164 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



been transferred to Windsor Castle, and evinces, 

 in a peculiar manner, the extraordinary perse- 

 verance and ingenuity of the Chinese, who, 

 during the progress of the growth of plants, 

 have discovered the means of so transforming 

 or training their roots as to make them assume 

 the shape of various animals. The singular 

 curiosity referred to is supposed by some to be 

 the root of the large dogrore, and by others to 

 be the root of the vine. It is about three feet 

 in length, and of a proportionate height, and 

 bears a close and extraordinary resemblance to 

 the shape of a lion, having the legs and feet, 

 head, tail and body, with its shaggy mane, most 

 rudely perfect. By what means the Chinese 

 acquire this mode of expanding and shaping 

 the roots of plants, is still a mystery, although 

 many ingenious inquiries and researches have 

 been made on the subject. This, however, does 

 not appear so extraordinary as the power some 

 of the Chinese possess of dwarfing plants, for 

 it is known they will produce an oak, not more 

 than five or six inches in height, bearing acorns, 

 and the same with respect to orange and lemon 

 trees, of the same dwarfish character, also bear- 

 ing fruits. Some specimens of these trees have 

 occasionally been brought to this country, but 

 none have lived for any length of time. The 

 root referred to is well worthy the attention of 

 the curious. — -London paper. 



CROPS ABROAD — GREAT PRODUCTION 

 OF WHEAT. 



We have examined with care files of foreign 

 papers received by the last steam-ship, numerous 

 exchange agricultural papers for September, as 

 well as noticed all other sources of information, 

 in order to form a correct judgment in regard to 

 the late harvest, and the probable price of bread- 

 stuffs for the ensuing year. The demand for 

 American bread-stuffs in Great Britain must be 

 quite small, and on the Continent still less. The 

 season throughout the whole wheat region of 

 Europe, has been upon the whole not an unfa- 

 vorable one; while the crop has been cultivated 

 with increased skill and augmented success. A 

 large portion of the lands in England, are in the 

 hands of the nobility and gentry, whose incomes 

 depend on the skill and success with which 

 their estates are cultivated. Not wanting in 

 intelligence, and possessing abundant capital, 

 these gentlemen are making extraordinary ef- 

 forts to impart to every branch of rural industry 

 all the advantages of modern science. 



In his speech at the Derby meeting, the Pre- 

 sident of the Royal Agricultural S iciety, Lord 

 Harwich^ stated that he knew the agricultural 

 products of the kingdom might be doubled — 

 that he had doubled the products of his estate 

 within the last fifteen years. Speaking of dif- 

 ferent varieties of wheat he said, that "the 



Golden Drop wheat had produced forty-five 

 bushels to the acre, fine Suffolk, seventy-six 

 bushels, and another and more improved variety, 

 eighty-two bushels per acre !" These were all 

 grown on the same soil, with equal advantages 

 except what were derived from difference in 

 seed. These statements are taken from the 

 Journal of the Society, and of their truth there 

 can be no doubt. When we inform the reader 

 that two thousand gentlemen, including a large 

 number of the nobility, sat down to a dinner, 

 the tickets of which cost two guineas each, ac- 

 companied by some three hundred ladies, he can 

 judge something of the enthusiasm and charac- 

 ter of the persons engaged in agricultural im- 

 provements in England. 



In ordinary seasons there will be no consider- 

 able demand in Great Britain for our surplus 

 bread stuffs. If we go to France, Spain, Bel- 

 gium, Germany and the North of Europe, we 

 shall find no where a deficiency in the crop, a 

 large surplus in many wheat growing regions, 

 and every where the science of agriculture stu- 

 died w T ith unprecedented zeal and success. 



Let us now see what is going on in our own 

 country. Every body knows that there are 

 large tracts of poor, sterile, sandy lands in Ma- 

 ryland, Virginia and North Carolina. A few 

 scientific gentlemen have analyzed this silicious 

 soil, and the fnarl and swamp muck deposiied in 

 different places more or less throughout all this 

 territory, and found the three if put together 

 w T ould contain all the essential elements of good 

 wheat. Science led the way, and now for the 

 result. The Queen Ann's Telescope (Eastern 

 Shore, Maryland,) says, "our respected fellow- 

 townsman, William Carmichael, Esq., has raised 

 this season upon twenty acres of land, one thou- 

 sand and twenty-six bushels of Mediterranean 

 wheat, being a fraction less than fifty-one and a 

 half bushels per acre." Many others have done 

 nearly as well. We learn from the Syracuse 

 Journal in this State, that some of the wheat 

 growers in old Onondaga, have harvested over 

 fifty bushels to the acre this season from actual 

 measurement. A gentleman in Kentucky has 

 a field of one hundred acres of corn which it is 

 thought will produce over one hundred bushels 

 per acre. The season is now r so far advanced 

 that we hazard nothing in saying that the sur- 

 plus is such that prices must rule very low. 



Exchange paper. 



SCIENCE AND ART— SOAP MANUFACTURE 

 AND CIVILIZATION. 



The quantity of soap consumed in any coun- 

 try, says Professor Liebig, forms a tolerably safe 

 criterion, or index, by which we may judge of 

 the opulence and civilization of its inhabitants. 

 Take, for instance, two nations having an equal 

 population : the more wealthy and civilized will 



