THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



49 



an inch in diameter, and has been running 

 since last April. It affords water enough for 

 all ordinary purposes at the house, kitchen, 

 stable, &c. I had some difficulty in starting 

 it to work, and after trying various plans, 1 

 laid the pipe down the branch and let it run 

 full of water, then stopped up the discharging 

 end and put it in place. It is 3fc feet under 

 ground, and is rather warm in the heat of 

 summer. The cost, besides the work of my 

 own hands, was seventy dollars. To any one 

 wanting further information it will afford me 

 pleasure to give it. 



Your friend, 



H. Minor. 



Charlottesville, Jan. 20, 1853. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



RICHMOND, FEBRUARY, 1853. 



TERMS. 



One Dollar and Twenty-five Cents per 

 annum, which may be discharged by the pay- 

 ment of One Dollar only, if paid in office or 

 sent free of postage within six months from 

 the date of subscription. Six copies for Five 

 Dollars; thirteen copies for Ten Dollars, 

 to be paid invariably in advance. 



f^T Subscriptions may begin with any No. 



K^rNo paper will be discontinued, until all 

 arrearages are paid, except at the option of 

 the Publisher. 



3pP Office on Twelfth, between Main and 

 Cary Streets. 



All communications for the columns of this 

 paper, and all letters of inquiry, to insure 

 prompt attention, must be addressed to Frank: 

 G. Ruffin, Shadwell, Albemare County, Va. 



All business letters connected with the 

 Planter must be addressed to P. D. Bernard, 

 Richmond, Virginia. 



It is indispensably necessary that subscribers 

 ordering a change, should say from what, to 

 what post office they wish the alteration made. 

 It will save time to us and lose none to them. 



STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



There will be a meeting of this Society on 

 the 23d of the present month (February,) to 

 take into consideration the possibility of having 

 a Cattle Show and Agricultural Fair in Octo- 

 ber or November next. A circular has been 

 prepared and forwarded to a few zealous far- 

 mers in each county of the State asking their 

 cooperation in procuring subscriptions to the 

 State Society, and we urgently appeal to every 

 farmer whose eye falls on this paragraph, to 

 come to Richmond on the 23d if he can do so 

 without great inconvenience. Let us not be 

 forever laggards. A spirit of improvement 

 has sprung up among our people. Let us che- 

 rish it, and let us determine to have this an- 

 nual tryst of farmers, that each returning year 

 may bring fresh evidence of the value and 

 advantage of our Association. 



NEW ENGLAND HOUSEWIVES. 



Many a time have we heard the matrons of 

 Virginia bemoan their lot. The ordinary trou- 

 bles of a family are to them aggravated by 

 what they think the hard responsibilities of 

 their condition in the midst of slaves, whose 

 labors in many cases they must direct, whose 

 well being it is at all times a part of their 

 duty to consult, and whose comfort in sickness, 

 in infancy and in age, it is, or ought to be their 

 special province to provide for. We have 

 never sympathized with their repinings, be- 

 cause we have always thought that such la- 

 bors were good for them — that slavery had 

 done them a decided benefit in giving them 

 something to do; and that something equally 

 well calculated to employ their hands and to 

 engage their hearts. We have always re- 

 garded it as one, and by no means the least, 

 of the blessings which we ascribe to slavery 

 and which makes us love the word, that it 

 compels us, by interest, if you choose, to dis- 

 pense the charities of life with no niggard 

 hand, and to contribute so much of the poor 

 rates without municipal requirement. 



We have sometimes heard these ladies com- 

 pare their state with the imaginary comfort of 

 free soil dames, and, from mere weariness of 

 spirit, wish themselves surrounded by the same 



