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THE SOUTHEEN PLANTER. 



the disastrous freshets in New England and in ' 

 the Middle States materially reduced their 

 marketable products. Subsidiary to this, the 

 accounts from Europe confirm advices received 

 six weeks ago. Do these facts indicate reduced 

 prices ? We deeply regret all these losses ; 

 but, notwithstanding, the truth may as well be 

 known. 



It will not in the least benefit the poor con- 

 sumers if farmers sell their breadstufis at half 

 price. The sharks will, in any event, grind the 

 last cent out of poverty. And if, at such a 

 time as the present, farmers should compel the 

 middle men to pay ten cents per bushel more 

 for wheat, it would simply be ten cents per 

 bushel taken from their profits. 



Bread in Chicago costs the consumer to-day 

 just as much as it cost him one year ago, and it 

 would cost him no more if wheat were one dol- 

 lar per bushel. Our aim is, to let the farmer 

 be paid more, and, the middle man "less; and 

 thus bring the producer and the consumer near 

 er together. — Prairie Farmer. 



Thinning Forests. 



The slovenly method of cutting wood where 

 it can be got with the least trouble is to be rep- 

 robated. Nor do we believe the method some- 

 times recommended of cutting a forest clean as 

 you go, is a good rule for all cases. It may be 

 advisable in those cases where the forest is uni- 

 formly old and most of the trees are growing 

 worse, rather than better, for timber. But this 

 is the character of very little forest land in the 

 older States. Almost all of it is second or third 

 growth of timber, and contains a great many 

 thrifty saplings from five to ten years old, that, 

 if cut will only put back the subsequent crop 

 of wood to many years. 



Silas Brown, one of the best farmers in Mas- 

 sachusetts, says in a recent communication in 

 the New England Farmer, that he has been in 

 the habit of cutting wood for market for forty 

 years as one of the most profitable productions 

 of his farm, and that he has paid critical atten- 

 tion to the succeeding growth. " At the time 

 of removing the old growth, young white pines 

 had sprung up, and had advanced in all sizes, 

 from one foot up to some twenty feet in height 

 on some of my lots ; on other lots there was no 

 appearance of young progeny. We were very 

 careful to save all the young possible, instead 

 of indiscriminate havoc. The advantage of 

 saving the saplings will be readily discovered 

 by every practical woodgrower ; the young 

 trees, carefully preserved from injury while cut- 

 ting off the old growth, will soon take a start 

 and be in advance of the forest, which is to 

 spring from the seed, some five to fifteen or 

 twenty years. This advance in the growth is 

 no small item in the farmer's income. On lots 

 where none of these young saplings had taken 

 root, I have been careful to select suitable seed- 

 trees of the varieties I wished to promulgate, 



and spared one or more on every acre I wished 

 to replenish with a future growth. In this way 

 I have been saved the labor of sowing the seed 

 or transplanting the trees, and have found, 

 about the third or fourth year from the cutting 

 off, a plentiful supply of young trees showing 

 themselves, but greatly in the rear of lots where 

 the young saplings were saved/' 



This is valuable testimony from an intelli- 

 gent farmer, who has seen the working of both 

 methods upon his own woodlands. The care 

 of our forests, so rapidly waning in all the ol- 

 der states, is a matter that can receive atten- 

 tion none too soon. The time is not distant 

 when they will be far more valuable than they 

 now are for timber, if not for fuel. Fuel we 

 may indeed find elsewhere,, but nothing can 

 ever supply the place of wood in many of our 

 manufactories. The farmers of the present day 

 should consider the wants of posterity in this 

 respect, and should hand down their farms to 

 their heirs as well wooded as they received 

 them from their fathers. There are large tracts 

 of country in this State, and indeed in the 

 rougher portions of all the States, that may be 

 more profitably kept in timber than in anything 

 else. It is a poor inheritance to hand down to 

 one's heir a miserable, ^worn-out farm, or only 

 stripped of its soil but denuded of its forests 

 without any available means to restore its was- 

 ted energies. The rocky hill tops and ridges 

 should always be kept in forest. % The plains 

 and valleys below will have a milder climate 

 and be more productive for their protection. 

 Where these elevations have been stripped they 

 should be immediately sown with seeds of forest 

 trees. Too much of this rough land has ready 

 been cleared up in many parts of the country. 



American Agriculturist. 



To Sweeten Eancid Butter. 



An agriculturist, near Brussels, having suc- 

 ceeded in removing the bad smell and disagree- 

 able taste of some butter, by beating or mixing 

 it with chloride of lime, he was encouraged by 

 this happy result to continue his experiments, 

 by trying them upon butter so rancid as to be 

 past use ; and he has restored to butter the odor 

 and taste of which was insupportable, all the 

 sweetness of fresh butter. This operation is 

 extremely simple and practicable for all. It 

 consists in beating the butter in a sufficient 

 quantity of water, into which had been mixed 

 25 to 30 drops of chloride of lime to two pounds 

 of butter. After having brought all its parts 

 in contact with the water, it may be left for an 

 hour or two ; afterwards withdrawn and wash- 

 ed anew in fresh water. The chloride of lime 

 used, having nothing injurious in it, can safely 

 be increased ; but after having verified the ex- 

 periment, it was found that 25 to 30 drops to 

 two and a half pounds of butter, were suffi- 

 cient. 



