372 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



embark in the stock raising business has not ar- 

 rived; our farms are too poor; our grass too short; 

 our great staples are too high ; we cannot, or will 

 not, spare the time from the cultivation and ma- 

 nagement of our corn, wheat and tobacco, to follow 

 the cows, fold the sheep and herd the swine. As 

 soon would a Mississippi cotton grower or a Loui- 

 siana sugar planter devote the necessary time and 

 attention to stock, to insure, success, as a Virginia 

 tobacco planter and wheat and corn grower. A 

 reasonable supply of beef, butter and milk, mutton 

 and pork, is all that we ought to expect from the 

 present condition of our farms. 



Respectfully, 



A. A. Campbell. 



FIVE-FIELD ROTATION. 



Mr, President, — In obedience to one of the rules 

 of our Club, requiring a written statement of some 

 experiment made during the year, or an essay, or 

 the results of some operation, I would submit the 

 following, showing the effects so far, of a change 

 from the three-field rotation, first to the four and 

 then to the five-field rotation. My farm, called 

 Springfield, was cultivated on the three-field rota- 

 tion, from the beginning of the year 1832, (and 

 had been previous to that, to the time whereof 

 the memory of man runneth not to the contrary,) 

 to about 1843 ; from 1843 to 1852, on the four-field 

 rotation ; 1852 and 1853, on the five-field rotation. 

 The largest crop of wheat made on the farm while 

 on the three-field rotation, was about 400 bushels, 

 and the largest crop of corn, 288 barrels; the lar- 

 gest crop of wheat made while under the four- 

 field rotation, was 589i bushels, and 250 barrels of 

 corn. The crop of wheat of 1852, the first year of 

 the five-field rotation, measured 1,083 bushels, 

 and the crop of corn measured 291 barrels. The 

 crop of wheat of the present year, the second on 

 the five-field rotation, measured 1,053 bushels. 

 The crop of corn of this year, will not fall much 

 short of 275 barrels, though the corn field of this 

 year is but little over half the surface it is de- 

 signed to be hereafter. To recapitulate ; the lar- 

 gest product of wheat on the three-field rotation, 

 400 bushels— largest on the four-field, 589£ bush- 

 els—the largest on the five-field rotation, 1,083 

 bushels — difference in favor of five-fields, as com- 

 pared with three, 683 bushels ; as compared with 

 four, 494 bushels — results which clearly show to 

 my mind the advantages of a long over a short ro- 

 tation; and I feel entirely confident that a longer 

 rotation still, will add still another increase to the 

 main staples, corn and wheat, and should not di- 

 minish the amount of the tobacco crop, though 

 it ought to diminish the surface cultivated, and 

 that it will add in a still greater ratio to the value 

 of the stock kept upon the farm. 



W. R. Bland. 



Form the Germantown Telegraph. 



SADDLE GALLS. 



Mr. Editor, — t: A merciful man," says the scrip- 

 tural adage, " is merciful to his beast." But there 

 is such a thing as one's not being merciful some- 

 times, in consequence of not knowing how to be. 

 A farmer has a horse, whose back is covered with 

 wind-galls, but the good woman is out of meal, 

 and Dobbin, as Burns says, " maun gang to mill." 



Wind, or saddle galls, as they are perhaps more 

 correctly denominated, are of quite frequent oc- 

 currence on the backs of horses — almost as com- 

 mon, indeed, as corns on ladies' feet; they admit, 

 however, of an easy remedy. As soon as they ap- 

 pear, the animal's back is thoroughly washed in 

 cold water, and this operation is repeated, till the 

 swellings disappear or are entirely dispersed. But 

 should the application of the "simple element" 

 not prove successful — as sometimes it does not — 

 take one gill of sharp vinegar, one gill of spirits, of 

 any kind, and one table spoonful of sweet' oil ; mix 

 the whole well together, and rub the back till 

 cured. In the management of the horse, a little 

 care and observation, will often enable one to ob- 

 viate serious evils. I have known horses — and 

 valuable ones, too — rendered unserviceable for 

 weeks, merely by neglecting to inspect their backs 

 after a long and fatiguing drive on a hot day, and 

 beneath a saddle " ill-fitted," or too small. 



Lower Dublin. Agricola. 



REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 

 OF THE VIRGINIA STATE AGRICULTURAL 

 SOCIETY. 



The Executive Committee in discharge of their 

 duty to make a report to said Society submit the 

 following : 



The Society at its last meeting unanimously or- 

 dered the election of a Permanent Secretary; and 

 the Executive Committee about to depart for their 

 several homes, and seeing the immediate necessity 

 of electing such an officer charged at once to enter 

 upon the performance of his duties, elected Mr. 

 Frank: G. Ruffin to that post, deeming him the 

 most suitable person they could find. 



The next step to be taken was a view of their 

 finances, in order to meet the expenditure neces- 

 sary to accomplish the other objects of the So- 

 ciety. They found their funds scant, as the report 

 of the treasury will more fully show, and their 

 means of operation correspondingly limited. 



At the meeting of the Society last fall, an appeal 

 was made to the members to endow it by means of 

 individual contributions, and by guaranteeing their 

 respective counties to raise such sums as might 

 seem proper to them. The response to that appeal 

 was creditable to the generosity and public spirit 

 of Virginia; individuals for themselves and for 

 their counties, and for their cities also, came for- 

 ward and guaranteed a certain sum amounting to 

 upwards of thirt}^ thousand dollars. 



In addition to this fund there was another of the 

 same nature previously existing, which swelled the 



first named amount to dollars. This whole 



amount the Constitution requires to be permanently 

 vested, the interest thereon only to be used by the 

 Executive Committee. 



The money pledged, except in a few cases of ex- 

 pressed reservation, became due on the first of May 

 last. But very little was paid in at that time, and 

 a good deal still remains due and unpaid. This 

 remark is not made in any spirit of censure against 

 the gentlemen who gave the pledges, many of whom 

 we know have been put to inconvenience by their 

 liberality, but merely to explain for other reasons 

 the state of funds at the Society's disposal. Nor 

 is it meant to convey the idea that any serious de- 

 ficiency is expected to result from the tardiness of 

 some gentlemen, and the defaults, if there shall be 



