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THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



increasing their own revenues, and retaining 

 capital in the State, which now goes out of it, 

 our farmers will be giving material aid to an 

 enterprise which deserves to be fostered and en- 

 couraged. The manufacture of glass ware in- 

 troduced into the State, is an important and 

 valuable addition to its manufactures, and if a 

 large supply of pickle jars should be needed, 

 our friend Atlee would be encouraged and 

 prospered by that demand. Secondly, it would 

 stimulate the demand for orchards of apple 

 trees at least, as it would require a large sup- 

 ply of vinegar to make pickle enough to supply 

 the markets of our Virginia cities. And 

 lastly, it would give employment to members' 

 of the farmers' family who cannot participate 

 in the ruder and severer labours of agriculture, 

 but could this be usefully and profitably em- 

 ployed. This is the chief consideration. 

 Every Southern farmer knows how much 

 labour there is around him which he can- 

 not employ in his ordinary cultivation, chil- 

 dren, women and old men, whose pysical pow- 

 ers are unequal to severer tasks of field labour, 

 but who could plant, cultivate, gather and pre- 

 pare for pickling all those things which are 

 mostly used for that purpose. And many a 

 rich spot of earth is now left to the weeds, 

 which could be advantageously cultivated in 

 various vegetables for pickling. But more 

 than all, here the daughters of the household 

 might find an employment easy of perform- 

 ance, which would enable them to be useful, to 

 be more than drones in the busy hive of life. 

 Let more of those fair damsels complain that 

 we thus mark out work for them, useful and 

 profitable work. They are not asked to go out 

 into the garden and defile their hands with the 

 shovel and the hoe, but they may well preside 

 ov r the pickling kettle, and will feel happier 

 while thus usefully and honourably employed 

 than they would be idling in the parlour, or 

 sitting in slippers weeping over the fictitious 

 woes of some child of the novel writer's fancy. 

 The farmer's wife among us always has enough 

 to occupy , ; er if she does her whole duty, but it is 

 too often the case that her daughters are mere 

 idlers, with no serious occupation for hands or 

 head. Both must be usefully and constantly 

 occupied, or life will fail of its great end ; and 

 we are always pleased when we are able to 

 point young ladies to some useful and agreea- 

 ble avocation for their hours of leisure. 



'While they give duo attention to reading, 

 needle work and music, may they not do 

 something towards the prosperity of the family 

 by putting up pickles for markets. 



Something about New Fruits. 



This is a subject of peculiar interest to us, and 

 to all fruit growers, to which we desire to call 

 the attention, and about which we wish to secure 

 the earnest co-operation of all the readers of 

 this paper, whether they aspire to the title of 

 fruit growers or otherwise. Every man that 

 has a fruit tree upon his farm, whether it was 

 planted there by himself, or was found grow- 

 ing there when he entered into the possession, 

 can aid us in this matter, and may, while thus 

 helping us, confer a substantial benefit upon 

 his immediate neighbours, and upon the com- 

 munity at large. Surely no Virginia farmer 

 will be deaf to our call if he can, without seri- 

 ous inconvenience, be thus instrumental in the 

 accomplishment of a public good. 



There are, beyond all question, in various 

 parts of the State, varieties of apples, peaches, 

 pears, &c, which are known and esteemed 

 only within very narrow limits, which would 

 be very highly prized if they could be intro- 

 duced into a wider notice. Growing on farms 

 in different counties of the State, there are, 

 probably, apples not found in any of our nur- 

 series, nor in the" published catalogues of our 

 largest nursery men, which, in some or many 

 respects, are equal or superior to any of the 

 varieties which are now known as standards. 

 Within a few months we have met with several 

 intelligent gentlemen who have mentioned in 

 our hearing, apples which they had seen, and 

 which they prized highly, which, from the de- 

 scription given, are unlike any now offered for 

 sale by the regular fruit growers, and which 

 deserve a place in every catalogue, if indeed 

 they are as good as represented. 



It is in connection with these new varieties 

 of fruit of which orchardists at large know 

 nothing, that we want the aid of friends in 

 every section of the State. What we wish 

 them to do is very simple, and can be done 

 with but little trouble. It is, if there be upon 

 their farms, or in the vicinity, any variety of 

 fruit which seems to be spontaneous, to have 

 just grown up there by accident, which differs 

 | essentially from the well known and favourite 

 I varieties, and which has any valuable quality, 



