THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



335 



mine, I make five kinds. 1st, the largest and best 

 dark; 2d, largest yellow; 3d, second quality, or 

 short of those are put together, making third kind, 

 and two kinds of lugs ; those leaves that are 

 whole and inferior leaves of the best tobacco make 

 the best quality, while the ragged and most indif- 

 ferent of the whole compose the meanest lugs. If 

 the crop is a uniform one in color, either dark or 

 yellow, of course four kinds would be enough, 1st 

 and 2d quality, leaf and lugs. The manner of as- 

 sorting as well as tying, should be frequently no- 

 ticed. The tyers should have leaves of the same 

 length in a bundle, and of same color, and the 

 heads should be short. A small leaf, or a portion 

 of a large leaf should be used for tying. A good 

 hand will tie one thousand bundles a day, which is 

 the only manner I know of judging a day's work. 

 By a few trials, a planter will soon know how much 

 each hand will tie. At night the day's work is 

 bulked down, unless the order is doubtful, in which 

 case it is hung up. If bulked, it should be laid 

 straight, taking two bundles at a time, and covered. 

 It remains in this condition until near time for 

 prizing, when it is taken up,, hung upon sticks, 

 twelve or fourteen bundles on a stick, hoisted in 

 the barn, the sticks eight or ten inches apart. 

 After it dries thoroughly, the first good season it 

 is taken down — should be straightened and packed 

 with almost as much care as in prizing. This, I 

 think, adds greatly to the appearance of tobacco, 

 especially, if it is indifferent, and as good tobacco 

 sells on its own merits, we should do all we can to 

 sell an inferior article well. While packing, the 

 inferior bundles of each class should be thrown 

 out and put with the class they suit. After pack- 

 ing, it should be heavily weighted and covered. 

 For prizing, at least three hands are needed. Here 

 again, any inferior bundles should be picked out, 

 and the bundles of good tobacco passed through 

 the hands of those handing and put each one sepa- 

 rately in the hogshead. Handling as much as pos- 

 sible gets rid of the dirt, and when opened in mar- 

 ket the sample shows much better than if prized 

 without being properly straightened. About 1,400 

 lbs., if good tobacco, should be prized in a hogs- 

 head, and if lugs, the heavier the better. 



Wm. H. Jones. 



Mecklenburg, August., 1854. 



PRESERVING BUTTER. 



The farmers of Aberdeen, Scotland, are said to 

 practice the following method of curing their but- 

 ter, which gives it a great superiority over that of 

 their neighbors : 



" Take two quarts of the best common salt, one 

 ounce of sugar, and one ounce of common salt- 

 petre; take one ounce of this composition for one 

 pound of butter, work it well into the mass, and 

 close it up for use. The butter Cured with this 

 mixture appears of a rich marrowy consistency, 

 and fine color, and never acquires a brittle hardness 

 nor tastes salty. Dr. Anderson says : ' I have eaten 

 butter cured with the above composition that has 

 been kept for three years, and it was as sweet as 

 at first. It must be noted, however, that butter 

 thus cured, requires to stand three weeks or a 

 month before it is used. If it is sooner opened, 

 the salts are not sufficiently blended with it, and 

 sometimes the coolness of the nitre will be per- 

 ceived, which totally disappears afterwards.' " 



For the Southern Planter. 

 EXPERIMENT IN EE-SEEDING WHEAT. 

 [Selected from the papers of the- Nottoway Club.] 



Mr. President— In compliance with a regulation 

 of our Club, which requires each member to write 

 occasionally an experiment on some agricultural 

 subject, and as the wheat crop is the subject of 

 discussion at our next meeting, I propose to give 

 an account of an experiment made last fall in re- 

 seeding wheat. 



On the 10th of November last, having examined 

 a lot of my wheat which had been seeded the first 

 of the previous month, (October,) I discovered that 

 there was not more than one-half of the quantity 

 of wheat up that was usually upon the land. The 

 question arose in my mind, how am I to remedy this 1 

 Here I have a rich lot which has been seeded up- 

 wards of five weeks, and the wheat up, not more than 

 half thick enough. To lose no time in re-sowing 

 it I became satisfied at once that it was necessary, 

 and with better seed than the first, which was da- 

 maged. But what quantity of seed and in what 

 manner I should re-sow were the subjects of doubt 

 with me. After recollecting the many reports given 

 that wheat harrowed over in the spring, in seeding 

 clover, was not injured, but continued to be im- 

 proved, I concluded it would not receive injury 

 from the same treatment, or if broken up entirely 

 at so early a stage of its growth, and, therefore, 

 determined to re-sow one -half of the quantity of 

 seed that was usually sowed, calculating on the 

 half then up, to enable the land to produce its full 

 crop. I thought of and preferred getting in the 

 seed with Geddes' large harrow, but finding the 

 land (which is naturally stiff) made so hard and 

 close by the frequent rains, which had recently 

 fallen, that the harrow could not accomplish it. I 

 finally concluded to put the seed in with the trowel- 

 hoe. At the time of operation one of my neighbors 

 remarked to me, "you are destroying what little 

 wheat you have there." I then called his attention 

 to the effect produced by the plough — how nicely 

 it removed and placed the wheat uprightly, and 

 how few grains were left exposed or blades covered. 

 I was apprehensive that the manner of putting in 

 the seed might not answer so well, as it had no 

 rain sooner than the seventh day after being seeded, 

 and also that it would ripen irregularly. My fears, 

 however, proved to be ill founded. Both seedings 

 ripened together, and came to the scythe, yielding 

 a fine crop of grain, and I believe as much as the 

 said lot would have made had there been a suffi- 

 ciency of wheat upon the land from the first seed- 

 ing. I re-seeded also a piece of fresh land a day 

 or two afterwards. In this case I used the trowel- 

 hoe on one portion and the harrow on the other, (as 

 the soil here is light and porous,) but discovered 

 no difference, either in the growth or yield of wheat 

 from the two modes of putting the seed in. This 

 land likewise succeeded in yielding an average 

 crop. 



R. E. Haskins. 



Wheat Trade in Fredericksburg. — To give an 

 idea of what the millers of that vicinity are doing 

 this season, the Fredericksburg News states that 

 one of them has already taken in 11,000 bushels-, 

 to say nothing of what he has bought besides. One 

 of them has sold 15,000 bushels in the shape of 

 flour and lias the cash ready to buy more. 



