THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



46 



3d. When the ground is dry, two horses work 

 the Reaper with perfect ease, when it is wet, 

 the wheels sink and make the work much 

 harder, requiring sometimes the assistance of a 

 third horse. But for the coming harvest, the 

 width of the wheels will be increased, by which, 

 it is supposed, the sinking will be avoided. 



4th. The term "large" is a very indefinite 

 one ; it is certain that a very small crop would 

 not justify the expense of the machine, but 

 knowing what it will do, every one can judge 

 for himself whether it would be to his interest 

 to have it. 



5th. As to the probable last, if well taken 

 care of, we see nothing about it liable to wear 

 out in twenty years, if applied only to the crops 

 of a single farmer. 



It must be understood, however, that we have 

 never seen the machine, and that all the know- 

 ledge we have concerning it, is derived from the 

 information of others, and from a personal in- 

 spection of the model. 



RICE. 



It is said rice was first planted in Carolina, in 

 1668 ; but owing to bad seed it was abandoned. 

 In the year 1695, a vessel from Madagascar, the 

 master of which furnished a gentleman with a 

 small quantity, from which has sprung immense 

 sources of wealth to the southern States. " So 

 much for a remnant of a sea store left in the 

 bottom of a bag."- — Nashville Agriculturist. 



THE POET AND THE BASKET MAKER. 



I am no enemy to learning — no enemy to col- 

 leges. On the contrary, I am the steadfast 

 friend of both. But I am opposed to having 

 them both overrated as they are ; and the ad- 

 vantages of both so abundantly exaggerated, 

 by the great mass of our people — as if no other 

 learning were valuable, no other knowledge 

 worth having. 



I would remind them of the basket maker ; 

 the only man of a large crew, cast ashore among 

 savages, who was able to turn his past acquisi- 

 tion to account ; while the remainder sat twirl- 

 ing their thumbs, liable every moment to be 

 knocked in the head for their ignorance, the 

 basket maker was made a chief upon the spot ; 

 and almost worshipped for his ingenuity. 



Or I might remind them of that other crew 

 taken by a Barbary corsair. When they were 

 before the Dey, he inquired their several occu- 

 pations. The riggers, and blacksmiths, and 

 carpenters were all sent off to the dock yard. — 

 The sailors had a comfortable berth provided for 



them, and even the officers were turned to ac- t 

 count one way or another. At last his highness 

 came to a literary man — a passenger and poet — 

 what to do with him, for a long while, his high- 

 ness could not say, till at last, on learning that 

 the prisoner was a man of sedentary occupa- 

 tions, and having them explained by the inter- 

 preter, he ordered the poet a pair of feather 

 breeches and set him to hatching chickens. 



And now which of these two was the edu- 

 cated man, the poet or the basket maker % 



John Neat. 



THE GOOCHLAND AGRICULTURAL 

 SOCIETY. 



Four or five weeks ago, we received through 

 the Secretary, a report of the agricultural fair 

 in Goochland, and a copy of the address deli- 

 vered by their able President, Dr. Wight. By 

 request, we left them at the office of one of our 

 city papers, where they were unfortunately mis- 

 laid, and it was not until to-day that we were 

 enabled to regain them. We regret this delay 

 particularly, because, an examination of the ad- 

 dress satisfied us that it more than sustained the 

 high reputation for science and practice that Dr. 

 Wight has acquired in the circle where his me- 

 rits as a farmer are known. We shall probably 

 draw largely on it in our next. 



REBELLIOUS HENS. 



A neighbor of our's states that hog's lard is 

 the best thing he can find to mix with the dough 

 he gives to his hens. He says one cut of this 

 fat, as large as a walnut, will set a hen to lay- 

 ing immediately after she has been broken up 

 from her setting ; and thus his hens lay through 

 the whole winter. Will some more experiment- 

 ers try the virtue of hog's lard. — Massachusetts 

 Ploughman. 



From the Central New York Farmer. 



CUTTING FEED FOR CATTLE. 



JWessrs. Editors, — My location is among the 

 mountains in the southern part of the State of 

 New York, but my exact whereabouts it is not 

 proper at present to define. The result of my 

 reflections will, from time to time be forwarded 

 for publication, and as I sometimes emerge from 

 my hiding place, I shall tell of some of the 

 faults, as well as the merits of the farmers where 

 I travel. In this communication, I shall touch 

 upon some of the errors which prevail to a con- 

 siderable extent, not only in my neighborhood, 

 but in nearly every part of the country. The 

 first error which I shall name is the wasteful 

 manner of feeding stock which too generally 



