THE SOUTHE 



July and a lad of a dozen years of age ; and 

 the owner is not under the necessity of laboring 

 more than half the time. There is no crowd 

 of work except in hay time. 



In winter he needs but little help, for when 

 at home he chooses to feed his own cattle by 

 throwing their hay into the racks ; and one of 

 his horses pumps all the water for his stock 

 by means of a fixed horse power, the cost of 

 which was less than $20. The same horse, at 

 the same time, and in the same gear, may turn 

 a grindstone, an auger, a churn, and a washing 

 machine. The churning and the washing are 

 done on Monday morning. 



For the Southern Planter. 



MEADOWS. 



Mr. Editor, — Above you will find three chap- 

 ters from the work on husbandry by L. Junius 

 Moderatus Columella, who, it appears, was a 

 contemporary of Tiberius, who died A. D. 37. 

 So the work dates about the commencement of 

 the Christian era. I send them to you for two- 

 reasons, first, as an agricultural antiquity and cu- 

 riosity; second, that those who are experienced in 

 meadows may be induced to give us theirviews — 

 for information upon the subject of grasses and 

 meadows, in the part of the State in which I 

 reside, is sadly wanting. Few sections, in any 

 country, afford so much land fit for meadows, 

 nor is there, I dare say, in the civilized world, 

 anywhere such utter neglect of grasses. Se- 

 veral reasons conspire to produce this effect; 

 but, I doubt not, the chief reason is to be found 

 in our utter ignorance upon the subject. To- 

 bacco is the great Shibboleth of this region, when 

 our necessities require that other things should 

 not be neglected. We buy pork and horses 

 from the drovers, and rely upon tobacco to pay 

 for every thing. I should be much gratified to 

 see something mature upon the subject of mea- 

 dows in the Planter. Can you not enlist some 

 successful grass-grower, and lay before your 

 readers a full account of the subject 1 



1. The best situation and soil. 



2. The best manner of preparing land for a 

 meadow. 



3. The best kind of meadow grass for Middle 

 Virginia. 



4. The best time for seeding a meadow. 



5. The best time for mowing it. 



6. The average quantity an acre of average 

 meadow will produce. 



7. How many ox-cart loads of manure are 

 requisite to an acre of ordinary meadow land ; 

 and as the chancery lawyers say, " such other 

 and further" information as experienced men 

 think useful. 



Most writers take it for granted that their 

 readers know more than they really do, and, 

 Vol. IV.- 15 



RN PLANTER. 113 



therefore, omit just what puzzles the "green- 

 horn." Whereas if they would write for the 

 ignorant farmer, the well informed one would 

 lose nothing. 



I am, sir f 



Your obedient servant, 



Philip A. Bolling. 



We are much obliged to Mr. Boiling for the 

 pains which he has taken in supplying us with 

 the extracts, but we think our correspondents, 

 whose particular attention we invite to the sub- 

 ject, can furnish him with information infinitely 

 more practical, and much better adapted to the 

 present state of agriculture than any thing he 

 can find in Columella. The opinions expressed 

 by the old Roman are curious and highly cre- 

 ditable to the author, as showing what correct 

 views were entertained by this distinguished 

 husbandman even at that early period. 



GROOMING. 



Of this, much need not be said to the agri- 

 culturist, since custom, and apparently without 

 ill effect, has allotted so little of the comb and. 

 brush to the farmer's horse. The animal that 

 is worked all day, and turned out at night, re- 

 quires little more to be done to him than to have 

 the dirt brushed off his limbs. Regular groom- 

 ing, by rendering his skin more sensible to the 

 alteration of temperature, and the inclemency 

 of the weather, would be prejudicial. The 

 horse that is altogether turned out, needs no 

 grooming. The dandruff, or scurf, which ac- 

 cumulates at the roots of the hair, is a provi- 

 sion of nature to defend him from the wind and 

 the cold. 



It is to the stabled horse, highly fed, and little 

 or irregularly worked, that grooming is of so 

 much consequence. Good rubbing with the 

 brush, or the currycomb, opens the pores of the 

 skin, circulates the blood to the extremities of 

 the bodj 7 , produces free and healthy perspiration, 

 and stands in the room of exercise. No horse 

 will carry a fine coat without unnatural heat or 

 dressing. They both effect the same purpose ; 

 they both increase the insensible perspiration : 

 but the first does it at the expense of health 

 and strength, while the second, at the same 

 time that it produces a glow on the skin, and a 

 determination of blood to it, rouses all the ener- 

 gies of the frame. It would be well for the 

 proprietor of the horse if he were to insist — and 

 to see that his orders are really obeyed — that 

 the fine coat in which he and his groom so 

 much delight, is produced by honest rubbing, 

 and not by a heated stable and thick clothing, 

 and most of all, not by stimulating or injurious 

 spices. The horse should be regularly dressed 



