298 



HE SOUTHEEN PLANTER. 



for easy motion, his head and ears up, ready 

 to move at the word, is the animal of most 

 value of this kind. 



" The laws of nature cannot be violated with 

 impunity. The jack, when grown within the 

 scope of these laws, is a small animal. The 

 mule a medium between the jack and the horse. 

 Both the jack and mule, by a hot-bed growth, 

 may be forced to be large animals. But in 

 this forcing process, now more extensively pur- 

 sued by Kentucky than any other State, what 

 has been gained, and what has been lost? 



" They have gained large bone, coarse ani- 

 mals of large size, and at an early age full of 

 defects, and soon ready to decay, because sub- 

 ject to disease, and large consumers of food. 



" They have lost symmetry, spirit, action, 

 lasting endurance and permanent value. 



" The farmers of Kentucky seem not to have 

 taken a proper distinction between animals in- 

 tended for active labor and those intended for 

 the slaughter pen. 



" The mule must be large enough to master 

 his draught, and a medium size is large enough 

 for all the labor of the South, which is and 

 will continue to be the great market for mule 

 growers. 



" The error that I especially aim at, is the 

 abandonment of almost every thing else for 

 size. The best combination of the requisite 

 qualities in the mule is not found in the pro- 

 duction of a hot-bed policy, which, by constant 

 feeding with every thing that will hasten growth, 

 brings out a large, coarse, forced, overgrown, 

 awkward animal, who decays as rapidly as he 

 has been grown. If he were intended for the 

 slaughter pen, this method of growing is cor- 

 rect; but when he is designed for the valleys 

 of the Southern rivers, where his service is ac- 

 tive and his rations not very select, he wants 

 more game, more spirit and action, more sym- 

 metry, and not too much size. Hence, our 

 Tennessee mules, the produce of spirited jacks, 

 are really more valuable to the Southern planters 

 than the produce of Kentucky, under her pre- 

 sent system. 



" This, no doubt, to some extent, is the fault 

 of the purchasers South, who have not gene- 

 rally discovered their error. They demand 

 large sizes, and pay in proportion to size; and 

 this, in part, explains the policy of Kentucky. 

 My opinion is, that size in a mule is nothing 

 after they reach fifteen hands high, and that 

 many under that height come up to the standard 

 value, fitted for cotton plantations. 



"When compared to the blood horse, the 

 mule is unfit for the saddle, pleasure carriage, 

 or any harness requiring rapid motion. His 

 sire is an animal of slothful tendencies, of slow 



motion generally, and hence the necessity o^" 

 improving this quality in the jack. Give him 

 spirit and action and stamina, rather than great 

 height. One conforms to the laws of nature, 

 and the other violates them. 



" The Spanish and Maltese jacks have spirit 

 generally, and for that reason are valuable as 

 a cross; but they come to us without stamina, 

 and with a contracted chest. These faults must 

 be remedied by proper crossing, before they 

 will produce the mule best fitted for the malaria 

 districts of the Southern rivers. 



" It is our policy to grow the mule that will 

 prove to be the most valuable to the cultivators 

 of the South, and rely upon their following 

 their interest when explained to them, and pro- 

 ven upon trial to be true. 



"What I have learned upon this subject is 

 not from hearsay. I have purchased and grown 

 ail the mules Vfhich I have driven for twenty- 

 five years in Mississippi. I have had that op- 

 portunity of knowing what they have done, and 

 these opinions are the results of experience. 

 This knowledge would have been of service to 

 me in tlie commencement of my business, and 

 I communicate it for the benefit of those who 

 may adopt my opinions hereafter." 



From the Virginia Sentinel. 



THE MODE OF USING GUANO. 



A few days ago we received a letter from an 

 agricultural friend of the Piedmont region, de- 

 siring to know the opinion of our learned and 

 practical fellow-citizen. Professor Benjamin 

 Halloweil, as to the propriety of using ashes 

 in connection with guano. As this is the sea- 

 son when farmers are about to apply their gua- 

 no, we requested Professor H. to give us his 

 views in a form that would enable all our readers 

 to share the benefit. This he has very kindly 

 done in the letter which we publish below : 



Alexandria Boar cling School, 9 mo. l^th, 1854. 



Esteemed Friend, — In reply to thy inquiry 

 respecting the propriety of mixing ashes with 

 guano previous to sowing, I may state, that it 

 is entirely opposed to chemical principles, to 

 mix live-ashes, or quick-linie, with any animal 

 manure. Ammonia, the chief valuable charac- 

 teristic ingredient of animal manures, is usu- 

 ally found in these manures in combination 

 with some organic acids, and these acids, owing 

 to the generally stronger affinity, unite with 

 potash and lime when they are present, and 

 liberate the ammonia, thus rendering the ma- 

 nure of much less value. 



But this is not the only injury. The libe- 

 rated ammonia unites with the acids in the soil, 



