! I72 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



>rican -Institute was about to establish an 

 Agricultural College, and would be gra- 

 tified in receiving the counsel of Mr. 

 Fleischmann, who was invited to accom- 

 pany the committee to view the selection 

 about to be made for the site of the con- 

 templated school, and to give his opinion 

 of its eligibility. The Chairman compli- 

 mented in the highest manner for the 

 very valuable remarks made by him, and 

 tendered to him the thanks of the Club. 



Mr. Hall continued in his remarks, that 

 wool would become one -of the great sta- 

 ples of this country, and that the care 

 •and attention given to sheep in Germany 

 was the cause of the superiority of their 

 wool. He also gave an account of his 

 sending to this country from Spain in 

 1809, the Merino sheep, in answer to a 

 request in a letter of Mr. Jefferson's. He 

 said there were about 20,000,000 sheep 

 in the United States, and but few unmixed 

 flocks. He hoped the remarks of Mr. 

 Fleischmann would be widely circulated 

 and followed. The contemplated Agri- 

 cultural College was all important, and 

 'if the moneyed men would not take hold 

 of it, let an appeal be made to farmers, 

 the bone and sinew of the land. 



GYPSUM. 



How does gypsum act? This is an 

 inquiry which has often been made, and 

 which is answered in various ways, even 

 by the learned. True science can alone 

 ■rationally direct the practical farmer. — 

 "All else," observes an erudite author, "is 

 mere experiment — hazardous, expensive 

 and conjectural." The beneficial effects 

 of gypsum, or plaster of Paris, on grow- 

 ing crops, is to be referred exclusively to 

 the power it possesses of fixing ammonia, 

 and holding it for the gradual use or pro- 

 gressive appropriation of plants. It has 

 been correctly demonstrated by the most 

 careful and accurate scientific-experiments, 

 that one hundred pounds of gypsum will 

 fix as much ammonia in the soil, as six 

 thousand two hundred and fifty pounds of 

 horses' excrement would impart to it. — 

 Ammonia is always present in the atmos- 



phere, and hence the beneficial effects of 

 this mineral, which absorbs and fixes it 

 so as to render it available to the growing 

 crop. — Maine Farmer. 



For the Southern Planter. 

 WASTE LANDS. 



Mr. Editor, — An old and esteemed 

 friend of mine, as I judge from his initials 

 and place of residence, in an article in 

 your February number for 1846, speaking 

 of waste land, (i. e., land given up to en- 

 rich itself in pines,) remarks that "an 

 article showing us the cheapest method 

 of improving such lands would do much 

 to raise the drooping prices of Virginia 

 farms." Without pretending to settle 

 that question, I beg leave to suggest a 

 plan which I have followed for sometime, 

 and which is the cheapest and most effec- 

 tual that has come to my knowledge. 



In order to improve a piece of land we 

 must furnish the soil with the materials 

 needed in the composition of whatever 

 crop we may wish to raise from it. Now 

 the land in question needs the material of 

 every kind of crop, save for poverty grass, 

 running briers and broomstraw, — these 

 being the only crops which can now be 

 obtained from it. If left to itself, after a 

 while, pines will make their appearance 

 on it ; then other kinds of trees ; and 

 thus, in p-ocees of time it will doubtless 

 return to its original fertility. But if we 

 are unwilling to wait for this slow pro- 

 gress, the only way we have to make it 

 good for anything is to manure it. And 

 as the soil now needs the materials for 

 every kind of crop useful to man, it is 

 plain that no partial manuring will bring 

 it to the proper state. But to place upon 

 Virginia land a plentiful supply of rich 

 and varied manure will in most cases cost 

 us more than the worth of the land after 

 enriching it. Labor is too dear, and mar- 

 ket is too far, and lands already rich may 

 be purchased for a sum less than would 

 be required to enrich our waste lands in 

 many modes which I can name. To 

 make manuring profitable, we must find 



1 



