SUNDRY INQUIRIES BY A VIRGINIA FARMER. 
93 
COTTON MANUFACTURES— MARKET WAGONS. 
If you could enlist the aid of some one who can 
give all the minutiae, relating to a cotton factory, to 
do so, I am very well satisfied that you would 
greatly please many of your southern and western 
readers. There is a growing interest in the cause 
of manufacturing, and many desire to know from 
no other reason than acquiring information. 
Take, for instance, a mill of ten thousand spin- 
dles, and give the size of the requisite building, 
number and size of rooms, cost of spindles, looms, 
carding and dressing machines, &c, &c. The object 
is, of course, to work to the very best advantage — 
that all looms may have constant employment, and 
not have to wait for thread, dressing, nor warping, 
so that one may not gain upon the other, and that 
there may be enough house room, and none to 
waste. How many yards should be turned off per 
week % Average wages for weavers, spinners, 
reelers, &c, &c. ? Amount of stock required'? For 
how many months has the stock to be bought for ? 
Or in other words, what amount of money is re- 
quired to keep the mill in operation ? What is the 
best power, water or steam, where wood or coal is 
plenty and convenient ? Cost of building ? Wear 
and tear of machinery ? Net profits, &c. 
This is asking a great deal of you and your 
friends, as it will require several articles. I sin- 
cerely believe, if done properly, such information 
would be greatly prized. 
That beautiful cut of a two-horse market wagon, 
in the December number of the Agriculturist, fills 
my eye so completely, that I would give as much 
to see the real thing as I would to see that " divine 
Fanny." I have thought it over until I hatched up 
a scheme to get one forthwith. 
M. W. Philips. 
Edward's Depot, Miss. 
January, 23d, 1849. 
We shall be pleased to receive, for the use of 
several friends who are making the inquiries at the 
south, answers to the above, condensed from relia- 
ble books, pamphlets, congressional reports, tables, 
statistics, &c, as any one at the north can give. 
SUNDRY INQUIRIES BY A VIRGINIA FARMER. 
My health compelling me to retire from public 
life, I have determined upon turning my attention 
to the cultivation and improvement of the soil. 
You will, therefore, confer a great favor upon me, 
as well as upon others of your subscribers, who 
have lately embarked in agricultural pursuits, by 
making known through the medium of your jour- 
nal what information you possess concerning the 
following subjects to which my thoughts have 
been particularly directed : — 
1. One subject upon which I desire information is, 
what is called Jauffret's mode of making manures, 
as detailed by Hon. H. L. Ellsworth, in his Patent- 
Office report. If it is what it is represented to be, 
it appears to me that I could soon enrich, at a mode- 
rate expense, a large tract of poor land, as we have 
a vast quantity of evergreens growing in this vici- 
nity, (a) 
2. Another point to which my inquiries have 
been directed is the soaking or steeping of seeds 
in chemical solutions, with the view of accelerating 
their germination. It is stated that the application 
of these solutions, to grain and Indian corn are 
particularly serviceable in protecting the field from 
birds, insects, &c, as well as in augmenting the 
productiveness of the crop. Any one, or all such 
solutions as can safely, beneficially, and economi- 
cally be employed, it is highly desirable should be 
made known, and those pointed out, which have 
proved either unserviceable or injurious in their 
effects, (bi) 
3. What do you think of applying liquid ma- 
nure to young crops of wheat, oats, &c. 1 (c) 
4. I see it recommended to cover wheat in tbe 
autumn or winter and oats in the spring, with 
straw, pine leaves, &c. Will this pay for the labor 
or expense ? (d) 
5. It is also asserted that corn stalks form the 
best manure for Indian corn, which, I presume, is 
based upon similar principles as the trimmings of 
the vine are the best fertilizer for vineyards. Is 
this assertion true, or is it mere theory ? (e) 
6. How would it answer to graft the peach upon 
a mountain-plum stock which is a hardy tree and 
about the size of that of the peach 1(f) 
Will it do to graft the choice varieties of the 
European grape upon our common native grape- 
stocks, which are so hardy and grow so vigorously 
in most parts of this county 1 (g) 
E. R. 
Drummond Town, Accomack Co., Va., ) 
January 4th, 1849. } 
(a) The manure, made after the methods of 
Messrs. Baer and Gouliaet, Bommer, and Jauffret, 
undoubtedly, possess excellent qualities, and where 
the requisite materials of which it is composed can 
economically be procured, we think it may be man- 
ufactured with some advantage ; yet, it still remains 
to be proved, whether guano, bonedust, or a com- 
post made in the barnyard with swamp or pond 
muck, straw, leaves, charcoal, plaster, &c. cannot 
be more profitably applied. 
(6) It is a mistaken idea, that, by soaking or steep- 
ing seeds in certain solutions, the vigor and fecundity 
of the future plants will be promoted. For, all that 
is necessary to produce germination is, to bring 
the seeds in contact with a due proportion of water, 
oxygen gas, and a requisite degree of warmth. 
No liquid, but water at common temperatures, 
will pass through the integuments, or outer cover- 
ing, of a seed before the process of germination 
has commenced ; and then this power to exclude 
other liquids ceases altogether; but the first organs 
of the plant, (the radicle and plumule,) starting into 
activity are so delicate, that the weakest mineral 
solutions are too acrid and offensive for them, with 
the exception of those which promote the decom- 
position of water, and consequently a more abun- 
dant evolution of oxygen gas. So utterly incapa- 
ble are the infant roots of imbibing such solutions, 
that, at first, they are absolutely dependent for their 
existence upon the seed leaves, and if these are re- 
moved, or destroyed, the plant makes no further 
advance or perishes outright. Therefore, let it be a 
warning to those who employ steeps of this kind, 
with the hope of promoting the vigor of future 
plants, that they must keep the seeds in the solu 
