66 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



these reasons, chiefly, that we discourage reliance 

 upon legislative assistance to carry out vast 

 schemes of internal improvement. Believe us, 

 friends, when we say, that this advice, however 

 unwise it may be, is dictated by the warmest 

 wishes for the prosperity of our native State, 

 from the Pan Handle to the Carolina line. 



IRRIGATION. 



The Editor of the American Agriculturist 

 speaks of having visited, last summer, the Insane 

 Hospital at Worcester, Massachusetts, where he 

 was informed by Dr. Woodward, the superin- 

 tendent, that among his patients there was one 

 who was ambitious to farm upon his own plans. 

 "At length, the Doctor good humoredly yielded 

 to his importunities, and gave him possession of 

 a field in rear of the hospital, on which to ex- 

 pend his eccentricities. The field was in grass, 

 and the surface of it slightly descending from 

 the rear of the buildings. Near the sides of 

 these he constructed little ponds into which he 

 drained the water from the roofs, and the urine 

 from the water closets — let it stand and w T ell 

 amalgamate a few days, and then he conducted 

 this liquid, quite evenly, by means of narrow, 

 shallow ditches, over all his field. The result 

 was, that it yielded six cuttings of grass, of 

 about one ton per acre ; making six tons per 

 acre, during the first season ! So much for a 

 crazy man's farming." 



For the Southern Planter. 



COW PEAS. 



It is the opinion of many a farmer that lands 

 after being in clover a number of years become 

 what they denominate clover sick ; w T hether this 

 is true or not, if the following facts be so, they 

 will find an excellent substitute in cow peas. A 

 gentleman in visiting South Carolina and Geor- 

 gia, says, that his attention was directed to the 

 cow pea of those States as an improving crop 

 for our exhausted soils. He mentions a gentle- 

 man well known in the South who sowed a 

 field in oats, so poor that he only reaped seven 

 bushels of oats per acre ; as soon as the oats 

 were taken off, the land was ploughed and sown 

 in cow peas, which were ploughed in when at 

 their rankest growth. The following summer 

 he reaped fourteen bushels of oats per acre. A 

 repetition of the process gave him next season 

 twenty- eight bushels of oats to the acre ; and 

 the third crop of peas turned in yielded over 

 forty bushels. When this gentleman returned 

 he sowed the cow pea on a field too poor to 

 grow clover, on the 5th day of May, at the rate 

 of one bushel to the acre, and when they were 

 ploughed in, the average length of the vines 



was seven feet, requiring a three-horse plough 

 to cover them. He never had such difficulty in 

 turning in the most luxuriant crop of clover. 



J. F. 



BUTTER. 



A proposition was laid before the Legislature 

 this winter to establish an inspection of butter 

 in the city of Richmond ; one of the members 

 of the Legislature who was too modest to make 

 a speech in the House, came down to our office 

 and desired us to say to the people of the Com- 

 monwealth that if they would keep the butter 

 pot with the mouth downwards, so that the pu- 

 trid fluid might drain from the butter, there 

 would be no need of such an office as the one 

 proposed, for there would be no butter to be 

 condemned. 



For the Southern Planter. 



THE DAIRY. 



Mr. Editor, — Among the many luxuries we 

 enjoy in summer, I consider good cool, unadul- 

 terated milk and sweet butter to have the prece- 

 dence of most all others, and in order that all 

 may have them in their purity, I send you a de- 

 scription of a dairy which my father has had in 

 use for the last fifteen years, and which I know 

 will answer the purpose of all dairymen and 

 farmers better than any thing of the kind I have 

 ever seen. They may not only keep their milk 

 and butter nearly as cold as ice will make it, but 

 may keep any kind of fresh meat perfectly pure 

 and sweet for more than two weeks in the hot- 

 test weather. Where an ice-house is convenient 

 to the dwelling, sink a dairy by the side or end 

 of the house entirely to the bottom of the ice, 

 (and throw a shed over to protect it from rain, 

 &c.) only allowing a partition, or wall, as the 

 case may be, between the ice and the dairy.— 

 Let the cavity be five feet wide and the full 

 length of the house, on the top of the ground, 

 and form the steps of the ground as you dig 

 down, by dropping a step ten inches in width 

 every foot in depth. Then suppose the ice-house 

 to be eighteen feet long and fourteen deep, you 

 have a dairy at the bottom six feet by five, which 

 will answer all ordinary purposes ; of course it 

 may be enlarged at pleasure. The dairy should 

 have a few shelves, one above another, in order 

 that the milk may be placed in a proper tem- 

 perature. For immediate use it should be placed 

 at the bottom ; but for making butter, fifty-five 

 degrees (Fahrenheit) is considered the best tem- 

 perature for the collection of cream. I have 

 come to the conclusion that no ice-house will 

 keep ice the year round, that is situated on a 



