114 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



and tedious process, and did not clean more than 

 thirty bushels of my seed ; the balance of my 

 crop which was seeded before this plan occurred 

 to me, is thickly set in cockle, and unless 1 can 

 have some more expeditious mode of getting- 

 clear of it, the sale of my growing crop must 

 be materially affected by it. It is idle to talk 

 about pulling it out as has been suggested by 

 some of my friends. It could not be done by 

 all my force between this and harvest. 



Do you know of any machine that will an- 

 swer the purpose? From my experience in 

 sifting it, I think a cylinder made of cockle 

 wire, say eighteen or twenty-four inches in di- 

 ameter, and six or seven feet long, and fixed on 

 an axle, with a hopper attached, and a little in- 

 clined and made to revolve so that the wheat 

 may pass in from the hopper, and as the cylinder 

 revolves to pass out at the lower end, would 

 answer the purpose, The cockle and cheat 

 would fall through the meshes of wire. If 

 there be such a machine I should like to get 

 some information about it from you or some of 

 your subscribers ; if there is not, I've no doubt 

 that you might tax your ingenuity, if you can 

 understand my idea about it, so as to construct 

 something that will have the desired end. 



I am not one of those who defer to the last' 

 moment; and am, therefore, desirous of procur- 

 ing in time something to rid my wheat of the; 

 pest complained of. Any aid that you can ren- 

 der me in doing so will be thankfully received ! 



Your subscriber and well wisher, 



Albert E. Wrenn, 

 Shoal Bay, Isle of Wight, Feb. 4 } 1845. 



We must apologize to Dr. Wrenn for the ap- 

 parent neglect with which we have treated his 

 communication. We placed it in the hands of 

 a distinguished miller of this city, who returned 

 it to us yesterday with the remark, that there 

 was no pest so objectionable to the miller as 

 cockle. He knows of no means of getting rid 

 of it except by eradicating it from the field and 

 repeated screening and fanning after the crop is 

 harvested. 



For the Southern Planter. 



STATE OF THE WEATHER AND CROPS. 



Through the month of March we had in 

 Amherst but two or three mists of rain, which 

 were perhaps of no advantage to vegetation ; 

 and every day of April, so far, has been remark- 

 ably drying, in consequence of high winds. — 

 Oats which were sowed in February do not now 

 look as well as they did twenty or thirty days 

 past, and those sowed lately cannot vegetate. — 

 Wheat has nearly ceased to grow. Trees, grass, 



and other vegetables have been stopped in spring- 

 ing by the combination of dry weaiher, and the 

 three or four last days past of cold. Our do- 

 mestic stock looked belter, and lived better 

 through the winter, than usual, but are now 

 suffering for want of proper nourishment. My 

 son, who is my overseer, informs me that all the 

 tobacco plants on my lands are dead, and so far 

 as I can learn, this is the case throughout ihe 

 neighborhood, except on moist spots. It is not 

 yet, however, too late for sowing plants, pro- 

 vided we can have favorable weather from the 

 12th or 15th of this month to the planting sea- 

 son. Under favorable circumstances tobacco 

 may be planted up to the 10th of July and pro- 

 duce a fair crop. The only chance now is to 

 resow, and manure judiciously. I incline to 

 think that tobacco snuff is the best manure 

 which can be applied to a plant bed. Plaster 

 of Paris is also beneficial, especially on such 

 beds as we call old land ; and it is well to mix 

 the tobacco snuff and plaster together ; say in 

 the proportion of one measure of plaster to four 

 of tobacco. I would sow at the rate of six or 

 eight bushels of this compound to the acre. — ■ 

 The ordure of fowls is a very rich manure, and 

 answers well on plant beds ; but must be used 

 cautiously, for perhaps a quantity more than 

 two bushels to the acre would prove injurious, 



i will take upon me to give my fellow-planters 

 one caution, and if the planting season should 

 be late, as the present prospect would indicate, 

 I earnestly entreat them to remember it. If 

 there should be a good planting season, whilsl 

 yet your plants are small, do not fail to plant r 

 for you know not that another planting season 

 may occur in time for a crop. I say if the sea- 

 son is growing late, plant, although the leaves 

 of your tobacco are no larger than your thumb 

 nail. And yet another caution. Do not sell 

 your last crop until you see the prospect for the 

 present year. 



There is yet but little corn planted in this 

 county, and indeed it is well, fu. the ground is 

 dry several inches deep, consequently there could 

 be no vegetation. I have determined not to 

 plant until the May rain, when all my seed, as 

 usual, will be soaked in strong tobacco ambery 

 and rolled in plaster. If any should inquire 

 why soak in amber, I answer, as often before 

 published, that the amber is the richest kind of 

 manure, and being gummy, it fastens a goodly 

 portion of plaster to the grain, and lastly, no 

 animal or insect will touch it, consequently I 

 have no replanting. 



Some two or three weeks past it was thought 

 we should have no fruit in this neighborhood, 

 but I now learn that we may expect about one- 

 fourth crop of every kind, unless the present 

 cold should prove destructive. We have had 

 ice for the last three mornings, but as the wind 

 is high both day and night, the safety of the 



