THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



91 



most uses, among practical men, the period for 

 cutting is from August to March. I presume 

 for the reason, that the quantity of sap and 

 moisture in the wood is so great, from March to 

 August, that the timber, when split is very apt 

 to spring or warp, and also to crack ; both of 

 which effects injure it. Nor is this all. Being 

 very green and sappy, it is very difficult to rive. 

 The process of growing imparts increased tena- 

 city to it, owing to the formation of what la- 

 borer's call hen's teeth in the outer grain of the 

 wood. Later in the season, or in winter, none 

 of these objections occur. In speaking of ' oak,' 

 in the preceding remarks, white oak is meant. 



I am assured by observing men, that rails made 

 from black, red, and chesnut oaks, after the 

 bark is stripped off for the tanner, decay rapidly. 

 Trees, the bark of which is for the use of the 

 tanner, are always cut in this latitude in May, 

 when the sap or juices abound ; and further, 

 that as soon as new wood, or sap, indurates, 

 which is believed to be about the last of June, 

 or first of July, the timber then cut will soon 

 cast the bark, and the white rim, or sap, becomes 

 as hard and as durable as the heart itself. Af- 

 ter all, a series of experiments, carefully made 

 throughout the year in different kinds of timber, 

 can alone settle the question as to the best time 

 for cutting it. This might easily be done, though 

 it would require time to perfect it, as time is an 

 essential ingredient in the question. Tanners 

 must have bark ; but if the opinion here indi- 

 cated be correct, ought not all other descriptions 

 to be cut, as soon as the new wood is perfectly 

 formed, or the precise period is clearly ascer- 

 tained, by cutting in May, June, July, &c. and 

 the rails, if made into rails, kept under the eye 

 of him making the experiment. 



James M'Ilhany. 



Loudoun, March 3, 1843. 



For the Southern Planter. 



Patent Office, March 1, 1843. 



Messrs. Editors, — I hasten to inclose you a 

 small quantity of tobacco seed, with a copy of 

 Mr. Ellicott's letter, hoping that this new expe- 

 riment will prove highly useful. 

 Very respectfully, 



H. L. Ellsworth. 



Patuxent Iron Works, Anne Arundel Co. Md. ) 



February 27th, 1843. J 



Hon. H. L. Ellsworth : 



Sir, — The tobacco seed you gave my brother 

 Andrew, which you represented to be from 

 Spain, has produced plants mostly having leaves 

 on them fourteen inches wide, which is suffi- 

 cient size for wrappers ; which is not the case 

 with Havana plants. 



The tobacco appears to be of very superior 

 quality, a sample of which I shall send you ; 

 also some of the segars as soon as I have them 

 made up. 



I send you nearly all the seed I have saved, 

 believing tobacco from this seed will be equal to 

 the best Havana. 



Yours, with respect, 



Elias Ellicott. 



Two very small parcels of tobacco seed, one 

 marked as " Ellicott's," the other as " from Con- 

 sul at Trinidad," were received with the above. 

 We keep them for Mr. N. A. Venable, as a 

 small return for his valuable communications to 

 the Planter. 



THE FARM HORSE. 

 We have received from Mr. Cocke, who in- 

 herits a love of the horse, a request to insert an 

 advertisement of his horse. " Black Hawk," 

 admirably adapted, as he conceives, to the pro- 

 pagation of an active and powerful race of 

 roadsters. In the veins of Black Hawk, runs 

 the blood of the imported " Sarpedon" and Gen. 

 Cocke's " Roebuck," whose stock for stoutness 

 and game, upon the road, is celebrated in Vir- 

 ginia. We take the liberty of inviting Black 

 Hawk to the exhibition of the Henrico Agri- 

 cultural Society this spring. Accompanying 

 the advertisement we received the following 

 communication : 



To the Editors of the Southern Planter: 



Gentlemen, — I send the inclosed notice of my 

 horse for publication on the cover of your paper, 

 (with suitable figure) to appear, if possible, with 

 the forthcoming number — i. e. on 1st of March, 

 to be continued for two months thereafter. 



I will state in connection with the notice of 

 the horse, that having, in common with most 

 Virginians, a strong love of horses, but never 

 having indulged a taste for the sports of the 

 turf, my partialities led me some years since to 

 commence breeding that noble animal for the 

 more useful purposes of the saddle and harness, 

 with the view of ultimately propagating a dis- 

 tinct race of roadsters, which, like the English 

 Hunter, should be unrivalled under the saddle 

 and in the light draught of pleasure vehicles. 

 My plan has been to select mares of good blood, 

 size and useful qualities, and otherwise particu- 

 larly adapted to my mode of breeding — and to 

 put them to the largest and best of the thorough 

 bred horses of the State, and to cross and re- 

 cross upon this stock until animals of the de- 

 sired qualities shall be produced. I have at 

 present some twenty or more mares — colts and 

 stallions-— from which I am breeding upon the 



