THB SOUIHBKK PLANTER, 



M 



tion of oxalic, acid, that vegetable decay and at- 

 mospheric air, would furnish carbonaceous matter 

 and oxygen favorable for the development of ox- 

 alic acid. Thus we have attempted to account 

 for the disappearance of sorrel by the union which 

 takes place with lime by one of its ingredients, 

 forming an insoluble oxalate of lime. In confir- 

 mation of the great value of blue clay, I send a 

 letter directed to me by my friend and countyman 

 and a most excellent farmer, Mr. Gee. 



Thus I think is demonstrated, that this earth, in 

 the quantity applied, is equal if not superior to 

 Peruvian guano. Poor land that originally pro- 

 duced 4 bushels per acre, afterwards produced 20, 

 an increase of 500 per cent. This earth. I con- 

 sider very important towards the renovation of 

 worn out land, and towards neutralizing the alka- 

 linity arising from an excess of marl or lime. 



Robkrt Harrison. 



Prince George, Va. 



Sa^ta Rosa, Prines George County, Va. 



Oetober 15th, 1S55. 



To Da. Robeet Harbison. 



Dear Sir : — In oompliance with your request, I send 

 you a statement of my experiments made with blue clay, 

 the substance we find beneath our marl beds, &e. 



In 1819 I dug from pits about twenty thousand bushels 

 of marl, and in getting out this quantity, I concluded, to 

 experiment with the two substances usually found above 

 and below the beds of marl, called red and blue clay. The 

 former contains no shell, but bears the prints of every kind 

 usually found in the marl bank; the latter contains neither, 

 nor does the application of the strongest acids detect in either 

 the smallest portion of lime 



Adjacent to my pits, there is a piece of wora out land, 

 of very light soil, and of about eight acres, which had 

 been cullivated a great number of years without any im- 

 provement ; this 1 divided into two equal parts ; upon the 

 one, I put three hundred bushels of the red clay per acre, 

 and on the other, the same quantity of blue clay ; had it 

 spread broadcast and ploughed under. In the spring I plan- 

 ted the whole in corn ; it came up well and grew off finely, 

 and produced to my astonishment, twenty bushels per 

 acre, each piece producing about the same quantity. This 

 land had not produced moretthan four bushels per acre, in 

 any ye«r, for the last twenty-two years to my knowledge 

 In the fall, 1 seeded it in wheat, which grew off finely, and 

 was a very luxuriant growth until the 14th day of May; 

 on that day it was (together with all my crop of 'wheat,) 

 entirely destroyed by a hail storm. I had seeded the 

 land in clover, and such as escaped being destroyed by 

 the hail was of fine growth. After remaining one year in 

 clover, it was put in corn again, and produced a crop 

 about equal to the first. I then put it in wheat again, which 

 was of tine growth, but owing to injury sustained by rnst, 

 it produced a very indifferent crop. * # * * 



Your.«, most truly, 



For the Southern Planter.. , 

 NEGRO CABINS. 



Editor Southern Planter :— 1 make no apology 

 for offering you a few hints upon the construction 

 and management of "Negro Cabins," as the subject 

 is an important one, and the ideas I offer chiefly 

 derived from a medical f riend, in whose sound judg- 

 ment both you and myself place great confidence. 



The pnds aimed at in building negro cabins 

 should be: First, the health and comfort of the oc- 

 cupants; Secondly, the convenience of nursing, sur- 

 viellance, discipline, and the supply of wood and 

 water: and Thirdly, economy of construction. 



Of course, the convenience, of locality must be 

 judged of by the builder. I only propose to consider 



the subject in its economic and healthful aspect, and 

 to this end reeemraend that negro cabins shortid he- 

 built of plank, have large glass windows and good 

 chimneys; should be elevated at least two feet abo*c 

 ground, and never placed within less than 75 or lCfit 

 yards of each other. When inch plank is not worttt, 

 above SI 25 per hundred feet, 1 consider the plank 

 house cheaper than either log or masonry. At this 

 price the cost of plank for a house 16 feet square 

 will not exceed $15, for which sum I would not 

 furnish, hew. haul and put up logs to build a hons<i 

 of the same size. The planking is put on op and 1 

 down, and I use a double course of plankiMginstead 

 of narrow strips; this I find makes a very comfor- 

 table cabin both for summer and winter. If tae 

 builder choose to incur a slight additional expense, 

 and should dress the cuter course and give it a 

 coat "ol" paint, this, with a projecting eave and some 

 cheap ornamental cornice, makes a very pretty- 

 house and obviates the necessity for sticking the 

 negro cabin out of sight of the mansion. 



Plank houses are considered by Physicians asmore 

 healthy for negroes than log, for the reason that 

 there is constantly accumulating in and about the 

 negroe's house a vast quantity of animal matter fat 

 the form of excrements and e man aliens from the 

 human body, which has fewer places of lodgnaesit 

 and is more easily removed from the plank than the 

 log house. To form an idea of the strength of this 

 matter, you have only to call to mind the odour ©f 

 a sweating negro or the stench which pervades a 

 room in which several of them, are sleeping. The 

 Doctors tell us that these smells are clouds of ani- 

 mal mailer, absolutely capable of being weighed and 

 seen as well as lusted and smelt, and are constantly 

 collecting in the wails and under the floors of negro 

 cabins, and there rot and slink as any other putres- 

 cible matter— (you must excuse an unrefined wok* 

 now and then, for to tell the truth, I can't find a syao- 

 nyme for that word which would at all convey the 

 idea I intend.) This is beyond doubt the" fre- 

 qusnt cause of disease and should be carefully pro- 

 vided against, and hence I recommend the eleva- 

 tion of the floor above the ground, with a view to 

 the frequent cleaning up of this accumulated filth. 

 On my own farm a few years ago, typhoid fever, 

 a disease until then unknown upon it, broke out m 

 an old negro cabin, closely underpinned, and which 

 for many years had been used as a negro hou?e. 

 My family" physician. ad vised me to tear away the 

 underpinning and have all tke filth cleaned up. In 

 doing so, I found an accumulation of foul ma?.terte 

 layers almost denoting the number of years it had 

 been collecting, which required six-Ioads of a com- 

 mon cart to haul off, and from which came a stencil 

 equal to the concentrated essence of all bad smells 

 put together. I would not if I could give you or 

 any other friend of mine an idea of its fcetidness. I. 

 tore down the house and found the old logs impreg- 

 nated with foul smells, which continued in them 

 long after they were exposed to winds and rains. 

 The old house was like the "vase id which roses 

 have once been distilled," except thai it wasn't ex- 

 actly the "scent of the roses" that hung round it 

 still. 



The floors of negro cabins should be of pfcyfcfe 

 rather than dirt, and should be dressed and jointed, 

 but not nailed down, that every plankmighf.be taken 

 up occasionally and cleansed of any filth that may 

 have settled upon them. Lime and other disinfecting 

 agents should be freely used. Negroes should be 

 well supplied with light. They "prefer daikness 

 to light," and. unless watched will <zicl>.iJi the light 

 entirely from their hotiseS. 



