V 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



205 



hoed crop must destroy the grass as well as 

 kill the garlick and bushes which are constant- 

 ly springing up on the land. 



That this rotation will admit of the most 

 profit to the farmer, there cannot be a doubt, 

 as it gives two-third of the arable land for 

 cultivation, while the five or six field only 

 gives three-fifths ; and we know the true secret 

 of all successful agriculture is to draw from 

 the soil to its utmost capacity of production, 

 consistent with its uniform and progressive 

 improvement — and that it will admit of suc- 

 cessful improvement can be easily demonstra- 

 ted, as all the manures which are now in use 

 for the improvement of land can now be 

 used, with the exception of clover, which is 

 substituted by the much more nutritious pea, 

 Peas belong to the leguminous class of plants 

 and their leaves and pods are larger than any 

 other plant used for the improvement of the 

 soSj consequently they draw a larger quantity 

 of the useful nitrogenous matter from the 

 atmosphere ; which when ploughed in the land 

 are more easily decomposed and give up their 

 valuable substance for the food of ptknts. 



In adopting this system of rotation, the 

 farmer can much more readily improve his 

 land with lime, marl, guano, plaster, &e., from 

 the fact that peas will give all the necessary 

 organic manures to be decomposed by these 

 inorganic elements added to the soil. And 

 again the improvement must; be much more 

 rapid, from the fact that it can be accom- 

 plished in three instead of five or six years. 

 In the spring an application of lime can be 

 made upon the corn land, guano can be used 

 in much smaller quantities upon the peas, 

 having seen a better result from one hundred 

 pounds of guano on peas, than three hundred 

 upon land without peas. And in every 

 instance one bushel of plaster to the acre 

 should be used upon the peas when they have 

 fully attained their leaves. 



Now that joint worm has made its appear- 

 ance in Eastern Virginia, I can the more 

 confidently recommend this system of rota- 

 tion upon the light and alluvial lands of this 

 section, as the surest means of their destruc- 

 tion. As it has a hoe crop and a green crop 

 for fallowing, the two succeeding years after 

 it has been in wheat, by which the worm is 

 not permitted to commit its ravages the follow- 

 ing spring after the wheat crop has been 

 removed, and as the land has been grazed in 

 the fall, ploughed early the following spring 

 before the young worm is hatched, and tho- 

 roughly worked in corn, it would seem that 

 this enemy must be destroyed. But added to 

 this, the field is again ploughed the following 



spring and a crop of peas sown over the field; 

 all of which must become, if it should be 

 generally adopted, a certain and sure preven- 

 tive against the ravages of the joint worm. 



We live in an age of progress — and I leave 

 it to the candor of all to say if the five or six. 

 field system of rotation has not too much of 

 "the Old Fogyism" about it for "Young 

 America.," who cannot wait to accomplish in 

 five what can be done in three. 



My ideas have been hastily thrown together 

 and written, and my mind drawn to this sub - 

 ject by a communication in the last Planter 

 from my friend, Dr. John R. Baylor, of Caro- 

 line, whose energy, industry and scientific 

 farming has not an equal in Eastern Virginia, 

 I hope the above suggestions will meet his 

 wants. * * * 



Forest Hill, 



King if Queen Co. 



THE SHORT HORNS AS MILKERS. 



The Society of Shakers at Pleasant Hill, 

 Mercer Co., Ky., have sent seventy-four pedi- 

 grees to the second volume of the American 

 Herd Book, now about to be published. Ac- 

 companying their pedigrees they say : "Some 

 of the cows have been named as distinguished 

 milkers ; others again that have scarcely less 

 merit have not been mentioned. Here, cows 

 that do not, with the care and attention given 

 them, give 24 quarts of milk a day, are not 

 esteemed ordinary milkers, and those that give 

 34 quarts a day are among the very best. 

 But greatly improved stock implies greatly 

 improved means and manner of feeding and 

 caring for them. Take an extra or a good 

 cow, and let her suffer cold, hunger, and other 

 privations for a considerable time, and what 

 will she be ? Some say keep is everything in 

 the improvement of stock. This is not the 

 fact, but it is a considerable item in it. Great 

 pains and care in crossing nrc necessary to 

 improvement; but this is, to some consider- 

 able extent, unavailing without improved means 

 of keeping, and the manner of caring for 

 them." Here, then, is the whole story in a 

 nut-shell, as the experience of this unpretend- 

 ing, pains-taking community have proved the 

 Short Horns for thirty years. 



Among their cows stands Roxitta, and in a.^ 

 note attached to her pedigree is written^?' 

 "This cow was calved in 1839. She is re- 

 markable for health and great constitutional 

 powers, as well as for the quantity and quality 

 of her milk, and she is yet living in apparent 

 good health. She has given birth to 13 

 calves, and is soon to have another. The 

 early maturity of this stock is no argument 



