107 



economy by which weahh may be accumu- 

 lated. 



"Not for to hide it in a hedge, 



Nor for a train attendant; 

 But for the glorious privilege 



Of being independent." 



And in the words of the same immortal poet, 

 we say lo you, gentle reader, 



"May you better reck the rede 

 Than ever did the adviser." 



For the Southern Planter. 

 FARM PEN. 



Mr. Editor,-— The farmers look to you, sir, as 

 the expounder of the law; therefore, I have 

 taken the liberty of addressing this note to you 

 on the subject of a farm pen. This pen has a 

 shelter in it open to the south ; the back, at the 

 north, is tighr, consequently it is warm. This 

 pen since November last has been regularly and 

 evenly littered and limed under the shelter, as 

 well as outside, until about the 1st February, at 

 which time it was some two feet deep. When 

 I saw ii, on a visit to the owner, he knowing 

 my fondness for such things, soon invited me in ; 

 after some conversation, L asked for a fork or 

 grubbing hoe: a few places were dug in the 

 centre of the pen, where (just as I expected) it 

 was found to be not much, if at all, decomposed ; 

 we then dug several places under the shelier, 

 and to our perfect astonishment it was found to 

 be beau i if idly decomposed and fit for almost any 

 crop forthwith. That most delightful odor of 

 ammonia, which is or ought to be interesting to 

 the farmer, was given out as soon as the mass 

 was disturbed. Now, sir, the object of this note 

 is lo request that you will please give your opi- 

 nion of the whys and wherefores of the decom- 

 position under the shelter, and the non-decompo- 

 sition without. Several gentlemen have been 

 consulied on the subject, but no conclusion had — 

 but all wondering at the fact. 



My sheet not being full I will make a few 

 more remarks. For* your ediiorial in lhe March 

 number of the Planter on the subject of the 

 Stale Agricultural Society connected with a 

 system of school education, I think every man 

 in the State ought to tender you his most hearty 

 thanks, and say well done, go on, we will assist 

 you with all our might. You say, which is 

 true loo, that the Legislature is always back- 

 ward in appropriating money. Perhaps if it 

 were more so on some subjects, it would be bet- 

 ter. Well, sir, I think lhe people, the voters, 

 could very easily have the Legislature to do 

 what the}' want, done, if t h ey would set about 

 it in the ricrht way. Let us vote for no man, 

 then, that, will not pledge himself to carry out 

 the measures for agricultural improvement so 



far as is in his power, that we desire. It is a 

 strange fact, that candidates strongly solicit, our 

 votes, and so soon as they have received them, 

 the people, like sycophants, beg them by peti- 

 tions, &c, to do what the county and State 

 want done. The method above, suggested is 

 perhaps the most sure and effectual one. Send 

 none but the friends of agriculture and the edu- 

 cation of the poor to the Legislature. 



Having yet a plenty of space, I have con- 

 cluded to give a small experiment made on one 

 acre of corn land. In April, 1844,1 had the 

 rows laid off five feet apart, the furrows about 

 ten inches deep. Elalf of this lot was manured 

 with litter direct from the woods, filling the fur- 

 row only from end to end, then covering the 

 same by running four furrows, which formed a 

 bed; the beds were slightly opened, and corn 

 dropped about three feet apart, and covered with 

 a hoe. The corn was worked all one way. — ■ 

 The other half was managed precisely as the 

 first, except the manure, which was coarse farm 

 pen. From first to last, no difference in the 

 looks of the corn could be detected. Several 

 gentlemen saw it and appeared to be much 

 pleased with the method. I could give you the 

 names of them, or four of them, that 1 know 

 you are personally acquainted with. When 

 the corn was cribbed, it was measured in a flour 

 barrel, allowing three measures/ to make five 

 bushels ; the produce was forty bushels per acre 

 of long, the short and rotten corn not measured. 

 In 1841 the same lot was in corn and produced 

 twenty bushels. Had there been nocuiiosiiy 

 exhibited by those that saw it I should not have 

 named or noticed it in this way. 



The Planter has a few fast friends among us, 

 and I am pleased to say that there can be no 

 question but we are benefited by it. 

 With great respect, 



I am your obedient servant, 



J. Bunch. 



Chuckatuck, Nansemond, March IS, 1845. 



We are much obliged to Mr. Bunch for the 

 kind and complimentary manner in which he 

 writes to us, individually, and we hope shortly 

 by a personal acquaintance to strengthen a 

 friendship that a more distant intercourse has 

 been cementing for years. 



With respect to the two piles of manure, one 

 cf which was decomposed, whilst the other was 

 not, we should like to have an opportunit}' of 

 cross-examining the witness, before we are called 

 on to pronounce a judicial opinion. We can 

 well understand that in the pile exposed to the 

 weather, all the soluble salts may have been 

 washed out by the rains, whilst they were pre- 

 served in the one under cover. Hence the per- 



