THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



185 



cut it into squares, then pick up stones of about 

 6 or 8 ounces each and get the females of the 

 family to sew one into each corner and the thing- 

 is completed. It would be an improvement to 

 enclose the stones in a small bag and suspend 

 them a few inches, which would be thought very 

 little more trouble in so good a cause. No hem- 

 ming the selvages is necessary. Cast-iron weights 

 of 6 ounces each would cost about one cent 

 apiece, but it is doubtful whether they would 

 answer a better purpose than stones. Every far- 

 mer should supply himself with these covers at 

 once, as by and by, he will be too busy to attend 

 • to this matter. The immense losses sustained 

 last year, by wet weather, should admonish him 

 of its utmost importance. There is the best au- 

 thority for stating thatthe county of Worcester 

 alone, which produces upwards of 145,000 tons 

 of hay annually, would have saved 20,000 dol- 

 lars last year if the farmers had been supplied 

 witrf these hay covers. 



Hampshire Gazette. 



. HALF-BRED SOUTH DOWNS. 



We have a few half-bred South-Down Buck 

 Lambs for sale at $12.50 each, delivered in Rich- 

 mond. We advise all persons to buy thorough 

 bred stock in preference to half breeds ; and we 

 would rather pay four times the difference. 



But many persons will not do it, or think they 

 cannot afford it. To all such we offer the above 

 lambs, which will be delivered in Richmond, at 

 the basin, wharf, or any of the depots. 



WHAT PENNSYLVANIA FARMERS PAY 

 ANNUALLY FOR THEIR HORSES. 

 Messrs. Editors : — I note with much satis- 

 faction that some of your correspondents have 

 commenced a discussion in regard to the availa- 

 bility of steam for agricultural purposes ; and 

 trust it will be continued, as good only can re- 

 sult from its agitation. Of its availability for all 

 the in-door operations of the farm, such as 

 grinding and shelling corn, cutting fodder, saw- 

 ing timber, threshing, &c, we have abundant 

 evidence of the most convincing character ; and 

 it is only a few months since the agricultural 

 world was startled by the announcement that 

 Mr. Obed Hussey, of Baltimore, (the inventor of 

 the first successful reaping machine,) had made 

 an effectual application of it to plowing. How 

 the cost of Mr. H's experiment compares with 

 the same amount of labor performed by horses 

 or oxen, we have not been informed, but the 

 mere fact of such an experiment having been 

 made, and having succeeded, at once demands an 

 investigation on this important point — an inves- 

 tigation which it is to be hoped some of your 

 correspondents or yourselves will proceed to 

 make. In the meantime allow me to present 

 some hasty estimates of the amount which Penn- 

 sylvania pays annually for the support of her 

 horse flesh. 



From some recently published statistics, I 



learn that there are in Pennsylvania 352,657 ' 

 horses and mules. Of this number, perhaps 52, 

 658 are employed in cities and towns for other 

 than agricultural purposes, leaving 300,000 for 

 the use of the farmer. At the present price of 

 horse provender, the average daily cost of feed- 

 ing a working horse would be fully 33£ cents. 

 Assuming this to be correct, the daily expendi- 

 ture for horse feed in Pennsylvania is $100,000, 

 or $36,500,000 per annum. 



The average lifetime of the horse is about 

 nine years, and the average cost of his keeping 

 for that time $1094,94. Shoeing, medical at- 

 tendance, grooming, &c, not included. 



The average first cost of the 300,000 horses 

 used in Pennsylvania for agricultural purposes 

 is not less than $50 each, making an aggregate 

 of $15,000,000, dividing which by nine, (the 

 average term of horse life,) and we have $1,666, 

 666$, principal and interest, as the annual out- 

 lay for horse flesh in our State, the whole of 

 which is to be charged to the expense account of 

 our agricultural operations. Let us now recap- 

 itulate : 



Cost of feeding 300,000 horses one 



year, $36,500,000 

 Average annual purchases, 1,666,666 

 Average annual cost of shoeing, 



grooming, medicine, &c, $20 each, 6,000,000 



Making an aggregate of $44,166,666 

 as the sum total of the amount which the people 

 of this Commonwealth pay annually for horse 

 flesh alone. At even the present high rates of 

 produce, it is equal to more than the entire value 

 of the wheat and oats of the State. 



From the above statements we find that more 

 than 33,000 horses die annually, the average 

 weight of which may be set down at 500 pounds 

 each, or 26,400,000 pounds of flesh, bones, &c. 

 abounding in nitrogen, the phosphates, &c It 

 is asserted upon authority, that the body of a 

 dead horse, cut to pieces, and mixed with ten 

 loads of muck, becomes, in a single season, com- 

 post of the most valuable character. If this be 

 correct, and I believe it is, we ought to have 

 from the carcases of the 33,000 dead horses, 

 330,000 loads of compost, or sufficient to manure 

 30,000 acres annually. 



Now, if the carcases of all the horses that die 

 were taken care of as above suggested, what a 

 vast addition to the fertilizing material of the 

 State would they afford. Enough manure would 

 be produced by them to add 600,000 bushels to 

 the wheat yield of the State — an item certainly 

 worth looking at. But it is more than probable, 

 that not one carcase out of a hundred is ever cut 

 up and mixed with muck, or even buried. Gen- 

 erally, they are dragged to some out of the way 

 place to furnish a banquet for the corn-thieving 

 crows, are more than worthless clogs. 



These estimates are not presented as being ac- 

 curately correct, but they are sufficiently so to 

 render the enquiry whether steam or horse 

 power is most economical, peculiarly interest- 

 ing. — From the Farm Journal. 



