THE SOUTHE 



RN PLANTER. 



17 



trast the proposed with the present miserable 

 system, if it deserves the name, that now ob- 

 tains in Virginia. To make any thing of him, 

 the teacher must have the entire control of the 

 pupil ; his studies must be conducted regularly 

 and systematically, and the present arrange- 

 ment, by which the parent sends his son to 

 school, just when he has no other use for him, 

 is the most useless and extravagant that can be 

 imagined. Again, the honest pride which re- 

 fuses to be the object of charity should be re- 

 spected and encouraged. The character and 

 dignity of a being, who had worked out his 

 education by the sweat of his brow, would be 

 as superior to that of a common charity boy, as 

 the independence of a freeman is to the servility 

 of a slave. 



Is there a greater demand for any class than 

 for that which, after the first six years, would 

 be annually turned out from these institutions? 

 W e verily believe they might be made to con- 

 stitute the most valuable citizens in the Com- 

 monwealth. 



Is there a man in the State who does not pre- 

 fer the general principles of the plan proposed, 

 to the present common school system ? 



Is there a poor man, especially, who will not 

 devote himself, heart and soul to the establish- 

 ment of a system, which is to elevate his chil- 

 dren from the weak and grovelling condition in 

 which ignorance holds them ; which offers to 

 his offspring a sure and honorable passport to 

 the condition of useful, valued, and respected 

 members of society? 



What say the people of Virginia? What 

 say the press of Virginia? Will they take up 

 the subject in earnest, consider, reform or extend 

 the plan proposed, and unite their efforts with 

 ours in bringing it before the present Legislature? 



From the Nashville Agriculturist.. 



PUMPKINS. 



Early in April I ploughed a small field, deep 

 and close ; threw about eight buck-loads of barn 

 yard compost broadcast to the acre, and forth- 

 with planted pumpkin seed at five feet distance 

 in checks. I cultivated as corn until the middle 

 of May, when the ground was pretty well co- 

 vered in the more luxuriant spots with the vines. 

 I then took hoes in hand and planted, in the re- 

 planting manner, corn in each pumpkin hill — 

 the corn having remained in soak forty-eight 

 hours. It came up at once, grew off kindly, 

 Vol. III.— 3 



and yielded a fair crop of corn — no vacant rows — 

 corn in all. 



Previously the pumpkin vines got such a start 

 they were not checked by the growth of the 

 corn, and now exhibit a small field more abun- 

 dantly bespeckled with pumpkins, than any I 

 ever saw by fourfold. My neighbors seldom 

 pass without inquiring how I raise so many 

 pumpkins and a fair crop of corn together? I 

 tell them frankly the mode of culture, and the 

 pumpkins show the result. I am astonished at 

 my success; my little field- — I ought to call it 

 patch — is the admiration of all, and if this short 

 account of the matter should be the means of 

 helping my brother-farmer to a like success, the 

 end in view is obtained. 



Parvus Agricola. 

 Wilson County, September ; 1842. 



For the Southern Planter. 



Messrs. Editors, — The accompanying certifi- 

 cate shows the weight of two hogs of Mr. Dick- 

 en's white stock. They were the refuse of a 

 litter of eleven, pigged the 9th April, 1841, be- 

 ing apparently runts. The other nine were fine 

 pigs, and were slaughtered for pork in Decem- 

 ber, 1841, when eight months and nine or ten 

 days old. These two were then so inferior that 

 I considered them of little value and did not at- 

 tempt to fatten them. They have had only the 

 ordinary farm keep until November last, when 

 they were put up to fatten, and slaughtered on 

 the 14th — being twenty months and five days 

 old. 



William II. Richardson. 



The above mentioned hogs were weighed by 

 me this daj r ; one weighed 240, the other 275 

 pounds, neither of them very fat ; had they been 

 made fat, one would have reached upwards of 

 300 — bot h of them were very lengthy and deep. 



W. Miller. 



December 15, 1842. 



HOW TO FATTEN A HEN. 



Friend Paine Wingate says his experience 

 tells him that the following process is the best 

 mode of fattening hens. Shut them up where 

 they can get no gravel. Keep corn by them 

 all the time, and also give them dough once a 

 day. For drink give them skim milk. With 

 this feed they will fatten in ten days. If kept 

 over ten days they should have some gravel or 

 they will fall away. — Maine Farmer, 



aUERIES. 

 To the Editors of the Southern Planter: 



Gentlemen, — A neighbor of mine who has 

 been cultivating and improving two fields for 



