244 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



to $75 each. Imported Berkshire boar 

 Master Berk, brought $25 ; Sir Robert, 

 same breed, $35, Berkshire sows from 

 $45 to $80. 



The aggregate amount of the sale is 

 about $22,000. Its effects on the agricul- 

 tural public will be salutary. The value 

 of good stock will be embraced by it, and 

 it will tend to induce a more just distinc- 

 tion between good and indifferent or bad 

 animals. On the whole, there have been 

 few occasions of the kind which have 

 passed off more happily for all parties, 

 than . Col. Morris's sale of 1856. 



GUANO CONVENTION. 



The National Intelligencer contains a 

 yery full report of the proceedings of the 

 Convention which assembled in Washing- 

 ton on the 10th instant to consider the 

 most eligible course for the farming inter- 

 est to pursue to relieve itself from the re- 

 strictions of the guano trade. About sixty 

 or seventy gentlemen, farmers and plan- 

 ters from several of the adjoining states, 

 were in attendance. Several propositions 

 were submitted to the convention, one of 

 which was that such a duty should be laid 

 upon guano as to prohibit its importation, 

 unless the Peruvian government would 

 supply it on more reasonable terms. An- 

 other was that the farmers should enter in- 

 to a voluntary combination to suspend or 

 discontinue its use. These propositions, 

 however, appeared to meet, with but little 

 ^avor. Some gentlemen advocated the 

 purchase by our government of one or all 

 of the Chincha Islands, in the event that 

 every other resource failed. We are grati- 

 fied to perceive that these measures re- 

 ceived the support of but a small number 

 of the Convention. Finally, the Conven- 

 tion adopted the following resolution offer- 

 ed by Mr. Burgwyn of North Carolina : 



" Resolved, That a committee of five 

 be appointed by the chair to continue ne- 

 gotiations with the government of Peru for 

 the introduction of guano in our country 

 on the most reasonable terms." 



The following resolution was advocated 

 as a matter both of expediency and econo- 

 my, and adopted by the Convention : 



" Resolved that this Convention respect- 

 fully recommend to the farmers in the 

 habit of using Peruvian guano exclusively, 



to substitute a mixture of Peruvian and 

 Columbian guano in proper proportions', as 

 recommended by Mr. Booth of Philadel- 

 phia, and Dr. Stewart of Baltimore, dis- 

 tinguished chemists, as the most effectual 

 means to reduce the present high price of 

 Peruvian guano." 



During the afternoon session of the Con- 

 vention, it was proposed that the members 

 should report the state of the wheat crop 

 in their respective districts. In only a 

 few localities was the crop represented to 

 be an average one, while the destruction 

 from the Hessian fly was thought to have 

 been greater than at any time for the last 

 fifteen years. The expression of the sense 

 of the Convention is embodied in the fol- 

 lowing resolution : 



" Resolved, That from the best infor- 

 mation in possession of this Convention, 

 they are of opinion that the present grow- 

 ing wheat crop is less than an average by 

 one third in North Carolina, Virginia, Ma- 

 ryland, Delaware and the adjoining coun- 

 ties of Pennsylvania." 



"Country Gentleman." 



CULTIVATION OF BUCKWHEAT. 



It seems unnecessary to regard any 

 thing in regard to the cultivation of buck- 

 wheat. 



Throughout the Eastern, Middle and 

 Western States and the Canadas, it grows 

 almost spontaneously, and it would seem 

 that the only thmg requisite to secure a 

 crop is to scatter the seed. It sometimes 

 receives injury from early frosts, but as a 

 general rule, no crop is better adapted to 

 the short, hot summers of the Northern 

 States. Botanically it is not a cereal, but 

 its natural character and composition close- 

 ly resemble this useful order of plants. Ex- 

 cept millet, no plant used as food for man 

 can be sown so late in the season ; and this 

 to the farmer is one of its most valuable 

 qualities. It is frequently sown after a 

 crop of rye has been taken off the ground, 

 and thus even in the comparatively short 

 seasons of the Northern States and the 

 Canadas, two crops used as food for man 

 can be obtained from the land the same 

 year — a result seldom or never obtained in 

 the long, damp seasons of the British 

 Isles. 



Buckwheat is a plant known in almost 

 every part of the world. It is supposed 



