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THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[November 



ing finely ground bone meal to the cows/' 

 Other phosphates have been found to an- 

 swer the same purpose, and doubtless the 

 cheapest materials for this purpose are some 

 of the " rock guanos'' now common in our 

 markets. The true remedy for bone disease, 

 however, consists not in dosing the animal, 

 but in so improving the soil that it shall 

 produce a perfect food. A liberal applica- 

 tion of some phosphatic manure is the ob- 

 vious resort in extreme cases where the soil 

 is absolutely deficient in phosphoric acid ; 

 but in my opinion there are few soils in 

 New England (always excepting mere sand 

 barrens) that do not originally contain 

 enough of all the mineral food of plants, to 

 yield perfectly nutritious fodder for an in- 

 definitely long period, without the necessity 

 for outlay in commercial or concentrated 

 fertilizers, if they are brought into the pro- 

 per physical conditions and manured with 

 all the dung and urine that can be produced 

 on them. 



For the Southern Planter. 



Experiments with Plaster on Fea Fallow. 



I last year had 2 bbls. plaster, (all I had,) 

 sown on a part of my pea fallow ; the plas- 

 ter was applied to the poorest and lightest 

 part of the field at the rate of half bushel 

 per acre, the peas had about 6 or 8 leaves at 

 the time the application was made. In a 

 few weeks the vines were a much deeper 

 green and were much more flourishing than 

 those adjacent without plaster. The whole 

 field was fallowed and put into wheat at the 

 usual time. About the 1st of January, the 

 wheat on the plastered portion, began to 

 take the start and maintained it up to 

 harvest; and when cut, I think was fully 

 four times as good as the balance of the 

 field, notwithstanding the pea vines were 

 twice as good on some richer parts of the 

 field, where there had been no plaster. The 

 joint-worm fly seemed to attack the unplas- 

 tered wheat to the very row where the plas- 

 ter stopped. I did not thresh or measure 

 the product separately, but all my neighbors 

 who saw the crop when growing, I am sure, 

 will concur with me in the above estimates 

 of the product. The growth of weeds, &c, 

 on the land since harvest, distinctly mark 

 the boundaries of the plastered portion. 



I have applied plaster to the whole of my 

 pea fallow (130 acres) this year, and have 

 the best growth of vines I have ever had. 



On portions of the fallow, not plastered, to 

 see the difference, I think the growth is 

 scarcely one-fourth of what it is on the same 

 land alongside of it with the plaster. 



On a part of the fallow I applied 1 bushel 

 per acre, on the last sowing, about the 1st of 

 -July, I applied half bushel plaster and half 

 bushel leached ashes, wel Im'.xed together I 

 can see no difference in. the pea vines. If 

 plaster will act as well on all lands, I think 

 we may- save the expense of buying guano 

 in future. I have frequently used guano, 

 but have never seen the best Peruvian pro- 

 duce so fine an effect as this small applica- 

 tion of plaster on pea vines has produced 

 this year. The land on which the experi- 

 ment was made, is light Mattaponi land, 

 well adapted to corn, but rather too sandy 

 for a heavy crop of wheat. 



Ed. Hill. 



King William Count}/, Sept. 18th, 1860. 



Slabbering Horses.— A correspondent 

 of the Boston Cultivator says : " All grazing 

 animals, and the human species are at times, 

 troubled with it, and the cause is probably 

 very simple, and the remedy should be so. 

 In a healthy state, the stomach of all ani- 

 mals abounds with a due proportion of acids 

 and alkalies, which aid in forming the gas- 

 tric juice, which dissolves and digests the 

 food. When acid too much prevails, it de- 

 ranges digestion and causes, too much moist- 

 ure on the stomach. All that is wanting 

 for a cure is alkali and carbon to neutralize 

 or absorb the excess of acids. Give the 

 horse, in his feed, about half a pint of pul- 

 verized charcoal one day, and soot the next, 

 and he will soon be well. The charcoal ab- 

 sorbs acid, and carries it off. Soot neutral- 

 izes acid. The operations of the two will 

 restore the gastric juice, and then all will be 

 well. We have several alkalies besides what 

 may be in soot, but none so safe as in soot, 

 for any quantity given will not hurt the 

 stomach. Slabbering in horses is undoubt- 

 edly caused by some improper thing eaten. 



God Never Perplexed. — It is a glo- 

 rious truth that God rules, and that he 

 knows what is to come out of all conflicts. 

 He sees the end from the beginning. His 

 purposes will be accomplished, whoever else 

 may be disappointed. His purposes are all 

 right, and ought to prevail. The Lord 

 ruleth ; let the earth rejoice. — Dr. Cox. 



