THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



and on one half of each I sowed poudrette, at 

 the rate of half a bushel to the hundred yards ; 

 leaving the balance for stable manure, which 

 was afterwards applied. The whole was co- 

 vered with brush, but so thinly put on, that the 

 seed' which came up first, all perished, and I 

 feared I should have no plants. The beds 

 around me were quite forward and flourishing, 

 when mine were bare. At last they came up 

 again, but as fast as they showed themselves, 

 they were eaten down by the fly. At this 

 stage, about the first of May, I again applied 

 the poudrette to the whole in the same propor- 

 tion as before. A shower shortly followed, and 

 I cannot conceive a more rapid and healthy 

 growth than my plants instantly took. They 

 come on in full time for planting my whole crop 

 of eighty thousand hills, and were by far the 

 best plants I ever saw. Something is no doubt 

 attributable to the thinness of the beds, but much 

 more, I am persuaded, is due to the poudrette. 

 I did not wait for these plants, but planted about 

 half my crop of small, but early plants, from 

 the luxuriant beds of a friend. The balance 

 and the replanting my own supplied ; and I 

 would have found my advantage in waiting a 

 week longer to plant the whole from them. 



A barrel of poudrette, equal in size to a com- 

 mon flour barrel, weighs about as much as dirt. 

 My supply, delivered at my landing on the Ri- 

 vanna, cost about two dollars a barrel. This is 

 evidently too costly to justify its application to 

 common purposes. But my experience of its 

 benefits on tobacco plants, of the economy in 

 hauling it to a distance, and the still greater 

 economy in weeding plants, manured with an 

 article which does not contain the seeds of a 

 single weed, induces me to think it cheap for 

 this particular purpose at the price I gave. 



CURING HAY. 



Whilst the pen is in my hand, I will give 

 you the result of an experiment in hay making, 

 suggested to my mind by a communication in 

 the first volume of Buel's Cultivator. 



In cutting my late crop of clover hay, I put 

 up a part of it in cocks as soon it was cut. It 

 had not fallen, nor become crisp from the action 

 of the sun. The rest was treated in the usual 

 way. The interval between cutting and stack- 

 ing was showery, and some of my hay was in- 

 jured. The part which was cut and cocked up 

 green stood the rain well, and was fine hay. It 

 had cured in the cock. I was so 'well satisfied 

 with this, that in cutting my timothy hay I pur- 

 sued that plan throughout. I did not permit it 

 to lie in swaths for a longer time than was ne- 

 cessary to allow a horse-rake to get room to 

 work. As soon as that could go, it collected 

 the hay, which was put into cocks by hands 

 that followed, and was thus left to cure. In 

 that way with eleven ordinary hands I cut and 



got up in one day five or six acres of heavy 

 timothy meadow. On ricking it, it proved to 

 be as fine hay as I ever saw made in any other 

 way ; and my overseer, whose judgment about 

 it is better than my own, thought it the finest he 

 had ever seen, though he was at first very much 

 opposed to the plan. It stood two showers. 



This among other things may account for the 

 advantages of the plan : the leaf is not parched 

 as when exposed to the sun, but becomes wilted 

 and lies' flat over the clovej or other hay, thus 

 affording a sort of cover from sun and rain. 

 Respectfully, your obedient servant, 



Frank G. Ruffin. 



Skadivell, Alabemarle, July 6, 1844. 



For the Southern Planter. 



EMIGRATION. 



Mr. Editor, — With the re-establishment of 

 the monetary affairs of the country and the con- 

 sequent ability to make sales of their property, 

 the desire to emigrate to the West begins to 

 manifest itself again amongst our people. Not- 

 withstanding the repeated warnings and the re- 

 peated disappointments they have encountered, 

 the demon of restlessness and the love of change 

 urge men to- exchange property here, which 

 only needs the application of an improved hus- 

 bandry to render them prosperous and indepen- 

 | dent, for all the hazard and all the privation 

 that, are attendant upon the life of an emigrant. 

 If this infatuation injured only the subjects of 

 it, it would not be so bad, but by every removal 

 those that remain are deeply affected. We lose 

 the society of good neighbors, of kindly friends, 

 and in short, all the advantages and all the 

 blessings of a dense population. I think some- 

 thing may be done to stay this tide of emigra- 

 tion by those who are determined to abide by 

 " Old Virginia," and who believe that more can 

 be made by improving an exhausted acre than 

 by clearing and reclaiming a new one. The in- 

 tended emigrant must sell before he can start, 

 and nine times otit of ten he finds a purchaser 

 in one of his neighbors. W T ould it not be well 

 for our farmers to agree amongst themselves to 

 buy no more land, and thus bind these runaways 

 to their homes. It has become the fashion of 

 the day to subdue a prevailing evil by means of 

 the powerful effect of association, and I propose 

 to -counteract this besetting and destructive love 

 of extended domain, by the formation of an anti- 

 land-acquiring society. But in sober truth, I 

 was more than ever struck with the double im- 

 policy of extending our farms by the expulsion 

 of our neighbors, from a conversation that passed 

 in my presence between two of my friends. Mr. 

 L. and Mr. E. live upon adjoining estates, and 

 started in the world under very similar circum- 

 stances. By a system of management, economy 



