THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



Ill 



bushel of plaster to the acre sown, and ploughed 

 .in with the seed. 



"A very great advantage from the culture of 

 buckwheat, arises from the lateness of the sea- 

 son at which it may be sown. It can be seeded 

 after the wheat and rye crops are harvested, on 

 the stubbles ploughed in and harrowed ; thus 

 enabling the farmer whose small grain crops 

 may have proved light, or whose corn crop may 

 promise badly, to grow a very excellent grain, 

 and thus repair his losses. 



" It should be cut when about half the grains 

 on the heads appear ripe, and as it is easy to 

 scatter, it is best to get it out with flails, on 

 sheets, in the field, to prevent loss. 



" Half a bushel to the acre is the proper 

 quantity of seed to sow." 



For the Southern Planter. 

 TOBACCO. 



Messrs. Editors, — My attention was attracted 

 by an editorial at the 95th page of the last 

 Planter, in which you give to your readers some 

 ingenious views derived from a visitor, with re- 

 spect to the character and nature of the tobacco 

 crop. That the cultivation of tobacco induces 

 a clean tilth, is undoubtedly true ; and that bet- 

 ter means for saving and using manure, may, 

 and must be resorted to, if we would preserve 

 the fertility of our fields, I am not prepared to 

 question ; but that tobacco is not an exhauster, 

 I am not ready to admit. Your friend argues, 

 that because the tobacco is a broad leaf plant, 

 and does not mature its seed, that, therefore, by 

 all the rules of agricultural science, it must 

 draw its sustenance from the atmosphere, in- 

 stead of the soil ; but he should have remem- 

 bered that it is only prevented from maturing its 

 seed by the artificial means of topping. It is a 

 bold, vigorous plant, with a large and heavy 

 stalk, remaining in the ground even beyond the 

 time of perfect maturity, and nature, who can- 

 not be always dragged into a co operation with 

 man, undoubtedly prepares, for the maturity of 

 the seed, the sustenance, which the continued 

 growth of the plant justifies her in believing 

 will be required. 



Our country has no doubt been much injured 

 by careless and improvident management, but I 

 cannot help thinking that the present state of 

 barrenness, to be witnessed in many parts of it, 

 is mainly attributable to the cultivation of this 

 exhausting crop. 



Your obedient servant, P. 



WRINKLES. 

 We have a recipe to prevent wrinkles, not 

 upon the human face divine, fair reader, but 

 upon the horns of cattle. We are credibly in- 



formed that if cattle are kept always fat their 

 horns will be perfectly smooth, and that wrin- 

 kles instead of denoting the years of life only 

 mark the years of suffering and of poverty. — 

 They are probably stamped by nature as an in- 

 delible monument of the cruelty and negligence 

 of a bad farmer. Human wrinkles too arise in 

 a great measure from a similar cause, and al- 

 though not upon the same authority, we think 

 we may venture to say that the best way to 

 fight them off, or to delay them at least, is to 

 laugh and grow fat. 



For the Southern Planter. 

 VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL SUPPORTERS, 



There are 5,500 species of plants in the ve- 

 getable kingdom, differing from each other in 

 their organization, roots, stems, branches, leaves, 

 flowers, fruits, odors, aliments and medicinal pro- 

 perties. This immense mass of vegetation, 

 which adorns and beautifies the earth, is formed 

 by the combination of five or six agents mar- 

 vellously modified by the hand of God. Che- 

 mical analysis proves that all vegetables, from 

 the largest oak, down to the smallest blade of 

 grass, are composed of air, water, light, heat, 

 carbon and metalic, earthy, or alkaline salts. 



We propose making a few concise remarks 

 on those great agents in the order they are 

 named. 



Atmospheric air is composed of every prin- 

 ciple from the earth capable of assuming the 

 gaseous form. These gases after being com- 

 mixed, result in oxygen, nitrogen and carbonic 

 acid gases ; forming the fluid mass which sup- 

 ports the vegetable and animal kingdoms. This 

 element is compounded of two opposite principles, 

 the one the source of flame, animal and vegeta- 

 ble life, the other destructive to both, and pro- 

 ducing by their different combinations the most 

 diversified and beneficial effects. Atmospheric 

 air effects the germination of seeds, the evolu- 

 tion and growth of plants — is the cause of fer- 

 mentation, combustion and animal heat — pre- 

 serves water in a liquid state — sustains the 

 clouds, bears up the feathered race — the cause 

 of winds, the vehicle of smell and sound, and is 

 the source of all pleasurable sensation derived 

 from harmonious music ; it is the prime mover 

 in most machinery — impels ships, blows fur- 

 naces, winnows and crushes grain — insinuating 

 itself into the pores and sap vessels of plants, 

 and produces respiration in all living beings — 

 whilst it is at the same time actively engaged 

 in decomposing all inanimate matter. So lhat 

 this fell destroyer, and life preserver, is continual- 

 ly acting on the vegetable and anin al kingdoms, 

 producing their evolution and growth, and per- 

 forming many thousand agencies of minor im- 



