THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



313 



For the Southern Planter. 

 OVERSEERS. 



Their term of service begins on the 1st of 

 January. This is attended with many incon- 

 veniences. It is the most inclement season of 

 the year to move them and their effects to their 

 new home, when the roads are generally bad 

 and the rivers often frozen. Their interest 

 and their employers combines in favor of, 

 changing the time to either the 1st of August 

 or of September. This is properly the com- 

 mencement of the agricultural year. The new 

 overseer will make the necessary preparations 

 for the sowing of the wheat crop, which he 

 will, himself reap before the end of his service; 

 will have the care of the fodder and corn which 

 has been made under the charge of his prede- 

 cessor, and will feel an interest in making early 

 arrangements for the next year's crop. It is a 

 favorable season for the removal of families, 

 and at a time when farm work is least pressing, 

 and exposure is least apprehended. The re- 

 moving overseer would have the benefit of sel- 

 ling his garden products and his poultry to his 

 successor, or to his employer. 



The wheat crop is next in importance to that 

 of corn. It is more likely that the overseer 

 who will reap it, will bestow more care in sow r - 

 ing it than he who will probably never see it 

 during its growth. It will be the more his in- 

 terest to secure -good and abundant provender 

 for the teams and stock under his charge, and 

 to make timely preparations for the ploughing, 

 manuring, and tillage of the crops he will su- 

 perintend. 



In the expediency of the proposed change, 

 every farmer concurs. To accomplish it, the 

 act must be general The difficulty is, how 

 to begin it. 



The planter may, perhaps, desire a later day. 

 But will not his interest, too, be promoted by 

 entrusting the tobacco crop to a new overseer 

 on the 1st of August or of September ? 



A reform may be effected through the means 

 of the State Agricultural Society at its next 

 meeting. E. T. T. 



For the Southern Planter. 

 CHINCH BUG. 



Mr. Editor: 



Dear Sir : — As the ravages of this insect 

 are attracting considerable attention in almost 

 every quarter of the State east of the Alle- 

 ghany mountains, and are becoming more fre- 

 quent than formerly, I would recommend to 

 your readers the practice of sowing buckwheat 



in their corn fields as a protection against it- 

 A neighbor of mine, Mr. Stout, and myself? 

 both tried it this season, and in both instances 

 the effect was very evident, particularly in 

 that of Mr. Stout, the ravages the bug ceas- 

 ing the moment it came in contact with the 

 buckwheat. 



I also had a buckwheat fallow, and it was 

 very rare to see a bug in that portion of the 

 wheat field, although they swarmed up to the 

 very line. But I regard the experiment at 

 Mr. S's. as decisive of the fact that to a con 

 siderable extent the practice will prove success- 

 ful. Of course, I do not mean to say that this 

 would be of any avail in very dry seasons, 

 when the corn would be destroyed before it at- 

 tained the height of your knee. 



It costs but little to try this, as in all proba- 

 bility, the buckwheat will remunerate the la- 

 bour, should the corn be lost. 



T. G. 



For the Southern Plantei. 



ANALYSIS OF THE TOBACCO PLANT. 



Randolph Macon College, ) 

 Sept. 13th, 1855. \ 



I herewith send you for publication an 

 analysis of the ash of the leaf and stalk of 

 the tobacco plant, made in my laboratory., by 

 my assistant, Mr. Shepard. No time or labor 

 has been spared to have the analysis correct, 

 and without hesitation I commend it to the 

 confidence of those who take an interest in 

 such things: The tobacco was obtained in the 

 month of March, 1854, from the farm of Dr. 

 Win. H. Jones of this county, and was of the 

 " Orinoco" kind. 





Leaf. 



Stalk. 



Sulphuric acid 



2.95 per cent.. 

 5.93 " 



4.12 per cent 



Chlorine 



14.42 



Phosphoric acid 



6.08 " 



6.70 



Lime 



35.83 " 



26.34 



Potash 



30.46 45 



35.32 



Soda 



2.95 " 



1.14 



Magnesia 



6.96 " 



8.30 



Soluble silicse 



1.59 " 



.17 



Charcoal and sand 6.95 " 



3.88 



Iron, merely 



A trace. 



A trace. 





99.70 



100.39 



The amount of ash in the dried leaf was 

 18.47 per cent. We did not determine the 

 per centage of ash in the stalk. For compari- 

 son I have arranged the analysis of the leaf 

 after the manner of Johnson, and annexed the 

 analysis of Hungarian tobacco gathered from 

 two localities, found in his large work : 



