438 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



given quantity. He repeated that his ani- 

 mals were all on boards. He assured them 

 that the animals neither required grooming 

 nor bedding, and it was one of the beauties 

 of this principle, tliat they might have a 

 thousand bullocks, hogs, or sheep on boards, 

 and they would require neither sweeping, 

 littering, or attending to in any way beyond 

 the mere act of feeding them; yet they 

 would be as clean as possible, and fit for a 

 ladj^'s drawing-room. He was often asked 

 by those who came to look at his animals, 

 — bullocks, pigs and sheep, — " How often 

 do you sweep the floor " Not at all ; 

 they sweep it themselves." He assured 

 them, that by the addition of a little gyp- 

 sum on the boards, the ammonia was per- 

 fectly fixed, there was no disagreeable 

 smell at all, and the manure was taken 

 away at intervals, just as it might be 

 wanted. 



The Sun. 



" The sun, the great awakener of life' 

 the king of nature, shoots his burning rays 

 every day athwart the face of the waters. 

 He causes the invisible vapours to rise, 

 which, lighter than the air itself, unceasing- 

 ly tend to soar into the atmosphere, filling 

 it and constituting within it another acj[ue- 

 ous atmosphere. In their ascending move- 

 ment, they encounter the colder layers of 

 the higher regions of the atmosphere 

 which perform the part of coolers. They 

 are condensed in vesicles, that become visi- 

 ble under the form of clouds and fogs 

 Then, borne along by the winds, whether 

 invisible still, or in the state of clouds, they 

 spread themselves over the continents, and 

 fall in abundant rains upon the ground 

 which they fertilize. All the portion of 

 the atmospheric waters not expended for 

 the benefit of the plants and of the animals, 

 nor carried off anew into the atmosphere by 

 evaporation, returns by the springs and 

 rivers to the ocean whence it came." 



Instruct the rising generation, in order 

 to check evil habits and practices. 



Put down false speaking and accusation, 

 so that you may protect and rescue the 

 honest and innocent. 



Set the highest estimate possible on aca- 

 demical learning, so that you may advance 

 the scholar. 



[July 



RICHMOND, VIRGINIA. 



A Holiday Trip among the Farmers. 



We have lately had the pleasure of visiting 

 some very kind friends of the " Southern Plan- 

 ter," in the counties of Albemarle, Augusta and 

 Rockbridge; and as we shall ever look back to 

 this visit as a season of unalloyed happiness to 

 us, we propose to speak of what we saw as the 

 means of letting our friends there know that we 

 have not forgotten them, and of communicating 

 " the News" of that fine agricultural region of 

 our State, to the readers of the Planter every' 

 where. 



We had a regular holiday, and felt inclined to 

 make the most of it, as it has been a long, long 

 time, since we enjoyed a similar benefit, and if 

 inclination alone had been consulted, we should 

 scarcely have set out for home, until we had 

 "no where else to go to." Flere it is all work, 

 and every day in the week is so much alike, 

 that it would be a difficult matter to tell Saturday 

 from Monday, except that on the former there is 

 more work to do than usual, and it does not so 

 often rain as it used to do when we were a school- 

 boy. We were very much gratified at the kind- 

 ness we received, which was of that cordial, 

 unselfish sort that one may expect from the 

 farmers of Virginia wkenever he enters their 

 abodes. We were told that we should do as we 

 pleased, and we cannot help saying, " sub rosa," 

 that we at once communicated this fact to our 

 "better half," as affording her a hint of the ex- 

 istence of a species of restraint which would 

 frequently be salutary to our dispositions. 



Of course it pleased us to see all the horses, 

 cows, 'sheep, hogs, crops, &c., that we possibly 

 could, for we cannot help being particularly in- 

 terested in all of these things. 



We visited first, Mr. S. W. Ficklin near Char- 

 lottesville, who is well known to the readers of 

 the Planter, as an enthusiastic admirer and 

 breeder of fine horses and cattle. We foundhis 



