintelligible. 



R. D. Palmer. 



February 8, 1844. 



For the Southern Planter. 



CATTLE DISTEMPER. 



J\Ir. Editor, — During the past year, there 

 prevailed extensively in some portions of the 

 upper country a disease among cattle no less 

 fatal than common ; during the prevalence of 

 which, some of the finest cows and oxen to be 

 found perhaps in the State, lost their lives. It 

 commences generally very suddenly, without 

 any signs of previous debilit} 7- or disease, and 

 runs its course in most cases in the short space 

 of twenty four hours. It seems to affect the 

 head more than any other part of the system, 

 producing great stupor and debility, perfect loss 

 of appetite, and invariably lock jaw. The poor 

 creature thus situated, continues to pine away, 

 being unable to receive food into its stomach 

 until it finally perishes for the want of nourish- 

 ment. Perhaps there is no situation in which 

 you can imagine an animal to be placed more 

 calculated to excite our sympathies than the 

 one under consideration. The disease was treated 

 in various ways and by numerous remedies 



when it first made its appearance, and all alike 

 were equally inefficient, until finally the treat- 

 ment we propose to offer in as few words as 

 possible, was adopted. So soon as the disease 

 makes its appearance, and before lock jaw has 

 taken place, a large dose of spirits of turpentine 

 mixed with a table-spoonful of castor oil should 

 be immediately administered in as much gruel 

 as the animal can be made to swallow. The 

 turpentine should amount to two or three table- 

 spoonfuls. As coon as this has been accom- 

 plished, a large orifice should be made in ihe 

 large vein of the neck, and two or three quarts 

 of blood should be drawn ; immediately after 

 which, the spirits of turpentine should be rubbed 

 on the neck and head. By following out this 

 plan of treatment, and at the same time paying 

 attention to the stall in which ihe animal is 

 kept, the lives of many which otherwise would 

 be lost, will be preserved. 



In haste, yours, &c. L. B. A. 



Richmond, Jan. 12, 1844. 



For the Southern Planter. 

 SUBSTITUTE FOR HOPS. 



JVfr. Editor, — In your last number I observed 

 an article 11 on ripe bread" from 3 7 our correspond- 

 ent Dorothy Dumpling : pleased as I was with 

 Dorothy's suggestions, I have ventured to add 

 a line also on the article of bread. 



While on my way to your city, last Decem- 

 ber, I chanced to be a fellow-passenger, (on 



board the packet Jos. C.Cabell,) of Judge , 



then on his way to attend a sitting of the Gen- 

 eral Court. At breakfast we were discussing 

 some excellent rolls, the merits of which were 

 highly extolled by all, when the Judge, who is 

 a lover of good bread, as all good Judges are, 

 remarked, that his cook, in making bread for his 

 family, used yeast made of the tops of a very 

 common plant amongst us, called life-everlasting, 

 the botanical name of which is gnaphalium. — 

 He said, since its introduction, hops had been 

 entirely discarded by his cook — that the bread, 

 thus made, was far superior to that prepared 

 from hops, and the change had been approved 

 by all his family. Having so much confidence 

 in his general good taste, I determined, on my 

 return home, to try its correctness in this parti- 

 cular. We have done so, and I shall long feel 

 gratified that I had the good fortune to fall in 

 with the Judge, on the occasion named, even if 

 his company had not tended to make the trip a 

 most pleasant one; for, to his sort of bread, I 

 have constantly treated myself since, and its 

 superiority over all others, is admitted by every 

 one who has partaken of it at our table. I am 

 satisfied wiih the Judges decision; from it, I 

 shall never appeal. The yeast is prepared from 

 the flowers of gnaphalium in the same manner 



