THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



double in value in the course of a few years. 

 In fact, I am so well convinced of it, that were 

 I to sell the farm I now occupy, I should turn 

 my face to Virginia," &c. Now, friend Bement, 

 all you have to do is to come hither next fall 

 and see for yourself, and I am persuaded you 

 will doubt no longer. Indeed, sir, as altitude 

 creates climate, we can give you any climate 

 you desire, with the advantages of longer sum- 

 mers, and lighter snows ; and that too anywhere 

 about the centre of our State. We full well 

 know your character, sir, and gladly would we 

 adopt you in our family, and embrace you, and 

 all such, as brethren. Do come, if only on a 

 visit ; and if we do not receive you with open 

 countenances, hands and hearts, then we give 

 you leave to " publish it in Gath, and tell it in 

 Askalon." 



Improvement of Old Land. — Mr. Morton says, 

 " plaster, lime, &c. are rather expensive articles 

 to be used broadcast." Now, although I like 

 this communication very well in the general, 

 yet I think this rather too much of a broadcast 

 assertion. I wish Mr. M. had told us his 

 whereabouts, for the cost of carriage and the 

 action of the plaster on the land, should de- 

 termine whether it should be used broadcast or 

 not. Where judiciously used, I believe that at 

 one dollar the bushel, it is the cheapest manure 

 which can be bought, to be used broadcast or 

 otherwise. 



Fencing. — I wish Mr. Miller would abandon 

 his crooked bank, if he will not his crooked 

 fence. If the bank were straight and broader, 

 the hogs could not root through so easily, the 

 fence would stand firmer, and grass could be 

 sowed and mowed therefrom. 



Corn. — I suppose I can guess what Mr. 

 Tucker means by "barring the corn, lapping 

 the grass in the row, and splitting it again," but 

 when he adds, " destroying the corn," I cannot 

 guess ; only that it may be a typographical 

 error. Nor can I understand what he means, 

 when he says, " In Roanoke we plough every 

 other row through the crop, from the beginning ; 

 and every other row is of course worked differ- 

 ently." I would ask whether half the rows are 

 never worked, or whether they are worked al- 

 ternately 1 How is it they are worked differ- 

 ently 1 And how can a third more be culti- 

 vated 1 The Roanoke mode of culture may be 

 better than mine, but I never suffer a sprig of 

 grass to grow amongst my corn, so as to require 

 barring or lapping ; nor would I have such a 

 plough amongst my corn as a gift. 1 speak 

 from experience, yet I may be wrong. 



Hanover Agricultural Fair. — Perfectly right, 

 Mr. Botts ; you should never gratify localities 

 at the expense of the public. The good people 

 of Hanover will justify your course, upon re- 

 flection. 



Comments on the May and June Numbers. — I 

 discover an error in my remarks to "A Young 

 Planter." Read, "his assertion that tobacco 

 will not take rot," &c. And a word for you, 

 friend Botts. You say, " stones indubitably by 

 the covering they afford, protect the earth from 

 the rays of the sun, and so prevent evapora- 

 tion," &c. Now, sir, with equal confidence I 

 say you are indubitably wrong, except in case 

 of large stones, and these too thick to convey 

 unnatural heat to the earth. Then, and in that 

 case, I too have often observed " that the most 

 luxuriant tufts of grass or wheat in the field were 

 those growing from underneath the stones." — 

 But I would not attribute this luxuriance to ex- 

 tra moisture, but to the extra pasturage under- 

 neath the stones ; and I must contend, that in 

 the general, that pasturage is kept in good heart 

 by the decomposition of the stones. But if Mr. 

 B. will yet contend that stones are valuable to 

 prevent evaporation, I will turn him over to my 

 friend Goddin, of Bacon Quarter Branch, who 

 I have no doubt will freely give him a few loads 

 for the purpose of making experiments. Or if 

 nothing else will do, he can send to me, and I 

 will furnish him with a few hundred loads of 

 boulders, which are now burning my land and 

 crops to death. 



A Ploughing Match. — Success to the pony 

 purse, a glorious day for the ploughing, and a 

 huzza, for the most skilful ploughman. 



Investigator. 



We are extremely obliged to our respected 

 correspondent for the liberality with which he 

 flings his stones at us, and we would not attempt 

 to fling back again, but that we are desirous to 

 obtain the benefit of his experience and observa- 

 tion upon a question involved in the difference 

 between us. This difference, we humbly con- 

 ceive, is narrowed down to the cause of the su- 

 perior productiveness of land, which is covered 

 by large stones ; for that some size of stone is 

 productive of fertility, we both seem to agree. 

 " Investigator" attributes it to the decomposition 

 of the material of the stone, we to the protection 

 it affords as a covering from the sun and air. — 

 We have long thought that the benefit of a 

 cover was not sufficiently appreciated, and that 

 the day would come when it would be recog- 

 nized as one of the first principles in agriculture, 

 that the land should be protected from the bane- 

 ful influence of the sun and air. Has any man 

 ever seen an instance where ground was so pro- 

 tected that it was not enriched ? Where do 

 cunning boys go to look for worms, those un- 

 erring indicators of fertility in the soil? They 

 raise a stone or plank, and is it the decomposi- 



