SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
109 
LmE FOR COTTON, &c. 
Editor of South Countrymaif' — Dear Sir : — In order 
to test ihe value of Lime, as a fertilizer, when applied to 
cotton, I selected from a stubble field of fifteen acres — five 
acres decidedly inferior in quality to the balance — and dur- 
ing the second week of February last, without previous 
breaking, laid off the rows with long, straight shovels, 
three feet apart, returning in the same furrows, so as to 
make deep trenches. These were filled with wheat straw 
partially decomposed ; unslacked lime was deposited in 
small heaps at the end of the rows, at convenient distances 
apart, for distribution, and seventeen bushels applied to 
the acre, regularly and evenly distributed over the straw 
The ground was immediately bedded out in full. A few 
days before planting, two sweep furrows were run be- 
tween each row, and fresh dirt thrown over the entire 
row. The seed were sown between thelOth and 15th of 
April, in a furrow opened down to the straw, and covered 
with a harrow. The stand was impel feet, in consequence 
of faulty seed. The yield, eight hundred and twenty-five 
pounds to the acre ; I am satisfied from previous experi- 
ence in the cultivation of the same ground, that without 
the application of the 1 me, the yield would not have ex- 
ceeded six hundred pounds per acre. And in addition to 
the increased yield of the past crop, I anticipate equally 
good results from the coming crop. 
The lime was applied at so late a period that the straw 
was not fully converted to manure, and in consequence 
the past crop fai'ed to receive the fuh benefit of it. 
The great desideratum of planters in this section, is to 
secure some agent that will push forward the young cot- 
ton plant rapidly in the spring, and, as a consequence, to 
early maturity. Our cotton growing seasons are too short 
for the full development of the plant, except in extraordi- 
nary years like the past; hence the necessity of using 
some means to supply, as far as practicable, this defect in 
the climate, by pushing the cotton to early maturity. 
I am fu ly convinced, from the small and imperfectly 
conducted experiment by me, that lime will supply this 
desideratum. Its cheapness and fdcilities of transporta- 
tion, place it in the power of farmers of limited means, to 
improve their lands, and thereby increase their crops ; and 
the permanency of its effects, saves the expenses of an- 
nual outlays. Yours, &c , 
Charles N. Mayson, 
[ill South Countryman. 
Kingston, Cass Co , Ga., 1859. 
STOCK RAISING IN THE SOUTH. 
Daniel Lee, M. D.—Dcar Sir :—\x\ the December 
(1859) number of the Cultivator I see an article under 
the head of “Stock Hunbandry at the South,” which I sup- 
pose is from your pen. I have long been of the opinon 
that sheep raising, in this and adjoining counties, might 
be made profitable, and your article has determined me to 
attempt it. With this view I write you, hoping you will 
give me such information as is within your reach, and such 
directions as will enable me to go to work not entirely 
without some land marks that will be of service. 
The citizens tell me that they never have, as yet, fed a 
sheep in this county through the worst winters that we 
have had, and that, when undisturbed by dogs, they are 
very prolific, seldom dying. The breed are rather small, 1 
think, yielding from 2 1-2 to 5 lbs. to the fleece, and can 
be bought from Si -25 to Si. 50 per head. The wool sells 
this year for 20 to 22 cents. 
My object is to know what number of sheep would 
pay to have a shepherd 1 And how many might be kept 
in a flock, healthy, living, as I propose, upon the range 
for a support! And would it pay or not to introduce 
some of the finer grades and yet depend upon the range for 
a suppori 1 
1 propose to buy first as many as will be profitable for 
one shepherd to tend and keep healthy, and move them 
every few days to another range. I own an interest in 
42 lots of land in this and adjoining counties, and can 
keep them moving all the time, making 12,580 acres of 
land, which, I suppose, would be a pretty good sheep 
walk. 
If you know of any gentleman that would wish to en- 
gage in the business, who has capital and experience, am? 
would like to try the experiment in this section of the-* 
country, I would be much obliged to you for the reference. 
I would be willing to drive them West if the experiment 
did not succeed. I will give you reference (without per- 
mission, however) to the Hon. Peter E, Love, Hon. A. E. 
Cochran, Hon. C. B. Cole, and my county generally for 
what I profess. I am a practitioner of Medicine in this 
county, with a property worth $5,000 or $6,000, the 
most of which I would be willing to engage in the ener- 
prise. 
Please write me where I will be able to find Mr. Mor- 
rall’s “American Shepherd,” and other works that you 
think would be of service to one engaging in the busi- 
ness. 
If you think it advisable, you may arrange an advertise- 
ment and put it in the Cultivator for such a length of 
time as would suffice to call the attention of any one who 
would like to invest in such a scheme as I have spoken 
of. 
Our county will never be so thickly settled that the 
business might not be carried on profitably, in my opin- 
ion Tiie soil is too thin to induce large farmers to plant 
in cotton with a hope of making it remunerative in this 
county. The time may be when, by a proper manuring 
system, the cultivation of any crop might be profitable, 
but not so long as the fine cotton lands of the South-West, 
with their natural fertility, remain unworn. And, again, 
tiie surface 61 the country is too low for thorough drain- 
aage, and the ponds and bogs would make the opening 
of a large farm too expensive, and from that reason it will 
remain (as it is) a poor man’s county, and only the high 
elevated ridges be settled, while the^avannahs, bays and 
ponds will ever remain as pastures, and of the finest kind 
for sheep. 
The citizens tell me that sheep generally (except in 
very wet and cold winters) do much better in the fall and 
winter months than summer upon these savannahs and 
ponds, and if they should ever want feeding, it is only 
in the commencement of spring. 
With a hope of soon hearing from you, I remain 
Yours most respectfully, 
Henry J. Smith.' 
Horn esvilU) Appling Co , Ga., 1589. 
In treating of sheep, in his learned and instructive work 
on the “Domesticated Animals of the British Islands,” 
Prof. Law, says that the ten million migratory sheep in 
Spain give employment to fifty thousand shepherds. This 
is at the rate of one shepherd to 200 sheep. It is not im- 
probable, however, that the race of shepherds in that 
Kingdom, has increased somewhat faster than their flocks ; 
so that this peculiar class of people, who have their own 
laws, customs and usages, handed down from time im- 
memorial, might now tend two or three times more sheep 
than they have in charge. Surrounded by good fences, 
on cultivated farms, and in well settled districts, sheep re- 
quire very little more looking after than cattle; but in 
open, and wild stock ranges, or sheep-wallrs, they soon 
invite wolves, dogs, foxes and other vicious and destruc- 
[ live animals, to prey upon the weak and the young in 
