56 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



For the Southern Planter. 

 GRASS, RUTA BAGA AND ROLLERS. 



Messrs. Editors, — I observe in the Planter of 

 this month, that Mr. William Carter, on the 

 Chickahominy, (a stream dear to me) had tried 

 the mode called neiv, of renovating grass lands 

 as practised in the East somewhere, and found it 

 to answer to his entire satisfaction ; and, that he 

 was convinced of the utter inutility of a cleans- 

 ing crop where grounds required reseeding in 

 grass. 



Now, I saw this done as far back as 1817, at 

 Ricohoc, in the county of King & Queen. The 

 land had been put in herdsgrass by Col. Smith, 

 and the then occupant of the estate broke up 

 that portion of it for the purpose of planting in 

 coin, but before it could be properly prepared, 

 the grass made its appearance between the fur- 

 row slices, plainly indicating that the effort to 

 obtain a grain crop would be attended with 

 more labor than could be bestowed on it, and 

 upon being abandoned, a fine growth of grass 

 ensued. On the Bordley meadows in the same 

 county, it has been the uniform practice for se- 

 veral years, but the harrowing is omitted, the 

 rains, snows and frosts doing this part of the 

 business pretty effectually. The ploughing is 

 done from soon after harvest until late in the 

 winter, and the seed, if requisite, sown from De- 

 cember to February, on the surface, to be forced 

 in place by the action of frost, rain and snow. 



l En passant,'' I have seen ruta baga made with 

 less work than our anti-silk-stocking friend prac- 

 tises. The ground intended for it is put in good 

 heart the preceding fall and winter, and covered 

 with a good coat of litter, no matter how coarse, 

 and remains until the time for planting arrives ; 

 then, season or no season, it is thoroughly bro- 

 ken up, harrowed, and the seed dropped thin 

 from a drill, by stakes, and well and firmly rolled 

 in. A thin sprinkling of lime follows, and the 

 crop rarely, if ever fails. The subsequent work- 

 ing consists in the repeated use of the cultivator, 

 and occasionally the hand-hoe, till the leaves 

 have attained a size which will endanger their 

 breaking. The thinning is done by degrees, as 

 taking away the superabundant plants too fast 

 will cause them that are left to fall, and often 

 perish. 



I have no hesitation in saying that this crop 

 is generally sowed too early in our climate, and 

 that the gathering of it at once is wholly use- 

 less. Every other row may be used out, and 

 the remainder secured by dipping a plough pret- 

 ty deep on each side of them. 



Speaking of rollers, I have lately seen one 

 that certainly is preferable to all others that have 

 come under my observation. A shaft twelve 

 inches square is pierced by three sets of arms, 

 to which are attached felloes of suitable dimen- 

 sions ; upon these are strongly nailed slats three 



inches wide, one and a half thick; inch and 

 quarter winged gudgeons are inserted in the 

 ends of the shaft, and the frame, which is so 

 close behind as to keep the cylinder clean, has 

 hounds and tongue like a wagon. The driver's 

 seat is on the hinder part of the frame — the ma- 

 chine stands four feet six inches, carries a five 

 foot row, and is an easy draught for two good 

 horses ; they should, however, be relieved occa- 

 sionally during the day, in fact, an all-day's work 

 is too much for any team to any ponderous ma- 

 chine through ploughed ground. 



Oberlin. 



Query. Will M'Cormick's reaper answer to 

 mow grass 1 Has any one tried it ? 



We thank our unknown friend for his com- 

 munication, nameless as it is. We have no doubt 

 his roller is an excellent one. 



M'Cormick's reaper, as at present constituted, 

 is not exactly adapted, we should imagine, to 

 mowing grass. We mentioned the subject to 

 the inventor, when he was with us, and he ex- 

 pressed to us his confidence in his ability to 

 make such alterations as would render it perfect 

 in this respect — he promised to try the experi- 

 ment, if possible, during the approaching harvest. 



FEEDING POULTRY. 



Professor Gregory, of Aberdeen, in a letter to 

 a friend, observes, "As I suppose you keep 

 poultry I may tell you that it has been ascer- 

 tained, that if you mix with their food a suffi- 

 cient quantity of egg-shells or chalk, which they 

 eat greedily, they will lay, ceteris paribus, twice 

 or thrice as many eggs as before. A well-fed 

 fowl is disposed to lay a vast number of eggs, 

 but cannot do so without the materials for the 

 shells, however nourishing in other respects her 

 food may be ; indeed, a fowl fed on food and 

 water, free from carbonate of lime, and not find- 

 ing any in the soil, or in the shape of mortar, 

 which they often eat on the walls, would lay no 

 eggs at all, with the best will in the world." 



INDIAN CORN AND OLD FIELD PINES. 

 To the Editors of the Southern Planter: 



Gentlemen,-— 1 have been a subscriber to your 

 paper ever since it has been published, and I 

 have noticed that nearly all your correspondents 

 upon the subject of Indian corn agree, that the 

 rows should be four and a half or five feet dis- 

 tant. This is no doubt the proper distance for 

 all the corn east of the Blue Ridge, but I once 

 happened to be present, in the south-western 

 part of Virginia, at corn planting time, and was 

 surprised to observe the farmers laying off their 

 rows from three feet, to three and a half, wide. 



