166 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



him some capital hints, upon the subject of hor- 

 ticultural implements especially. Mr. Tunstall 

 seems to have a great mechanical turn, which 

 is no doubt of infinite value to him in his horti- 

 cultural and agricultural pursuits. 



For the Southern Planter. 

 FENCING. 



J\l7\ Editor, — I have lately seen several com- 

 raunications in the Planter on the subject of 

 fencing, and as none of the plans there laid 

 down suit me as well as my own, I think it 

 probable that a description of it might be ac- 

 ceptable to some of your readers. 1 object to 

 some of the plans suggested, because they do 

 not save enough rails, and to olhers, because 

 ihey are too expensive and tedious. On the 

 plan I propose, a fence can be made in as short 

 a time and with one-third to one-half the num- 

 ber of rails that it requires to make a common 

 rail fence. It is made by throwing up a sharp 

 crooked bank corresponding exactly with the 

 worm of the fence. The bank may be made 

 high or low according to the number of rails 

 you wish to save. The whole operation is sim- 

 ple and expeditious, and if properly done, makes 

 a neat fence for ordinary purposes. The man- 

 ner of operating is as follows : — If the ground 

 can be ploughed readily, the plough may be 

 used by throwing up a bed ten feet wide, which 

 process may be repeated several times, so as to 

 make less work for the hoes, taking care to 

 have the middle of the bed where the fence is 

 to run. The only service, however, that the 

 plough renders is to make the hoe work a btile 

 easier and quicker and may be dispensed with 

 if not convenient. 



Where you w-ish to have the fence, lay the 

 worm (as for a common fence) with as much 

 precision as possible, slick up a slick two or 

 three feet high in every corner, and then take 

 up the worm. The sticks will show exactly 

 where the bank should be made. Draw up 

 with the hoes a sharp bank not wider at top 

 than the thickness of a rail, and take care to 

 have it straight from one stick to the other and 

 make it a little higher than necessary, as it will 

 settle a little. Ii is not necessary to give the 

 worm more than about three feet crook, for it 

 will stand much better than a a fence made al- 

 together with rails. It may be made still 

 stronger by using stakes and caps — and when 

 stakes and caps are used, the crook may be re- 

 duced to two feet. I prefer slakes and caps de- 

 cidedly to stakes and riders, because they make 

 the fence stronger and much lighter and the 

 rails ilo not settle and mash into each other as 

 much, and besides, it takes less timber, as the 

 stakes need not be more than five and a half 

 feet long. If these are used they should only 



be stuck in the ground a few inches, so as to 

 make them stand erect — then 'put on the caps, 

 draw the bank up to the stakes and ram the 

 dirt around them so as to make them firm. — 

 When it becomes necessary to repair the fence, 

 it will only be necessary to raise the bank a 

 little higher, which can be very easily done, and 

 the same rails will answer the purpose. A 

 fence on this plan does better than if made on 

 the bank of a ditch, and the labor can be per- 

 formed by any person that can handle a hoe, 

 and requires no more time than a fence made 

 entirely of rails. 



Very respectfully, &c. 



Wm. B. Miller. 

 Halifax, Va., May 10, 1843. 



We are glad to see that our efforts are draw- 

 ing out communications upon this important 

 subject. For our own part, we have seen no 

 plan yet that we thought so good, nor so eco- 

 nomical, as the post and rail, especially, if the 

 posts are mortised in rainy weather with the 

 facilities we have recommended. 



PLASTER. 



A young farmer desires to know how he shall 

 use plaster. Our advice to him is, to use it 

 freely on all his crops, our opinion being, that, 

 at the rate of a bushel to the acre, it will do 

 good to any crop, and the more where the land 

 may have been previously limed. Lei him njix 

 it in the proportion of one bushel to twenty cart- 

 loads of manure, as he may be preparing his 

 manure to be hauled out, or sow it, in that pro- 

 portion, after his manure may be spread out, 

 and previous to its being ploughed in : let him 

 spread it on the surface of his ground after be- 

 ing ploughed, and then to be harrowed in: let 

 him put it, mixed with ashes, in the pr'oportion 

 of one bushel of plaster to five of ashes, in his 

 corn hills, or potato rows, graduating the quan- 

 tity of the mixture to a gill for each corn hill or 

 potato set : let him sow it in the first named 

 proportion over his grain fields, his meadows, 

 and his old fields, and he cannot go am.iss. The 

 I'ange we have here marked out, is extensive, 

 but not more so than it is calculated to do good 

 in : and, in a word, we w^ill say to our inquirer, 

 that he w^ill find it to his interest to sow it any 

 where, where he may have growling crops, as 

 it will attract moisture and food from the air 

 and from the earth, and like a good nurse, dis- 

 pense it to the growing plants in such propor- 

 tions, and at such tinaes, as maj^ be required by 

 their wants. 



But while the agricultor may be providing 

 plaster, let him not forget, that it always acts 

 best where, as we have before premised, the land 

 may have been previously liu.ed. — Jim. Fanner. 



