THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



We made a little excursion into the country 

 this winter, and even at that dreary season, 

 amidst the generous hospitality and uncon- 

 strained mirth of our company, we could un- 

 conditionally have surrendered ourselves to the 

 charms of a country life, had it not been for the 

 eternal "fizzing:, sputtering and smoking," al- 

 luded to by Mr. Dumpling. There was one 

 continual cry of, "Jim, see if you can't find 

 some more dry wood," and every flour barrel, 

 and we believe, from the appearance of the bil- 

 lets, several of the washing tubs upon the pre- 

 mises, were knocked to pieces for the purpose of 

 bringing the green logs into burning order. In 

 the meantime, there was Jim with a mortal 

 screen of twenty-four inches interposed between 

 the company and the dying embers, that, for 

 the twentieth time, he w^as endeavoring to fan 

 into a flame ; and there we sat, with our cheeks 

 involuntarily expanded into the representative 

 of a pair of bellows, in our natural sympathy 

 with the success of Jim's operations. 



We could not help thinking, how much of 

 the annoyance, which the inconvenience of his 

 guests evidently occasioned our generous host, 

 might have been saved by cutting his wood in 

 the summer, and permitting old father Time, (the 

 cheapest of workmen,) to perform the part of 

 Jim and the dry wood. 



For the Southern Planter. 

 IMPROVEABJLITY OF THE POOREST SOILS. 



Mr. Editor, — Rain and the air. furnish so vast 

 an amount of nourishment to plants, that no man 

 ought to be discouraged by the barrenness of his 

 land from striving to make it productive. Naked 

 rocks themselves, become clothed with a soil, 

 from mere seeds, fed by the air, and by water 

 from the clouds. The following passage from 

 a distinguished chemist, explains the process : 



" The seeds of various plants may be placed 

 in pure sea-sand, or sown in leaden shot, and 

 nourished only with pure distilled water and the 

 common atmosphere, and the sun's light and 

 heat ; and the seeds will sprout, and the plants 

 grow to maturity, elaborating for themselves, 

 out of the water and air, their own nutriment, 

 and properly arranging and composing the se- 

 veral vegetable structures and substances, and 

 producing the several vegetable properties. And 

 if the vegetable matter thus produced, be pre- 

 served and analyzed, the various earths, alkalies, 

 acids, metals, gases, &c. may be obtained, as if 

 the plants had grown in their natural soil." 



Of course, then, the rotting of those plants 

 (which is Nature's analysis) produces those 

 Vol. IV.— ll 



81 



earths, metals, &c. That is, it produces the soil- 

 covering, which commonly overlays the rocky 

 body of the globe. The poorest land must be 

 much more favorable than a rock, to the growth 

 of plants thus seeded. And rain, being full of 

 mineral and earthy matters in a state of solu- 

 tion, must be much more nourishing to the plants 

 than distilled water. By making plants or ve- 

 getables grow and rot upon his land, therefore, 

 any man may be perfectly sure of forming a 

 soil upon it— and a rich soil. He has only to 

 look out for those plants (whether grasses, or 

 other vegetables,) which have the most leaves, 

 with stalks the most easily rotted, and to cause 

 them to grow, and let them rot ; ploughing them 

 in, or top-dressing with them as he may be best 

 advised. His land will get rich, far sooner 

 than sluggards imagine. By manures he may 

 quicken the growth : and by lime, ashes, &c. 

 he may quicken the rotting. Clover, oats, corn- 

 field peas, carrot-weeds, and many other plants, 

 will suit for this process. 



a. a. 



Louisa, March, 1844. 



EXPERIMENTS. 



We are much indebted to the gentlemen of 

 the Hole and Corner Club of Albemarle for the 

 following report of experiments. Science calls 

 loudly now for well ascertained facts, from which 

 she may deduce the laws of agriculture ; and 

 there is no portion of an agricultural paper more 

 interesting than that which records the result of 

 experiments upon authority such as this: 



The following is the report of a dommittee 

 appointed to examiiie the experiments which 

 have been made by various committees, to em- 

 body the result, and report to the Club : 



CORN. 



1. The experiments made to ascertain the 

 relative advantages of planting corn one, two 

 and three stalks in the hill, in every case an 

 equal number on an equal portion of land, re- 

 sult in establishing the fact, that the less crowded 

 the stalks are, the greater will be the product. 

 The following is the report of Dr. John Minor : 



2 rows of corn 145 yards, 1 stalk at the dis- 

 tance of 1 foot, gave 1 barrel 2 bushels. 



2 rows of corn 145 yards, 2 stalks at the dis- 

 tance of 2 feet, gave 1 barrel 2 bushels. 



2 rows of corn 145 yards, 3 stalks at the dis- 

 tance of 3 feet, gave 1 barrel 1 bushel. 



The corn grown from one stalk in the hill 

 was best, largest, and soundest. It is to be re- 

 gretted that the test of weight, was not applied 

 in this experiment. 



2. Early in November, 1842, Mr. George' 



