THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



239 



in former years, we were hardly able to make 

 both ends meet, and often a bad meet it was, 

 having to splice in with a woods grazing. Our 

 horses, mules and colts have not, in three years, 

 been turned in the woods one day ; are fed as 

 regular now, as if performing their daily labor. 

 We cut up and fill our horse troughs, and not 

 small ones either, every night through the year; 

 what is left at noon, we remove to our cattle 

 trough. In the winter we cut up food as for 

 horses, and fill the latter every night, 50 feet long, 

 two feet wide at bottom, with twelve inch plank 

 flaring out at top. We are now using shucks, 

 a part of them are from the corn of '41 crop, for 

 bedding for our horses, and litter for cow lot, in- 

 tending to make manure. Will this, our expe- 

 rience, as well as the more accurate " cyphering" 

 detail of Mr. Jones, induce any one of our 

 friends who even use three or four horses, to try 

 cutting up their provender'? We are decidedly 

 of the opinion, that 30 or 40 dollars will pay a 

 handsomer interest to the farmer if laid out in a 

 good straw cutter, than in almost any thing else. 



Some of our farmers are so exceedingly in- 

 credulous, that we have, at times, despaired of 

 being able to make any thing out of them ; 

 but we will still try, they are worthy all our la- 

 bor and trouble. 



For the Southern Planter. 

 GRASS — A CALL ON DR. VENABLE. 



The advantages, Mr. Editor, of the cultiva- 

 tion of the grasses is no longer a subject of 

 doubtful propriety or expediency. Whether as 

 food for stock, or as an improver to lands, it is of 

 incalculable benefit to Virginia. The most ju- 

 dicious mode of cultivation, and the best method 

 of making a meadow, are subjects on which we 

 need information. 



Dr. Paul C. Venable, of Wheatland, (Meck- 

 lenburg,) is one of the most successful cultiva- 

 tors of the grasses in southern Virginia, and the 

 manifest improved condition of his farm within 

 the last ten years, attests the value of the grass- 

 es as improvers. I ask you, Mr. Editor, to 

 unite with me in asking the Doctor to give his 

 brother planters the benefit of his experience, by 

 a series of essays (short, sensible and practical, 

 as I know he can make them,) on the " Culti- 

 vation of the Grasses" noticing more particularly 

 the following branches of the subject: — the va- 

 rious grasses suitable to the Virginia farmer, the 

 relative value, nature and mode of cultivation 

 of each ; meadows — the proper time of sowing 

 the seed — preparing the land — quantity of seed 

 per acre — cutting and curing hay — general ma- 

 nagement of meadow lands — the advantages 

 and best manner of irrigating meadow lands, 

 and so forth, w r hich, &c, the lawyers say " com- 

 prehended much." 



The Doctor is patriotic enough not to shrink 



from so great a task. He can write, and this ad- 

 vantage, with his experience, will enable him to 

 confer a benefit on the community. 



Amelia, Aug. 2nd, 1843. Junior. 



P. S. It is highly probable that other farmers 

 than Dr. V., will unite with him in giving the 

 public the benefit of their lights, on the interest- 

 ing subject of enquiry above referred to. Don't 

 let them, Mr. Editor, hide their light under a 

 bushel. 



EGGS AS A REMEDY. 



The white of an egg is said to be a specific 

 for fish bones, sticking in the throat. It is to be 

 swallowed raw, and will carry down a bone very 

 easily and certainly. There is another fact 

 touching eggs which will do very well* to re- 

 member. When, as sometimes by accident, 

 corrosive sublimate is swallowed, the white of 

 one or two eggs, taken immediately, will neutra- 

 lize the poison, and change the effect to that of 

 a dose of calomel. 



For the Southern Planter. 

 A POST-PLANTER. 



1 Mr. Editor, — Annexed is a figure of 

 a very useful instrument in making 

 the holes for the " stob," (there is no 

 such word, I believe, in Johnson, but 

 the reader knows what I mean) of a 

 post-and-rail-and-rider-fence. Take a 

 & piece of round iron, say four or five or 

 six feet long, (an old gig axle tree is 

 very good for the purpose,) about one 

 and a half inches in diameter, repre- 

 sented by the rod a, at the shoulder c, 

 let the rod be enlarged having a coni- 

 C cal shape, decreasing in size to d, be- 

 ing at c, say four inches in diameter : 

 J3$y the cone being the part from c to d 

 ^^B' makes the hole to plant the post. A 

 strong man, by raising the planter, 

 ISjB ,and thrusting it with all his strength 

 W dj'm the ground once or twice, will make 

 f a good hole in the ground for the post ? 

 and will in the same space of time, make three 

 times the number of holes for posts, than with 

 the old dogwood cone, or wedge and maul or 

 mallet. 



Cumberland, 3d, Smo. E. G. N. 



Extract of a leter from Georgia. 

 USE OF STRAW AND LEAVES. 



When I was here last year, I wrote you that 

 Mr. Camack, of Athens, covered his corn fields 

 with a body of leaves, so as to protect the ground 

 from the effects of drought, and to save the trou- 

 ble of ploughing and hoeing. I also spoke of 



