THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 307 



might keep the crop hack until frost. Ours 

 was slightly, injured by that cause, hut mainly 

 by the drought: a light frost will do no harm. 



We presume all our readers are familiar with 

 the plan of raising potatoes under straw. If 

 the covering ia nine or twelve inches thick, 

 fine tubers may be grown in that way on the 

 hard ground; though it will be better to plough 

 and harrow until a good tilth' be obtained. 

 But do not plant too early in this way. The 

 premium crop of Irish potatoes, at the late 

 Fair of the Virginia State Agricultural Society, 

 was grown by Francis Staples, Esq., of Hen- 

 rico. He planted under straw on the 20th of 

 June, and made, on a measured acre, three 

 hundred and ninety bushels of the finest pota- 

 toes we ever saw. They were not as large as 

 ours, though of fine size, but they were greatly 

 better, round, smooth, and uncommonly mealy. 

 Ours were not well-flavoured as compared with 

 Mercers, though they were very fair potatoes. 

 Whether this inferiority was due to the variety, 

 or to the mode of growing, we cannot tell un- 

 til after another year. 



The after cultivation in the Norfolk plan is 

 very simple — throw the dirt from them and 

 weed once — throw the dirt to them without 

 weeding a second time. This is all : and for a 

 Fall crop that much may not be necessary. 

 It was so dry last Summer that no weeds 

 grew ; so we could not tell. 



Reader, try this plan on a small scale, if you 

 please. The labour saved in harvesting and 

 handling a crop of large' potatoes is worth the 

 •labour and value of applying the guano and 

 dung; and the satisfaction of having a nine 

 inch, pound potato, for your guests, is some- 

 thing. 



Sheep: washing 1 them, and preparing 

 the Wool for Market. 



Wash your sheep before you shear them ; 

 else do not wash the wool at all. If you do you 

 will lose by it — take our word for that. The 

 manufacturer who buys the wool samples it, 

 i. e., he assorts it. In tub washed wool the va- 

 rious grades are so mixed up, by the fleece be- 

 ing torn to pieces, that he cannot sample it. 

 The consequence is, that as different parts of 

 the fleece are used for different purposes, he 

 must work up into his fabric a mixture that 

 does not suit : and besides, he cannot sell off 

 what he does not want. So he will not pay as 



high a price for it. Wash the sheep therefore, 

 or do not wash the wool. 



The mode of washing is very simple. Get 

 a hogshead and fill it with water. Let it stand 

 by a brook with a clean gravelly bottom, where 

 there is a hole deep enough for a boy to fish in 

 with a pin hook. Build a small pen close by 

 and drive your sheep into it. Let two hands 

 put the sheep into the hogshead, and wash the 

 wool until you learn when it is clean, which 

 you will in washing ten sheep. Then, with the 

 assistance of two hands more, put the sheep 

 into the wateur, move him about in it and 

 squeeze the dirty tub water out of the wool ; 

 help the animal up the bank and let it go on a 

 clean sward wliere there are no galls or roads ; . 

 the sheep will certainly make their lair on such 

 spots and soil the fleece again. Use soap with 

 the first four or five sheep : after that the yolk 

 of each fleece will make soap enough to wash 

 its successor. If the sheep need tagging, as 

 they certainly will, tag them before you put 

 them in the water, and see when you take them 

 out if you did it well. If not, do it over again. 

 There are still better modes ;. but the plan we 

 give will do for beginners. 



In preparing the wool for market, get a bag 

 of stout linen, say five or sir feet long, by two 

 feet wide — sow up both ends and leave one side 

 open. Swing this bag to the joists of the barn 

 so as it will just miss the floor, and will bear 

 the weight of a man in it. As each fleece is 

 rolled up, pack it in that bag lengthwise, across 

 its bottom, with the man's weight until it is 

 full ; then sew it up strongly, and prepare - 

 another bag, or keep the fleeces until you have 

 finished shearing and then pack it in. 



Roll the fleece as follows : spread it on a 

 floor, or large smooth table, with the flesh side 

 down. Then " fold in both sides, putting the 

 loose locks into the middle and making the 

 breadth of the folded fleece from 24 to 30 in- 

 ches, according to its size. Then roll the fleece 

 from the tail towards the neck, tightly and 

 neatly ; and when arrived at the neck put a 

 knee upon the fleece and draw out the wool of ' 

 it, (the neck,) twisting it into the form of a rope 

 with both hands, as far until it will go round 

 the fleece ; and then holding the fleece tight at 

 the lower end of the rope thus made, with one 

 hand, remove the knee, and still holding the 

 point of the rope in the other hand, wind the 

 rope tight around the fleece, making it fastun- 



