THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



337 



cornices, carvings, &c, which are alone orna- 

 mental, should not be painted white, or any 

 other brilliant color, because the amount of 

 light reflected, would in a great measure de- 

 stroy the architectural effect. 



Skylight. 



ONIONS FOR FOWLS. 



Scarcely too much can be said in praise of onions 

 for fowls. They seem to be a preventive and re- 

 medy for various diseases to which domestic poul- 

 try is liable. Having frequently tested their ex- 

 cellence, we can speak understandingly. For gapes 

 and inflammation of the throat, eyes and head, 

 onions are almost a speciflc. We would recommend 

 feeding fowls, and especially the young chickens, 

 as many as they will eat as often as twice or three 

 times a week. They should be finely chopped. A 

 small addition of corn meal is an improvement. 



EDITORIAL. 



For the last week we have been working, with 

 three clerks, in the office of the Virginia State 

 Agricultural Society for forty-eight hours out of 

 every twenty-four, and have no time for editorial. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



RICHMOND, NOVEMBER, 1854. 



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For the Southern Planter. 



LEXINGTON (KENTUCKY) FAIR. 



Mr. Editor, — On the 2d of September last I started 

 for Kentucky, with the intention of being present 

 at the Lexington Show. It will not be worth while 

 to describe my trip, for there is nothing worth 

 writing about until you get into Kentucky proper. 

 I had a most disagreeable time for travelling, for 

 it was a week of unmitigated drought, scorching 

 sun, suffocating dust, and heat unparalleled. The 

 whole country over which I travelled is burnt up; 

 the crop of corn reduced in consequence, generally 

 to one-fourth, and hi no case will there be more 

 than half a crop. I thought we, in this portion of 

 Virginia, had suffered badly from the drought, but 

 after getting to Kentucky I concluded that we had 

 escaped wonderfully. The people of Kentucky, in 

 addition to the burning up of their pastures and 

 diminution of their corn crop, have suffered very 

 much for the want of water for their stock, having 

 to haul, in some cases, some two or three miles. 

 There will be but few hogs fattened, and none, I 

 think, for the Virginia and Southern markets, for 

 corn is selling, for nearly as much by the bushel 

 as it generally brings by the barrel. The loss of a 

 corn crop is a serious matter in Kentucky, for it is 

 upon that they depend for fattening their mules, 

 hogs and cattle; and whenever there is such a 

 failure of the crop as there is at present the prices 

 of lean stock of all kinds is sure to fall. Fat stock, 

 both mules and cattle, sell readily and at fair prices, 

 but I think stock mules and stock cattle are at least 

 twenty-five per cent, lower now than when I was 

 in Kentucky two years ago. Good beef cattle, of 

 sufficient age to drive to the New York market, 

 were selling readily at 7 dollars per hundred, whilst 

 two year olds, fat, but which are two young to be 

 driven as far as New York, and are generally sent 

 to Cincinnati, Louisville, Frankfort, and the nearer 

 markets, were selling at about G cents net. Most 

 of the cattle in Kentucky are sold by net weight, 

 as there are hay scales erected at convenient places 

 f r weighing them. For cattle not thoroughly fat 

 the rule is to take off 45 lbs. in the hundred. 

 Whilst on the subject of beef, I will give you the 

 weight of a lot of two year old high grade Short- 

 Horn steers w T hich I saw and which were weighed 

 by the above rule. They were 30 in number, well 

 formed, beautiful cattle, but owing to the drought 

 not near so fat as I have seen cattle of the same 

 age. They weighed 725 lbs. net, and come to $43 

 50 per head. Had they been in the usual condi- 

 tion they would have weighed at least 850 lbs. 

 The Kentuckians use oxen on their farms generally, 

 and do nearly all their hauling with them, and they 

 have a great deal of hauling to do in the winter, in 

 getting out their i'eed to their stock, fire-wood for 

 their families, and rails for fencing. They prefer, 

 even for oxen, high grade Short-Horns, for the rea- 

 son that they buy them at three or lour years old, 

 work them two or three years, feed them on corn 

 through the months of March and April and sell 



