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THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



him, that it may not be detrimental to 

 health, and useless to vegetation. Laws 

 should be passed to compel the saving 

 and use of the most powerful of fertiliz- 

 ers, when common sense and decency fail 

 to do it. 



Whenever it is desirable to hasten de- 

 cay, and rapidly turn animal matter into 

 manure, sulphuric acid may be used. — 

 This would be too expensive (though the 

 acid is cheap) for farm purposes, but may 

 be employed for the garden, where ex- 

 pense is not so important. It is frequently 

 desirable to have a rich manure in the 

 garden, and it is not, at hand. Animal 

 matter put into sulphuric acid will in a 

 few hours furnish it. Every house will 

 supply much refuse animal matter. To 

 this rats, mice, moles, feathers, hair, bones, 

 horns, &c, may be added. If the gar- 

 bage of a slaughter house can be got, it 

 should be. All these will soon be reduced 

 to an available state, be inoffensive, and 

 will add great fertility to the soil where 

 used. The requisite quantity of acid 

 may be ascertained by experiment — about 

 ten or fifteen pounds is usually allowed 

 for one hundred pounds of animal matter. 



WOOL GROWERS' CONVENTION. 



We have before advanced the opinion, that 

 wool growing is to become the chief business 

 of the farmers in Middle and Western Virgi- 

 nia, and in those portions of Ohio and Ten- 

 nessee which border upon us. The natural 

 advantages of these portions of the country 

 for sheep raising and the production of the 

 best wool are so great as to leave no doubt on 

 our mind that this is to become their staple. 

 The climate is the very best for the fine short 

 wool, while the soil and grass is equal to that 

 of any country. Every one knows that the 

 nature of the food on which sheep live changes 

 the character of their wool with great rapidity, 

 and, as might be expected, there is a marked 

 difference between the w T ool grown on the 

 coarse, strong grasses of an Iowa or an Ar- 

 kansas prairie and that feed from the soft, 

 sweet, juicy herbage with which the beautiful 

 hills and meadows of this region are clothed. 



Throughout the United States, indeed, there 

 is an abundance of fine hill country; but there 

 is none superior, if equal, to that which lies 

 upon both sides of the Alleghanies in Virginia. 

 Particularly on their west base do the rich 

 calcareous ridges and valleys stretch them- 

 selves far into the surrounding States, abun- 

 dant] y irrigated with beautiful and perennial 

 streams, and covered with the most delicious 

 native grasses. All things combine to render 

 it the finest wool growing country on the globe, 

 and we hope the adoption of judicious mea- 

 sures will soon make it such. 



But although the wool grown in this section 

 of country has been considered by the manu- 

 facturers of England and America as equal to 

 any in the world, and although the very best 

 cloth is manufactured from it, it seems that it 

 has never commanded a good price in the 

 New England market — at least not a good 

 price in proportion to that of the cloths made 

 from it. Indeed this is a common complaint 

 throughout the United States. A Convention 

 of Wool Growers was held during last month 

 to consider the causes of this matter and to 

 devise means and ways for getting the full 

 value of their wool. It met at Steubenville, 

 Ohio, and much interesting matter appears in 

 its report. One principal cause of the present 

 low condition of the wool market appears to 

 be the arts and practices of the wool buyers. 

 That these people make an undue profit upon 

 their business is a "fixed fact," a thing about 

 which there can be no manner of doubt. A 

 proof of it may be seen in the enormous divi- 

 dends which the various manufactories an- 

 nounce. The farmers themselves have some- 

 thing to do with the establishment of the low 

 prices. When they get a little wool in the 

 beginning of the season, it is common to wrap 

 it in a blanket and carry it to the nearest little 

 country town, where they are at the mercy of 

 one or two speculators, who generally com- 

 bine, and get for twenty-five cents what should 

 sell for fifty. By the example of one, others 

 are induced to sell small quantities in the same 

 way and at the same rate; and thus a low 

 price is established in the beginning of the 

 season, which affects the market through the 

 J residue of the year. But the chief cause of 



