70 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



is so simple a structure. And no man in his 

 senses, after having tried it for two years, would 

 be without it for twenty or fifty dollars a year. 

 For its cheapness, it is the greatest comfort and 

 convenience that a farmer can have near his 

 dwelling. Sure I have a right to know, for 

 wherever you find one of the Dumplings at the 

 head of a family, you find a wood-house. And 

 that is one reason why they are so plump, and 

 rosy, and merry. Their fuel never comes in 

 dripping, or daubed all over with snow ; and 

 brought, too, by a servant wringing wet. Both 

 are dry. The wood blazes the moment it is laid 

 on — it never stays half an hour wheezing and 

 stewing, while the folks around are shivering 

 and cheerless. Now, there is nothing that pro- 

 motes good temper much more than a cheerful 

 and a ready blaze in the fireplace. 



The above plan of a wood-house was not 

 sketched by me. I have but copied it (nearly) 

 from one drawn by a cousin of Dorothy's — a 

 sea-doctor, who has sailed to all parts of the 

 world, and seen every kind of fixture, and con- 

 venience ; Doctor M. 



John Dumpling. 



For the Southern Planter. 



OATS AND CLOVER. 



Mr. Editor, — As the season for sowing clover 

 and oats is now almost at hand, I will relate to 

 you an experiment made last spring, of sowing 

 clover alone, and with oats. The custom with 

 us is to sow clover, w T hen sowed at all, with 

 oats or wheat, as it is thought by many that 

 either wheat or oats, or something of the kind, 

 is necessary to protect the young clover from 

 the hot sun. It is scarcely necessary to add 

 that in our light, sandy soils this plan fails al- 

 most as often as it succeeds. But to the expe- 

 riment. The first of last March, I began to sow 

 a field, which yielded corn the previous year, in 

 oats and clover. The whole field had been pre- 

 pared as usual, ploughed and harrowed, for the 

 reception of the grain, but just before I finished 

 sowing it, the seed oats gave out, and there was 

 a strip of ground, an oblong, about an acre and 

 a half stretching across an entire end of the 

 field, which was not sown in oats. As the 

 ground, however, was ready prepared, and hav- 

 ing a plenty of clover seed, the seedsman was 

 directed to sow the whole field in clover, the 

 acre and a half as well as the part already sowed 

 in oats : this was done, and here is the result. 

 The part of the field sowed in oats has but a 

 few plants of clover on it. I am quite sure there 

 are not as many plants of clover on an acre as 

 there were hills of corn ; whereas, on the piece 

 where no oats were sown the clover is as thick 

 as I wish it, looks healthy, and the plants are 

 double the size of those on the other piece. 



There is also a remarkable difference in the na- 

 tural grasses on the two pieces of ground. The 

 land on which clover alone was sown yielded a 

 heavy growth of hog weeds, I don't know the 

 botanical name, and some wire-grass ; indeed 

 the crop of weeds was so luxuriant, and stood 

 so very thick in July, that I expected the clover 

 would be smothered ; and the remainder of the 

 field, on which oats and clover were sown, has 

 a few hog weeds and a heavy growth of wire- 

 grass. The difference in the vegetation in the 

 month of September was so great that several 

 persons asked me if the acre and a half had not 

 been manured, which was not the case. The 

 drought last summer, as every body knows, was 

 excessive, and why the clover suffered less from 

 it where there were no oats, I am unable to say, 

 for the weeds where the clover now looks so 

 well, were twice as thick as the oats. The soil 

 is a sandy loam — has been cleared about nine- 

 teen years, and was marled four years ago. 



Bolling Jones. 



Surry Co., Feb. 1, 1846. 



CHESTER COUNTY HOGS AND JERSEY 

 BLUE CHICKENS. 



We are overwhelmed with inquiries for the 

 Chester County hog. Our friends will save us 

 a world of trouble and obtain the information 

 they seek much more surely and promptly by 

 addressing their letters directly to Gen. Rich- 

 ardson, Richmond, Virginia. 



We promised the General to visit his hogs 

 and his famous Jersey Blues, but the weather 

 and our numerous engagements have prevented 

 our doing so, as yet. In a little note received 

 from him a day or two since, he says : 



In reply to an inquiry from me, whether there 

 is not a larger hog to be had, Mr. Clement says, 

 "I know of none equal to the kind I sent you, 

 for beauty of form, size, and quality combined. 

 I think of them as I do of the Jersey Blue 

 chickens, that there has been nothing better of 

 their kind seen by me yet." I shall have the 

 full breed, and half breed from other fine sows, 

 the latter at half price. 



Very truly, yours, 



William H. Richardson, 



WINTER DAIRY. 



If farmers, who have easy access to market, 

 were to raise larger quantities of carrots, and 

 other roots for their milk stock, with a view to 

 a winter dairy, I am confident they would obtain 

 a profitable return for their labor. With a suffi- 

 ciency of such food, and a pint of Indian meal 

 to each cow per day, cows that " come in," in 



