THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



65 



difficulty in walking on the brush with baskets 

 of manure and in scattering it broadcast over 

 the surface ; it treads and bruises the plants less 

 than if the brush was removed ; and where the 

 land has been properly burned there is but little 

 hand weeding necessary. By treating our plant 

 patches as above described, we have never had 

 our plants killed by frost, nor have we ever had 

 occasion to water them, and further, we have 

 never failed to have an abundance in good time. 



You will, I trust, gentlemen, pardon the 

 length at which I have dwelt on this part of the 

 subject, when you recollect that a very large 

 proportion of the failures in our tobacco crops, 

 are to be ascribed, either to scarcity of plants at 

 the proper season, or to small, sickly, indifferent 

 ones, which cannot survive the shock of trans- 

 planting. Our lands, owing to long cultivation, 

 are not as free as they were formerly, and it re- 

 quires rather earlier planting for the crop to come 

 in ripe before frost. Good plant lands, too, are 

 scarcer than they once were, and we must make 

 up in cultivation and attention what we have 

 lost in fertility. Having strong, large, vigorous 

 plants, is half the battle. They resist drought, 

 cut-worm, and all other enemies to which they 

 are exposed, much better than small, delicate 

 ones. 



Should this communication (which has grown 

 much longer than I intended) be deemed worthy 

 of a place in your columns, gentlemen, I may 

 feel encouraged to follow Mr. Minor in the cul- 

 tivation of the tobacco crop, — the diseases or 

 accidents to which the crop is exposed, and the 

 modes of prevention as far as I am acquainted 

 with them. There is, I think, an error in his 

 remarks on this subject, which must be regarded 

 by the best planters of the present day as fun- 

 damental. To this, should I write again, I will 

 endeavor to call your attention. 

 Yours, very respectfully, 



N. A. Venable. 



Lunenburg County. 



The great object we had in view in publish- 

 ing Mr. Minor's pamphlet, over and above its 

 intrinsic merits, was to call forth such comments, 

 from just such a source, as those furnished us 

 by Mr. Venable. We sincere!}' hope he will 

 continue his review, and whilst his remarks are 

 so entirely practical, he need not fear to weary 

 either us or our readers by the clearness, and con- 

 sequent length, of detail. If the readers of the 

 Planter are not thoroughly instructed in the im- 

 portant art of tobacco making, it will not be our 

 fault. 



Experienced agriculturists tell us that all 

 plants, whether in the garden, field, or forest, if 

 in rows, should be placed in the direction of 

 Vol. III.— 9 



north and south, in order to admit the sun's rays 

 every day on both sides of the row. 



ROOT CROPS. 

 In a conversation with Mr. Dicken, who is 

 an old fashioned Virginia corn grower, and not 

 much given to " new fangled notions," he ex- 

 pressed to us the opinion, that the farmers of 

 Virginia were much indebted to Mr. Bement 

 for his excellent essays upon the cultivation of 

 roots, published in our columns. He says that 

 for rearing calves he has never tried any thing 

 equal to the ruta baga ; the finest he ever raised, 

 was fed upon nothing but pasturage in the sum- 

 mer, and chopped ruta baga in the winter. He 

 entertains not the smallest doubt that every far- 

 mer in Virginia should raise a crop of roots for 

 the winter use of his cattle. 



For the Southern Planter. 

 POUDRETTE. 



Gentlemen, — In running over the articles in 

 the last number of your valuable paper, I was 

 particularly struck with the one from your cor- 

 respondent Za. Drummond, Esq. — it made every 

 cord in my heart vibrate, and I felt, for one, that 

 I was ready "to go hand in hand" with him, if 

 not for " twenty-five years," at least to the close 

 of my earthly existence, in attempting to im- 

 prove that part of the Old Dominion which I 

 call my own. I believe it was General Miller 

 who, during our revolutionary struggle, when 

 asked by his superior officer if he could storm a 

 certain fortification of the British with an infe- 

 rior force, modestly answered, "I will try sir" — 

 he made the effort, and history has recorded the 

 result. I have adopted this as my motto — I am 

 determined to " try" what can be done. I re- 

 member to have promised 3'ou some time ago a 

 short account of my method of preparing ma- 

 nures from human excrements. I will now re- 

 deem that promise, hoping that it may be useful 

 to many of your subscribers. First, I collect 

 the stercoraceous matters separately in large 

 vessels or hogsheads, after the urine has become 

 putrid, which will require but two or three days 

 in warm, and ten or fifteen in cold, weather. I 

 then add sulphuric acid to the urine slowly ; if 

 the urine is putrid, a powerful effervescence 

 will immediately take place; the acid must be 

 added until effervescence ceases. By this pro- 

 cess, the carbonic acid in combination with the 

 ammonia, is disengaged and driven off, and sul- 

 phate of ammonia is formed, which has no vola- 

 tility, except at a very high temperature. Thus 

 you secure the ammonia formed by putrefaction, 

 which, otherwise would escape. I then add the 



