340 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



about three hundred and fifty horses of all kinds 

 shown. 



The fourth day the " draught horses, jacks, stock 

 mules," &c, were shown. I did not stay to see it, 

 having seen several shows of the same kind; and 

 having no fancy for these long eared gentry, which, 

 however, is a source of great wealth to Kentucky. 

 I concluded to go up to my friend Renick's and 

 take a good look at his Short-Horns. To give our 

 "folks" some idea of Kentucky jacks and mules, 

 I will give you the height of some of them which 

 I learned afterwards. With all this size they were 

 said by those who are good judges of this kind of 

 stock to be fine also. Mules one year old. Pre- 

 mium mule 16i hands high; second premium 16 

 hands 1| inches. Jacks one year old. Premium 

 jack 14 hands 3 inches high; second premium jack 

 14£ hands high. Jacks under one year. Premium 

 jack 13 hands 3 inches high. 



The show of poultry was quite moderate; one 

 pair of Seabright bantams, the handsomest of the 

 kind I ever saw; a few Dorkings; a dozen or so 

 Shanghais, and a like number of Brahma Pootras; 

 which last looked as though they would not be 

 able to hang together much longer, and a coop of 

 Poland top-knots, made up the collection. There 

 was only one coop of ducks, the white top-knots. 

 The Kentuckians seem to care very little about 

 "fancy poultry;" and I can hardly tell why it is 

 they have not gone into the " Chittagongs," the 

 " Great Malays," the " Great Chin-India," " Hoang 

 Hos," "Hong Kong," "Imperial Chinese or Man- 

 darin," &c. &c. fowls. If there is any place that 

 would suit them it is Kentucky. They would be 

 line to follow the fattening cattle, to keep the corn 

 from being wasted. Instead of one of these " cock- 

 erels," weighing 12 to 15 lbs., he ought, after fol- 

 lowing fat cattle one winter, to draw 20 or 25 lbs. 

 One of the Brahma Pootra "cockerels" (I believe 

 that is the name the " fancy books" give young 

 cocks,) which I saw, I would have taken to be the 

 identical chap which sat for the portrait which you 

 published in the June number of the Planter if I 

 had not met him in Kentucky. 



To say that I was highly delighted with the show 

 in every department gives me great pleasure. So 

 hearty, warm and hospitable is the welcome which 

 a stranger receives in this glorious State, it would 

 disqualify him for criticism, if any thing faulty 

 had appeared. But I can with truth say that of 

 four or five shows which I have been at, this was 

 the best I have been at. Every comfort and con- 

 venience was provided for the judges and invited 

 guests, and dinner provided each day at the ex- 

 pense of the Society. This was hardly necessary, 

 however, for the visitors take their dinners with 

 them in their carriages, and about one o'clock the 

 cloths are spread under the sugar trees, and every 

 person invited to eat. Lexington was filled to over- 

 flowing, and but for the fact that the private houses 

 were opened for the reception of company, not only 

 in Lexington, but for miles around, I do not see 

 how the crow 7 d could have been accommodated. I 

 had a most happy time of it at my friend William 

 Warfield's, about four miles from Lexington, Avho 

 "keeps open house" on such occasions. He had 

 kindly invited me before leaving home to "make 

 his house my home" during my stay in Kentucky, 

 and I was glad to accept his kind invitation, to get 

 out of the bustle and confusion of the town. 



You must excuse me for not writing earlier. It 

 is with difficulty I have written at all. I was taken 

 sick the second night after leaving Kentucky, and 



had a hard time of it getting home. Since getting 

 home, I have been confined to my room and to my 

 bed most of my time, and would not attempt to 

 write now but for the fact that I promised you a 

 description of the show, and I suppose you would 

 like to have it for the November number. I am 

 afraid it is not in time, but I could not write it 

 sooner. I intend as soon as I can to write you an 

 article about "Abram Renickand his Short-Horns" 

 and some other things which I saw in Kentucky. 

 Truly yours, 



Alex. S. Mathews. 

 Wythe County, October, 1854. 



For the Southern Planter. 



HARVEST, THE PAST YEAR, FROM EXTRA 

 EARLY SEEDING. 



Mr. Editor, — I promised you in a former commu- 

 nication to give the result at harvest of a field of 

 wheat sowed from the 25th of August to the 15th 

 September inclusive. I proceed to do so, by stating 

 what you already know, from sad experience, that 

 it was quite a disastrous year for wheat, on account 

 of the rust. I had 47 acres, sowed as above stated, 

 and reaped from them 946 bushels of good wheat, 

 making an average of a little over 20 per acre. It 

 is fair to state that the field was badly gleaned, by 

 hirelings, and badly threshed by a machine out of 

 order. I have no hesitation in stating, however, 

 from the experiment, that no one need fear early 

 seeding, as early as August, who uses guano or who 

 has very rich land. In the part experimented on the 

 rust injured me much less than any other part of 

 my field; and I doubt exceedingly if I had not 

 feared the frost of spring, and grazed until the 27th 

 of February, whether I should have been hurt by 

 rust, although, seeding as I did a late variety of 

 wheat. I will state just here what I noticed in re- 

 gard to frost injuring wheat, as regards luxuraince, 

 &c. In the above experiment there was a bed of 

 wheat from some cause, much more luxuriant than 

 any other, so much so, that the cattle, horses and 

 sheep, refused to eat it. That bed stood the frost of 

 winter and the late ones of spring better than any 

 in the field, and yielded in proportion to 47 bushels 

 per acre. 



If you can give me any experience on grazing 

 as to its benefits or injury to the crop, you will con- 

 fer a favor. If no injury is sustained on behalf of 

 suffering sheep in winter, I would say graze. 

 Yours truly, &c. 



Wat H. Tyler. 



Wilton, Westmoreland, October, 1854. 



We thank our correspondent for the above com- 

 munication on early seeding. We think that most 

 persons in lower Virginia are too much afraid of 

 it, and if each man would make the experiment 

 we doubt not he would be satisfied to sow much 

 earlier than is now done. Whether as early as the 

 seeding above, is rather questionable, but still a 

 matter of fair experiment. 



As to grazing wheat with sheep we have no doubt 

 of its benefit, under proper conditions, to both sheep 

 and wheat. To state them now requires more time 

 than we have at command. 



