238 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



Are the farmers of Prince George more 

 dependent on the free negroes than the 

 negroes are on them ? If so, I have got- 

 ten into the "wrong pew." 



My hands cut twenty strokes in one min- 

 ute, when going at their ease, and in ma- 

 king twenty strokes they pass over 22 

 yards. They, in such wheat as I had, 

 averaged 9 feet or 3 yards, to the swath. 

 In sixty minutes, or one hour, they would 

 cut 1320 yards, which multiplied by the 

 breadth 3 yards, and the product divided 

 by 4840, gives about 3 roods and 10 perch- 

 es. Ten hours would therefore cut 8 acres, 

 roods, 20 perches. My hands only aver- 

 aged 4A- acres, and I therefore lost by 

 whetting, drinking and stopping, acres 

 Is not this enough to lose? I am informed 

 that 2-| acres per day to the scytheman is 

 thought a fair day's work. I pity the farm- 

 er, for he is certainly very thoroughly and 

 systematically abused. I have known 7 

 acres to the scythemen to be averaged 

 throughout the harvest in heavy wheat. 

 This was done by putting 3 good hands on 

 each swath. They cut fast and saved all, 

 which is economy in the end 



Cutting and catching, or gripping the 

 wheat, is a piece of old fogyism that should 

 at once be abandoned in lower Virginia. 

 Very Respectfully, 



THOS. G. BAYLOR. 

 Arrow Wood, Pr. Geo., June 25th, 1856. 



Southern Farmer. 



WHAT MAY BE DONE WITH A 

 POOR ORCHARD. 



We condense from the experience of a 

 friend, whose whole statement would oc- 

 cupy more space than we can give. The 

 following may be relied on as entirely ac- 

 curate : — Five years aero, he purchased an 

 orchard containing 23 years. They had 

 never borne much, having been planted 

 but a few years. Their treatment had been 

 miserable. Cows and horses had been 

 pastured in the orchard. More than one 

 quarter of the trees had been bruised or 

 bent, so that it seemed that they must die. 

 The rest had been left un pruned, the suck- 

 ers were orowin'j from their roots, and 

 large scars where the bark had been torn 

 off by the hornfi of cattle, disfigured many 

 of them. The insects, too, had held car- 

 nival among them. Apple borers had 

 pierced their trunks; caterpillars had spun 

 thair webs from year to year in their branch- 

 es ; and ants, whose hills had multiplied 



around, were swarming on the trees or 

 fruit, during all the warm months. 



Such was the condition of the trees. 

 When our friend considered the case, he 

 seriously thought of cutting them all down, 

 and beginning anew. But the entreaties 

 of his wife, who thought that some fruit 

 might be grown On some of the trees, 

 while a younger orchard would be coming 

 on, induced him to try what could be done 

 with these ragged, hopeless subjects. 



His plan was a simple one. He turned 

 out all animals. He pruned the tress 

 carefully, covering all the wounds with 

 grafting wax or shellac. He propped up 

 the trees that were bent almost, to the 

 ground, and covered the large scars with 

 cotton cloth that had been spread with 

 grafting wax. He removed all the sbrouts 

 from the roots, and kept them cut off as 

 fast as they re-appeared. He battled the 

 insects as best he could. The borers he 

 dug out of ihe trees, with a knife. The 

 eater-pillars he burned up, cutting off the 

 limbs where their nests were, and putting 

 the n into the kitchen stove. The ants he 

 destroyed by pouring hot water after the 

 Monday's washing, into their hills. And 

 he destroyed the moss, and numberless 

 eggs, and grubs, by removing the rough 

 bark, on the trunks and limbs, and washing 

 the trees generously with old soap. He 

 enriched the ground by spading under ma- 

 dure mixed with lime, and a little salt. 

 This course he has kept up, as he thought 

 needful, every year since. 



But what are the resuits.? We will state 

 them- Fvery tree has lived. The most 

 hopeless ones have borne generously. The 

 trees have quadrupled the size of their tops 

 in the last five years. Thd orchard attracts 

 the attention of every passer by. All ex- 

 claim : " What fine apples you have Mr. 



!" The insects, above mentioned, 



have almost entirely disappeared. Last 

 year, (1855,) these 23 trees bore between 

 100 and i50 bushels of apples, and when 

 this statement was made to us, more than 

 half of them was just blooming, as if for 

 another generous yield in 1856. Such are 

 the resuls thus far. f 



Our readers will not wonder that our 

 friend is greatly encouraged by his experi- 

 ment. He adds at the end, this applica- 

 tion : — 1. Consult your wife before cutting 

 down your apple trees. 3. Take good care 

 of your trees if you have any. 3, Don't be 



