278 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



only call at my farm, and judge for themselves. 

 The benefits which 1 derive from using this 

 method are not inconsiderable. Before becom- 

 ing acquainted with it, I purchased every year 

 from three to five hundred dollars worth of ma- 

 nure, which I needed over and above that of my 

 own farm-yard, for the two hundred acres which 

 I have. Now I do not purchase one penny's 

 worth, and I can make double the quantity if I 

 choose. I have the advantage of producing 

 my manure in the sowing and planting season. 

 I can make it more or less strong, more or less 

 fermented, so as to suit the soil and the kind of 

 crop for which I want it ; I spread and plough 

 it in while it is perfectly fresh, and consequently 

 in all its strength. These are some of the re- 

 sults experienced by me in using Bommer's 1 

 thod of manuring land. 



Jerrit Kouwenhoven 

 Flatlands, L. I., Sept. 15, 1843." 



For the Southern Planter. 

 AGRICULTURAL APHORISMS. 



NO. VII. 



As the stalk of corn in the field, so the young 

 man ; both must be cultivated or their fruit will 

 be chaffy. 



Some men subsist by labor of the body, some 

 by labor of the mind ; a combination of both is 

 important to success. 



Some men write without thinking, some think 

 without writing ; the one is willing and not able, 

 the other able and not willing. 



There is no profit without capital. The mer- 

 chant's capital is his money; the farmer's capi- 

 tal is his manure bank. 



Winter time is hard by, and I venture to ad- 

 monish every farmer to count his cattle, and 

 then his hay stacks, and if the one shall exceed 

 the other, then either sell, eat, give away, or kill 

 the surplus to keep them from dying. 



Agriculture is favorable to morals, to health, 

 and to wealth. 



Mankind might do without physicians, if they 

 would observe the laws of health ; without law- 

 yers, if they would keep their tempers : without 

 soldiers, if they would observe the laws of Chris- 

 tianity ; and perhaps without preachers if each 

 would take care of his own conscience; but 

 there is no living without farmers. 



Argus. 



Amherst, October, 1843. 



FODDER. 



We observe that Mr. Ruffin, in a communi- 

 cation to an agricultural society of South Ca- 

 rolina, expresses the opinion, that more injury 

 results to the grain from pulling the fodder and 



cutting the tops of corn than is counterbalanced 

 by the value of these substances as articles of 

 food ; so that if by being permitted to remain 

 they were entirely lost, and the labor of gather- 

 ing were estimated at nothing, it would be better 

 to leave them on the stalk. Some late experi- 

 ments that he has witnessed in the manufacture 

 of sugar from cornstalks in different stages of 

 their growth, have satisfied him that the grain 

 uses up and requires all the saccharine matter 

 of the stalk and leaves, and that as long as 

 there is a spark of vitality in these, they are 

 ministering to the growth and perfection of the 

 seed. 



For our owm part, we doubt not that the 

 growth of the grain is often checked and that 

 shrivelling is often produced by pulling the leaves 

 and topping the plant too early. How the ac- 

 count will stand between the gain of fodder and 

 the shrinkage of the grain, we are not prepared 

 to say. But admit that the superior character 

 of the fodder secured by early pulling will not 

 compensate for the injury to the grain ; still, we 

 think even after the leaves have performed all 

 their functions and the plant has ceased to grow, 

 that the tops and leaves may be gathered to 

 great advantage. The saccharine matter, even, 

 has not been all exhausted as chemical analysis 

 proves, and other nutritive properties undoubt- 

 edly remain. In the North even the lower part 

 of the stock is recommended as affording excel- 

 lent food, and fully justifying the labor and ex- 

 pense of gathering and passing through the 

 cutting box. 



From the Southern Cultivator. 

 ON CLEARING LAND. 



Messrs. Editors, — Permit me, through your 

 paper, to communicate some of my ideas to my 

 brother farmers on clearing land — I might say 

 experience. The plan I have tried successfully 

 for several years, is this: — I grub, cut the fire- 

 wood, and rail timber, kill the timber left stand- 

 ing, and split the rails in the course of the fall 

 and winter; heaping no more brush than will 

 give me sufficient pass-way to haul the fire-wood 

 out as I need it. In that condition I let it lay 

 one year, with the exception of shrubbing the 

 ensuing summer, and the spring following I 

 have a fine piece of mellow new ground, ready 

 for inclosing and cleaning up, the standing tim- 

 ber all dead, the fibrous roots, the leaves and 

 trash all rotten, and the land very often produc- 

 ing a double crop the first year. Nor does it 

 stop there ; for I believe the good effects may 



