418 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



nessee, Indiana and Illinois, produced over 

 280,000,000 bushels, being one half the 

 entire crop of the country. Most premium 

 crops, as shown by the statistics of our 

 agricultural Societies, exceed one hundred 

 bushels per acre, and there is little doubt 

 but that the cost per bushel of corn yield- 

 ing one hundred bushels, is less than that 

 of corn yielding less than forty, the ave- 

 rage in this State. It is an interesting in- 

 quiry why the average is so low, especi- 

 ally in many States of reputed fertility. 

 Ignorance, not only of the wants of this 

 cfop, but of the simplest principles of 

 Vegetable physiology, with adherence to 

 old and false practices conduce to this re- 

 sult. As tolerable crops are sometimes 

 realized even when sadly neglected, too 

 many are satisfied and seek for no im- 

 provements. 



varieties. 

 The greater number of varieties inclu- 

 ding every shade of white, yellow, red or 

 striped, and dark purple colors, all shapes 

 of kernel and size of ear, resulting both 

 from accident or soil and climate, now 

 possesses a good degree of permanence, 

 when planted separately, though they 

 readily mix when planted together, and 

 lose their peculiarities when transferred to 

 an ungenial climate. 



The Duck Trade. 



Among other sources of wealth which 

 have been developed by the establishment 

 of a line of steamers between this port 

 and New York, we have heretofore over- 

 looked the traffic in wild ducks, which 

 gives employment to a large number of 

 persons, and requires little or no capital to 

 carry it on. How many are employed in 

 the slaughter of the web-footed tribe, we 

 are unable to say; but we will take for 

 example the operations in this line as car- 

 ried on by Edgar Burroughs, Esq., a sub- 

 stantial and respectable farmer of Princess 

 Anne, on Long Island, Back Bay, (which 

 he has lately purchased,) from time imme- 

 morial famous as the resort of wild ducks 

 and geese. He has had twenty men em- 

 ployed constantly since the commence- 

 ment of the season, and up to the 30th of 

 December they had consumed in their vo- 

 cation twenty-three kegs of gunpowder, 

 with shot in proportion. The ducks which 

 they killed were brought to Norfolk once 



a week, and piled up in the warehouse- of 

 Kemp & Bushy, on Roanoke square, where, 

 on every Wednesday, they were packed 

 in barrels and shipped for New York by 

 the steamship Jamestown. The number 

 of barrels thus " sent off weekly, have, up 

 to this time, averaged from 15 to 25 bar- 

 rels, and one week the number reached as 

 high as 31. They consist of all the varie- 

 ties of the duck species known in our lat- 

 itude, such as canvas backs, red heads, 

 mallard, black ducks, sprigtails, bullnecks, 

 baldfaces, (or wigeons,) shovelers, &c, to 

 which may be added a good proportion of 

 wild geese. Yesterday being packing day, 

 we were invited by our friend, Mr. Bur- 

 roughs, to step in and see the display of 

 game ; there was enough to fill 16 barrels, 

 a considerable portion being canvas backs, 

 which were uncommonly fine. Hereto- 

 fore the season has been highly favorable 

 for the success of these operations, as 

 ducks will keep a long time in such cold 

 weather as we have had, and will proba- 

 bly continue to have through the season. 

 We should be glad to obtain some further 

 statistics respecting this new traffic ; such 

 as the expenditure of ammunition, the 

 whole number of barrels shipped in a sea- 

 son, the number of ducks and geese con- 

 tained in them, the number of persons em- 

 ployed, the average price sold for per pair 

 in the New York market, and the proba- 

 ble amount netted to the enterprising indi- 

 viduals who carry on the business. It 

 would form a curious record, especially to 

 those who remember when Norfolk was 

 the only market that was supplied with 

 game from the same quarter. — Norfolk 

 Herald. 



Cure for Hydrophobia. 



Receipt. — First dose, 1 oz. of elecampane 

 root, boiled in 1 pint milk until reduced to a 

 half pint. Second dose (to be taken two days 

 after the first,) 1J oz. of elecampane root boiled 

 in 1 pint of milk, boiled as the first. Third 

 close, the same as the second (to be taken two 

 days after) ; in all three doses. 



The above was sent to the N. York Tribune 

 by J. W. Woolston, of Philadelphia, as a cure 

 for the above terrible disease, and he states that 

 he has known it to be perfectly successful in 

 effecting a cure in twenty cases. — Scientific Am. 



The living principle in plants makes power- 

 ful efforts to place their lateral roots at a proper 

 distance from the surface. 



