THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



79 



of the Planter. This plan consists simply in 

 skipping every other row at each ploughing; 

 of course taking care to plough out those rows 

 the second time that were omitted the first. — 

 The advantages of this method our correspond- 

 ent conceives to be the following : 1 st. You meet 

 the vicissitudes of the season by having one row 

 in condition for wet, and the other for dry wea- 

 ther.^.) 2d. The land will not wash so badly 

 with one row hard (comparatively) and the other 

 freshly broken (b.) 3d. You can tend much 

 more land with the same team, because the corn 

 would wait much longer, worked on one side for 

 a return to it, than if not worked at all.(c) 

 4th. It is much easier for a hand to work when 

 walking in the comparatively firm row, than 

 when walking or freshly ploughed ground. 



[We know that the plan recommended by 

 our correspondent is strenuously advocated by 

 some experienced and successful corn growers, 

 and it may be that the failure to appreciate its 

 advantages arise, rather, from our ignorance 

 than its want of merit. If we are wrong, we 

 shall be glad to be corrected.] 



COOKING FOOD FOR SWINE. 



In an article on Pork Making, in a late num- 

 ber of the New England Farmer, Dr. Lee says : 

 From some experiments of my own, and consi- 

 derable research into the published results of 

 the experience of others, I am satisfied that ten 

 bushels of boiled potatoes, thoroughly mixed 

 with the pudding that can be made from three 

 bushels of corn or peas, will make as much pork 

 as twenty bushels of potatoes, and six bushels 

 of corn or peas fed raw. It is, indeed, gratifying 

 to find that throughout the entire length and 

 breadth of our country, the expression of popu- 

 lar sentiment is annually becoming more and 

 more decided as regards the practice of econo- 

 mizing food by cooking. The calculation made 



(a) "We have never seen that vicissitude of weather 

 that a foul, hard, unploughed row of corn was calcu- 

 lated to meet. — Ed. 



{b) We do not see exactly the force of this argu- 

 ment. Surely a ploughed row will not wash the less 

 for having an unploughed row on each side of it: in- 

 deed, if the unploughed row is hard and baked, the 

 probability is, that the rain that falls upon it will run 

 off into the loose earth of the ploughed row, and 

 double the tendency to wash. — Ed. 



(c) When a large field of com imperiously demands 

 the use of" the plough, and there is fear that the last 

 part of it may suffer before it is reached in the ordi- 

 nary way, we have frequently known the order given, 

 to turn a furrow on each side of the corn, leaving the 

 middle of the row to be cleaned out afterwards. This 

 is a better plan, of ploughing a width and skipping 

 one, we think, than the one recommended by our cor- 

 respondent. — Ed. 



by Dr. Lee, though it will, in all probability, be 

 doubted by some, will yet appear reasonable to 

 every one who has any knowledge of the prac- 

 tice to which it refers. Our own experience has 

 long since convinced us that, to feed uncooked 

 food of any kind, to hogs or other animals, while 

 undergoing the " fattening process" is a sheer 

 waste of at least one-fourth the materials de- 

 manded. We hope our farmers in Maine will 

 examine this subject critically, and act, hereaf- 

 ter, as their own reason, uninfluenced by long- 

 cherished prejudices, shall decide. — Maine Cult. 



PATENT OFFICE REPORT. 

 The following notice of a valuable document 

 has been prepared by a friend ; he has, by our 

 permission and request, adopted the editorial 

 style : 



Jlnnual Report of the Commissioner of Patents, 

 for the year 1844, being Document 78, House 

 of Representatives, 29th Congress, 2d Session: 

 pp. 520. 



In the name and behalf of the people gener- 

 ally, and particularly of the agricultural com- 

 munity, we beg leave to tender our thanks to 

 the Hon. Mr. Ellsworth, of the Patent Office, 

 for his most valuable Annual Report. Our Re- 

 presentatives, in the National Legislature, have 

 contributed, we doubt not, much to advance the 

 " general welfare," by ordering an unusually 

 large number of this Document to be printed. — 

 The extraordinary demand for its "illustrious 

 predecessor," (the Report of 1843,) induced an 

 enterprising publisher to meet the wishes of the 

 public by a large private edition : we hope the 

 people generally may have similar opportunities 

 of obtaining and reading the Document now 

 before us. 



We have to regret that our limits will not al- 

 low even a condensed abstract of this valuable 

 report. It will be seen that it is very volumi- 

 nous, occupjung more than five hundred pages. 

 Confining our notice to the agricultural matter, 

 chiefly, we note a part of the interesting and 

 important facts embraced in the report. The 

 husbandman will not only be richly repaid, by 

 the entertainment afforded by a perusal of the 

 report itself, (as also the artisan,) but he will 

 find much to encourage him in his good work. 



The Commissioner omits no proper occasion 

 to pay a just tribute to those, who are rendering 

 valuable aid to agriculture, by their investiga- 

 tions in science. Accompanying his report will 

 be found entertaining and practical extracts from 

 the "Principles of Agriculture," by the cele- 

 brated Von Thaer, evincing deep research and 

 patient investigation. He also gives us many 

 valuable facts, furnished by eminent farmers, 

 adding to the great mass of testimony in favor 



