20 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



of "A Subscriber," that it was of no value. He 

 had made an experiment some ten or fifteen 

 years previous, and found it perfectly worthless. 

 I inquired of him how he managed it, and at 

 what season of the year he got out the meadow 

 mud ; his reply was, " in the summer, and I im- 

 mediately ploughed it in." I was not satisfied, 

 and determined to try for myself. I accordingly 

 did so, and found it to be extremely valuable — 

 and if I had a plenty of it now, would think 

 my time well spent in using it. 



My mode of management was to scatter the 

 mud some four or six weeks in the winter, be- 

 fore ploughing it in, so as to let the rains and 

 frosts melt and pulverize it well ; if " A Sub- 

 scriber" will try some 150 or 200 loads of ten 

 bushels to the acre this winter, and does not see 

 a very great advantage arising from it, then I 

 will acknowledge to him whenever we meet, that 

 I am no farmer. I have not undertaken to solve 

 the " mystery" but given him facts. 



I would advise "A Subscriber" to haul his 

 bog mud, &c. into his farm pens, and mix it 

 with leaves, pine trash, &c. — a layer of each 

 alternately. Let the slock dung it well, and if 

 convenient, give a dressing of marl and clay. — 

 Before getting it out, rick it some four or six 

 weeks with new stable manure ; he will find he 

 has a valuable compost in the spring. I consi- 

 der bog mud of but little value to get out on 

 the land alone ; it is too light and spongy. I 

 have given it a trial several times to very little 

 advantage. While writing, I will say to Mr. 

 W. M. Peyton that we have never in this sec- 

 tion of the country used plaster on our wheat, 

 and are subject to the rust three years out of 

 five. 



I am, gentlemen, 



Yours, respectfully, 



T. M. S. 



Marlhoro\ Gloucester Co. ) 

 JYov. 26, 1842. J 



In connexion with the above, we subjoin the 

 following extract from a letter received from Mr. 

 Robinson, of King & Queen : 



"The mud of the Dragon Swamp, when 

 hauled out upon the high land, is veiy valuable, 

 and when I was a boy Mr. Thomas Fauntleroy, 

 by the use of mill-pond mud, made a very poor 

 field produce the best wheat of any land in ten 

 miles of him. I have tried marsh mud after 

 the salt tide was taken from it five years without 

 effect, whilst the mud from an ash-sapling swamp, 

 at the head of the tide water in a state of na- 

 ture, was very beneficial. 



" Col. Spencer, of this county, tried the em- 

 bankment of a reclaimed marsh about eight 

 years after it was thrown up, with very decided 

 effect on both corn and wheat." 



PROPAGATION OF MENTAL 

 PECULIARITIES. 



It is stated that one of the fine deer hounds in 

 Richmond park, instead of seizing the deer by 

 the ear or neck, as is usually the case when 

 they stand at bay, i lways takes it by the skin 

 of the forehead, between the antlers — a difficult 

 place to hold it hy, and one of peculiar danger 

 to the dog. On slipping a puppy of this parti- 

 cular hound at a deer for the first time, when it 

 was only nine months old, it immediately seized 

 the deer, when brought to bay, in the same man- 

 ner its mother had done, and still continues to 

 do so. 



For the Southern Planter. 

 Lake C. H., Indiana, Dec. 12, 1842. 

 In the letter of friend Botts, in the November 

 number, there are some remarks upon his visit 

 to the farm of Mr. Cushing particularly worthy 

 of notice. 



The spirit which prompted Mr. Cushing, a 

 wealthy East India merchant, in his retirement 

 from business, to select a sterile spot in the coun- 

 try, and spend his surplus wealth in making it 

 bloom and blossom in beauty, is worthy of all 

 commendation. 



What a pity it is that hundreds of the 

 wealthy cits of our large towns, would not go 

 and do likewise, instead of hoarding up their 

 capital in the vaults of some bank, or other 

 shaving shops, the great amount of benefit to 

 society, derived from their operations, consisting 

 in the patronage that they bestow upon paper 

 mills and engravers. 



At present, the height of ambition in a retired 

 city merchant, seems to be to get a few miles 

 out in the country and build a palace by the side 

 of some great thoroughfare, or upon a naked 

 hill-top, where it will catch the eye and admira- 

 tion, or excite the envy of the passer-by ; where 

 he lives upon the proceeds of his bank stock, 

 etc. instead of devoting his wealth to the actual 

 improvement of the agricultural condition of his 

 native or adopted country ; and actually creating 

 happiness for himself and all around him, like 

 your friend in his James River paradise. 



True, we have no right to question, or "fall 

 out with the taste" of any individual, as to the 

 manner in which he shall spend his money, yet 

 we have a right, nay a duty, to point out a way 

 in which it can be done and produce a greater 

 blessing to a greater number. 



What noble monuments of fame the retiring 

 merchant might raise to himself, if, when he re- 

 tires from business, he would select some barren 

 spot, like our friend Bement, for instance, and 

 like him, set an example worthy to be followed 

 in all similar situations. Instead of creating a 



