244 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



most brilliant affair, and all we can say is, we 

 wish we had " been there to see." 



To the friend of agriculture no sight can be 

 more interesting than the display which the 

 means and opportunities of this Society enable 

 them to afford at one of their annual exhibitions. 

 All other attempts of the kind sink into utter 

 insignificance when compared with it. We 

 have never advocated the system of exhibitions 

 in our own State ? because, beyond the vicinity 

 of the city of Richmond, we feel assured that 

 any such attempt will probably prove a failure. 

 We infinitely prefer to see substituted for it 

 neighborhood clubs, which we are pleaded to 

 find are becoming as popular as they are useful. 

 To get up any thing like an attractive exhibi- 

 tion, requires a great deal of moveable material, 

 in the first place, and a great deal of trouble, in 

 the second. Stock and domestic manufactures 

 are the subjects to which agricultural exhibitions 

 are indebted for all their interest and all their 

 eclat. To both of these departments we pay 

 too little attention in Virginia to enable us to 

 furnish out an agricultural exhibition. But 

 there is no reason why we should not institute, 

 what are infinitely more useful, neighborhood 

 clubs, where friends may meet and talk over the 

 projects, plans, and theories that are afloat in 

 the agricultural world ; where we may compare 

 notes, laugh at each other's hobbies, gather a 

 lesson from the folly or wisdom of our neighbors, 

 and go home with our social and tilling faculties 

 highly improved. 



As a proof of the value of agricultural clubs, 

 we lately heard a distinguished farmer in the 

 lower part of Albemarle living upon the river, 

 say, that ten years ago land was fifteen per 

 cent, higher in his neighborhood than in the vi- 

 cinit} 7 of Charlottesville, and that such had been 

 the improvement effected by the Hole and Cor- 

 ner Club of Albemarle, that the positions of the 

 two portions of the county had been exactty re- 

 versed ; there lands were now estimated fifteen 

 or twenty per cent, higher than those below. — 

 We do not hesitate to say that this is the gen- 

 eral effect ; the formation of a club increases the 

 value of land in the neighborhood ten or fifteen 

 per cent, We are largely engaged in an agency 

 for buying and selling lands in the State of Vir- 

 ginia, and we are frequently asked by persons 

 looking for farms, if the one recommended to 

 them lies within the circle of a neighborhood 

 club. 



LIMING LAND. 



In the application of lime to land, it seems t® 

 me that one great object is generally overlooked. 

 All the lime intended to be applied in one season 

 is generally spread at once, thus leaving it in a 

 kind of stratum^ instead of being, as it ought to 

 be T thoroughly mixed with the soil. Would it 

 not be better to proceed as follows : Suppose you 

 intend to apply sixty bushels to the acre. First 

 spread twenty bushels carefully over the acre of 

 ground ; then turn the soil with the heaviest, or 

 rather deepest operating plough you have. Then 

 spread twenty bushels more in the same way, 

 and turn that in with a medium plough passing 

 across the previous furrow. Then spread the 

 remaining twenty bushels, and harrow that in, 

 or turn it under with a light seed plough. This 

 would effectually mingle the lime through the 

 whole depth of the soil. Any one can see the 

 reason of the thing and the advantages of it ; 

 the only objection to it being the labor ; but that 

 is not more than is requisite to bring the soil 

 into the proper condition for seeding. If wheat 

 or any small grain be intended, then the third 

 application can be made at the time the seed is 

 sown. 1 do not much like the usual plan of 

 applying thirty bushels one year, and three or 

 five years thereafter thirty bushels more, and so 

 on, unless deficiency of means prevents the whole 

 being applied the same year. The idea gener- 

 ally is, that, like manure, the first application is 

 exhausted or nearly so in three or five years, 

 and that then another application is necessary. 

 I do not think the lime is exhausted, but the 

 small quantity applied having been diffused 

 through the whole of the soil by successive 

 ploughings, the soil is not sufficiently calcareous. 

 Now if we apply the whole quantity as sug- 

 gested above, the soil to its entire depth will 

 have become charged with it ; and, if enough 

 is applied I do not believe it will be exhausted 

 in twenty 3 7 ears, if then.— Cultivator. 



THE HAW OR HOOKS. 



We had supposed that the absurd and cruel 

 practice of cutting out the haw from the eye of 

 the horse for the purpose of relieving a fancied 

 disease called the hooks, had ceased amongsteven 

 the most ignorant of veterinary practitioners; 

 but a gentleman assured us that the plan was 

 frequently resorted to still in the country by 

 those who should know better. 



The haw is an expansive membrane with 

 which nature has provided the eye of the horse 

 for the purpose of removing the dust and other 

 impurities that may chance to fall upon that 

 delicate organ, and to cut it off under any cir- 

 cumstances, is not less cruel than ridiculous.— 



