THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



miasmata. Volumes might be written, illustrat- 

 ing- this deeply interesting subject, but perhaps 

 it would be foreign to jour useful journal. 



Excuse this digression, as well as the appa- 

 rent insignificance of the subject. Yet how 

 beautiful and interesting does a little fact become, 

 when it happens to be the nucleus, as it were, 

 of a great principle. 



Yours respectfully, L. 



From the South Western Farmer. 



CRAB GRASS HAY — RESULTS OF 

 EXPERIMENT. 



Messrs. Editors, — Last winter I determined 

 to make a number of experiments to increase 

 the quantity of good food for my stock. Amongst 

 others to see if the grass commonly called crab 

 grass, could not be made a profitable substitute 

 for the timothy of the North. I selected a piece 

 of common oak ridge land, which had been in 

 cultivation about five years, and in the early 

 part of March caused it to be ploughed and 

 cross ploughed with one of Hiram Sloop's best 

 ploughs, running about six inches deep ; then 

 harrowed smooth and fine with an iron-tooth 

 harrow, and with this cultivation left it to pro- 

 duce its crop of grass. On yesterday I finished 

 my hay making and stacking. I measured the 

 ground carefully, and found it contained three 

 and a half acres (a fraction under.) I weighed 

 an average load of the hay and find that I have 

 obtained a few pounds over two and a fourth 

 tons of hay (as good as I ever saw) to the acre. 



The expense of producing, curing and hous- 

 ing I estimate as follows : 



Rent of three and a half acres of 

 land at $2 per acre, $7 00 



Man and team six days ploughing 

 and harrowing at $1, 6 00 



Two men two days mowing at 50 

 cents per day, each, 2 00 



Eight hands two days curing, haul- 

 ing, stacking and housing at 50 cents 

 per day each, 8 00 



Use of wagon one day, driver one 

 of the 8 hands, 2 50 



Cost $25 50 



Value of product — Seven ton and 

 seven-eighths hay at $10 per ton, 78 75 



Profit $53 25 



The above estimate of cost and value may 

 not be satisfactory — the data are correct, and 

 each man may make his own estimate. The 

 product is above the quantity stated, for none of 

 my people had ever seen an attempt to mow, 

 and consequently the work was at first very 

 badly done — probably a fourth of the grass left. 



They soon improved, and about half the ground 

 was well mown. 



Query. May we not supply ourselves with 

 hay, and sell to our stable keepers cheaper than 

 we can import it from the North'? 1 think we 

 can make, and send it to New Orleans on a fine 

 profit. Daniel Mayes. 



ML Verd, Aug. 5, 1843. 



We have over and over again cut the crab 

 grass from our corn fields, to which it seems 

 indigenous, and we have ever found that 

 our horses esteemed it a bon louche, for which 

 they would leave any other kind of hay : its 

 fattening qualities too are well known to those 

 who have turned young colts into a corn field. 

 But we have never cultivated this grass as a 

 separate crop, nor would we, notwithstanding 

 Mr. Mayes' imposing array of figures, care to 

 do so : for although as a feed we place the very 

 highest estimate upon this grass, as an improver, 

 it is worse than useless. To make it nutricious 

 it must be permitted to go to seed, which ren- 

 ders it an exhauster. Moreover, it disappears 

 entirely with the first frost, leaving no sod, rob- 

 bing the land and returning nothing to it. 



For the Southern Planter. 



PROPER DISPOSITION OF FARMING 

 CAPITAL. 



Mr. Editor, — Every man in this country is 

 more or less interested in the pursuit of agricul- 

 ture ; and the business of a commission mer- 

 chant has rendered me as deeply sensitive to its 

 interests as if I were directly engaged in its pur- 

 suit. After much consideration and attention, 

 I am inclined to think that the want of success 

 in this profession, proceeds from an error that I 

 have frequently observed in my own. This 

 consists in an attempt to do a larger business 

 than is justified by the quantity of capital em- 

 ployed. It is true, that sometimes a "lucky 

 hit" in trade will make all right, but ninety-nine 

 times out of a hundred, failure is the inevitable 

 result of an expansion disproportionate to the 

 quantity of capital to be commanded. 



How often do you see an individual with a 

 limited capital embarking in the profession of a 

 farmer, expend it all in the purchase of his land ; 

 which is about as reasonable as it would be in 

 a merchant to sink his whole capital in a ware- 

 house, without leaving any for the purchase of 

 goods. Neither the one nor the other would be 

 wiser than the silly fellow, who expended his 

 last cent in the purchase of a purse. 



I have grown grey in the 'pursuit of com- 

 merce, and it may be deemed presumptuous in 

 an individual engaged in one pursuit to pretend 



