196 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



The leader's profit, as I have heard, is some- 

 times 15s. per day. The assembling of twenty- 

 five and thirty women and children and larls, 

 of all ages and conditions and characters, to- 

 gether, has a most fatal effect upon their morals 

 and conduct.' Another respectable and reverend 

 witness says, 1 The gang is superintended by a 

 lazy, idle fellow, of profligate manners and a 

 dishonest character — such, at all events, are the 

 characters of two in my own neighborhood.' " 



TO KILL ALDERS. 



Have a large strong iron hook, made with an 

 eye sufficiently large to run through it a strong 

 draft chain. Put a yoke of oxen on to the 

 chain, and place a hook around the clump with 

 the point settled into the ground a little under 

 the root. Let one person take hold of the tops 

 of the bushes and bend them over the hook, 

 while the other starts the oxen, and thus twitch 

 them up by the main strength. In this way 

 we once cleared several acres of thick alder 

 growth, and they never started again. — JVlaine 

 Farmer. 



Would not this plan be a good one for extir- 

 pating sassafras, as well as alders? 



For the Southern Planter. 

 RUST. 



Mr. Editor, — You received a few days since 

 a short, co umunication (over the signature of 

 "Gray beard,") on the subject of rust in wheat* 

 If that paper be considered won by of insertion 

 in the Southern Planter l a the following suc- 

 ceed as a postscript, containing, as many post- 

 scripts do, the gisi of the communication. 



P. S.— Since writing the above the writer 

 called on a neighbor, who is a respectable, sensi- 

 ble, steady, observing and prosperous farmer, 

 and with whom he does not often meet in con- 

 sequence of an intervening river. Conversing 

 on various subjects connected with agriculture 

 and rust, among others he said he was satisfied 

 that a worm, or worms, was the cause of rust, 

 and stated that another farmer adjoining was of 

 the same opinion. He slated that in every stalk 

 affected by rust he found a worm, and in bright 

 stalks he found none. The writer considered 

 the observation unsatisfactory and the conversa- 

 tion passed on to the quality of the red May 

 wheat, when a sheaf of it was sent for, to ex- 

 amine. In this sheaf were accidentally several 

 stalks of late wheat, rusted, their color bearing 

 evidence of premature cutting. Fie drew ihese 

 out and each of us began ihe search for worms 

 by splitting them down with our knives, when, 

 to a perfect conclusion, we invariably found a 



* See page 180. 



skeleton or an entire worm in the second or third 

 joint from the head and none in the unaffected 

 iVlay wheat. The worm, found generally just 

 below the upper joint, in its exhausted state was 

 contracted and not larger than a clipped sewing 

 thread, about the fifth or sixth of an inch long, 

 and made up of rings. The wheat had been 

 cut a month or more. The position taken in 

 the body of the communication is still insisted 

 on, viz : summer heat is necessary to give the 

 cause of rust its injurious or destructive agency, 

 and therefore we may not expect probable suc- 

 cess when sowing a wheat which ripens late. 



*Graybeard. 



July 9, 1844. 



GUANO, OR HXJANO. 



The following facts relative to the singular 

 properties of this manure, are extracted from a 

 letter recently received by the Editor of the 

 Southern Agriculturist, from his friend in Val- 

 paraiso : 



" in your last you reminded me of my pro- 

 mise of sending you a small bag of 'Huano,' 

 from Peru. I will now state the reason why I 

 did not fulfil it. About the time I received your 

 letter, I had been applying the 1 Kuano' to my 

 garden, which ended in the destruction of it, 

 and so disgusted me, that I did not comply, and 

 threw away what I had ; this is now three 

 years;, since which I have discovered the cause 

 of its bad effects, which was partly owing to 

 my ignorance in using it. I put a double hand- 

 ful in about a quart of water, and found a por- 

 tion of it dissolved and of the color of strong 

 coffee. I poured the liquor on a piece of ground, 

 about eight feet by four feet square, in the back 

 pan of my Jot, in which were planted a grape- 

 vine, a peach and orange tree, wth a few bulbs 

 and flowers ; soon after, all my bulbs and flowers 

 and even the weeds disappeared ; and now no- 

 thing will grow on the spot ; where the Huano 

 was pur, the grape-vine has not flourished since, 

 and the other trees are stunted. 



"1 now understand they use it in Peru, very 

 sparingly, and that only on ground where irri- 

 gation is' required ; and not in countries where 

 they have rain. It is said that after using it, 

 the practice must be kept up, as the ground will 

 produce nothing without, for it acis like opium 

 on the human system, that is to say, aftei once 

 using it, the stimulant is constantly required. I 

 would advise my friends to be cautious how 

 they apply it to any valuable land; and very 

 sparingly if at all. The Peruvians use it on 

 corn land ; at the time of planting, they have 

 the corn in a bag tied round their waist, and the 

 Huano in another; and with the thumb and 

 forefinger, they take out a pinch and plant it a 

 few inches from the corn, then cover the whole 

 and irrigate the land. 



