252 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



at for farming purposes, say one hundred tierces? 

 Or what could oyster shells be furnished for at 

 the same place ? I wish to try lime on my land, 

 and if I can get it lo do half it is said to do, I 

 shall go extensively into its use as a manure. 

 I have tried gypsum on clover for two successive 

 years an 1 have seen no effect, and in five 

 miles of my plantation its effects can be traced 

 to a row. What is the test for ascertaining the 

 purity of gypsum 1 



The Farmer's Friend. 



October, 1846. 



P. S. — I may have infringed on some one's 

 patent ; if so, I desire to be speedily apprised of 

 it, there are so many patents now out. There 

 is no finding out scarcely whether you are se- 

 cure in making any machine= I would say here 

 that I also have a machine of my own contri- 

 vance, to plant peas. It opens the row, drops 

 the peas and covers them up, drawn by a horse. 



For the Southern Planter. 

 VALUABLE RECIPE. 



JSJr. Editor, — Having derived considerable 

 benefii from several recipes taken from the co- 

 lumns of the Planter, I think it incumbent upon 

 me to give in any that should come within my 

 poor knowledge. I know of only one, which 

 is a remedy for the toe nails growing into the 

 flesh of the toe: the remedy and the writer both 

 may appear very simple, but, sir, let those who 

 condemn it, try it, as it will relieve them from 

 the pain of operation, which is very great. It 

 is simply to take a piece of glass and scrape 

 the middle of the nail until you almost reach 

 the flesh ; that is, as thin as possible; then ap- 

 ply raw cotton to the place affected until the 

 nail ihickens up, and then j'ou will have a well 

 toe. 



Your humble well wisher, 



L C. Hales. 



Mv. 2, 18-16. 



DRAINING. 

 We mentioned in our last that we had re- 

 ceived the seventh number of Culman's Agricul- 

 tural Tour, and promised a further notice of it. 

 The subjects with which it is occupied are 

 Draining, Irrigation, Rotation of Crops, Soiling 

 and the Cultivation of Crops. So practical and 

 so valuable are the contents of this' number, that 

 we shall extract largely from it : we wish we 

 had room for the whole of it. First on the 

 subject of 



DRAINING. 



Mr. Colman is speaking of the valuable 

 changes effected by relieving land of superfluous 



water. This is to be effected by a judicious 

 system of draining and subsoiling. He says : 



" The effects of stagnant water in land are 

 destructive to vegetation; or rather, under cer- 

 tain conditions, it may even produce a greater 

 luxuriance of vegetation, but the plants produced 

 in a very wet soil are unpalatable, innutritious, 

 and insubstantial. Animals fed upon them al- 

 ways lose condition, and the manure of animals 

 so fed is almost worthless. I saw this strikingly 

 illustrated in the magnificent park of the Duke 

 of Bedford, at Woburn Abbey. Here there 

 were many spots where the grass was luxuriant 

 and abundant, on account of their excessive 

 dampness, and which were entirely neglected 

 both by the sheep and the deer; but where 

 ever these places, once wet, had been thoroughly 

 drained, they became the favorite resorts of the 

 animals, and were fed as closely as possible. I 

 have witnessed similar results in many other 

 cases. 



"Water is an element in the food of plants, 

 composing, in some instances, as in the turnip 

 and potato, a large proportion of their substance ; 

 the foimer, it is stated, containing nearly ninety 

 per cent., the latter varying from seventy lo 

 eighty per cent. Water, filtering through a 

 soil, opens its pores to the admission of air, 

 which is most essential to the growth of the 

 plant, or perhaps, more properly speaking, to 

 the fertility of the soil. Humboldt observed 

 that argillaceous soils and humus deprived the 

 air of its oxygen. He satisfactorily ascertained 

 that earth taken from the galleries of mines at 

 Salzburg only became fertile after having been 

 exposed to the atmosphere for a considerable 

 length cf time. These observations established 

 the necessitv of the presence of oxygen in the 

 interstices of the soil, or, as he then said, and 

 as ma j 7 still be maintained, ihe utility of a pre- 

 vious oxidation of the soil. All our agricultural 

 facts, indeed, confirm this view of the necessity 

 of air in the interstices of the soil that is des- 

 tined for the growth of vegetables. When, by 

 ploughing very deeply, for example, we bring 

 up a portion of the subsoil into the arable layer, 

 in order to increase its thickness, we always 

 lessen the fertility of the ground for a time: in 

 spite of the action of manures, and of any treat- 

 ment we may adopt, a certain time must elapse 

 before the subsoil can produce an advantageous 

 effect ; it is absolutely necessary that it have 

 been exposed to ihe atmospheric influences; and 

 it is then only that deep ploughing, which gives 

 the arable layer a greater thickness, pays com- 

 pletely for the expense it has occasioned* 



11 Water contributes, in the next place, when 

 filtering gradually through the soil, to dissolve 

 the manures, and prepare them to assist in the 



* Boussingault, p. 28G. 



