THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



137 



For the Southern Planter. 

 AGRICULTURAL APHORISMS. 



NO. II. 



My eye has been upon you, and sure enough 

 you have read my first number of hints — I now 

 send a second. 



A. Well neighbor B. what do you think of 

 rotten wood as a manure % 



B. I think it is no manure at all, but a poison 

 to land. 



A. Well what do you think of chips as a 

 manure % 



B. When they have rotted they are first rate. 

 Christ directed the apostles to take up the 



fragments that " nothing be lost," which is equi- 

 valent to saying take up the fragments, that 

 every thing be saved. So will every wise far- 

 mer obey the command, by appropriating every 

 fragment and atom to its proper use. The Chi- 

 nese manures his ground with the beard which 

 he shaves from his chin ; and if you say this is 

 nothing, so is a grain of wheat, consequently 

 so is a bushel of grains. 



I Write whilst I am resting, and rest whilst I 

 am writing. 



The blindest of all is he that will not see — 

 so we often see persons blundering over lots of 

 manure, and articles which can be converted 

 into it, yet say they have nothing of the kind. 



The farmer and the usurer are the only two 

 characters who are accumulating whilst asleep. 

 Nature is at work for the first and art for the 

 last. Nature never errs, but art frequently fails. 



When I want to see what my people are do- 

 ing on the mountain I take up my telescope; 

 when I want lo see what they are doing behind 

 the mountain I take up my Southern Planter, 



The best book I ever read was the Bible ; 

 well, in one place it says positively that, " if 

 one work not, neither shall he eat." 



A few days past I learned that one of my 

 neighbors gave away a fine chance of manure, 

 because he had no time to cart it on his own 

 lands. Now, reader, this is not so bad a story 

 as you might suppose, for friend, remember the 

 story of the dog in the manger. 



A youngster once inquired of a substantial 

 farmer why he did not dress finer? to which 

 the farmer replied, my son, I have just spent 

 $500 for a fine coat to put on one of my fields, 

 and I could not at this time afford a new one 

 for myself. Furthermore, I will say, that if you 

 have cause to be proud of the fine coat which 

 covers your little back, I should be more so of 

 the fine dressing which I have put on my broad 

 field. When j'our coat has faded, mine will be 

 of bright color, and when yours is tattered, mine 

 will be thicker and stronger. 



Argus. 



Amherst, April, 1843. 



Vol. III.- 18 



STONES ON CULTIVATED LANDS. 



It is an error to suppose that stones should be 

 entirely removed from land which is under cul- 

 tivation. The stones which would be in the 

 way of the scythe while mowing, of course 

 should be removed, but all the smaller ones 

 should remain ; and if wholly or partially em- 

 bedded in the soil, they preserve the moisture 

 during a drought, and thus serve materially to 

 increase the crop. The following article from 

 the Gentleman's Magazine, published in 1773, 

 is to that point : 



" It has been long known to experienced far- 

 mers, that taking away very small stones and 

 flints, is detrimental to ploughed lands in gen- 

 eral ; but more particularly so to thin light lands, 

 and all lands of a binding nature. It was, how- 

 ever, never imagined that the damage could be 

 so great, as it is now found to be, since unusual 

 quantities of flints and other stones have been 

 repeatedly gathered for the use of turnpike and 

 other roads. In the parish of Sterenage, in 

 Hertfordshire, there is a field known by the 

 name of Chalkdell field, containing about two 

 hundred acres ; the land in this field was for- 

 merly equal, if not superior to most lands in 

 that county ; but lying convenient for the sur- 

 veyors of the roads, they have picked it so often, 

 and stripped it of the flint and small stones to 

 such a degree, that it is now inferior to lands 

 that were formerly reckoned not much over half 

 its value, acre for acre. 



" Nor is it Chalkdell field alone that has ma- 

 terially suffered in that county by the above 

 mentioned practice ; several thousand acres bor- 

 dering on the turnpike roads from Wellwyn to 

 Baldock, have been so much impoverished, that 

 the loss to the inheritance forever, must be com- 

 puted at a great many thousand pounds. What 

 puts it. beyond a doubt that the prodigious im- 

 poverishment of the land is owing to no other 

 cause but picking and carrying away the stones, 

 is, that those lands have generally been most 

 impoverished, which have been most often 

 picked ; nay, I know a field, part of which 

 Was picked, and the other part ploughed up be- 

 fore they had time to pick it, where the part 

 that was picked, lost seven or eight parts in ten, 

 of two succeeding crops ; and though the whole 

 field was manured and managed in all respects 

 alike, yet the impoverishment was visible where 

 the stones had been picked off, and extended not 

 an inch farther; an incontestible proof of the 

 benefit of the stones." — Exchange paper. 



SWEET POTATOES. 

 We have been endeavoring, since the receipt 

 of Mr. Hatton's communication, to comply with 

 his request by obtaining Mr. James Gordon's 

 method of managing the sweet potato. Although 



