184 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



the action of the frost better than any 

 other. And it will grow off sooner in the 

 spring. In fact, the action of the frost 

 seems to feed the plants, by causing the 

 earth to run into the furrows. Some con- 

 tend that ploughing in wheat answers 

 the purpose. If such persons will try it 

 once or twice, they will be convinced that 

 there is a very great difference ; furrow- 

 ing with a single shovel plough will often 

 answer the purpose of re-fallowing. 

 Very respectfully, yours, &c. 



I. I. HlTE. 



Amherst j June 12, 1847. 



PRODUCTIVE ORCHARD. 



A correspondent of the Prairie Farmer, 

 says that an orchard of three hundred ap- 

 ple trees, owned by Elijah Capps, of Ful- 

 ton County, Illinois, nineteen or twenty 

 years old from the seed, produces now 

 from twenty to forty bushels per tree. — 

 Much of this success may doubtless be 

 ascribed to the new and fertile soil of that 

 country; but it might be nearly approxi- 

 mated further east, by deep, rich, highly 

 manured soil, and constant and mellow 

 cultivation. 



CULTIVATION OF ONIONS. 



John W. Proctor, Esq., of Massachu- 

 setts, states in the Boston Cultivator, that 

 " there are three individuals in his neigh- 

 borhood, each of whom produces annually 

 from two thousand to three thousand 

 bushels of onions. They, in some in- 

 stances, rent the land at from six to ten 

 dollars per acre, and the average product 

 is three hundred bushels per acre. He 

 says the onions, when ready for market, 

 are worth one hundred dollars more than 

 the rent of the land and the cost of the 

 manure, leaving this sum as the compen- 

 sation of the labor applied." He does not 

 give the price of the onions per bushel, 

 but we have lately seen it stated that the 

 average in that neighborhood is thirty- 

 seven and a half cents per bushel. The 

 same land is continued in onions several 



years in succession. Mr. P. states that 

 some lots have borne this crop every year 

 for ten years, without any depreciation in 

 yield. " Muscle-bed" and leached ashes 

 are much used for manure. Great pains 

 are taken in the preparation of the soil, 

 particularly to have the top well pulver- 

 ized. The seed is sown with great ac- 

 curacy by a machine, and strict attention 

 is given to keeping the crop clear of weeds. 

 It is calculated that one man and two 

 boys of the ages of twelve to sixteen 

 years will manage ten acres. Mr. P. 

 says he knows of several individuals who 

 commenced this business at the age of 

 twenty-one, and have pursued it for a 

 dozen years or more, have brought up re- 

 spectable families, and are now worth 

 comfortable estates. 



SCARE CROWS. 



It is very provoking sometimes to witness 

 the havoc the black pigeons will make in a corn 

 field in a few hours. Nor do we blame our 

 Legislature for declaring them outlaws and 

 setting a price upon their sooty heads. But 

 we have really thought while riding through 

 some corn fields in Virginia, that the farmers 

 who are possessed of so little ingenuity as to 

 be unable to construct a tolerable scare crow 

 are not entitled to the protection of the laws 

 any more than the crows. We see there are 

 abundance of things at which these feathered 

 niggers are expected to be frightened, but which 

 will never bring upon their makers the accu- 

 sation of violating the second commandment, 

 as they are seldom in the image or likeness of 

 anything in heaven or in the earth, or in the 

 waters under the earth. The most popular 

 fashion is a pole ten feet high with an old hat 

 on the top, and a ragged great coat strung 

 about it, clearly designed to show the crows 

 that the image has not only no "bowels of 

 compassion," but also no ribs, bones nor mus- 

 cles nor any other thing needful for the acting 

 as police officers for black thieves. 



If it requires too much, trouble to make an 

 image of a man, with gun, &c, sufficiently 

 like to be taken for a guardian plough boy, 

 partially cover the pole and great coat affair, 



