THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



67 



level surface and exposed to the rays of the 

 summer's sun with a less quantity than one 

 hundred and thirty-three cubic yards. 



J. M. 



Hanover, Feb. 7, 1846. 



RESTORING FRUIT TREES. 



I am not aware that the following experiment 

 has ever been tried by others, but, it may be the 

 means of preserving many a valuable tree from 

 otherwise inevitable destruction. Seven years 

 ago, I had under my care a very old green gage 

 plum tree ; the heart of the tree was completely 

 gone, and nothing remained but a few sickly 

 branches, quite unable to bear fruit, and it was 

 evident that unless some immediate remedy 

 could be applied, life must quickly depart. I 

 procured two barrowsful of rich loam, one of 

 common road sand or scrapings, and three of fresh 

 cow-dung; after incorporating them well, the 

 mixture was applied to the tree, covering the 

 trunk to the height of three feet. This was 

 done in April, and, on examining the tree the 

 following summer, I found that the old branches 

 had made some strong young wood, and con- 

 tinued to grow and bore some of the finest green 

 gages I ever saw. The mixture gradually 

 works its way down, and in a year or two is no 

 detriment to the appearance of the tree. I am 

 again trying the same experiment, with every 

 prospect of a favorable result. — J. L. Snow, in 

 Gardener's Chronicle. 



This communication is addressed to the Editor 

 of the Albany Cultivator, and we hope it will 

 attract the attention of Northern wool growers. 

 Take it altogether, it is doubtful whether any 

 portion of Virginia offers greater inducements to 

 the sheep business than the county of Amherst. 



VIRGINIA LANDS, &c. 



Some time last spring, in writing a short com- 

 munication for the Cultivator, I remarked that 

 Virginia had the finest sheep walks in the world. 

 Since this I am addressed privately on this sub- 

 ject, and to which I answer publicly. 



It is the mountainous parts of Virginia which 

 for this purpose I so highly recommend. I re- 

 side in Amherst county, twelve or fourteen miles 

 from the Blue Ridge, on the spurs of which I 

 hold some three thousand acres of land, the 

 greater portion of which is rich ; and on which 

 I have never failed to make my flock of sheep 

 as fat as I desired. The soil of the greater por- 

 tion of these mountains is of good quality, being 

 in many places, one, two, and three feet deep. 

 The hornblend and granite lands are rich ; the 

 slates are poor. The natural grasses are the 

 greensward, (or Kentucky blue grass,) and 



white clover, which never fail to appear so soon 

 as the timber is cleared off. The timber is prin- 

 cipally chestnut, of superior quality for building 

 houses and fences ; and in many places, locust 

 and other valuable timber. The mountains af- 

 ford abundance of purest water. No part of the 

 world can excel those mountains in the produc- 

 tion of rye, oats, potatoes, hemp, flax, cabbage, 

 beets, turnips, buckwheat, orchard grass, timothy, 

 greensward and white clover. 



A few days past, a tract of land lying near 

 Amherst Court House, sold on a credit, for six 

 dollars the acre, and another adjoining, at five 

 dollars the acre. Both those tracts lie well, the 

 soil being tolerably good, and the subsoil very 

 good. 



Near my residence, and on an excellent turn- 

 pike road, a few days past, a tract of 353 acres 

 sold on a credit for four dollars the acre, a good 

 portion being bottom lands, and the remainder 

 good, though hilly. 



Our fathers were growers of tobacco, and we 

 are yet too much at the old trade to be growers 

 of wool, or manufacturers of any thing. And 

 again, I say, " what, a fortune a Yankee could 

 make here ;" just come and see. 



The late drought has curtailed our corn to 

 perhaps less than one-half the usual crop ; the 

 oat crop is less than half, and tobacco about half. 

 Corn is selling at fifty cents the bushel, wheat 

 seventy-five cents, oats thirty cents. Beef from 

 two to four dollars ; cows and calves, eight to 

 sixteen dollars; common sheep, seventy-five cents 

 to one dollar and fifty cents. Ordinary wool, 

 thirty to thirty-five cents. Hire of a man per 

 month, five to eight dollars ; women, about no- 

 thing. 



This sheet, thus far written, has been lying 

 on my table about ten days, during which time 

 I have ascertained that my identifying the green- 

 sward as the Kentucky blue grass, is a mistake. 

 I have both the greensward and Kentucky blue 

 grass, but did not know till now what the latter 

 was. The Kentucky blue grass grows in tufts 

 very much the size and appearance of timothy, 

 only that the blades are of a deep green color, 

 and glossy appearance. It appears to be quite 

 hardy, growing both late and early, and both in 

 wet and dry weather. 



The tobacco crop is now improving wonder- 

 fully, so that in the State perhaps three-fourths 

 of the usual crop may be marketed. 



I desire to say a few more words in reference 

 to our mountain lands. Thousands of cattle 

 are annually fattened on the mountains of Am- 

 herst, and thousands of acres on which they 

 roam may be bought for one shilling, and per- 

 haps less. 



I suppose it is useless to tell either a Yankee 

 or New Yorker that the wool growing on a 

 sheep is proportionate and adapted to the climate 

 in which he is, and hence one advantage or profit 



