THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



For Thresher, Separator and Grain Cleaner, 

 Francis Nelson. 



For Spring adjusting to Seed Drill, Edward 

 Hunt. 



For vragon for farm use, D. B. Corrie. 



For Straw and Hay Cutter, S. M. Yeamans. 



For Double-Acting Lift and Force Pump, Jo- 

 seph Farrar. 



For Forcing Pump, Wm. G. Clarke. 



For specimens of Slate from Buckingham, 

 Owen Jones. 



For specimens of Porter, Ale, &c., of Rich- 

 mond manufacture, Certificate of Merit to M. 

 McCormick, 



The following articles of Household manufac- 

 tures were recommended to the attention of the 

 Judges on Discretionary Premiums, but were 

 not exhibited to them, l)emg endorsed not found. 



A worked Tidy, exhibited by Mrs. Green Pey- 

 ton of Albemarle. 



A specimen of Variegated Fringe, Mrs. J. J. 

 Fry, Richmond. 



A white Quilt, Mrs. George Gibson, Richmond. 



Two specimens of Soap made from bones col- 

 lected from the fields, Mrs. M. C. McCue, Au- 

 gusta. 



A beautiful specimen of patch work in a Silk 

 Quilt, Miss Mary Ella Dobyns, of Essex. 



A pair of Socks made of the hair of a lap-dog 

 and spun and knit by herself. Miss M. Angus, 

 Richmond. 



A Beed Pincushion, Mrs. J. H. Gilmer, Rich- 

 mond. 



A Morning Dress, Mrs. C. B. Thomas, Rich- 

 mond. 



3 beautiful Towels, Mrs. H. Smith, Russell. 



A pair of children's socks, knit by exhibitor, 

 aged 4 years, Nannie Storrs, Henrico. 



3 Quilts of patch work, Miss Mary Hopkins. 



Two new inventions in Agricultural Machin- 

 ery were on exhibition and commended to the 

 notice of the Judges on Discretionary Premiums, 

 viz : 



Dr. John R. Garnett's Cultivator Wheat Drill, 

 and Mauck & McGahey's Corn Harvester for 

 cutting down corn stalks. 



DISCUSSION, ON WHEAT AND ITS CUL 

 TURE, bi/ a section of the State Agricultural 

 Society during the State Fair, at GoclxUn's 

 Hall. Edmund RuFFiN, Esq., 1^^. Vice Presi- 

 dent, presiding. 



The object of the meeting having been ex- 

 plained by the presiding officer, Col. Randolph 

 commenced ])y remarking: That many systems 

 of rotation had been tried in Albemarle ; but 

 that none of them succeeded well that required 

 the frequent repetition of clover during the 

 rotation; as'the land seemed to become "clover 

 sick," and a failure of that crop was the conse- 

 quence. That in England, as he learned from 

 the book entitled "British TIus])andry," once in 

 eight years was as often as a good stand of 



375 



clover could certainly be counted upon. That 

 his experience was, that after a long rest from 

 clover a good stand was much surer than when 

 that crop was repeated at short intervals. He 

 considered a clover fallow a very costly and 

 laborious preparation for wheat, however cer- 

 tain it might be. Three-fourths of an acre per 

 day being as much as a plough team could 

 average. 



He had generally succeeded well by sowing 

 timothy in the fall, on guanoed land. And if 

 the clover sowed on wheat should fail, he had 

 found it succeed well by sowing, the next 

 spring,- upon the wheat-stubble and harrowing 

 it in. In seeding wheat upon corn land, he 

 decidedly prefered shallow cultivation — was in 

 the habit of putting it in with a shovel-plough. 

 Thought ploughing the land up with a two 

 horse plough, previous to sowing wheat, the 

 worst possible preparation for that crop on corn 

 land — that mode of preparation rendering his 

 land too " puffy and light.^^ He had never used 

 the drill, but felt favourably inclined to it ; 

 could, however, recommend Seymour's broad- 

 cast machine. It vras an admirable instrument 

 for sowing grass seeds and plaster. It being 

 the opinion of some judicious farmers that 

 half a bushel of plaster, sowed with this ma- 

 chine, was equal to one bushel sowed by hand. 

 Col. R. had succeeded well with wheat on corn 

 land by simply harrowing it in, without other 

 preparation, and he had known others succeed 

 well by the same method. 



Maj. J. M. M'Cue, of Augusta, concurred 

 with Col. R. in the opinion that corn land 

 should not be " flushed" up with a large plough 

 preparatory to seeding with wheat. He was in 

 the habit of drilling wheat upon his corn land 

 with no other previous preparation than cutting 

 up the corn. The corn-stubble interfered l)ut 

 little with the operation of the drill ; occasion- 

 ally the grass and weeds were so thick as to 

 interrupt its successful operation, but this dif- 

 ficulty was readily overcome by the hand who 

 followed the drill carrying a " hooked" stick, 

 by means of which weeds and other matter, as 

 they accumulated before the drill, could be 

 readily removed. He uses Pennock's drill. In 

 his county corn is cultivated with a level sur- 

 face ; the double shovel being the principal im- 

 plement used. He recommends rolling the 

 wheat in the spring, as it presses down the 

 corn-stubble out of the way of harvesting, and 

 improves the wheat by compressing the land 

 and restoring such plants as are partially thrown 

 out by the winter. He sows (mo half of his 

 clover-seed in the fall and the remainder in the 

 spring, the time of the fall sowing being be- 

 tween the 15th September and 15th October. 

 He sows clover-seed at the rate of one bushel to 

 eight acres. 



Hill Carter, Esq., of Charles City county. 

 Formerly cultivated his lands on the four field 

 system, but is now using the five field rotation. 

 The latter is the most ameliorating of the two ; 



