THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



305 



did have, and that he means to make him the bos } 

 or the boss— our informant was not certain which — 

 of the fat cattle. Our old friend Mr. Burwell, of 

 Powhatan, is " backing and filling" " the best yoke 

 of steers in Virginia," &c. James Newman, Esq. 

 of Orange, is feeding what he means to be " the 

 best carcass of slaughtered mutton," on a mixture 

 of corn meal and suet. Dr. Woods is putting some 

 corn into a few choice hogs of his admirable 

 breeds, and various others that we hear of " wilj 

 come if they can," which means they can't be kept 

 away. 



But let us pass to other matters. There will be 

 one or two questions perhaps for the Society to 

 consider, in reference to which we desire to say a 

 word. The first of these questions is their action 

 on the Constitution which will be submitted to 

 them. 



It will be recollected that at the last meeting the 

 President was required to appoint a committee to 

 revise the present Constitution and report such 

 amendments as might to them seem expedient. 

 That committee, composed of gentlemen of charac- 

 ter and ability ,has had two laborious and protracted 

 meetings, and will shortly have a third to com- 

 plete their work. That they have worked faith- 

 fully and zealously we know, for we were necessa- 

 rily present during much of their deliberations 

 and they have framed an instrument which they 

 have deemed the best under the circumstances and 

 the most likely to meet the wishes of the Society. 

 We take leave to bespeak for it in advance a calm 

 consideration, and a regard to the difficulties under 

 which it has been framed. For ourselves we dis- 

 approve it, but we mean to vote for it. It contains 

 ample provisions for its own amendment, and can 

 therefore safely be adopted. Defective as it may 

 be, and as we think it is, anything is better 

 than the wild confusion which our last meetings 

 exhibited, and which must always ensue when 

 three thousand gentlemen in mass attempt to legis- 

 late, or to deliberate. 



The second question is, what shall be done with 

 the money already in our coffers, and how shall we 

 raise more 1 A great'annual exhibition, however 

 useful and interesting, cannot be the whole end 

 and aim of a large agricultural society. 



The Legislature having failed, we think acciden- 

 tally, to grant the largess asked of them by the So- 

 ciety, the Executive Committee have been at a 

 stand, and for want of means could not prosecute 

 any of the plans of improvement which have been 

 suggested by various persons. What these plans 

 may be, it is not proper to discuss in this place; but 

 we humbly submit that it would be more profita- 

 ble, if we are to have debate at the next meeting 

 to discuss such things than some others that have 

 distracted the Society. 



But these are matters which can be more appro- 



priately brought forward in the annual report of 

 the Executive Committee, and they are here mere- 

 ly alluded to that members, if they decide to act 

 on them, may not come entirely unprepared. 



The reason why the committees have not been 

 sooner announced is, that so large a portion of 

 those appointed, and notified of their appointment, 

 have not replied to the notice. It is very desirable 

 to know, before the public announcement is made, 

 whether those appointed will serve ; and it is there- 

 fore deemed prudent to wait until the latest mo- 

 ment. 



The Rail Road and other transportation compa- 

 nies of the State were addressed some time ago, to 

 know on what terms they would transport passen- 

 gers and articles of all sorts intented for exhibi- 

 tion. With the exception of the Va. & Tennessee 

 Road, which declines giving any gratuitous as- 

 sistance, those that have been heard from have de- 

 termined, with their usual and expected liberality > 

 to transport on the same terms as heretofore, and 

 there is no doubt that the rest will follow suit. 



"BEWARE 0? CUTTING WHEAT PREMA- 

 TURELY." 



" One of the largest wheat growers in the State 

 of Delaware, who uses between fifty and sixty 

 tons of guano a year, informs us that he lost near- 

 ly three thousand dollars by cutting his wheat pre- 

 maturely, and thereby causing it to shrink badly, 

 at the harvest of 1852. He was induced to deviate 

 from his usual practice by reading an extended ar- 

 ticle on harvesting wheat, written by Mr. Edmund 

 Ruffin, of Virginia, who is generally regarded as 

 high authority, being himself a pretty large wheat 

 grower." * * * * * 



The foregoing, which is the beginning of an arti" 

 cle in the "Working Farmer" of August, copied 

 from the " Burlington Gazette," is a serious though 

 a loose and general charge, made without any 

 specifications upon which to found a defence. We 

 do not question the occurrence of the heavy loss 

 stated — or, it possibly, might be, any amount o 1 * 

 number of such losses. But in all such cases, we 

 are confident that the loss was caused, not by the 

 following of the advice and directions here charged 

 as being the guide to error and disaster, hut the 

 neglect of some of the important particulars direc- 

 ted in the essay in question. AVe have some gene- 

 ral and personal acquaintance with Mr. Edmund 

 Ruffin's practice in this respect, conforming as 

 nearly as circumstances will permit, to his direc- 

 tions referred to above. We have never heard of 

 his having suffered any loss from his early reaping 

 of wheat, nor of any other person's doing so from 

 truly following his precepts. And we have heard 

 from him that ho has aimed to reap as early as he 

 has advised others to do in every harvest since 

 about 1821 ; that he has never lost by it, or re- 

 gretted having begun to reap too soon ; while in 

 every harvest, he lias had to regret that, for want 



