THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



be kept perfect till the new crop is ready 

 for use. 



I will not eat a potatoe grown on clay 

 land after they are half grown; for they 

 are indigestable to a weak stomach, and 

 unhealthy for all. If I now resided in a 

 warmer region, I would make my potatoe 

 ground rich with vegetatable mould, and 

 plant a small purple kind, called Mole. 

 It is of excellent quality, very early, and 

 when boiled, loses its colour. 



I never knew a good potatoe to grow on 

 good wheat land., and never knew potatoes 

 to fail when grown on good rye land. 

 Perhaps in a more northern climate the re- 

 sult may be different. For Irish potatoes 

 the ground should' be so friable as to be 

 worked up by the foot, but for sweet po- 

 tatoes clay grounds are best. 



The large and small potatoes should be 

 separated. If the crop is large a seive 

 should be used for this purpose. The 

 largest should be ate and sold, and the 

 smaller planted without cutting. The 

 sweet potatoe should not be cut either for 

 the hot bed or the field, but planted by 

 placing them longitudinal in furrows. A 

 potatoe of good quality has a thin skin, 

 therefore no necessity for peeling. Either 

 kind is a good substitute for bread, either 

 alone or mixed with meal. 



LA DRUM MO ND. 



June 1, 1857. 



For the Southern Planter. 



Re-Planting Corn. 



Mr. Editor : 



This being my first year in Virginia, it 

 would be inconsistent for me to attempt to 

 teach others, especially in northern isttcs — 

 but being somewhat an experimenter, and 

 the business of re-planting corn nearly 

 past, — still fresh in mind, I will give my 

 experience up to this time. I now think 

 I covered most of my corn too deep. 

 Something like half of it come up ; and 

 there being quite a crust on the hill, I 

 made some miniature rakes, with three 

 spikes for teeth to each one, a very light 

 instrument, easily handled with one hand, 

 passing through the field, we drew the 

 rakes through all the hills that had not 

 come up; in most of them the corn would 

 readily appear in a crimped state ; when 

 it did not, we replanted ; — my neighbors 

 told me the crimped corn was no account, 



&c. ; but no difference is now percepti- 

 ble, — the crimped corn is as good as any, 

 and is of the first planting. But I am for 

 another experiment : I am thinking to put 

 nearly twice as much in each hill as I did 

 this spring, and pass a horse and harrow 

 lengthwise in each row, instead of cover- 

 ing covering it with a hoe as this spring ; I 

 hope in this manner to avoid the expense 

 and trouble of replanting. 



While I am writing, I will say a word 

 as to seed-corn ; I lately noticed, either in 

 the Planter or Farmer, a word from some 

 gentleman, going to show that no corn 

 should be used for planting but the large 

 grains from the butt of the ear; the rea- 

 sons he gave seemed very plausible ; but 

 still I cannot subscribe to his theory. 

 My theory is this — in order to get good, 

 full, long ears of corn, we should plant 

 corn from such ears, and plant all the corn 

 from each ear used — the tip — the butt — 

 the middle — the whole ; and the more 

 ears of good size from one stalk, the 

 better. It appears to me that a very con- 

 siderable improvement can be made in the 

 corn grown in this vicinity — that more 

 corn can be obtained in proportion to the 

 amount of stalk than we now get. At all 

 events I am for trying it. I am encour- 

 aged in this matter from my experience at 

 the north, for I succeeded in getting larger 

 corn, and more in proportion to the amount 

 of stalk than any of my neighbors, who 

 pursued the same course suggested by the 

 gentleman whose remarks and theory I 

 have alluded to. Whatever may be my 

 success in my experiments, I will inform 

 my fellow citizens, who are equally inter- 

 ested for the general good of our whole 

 country, and especially for the South. 



THOMAS CHASE. 



Chesterfield, June 1857. 



Disease in Peach Trees. 



. Bremo, Fluvanna County, > 

 June 6, 1857. \ 



Mr. Rvffin — Having for several years 

 past observed a disease in the peach tree of 

 this part of the county, which has increased 

 so rapidly as to threaten the ultimate de- 

 struction of that once abundant and most 

 delicious of all the fruits of our climate, I 

 am induced to speak of it through the 

 columns of the Planter. « 



I have not seen it noticed in all my read- 



