398 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



presses hard on them with the foot, and another 

 hand covers them up, and as soon as the hand 

 that is covering the potatoes gets through cov- 

 ering, they turn back and run the back of the 

 hoe over the top of the bed, which smoothes 

 the top. As soon as the potatoes are up, which 

 is about the first week in May, I put my whole 

 sweep plows in them, and run 2 furrows in 

 each row, the plowman running up as near as 

 he can get to the potatoes, the 2 furrows with 

 the whole sweep plow shaves off whatever 

 young grass may be on the side of the beds, 

 and throws a very pretty clean list in the al- 

 leys. I then put in the hoes and hoe only the 

 top of the beds, and each good hoe hand hoes 

 me 4 tasks for a day's work— that is the first 

 plowing and first hoe work. As soon as I find 

 they want work again, I put a good J shovel 

 plow in them, and run 2 furrows next to the 

 beds, and take out the middles with a whole 

 sweeper plow. As soon as I get through with 

 that plowing, I put the hoes in and haul up the 

 ridges, and in hauling them up with the hoes, 

 I cover up the vines* on the side of the beds — 

 that is my second hoe work and ploughing. By 

 the middle of July they will want the last 

 working, and by that time the vines have 

 run over the alleys. I then plow them by run- 

 ning 3 furrows in the alleys very deep with a 

 good shovel plow. I then put the hoes in them 

 and haul them up, and in hauling up I cover the 

 vines up on the side of the beds. If any per- 

 son were to see them at that time, they would 

 not suppose that the vines would not come out, 

 but in about 2 weeks or more the vines on the 

 side of the beds sprout out and soon cover the 

 alleys again. I never dig my potatoes until the 

 vines are killed perfectly dead by frost. As 

 soon as the frost bites the vines, I begin 

 to dig them, and I begin by directing some 

 hands to go ahead of the plows, and take 

 all of the vines off the beds. I then take 

 a 5 or 6 inch plow and plow the beds down, 

 and make some hands follow the plows to 

 pick up the potatoes as fast as they are 

 plowed out of the beds. If the potatoes are 

 very numerous, it takes 3 or 4 hands to pick 

 up and keep up with the plow. I then carry 

 them to the banks, or where I intend to bank 

 them up, in baskets in a waggon, so as not to 

 bruise them. I put just as many in a bank as 

 will allowance the negroes and serve the house 

 a week. I put a good deal of pine trash on 

 the potatoes before the dirt is put on, and I 

 bank up about half way, and leave out the top 

 of the bank for a week or 10 days to allow 

 whatever moisture may be in the potatoes to 

 escape before I close the bank up, and at the 

 expiratic.n of the week or 10 days, I close up 

 the banks, except a good air hole on the south 

 side, about 2 feet from the top, and put a piece 

 of bark, over the air hole to prevent the rain 

 from getting in ; and until this year I have 

 kept my potatoes all the winter and spring 



* A bad practice, we think. — Ed. 



without having many rotten ones in a bank. 

 In this day of improvement in agriculture I 

 look upon digging potatoes with the hoe as do- 

 ing a very slow business, and as I can dig so 

 fast with the plow now-a-days, I plant very 

 largely to the hand of potatoes, and sometimes 

 put hogs on a part of my crop, rather than dig' 

 them and feed them to the hogs. I would not 

 pretend to say what a fine provision potatoes 

 are, as every planter knows that, and will con- 

 clude, Mr. Editor, by saying that I wish you 

 success in the Farmer and Planter ; and also, 

 that I believe in book farming. 



Mr. Editor, I send you this peace, and if you 

 think it worth a place in the Farmer and Plan- 

 ter, or that it may be of advantage to any one, 

 you are at liberty to publish it. B. 0. 



Barnwell Dist., S. C, June 13, 1856. 



Agricultural Antiquities of Virginia. 



A correspondent applied to us some time 

 ago to know if the Lupine, either white or yel- 

 low, had ever been grown as a manure or for- 

 age crop in Virginia. We wrote for informa- 

 tion on this subject, and also on the history of 

 the partridge pea, which we had heard, dis- 

 trustfully, was an imported plant, to a gentle- 

 man whose head is a perfect storehouse of an- 

 tiquities, and whose memory seems to be proof 

 against the assaults of age. We hope to hear 

 from him again, and are sure our readers will 

 also after perusing the following. 



We can confirm, in our own experience, what 

 he says of the feeding qualities of the partridge 

 pea. Last year a neighbour whose land was 

 not cultivated, gave us the partridge pea on 

 condition we cut it green ; and we fed all our 

 stock on it for more than a fortnight, just as 

 one would soil with clover, and every thing 

 improved on it. This year, having bought the 

 same tract of land, we are persuing the same 

 course, though the pea has diminished so much 

 from last year's mowing as to afford much less 

 feed. 



To F. G. Ruffin. 



In the year 1026, Robert Carter, who had re- 

 sided sixteen years in the East Indies and four- 

 teen years in the West Indies, who had pub- 

 lished a treatise on the cultivation of cotton, 

 wool, indigo, capada, rice, and other tropical 

 plants, was invited by the Virginia company to 

 accept a grant of land, and remove to the colo- 

 ny. We have no positive evidence that he ac- 

 cepted the offer, but, we find a man of that 

 name here soon after the date of the proposal 

 made to him. Indigo was cultivated in Virgi- 

 nia at an early period ; the remains of the 

 "vats" for extricating the dye were seen at 

 Curl's, in Henrico, thirty years ago, and a deed 



