THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



105 



serve that we hope do such Bill will pass. "VVe 

 believe the donation of Public Lands is a 

 system of rascality from beginning to end, 

 whether constitutional or not ; that the parties 

 who obtain the grants are never as much bene- 

 fitted by them as the speculators who get the 

 land ; that nine Congressional lobby members 

 out of every ten, are unmitigated scoundrels ; 

 and that the Public Lands are, and have been, 

 and always will be, the source of more cor- 

 ruption than any other single item in the Fede- 

 ral Government. We therefore hope that the 

 Agriculture of Virginia will never endow a 

 College by means of any such swindling opera- 

 tion as the scheme proposed. 



We should be glad to see a good Agricultural 

 Department attached to the University of Vir- 

 ginia, the only place where one can be wisely 

 established in the State ; and we believe it will 

 be if the State will vote enough money to the 

 University to enable it to do other things of 

 more importance at the present time. But it 

 is useless to talk of it so long as money is with- 

 held from other objects, and the University 

 kept in debt to obtain them from its own re- 

 sources. 



Lime Applied in Minimum Quantities. 



We have delayed writing a leader until the 

 Planter is nearly ready to go to press, in the 

 hope of getting some, letters we had requested 

 from gentlemen who have followed our advice 

 in regard to the application of lime to wheat 

 in quantities of one and two bushels per acre. 

 But we have been disappointed, and must forego 

 the article for the present, if not indefinitely. 

 We will be glad if gentlemen, who can do so 

 conveniently, will try the plan this Spring, and 

 report to us the result after harvest. It can 

 cost but little labour or money, and it may be 

 productive of important results. 



Ornithological Sketches. 



We commence in this number the publica- 

 tion of a series of sketches on some of our 

 most familiar birds. The reader will observe 

 that the author enters on his subject con amove, 

 and wins us to himself not less than to his 

 birds by his narrative. If any of his accounts 

 should appear highly coloured we have to say : 

 1st. That from an intimate knowledge of many 

 years, we would willingly endorse, in advance, 



any statement, on any subjecf, that he would 

 make as of his own knowledge — " we dare be 

 sworn he's honest." 2nd. That those who 

 have not observed the habits of animals, can 

 know but little of the wonderful intelligence 

 and resources With which Almighty goodness 

 has endowed Ilis creatures. 



South Down Sheep. 



We have annually, for a year or two past, 

 advertized part bred South Down Buck Lambs 

 for sale. We have them still ; and if they are 

 wanted, can furnish them at the next wean- 

 ing season at $15 for the half breed, and $20 

 for the three quarter breed, the remaining cross 

 being of Cotswold and Bakewell. 



We have uniformly advised breeders who 

 might fancy this breed, to get the pure bred 

 Bucks, at from $40 to $60, either from R. H. 

 Dulaney, Esq., of Upperville, Fauquier Co., 

 who has the best, or from Raleigh Colston, 

 Esq., of Ivy Depot, Albemarle, who has the 

 next best, both of whom are gentlemen every 

 way reliable, and are of our own people. But 

 we have also said that half of a loaf was a 

 good deal better than no bread in this matter, 

 and if persons did not choose to purchase the 

 pure bred, they Had better get ours than breed 

 from common rams. 



It is said of this breed in the standard Eng- 

 lish work on The Sheep : " The South Down 

 is adapted to almost any situation in the Mid- 

 land part of England ; it has a patience of oc- 

 casional short keep, and an endurance of hard 

 stocking equal to any other sheep ; an early 

 maturity, scarcely inferior to that of the Lei- 

 cester's, (Bakewell's,) and the flesh finely 

 grained, and of peculiarly good flavour;" "and 

 the wool of the most useful quality." — The 

 Sheep, pp. Ill, 233. 



They also make particularly fine lambs for 

 an early market. 



Clover Seed. 



Many farmers, indeed the most who sow 

 clover, seed it in the month of February, some 

 as early as the latter part of January. They 

 are wrong. Hardy as clover is, when it gets 

 into the third and fourth leaf, it is one of the 

 most sensitive of plants until it ceases to de- 

 pend for life on the cotyledon, or seed leaf. 



