126 
THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
a* .... 
in but very minute quantities, they are just as es- 
sential to its perfection as the vegetable matter 
which builds up the mass of the plant. 
And it is undoubtedly the lack of some of these 
elements that causes the rust and b ight in wheat 
in ce "tain localities, although the soil appears 
rich in all the constituents necessary tobuild up 
the frame v.’ork of the plant, and produces the 
stalk in great luxuriance, but not grain, or but 
very little. 
The same is true of the cotton plant; some 
soils producing a fine plant, as far as size is con- 
cerned, and but very little fruit. This is strik- 
ingly the case with most pine lands. Here there 
is evidently sufficient vegetable matter to pro- 
duce the frame, but a lack of some inorganic 
constituent to produce a full crop of fruit; where- 
as the contrary is the ease in .some of our soils 
which originally contained the inorganic materi- 
als in great abundance, so that there are suffi- 
cient of them remaining to produce an abundant 
crop of fruit, but the material (vegetable matter 
or humus) to build up the stalk is exhausted, so 
that although the soil produces muchfruit in pro- 
portion to the size of the plant, yet the stalk be- 
ing deficient in size the product is necessarily de- 
ficient. 
Now the deficiencies in both these cases are 
to be siipplied; and, according to the old method 
of cultu e, are to be supplied by an application of 
the same materials, to wit: the gleanings of the 
horse lot and the cow pen. These are very good 
in their place, but the attempt to supply two 
very different wants by the same material, is, at 
best, but a quackish application of means. — 
Would it not be far better to ascertain by analy- 
sis the deficiencies to be supplied, and the mate- 
rials necessary to supply those wants, so that we 
may be able to apply our labor and capital more 
properly, by suiting our means to the ends de- 
signed. than to continue blundering along, after 
the old empyrical mode of applying the same 
means to all ends, whereby we have so often 
been disappointed in the results. 
This is not only the teaching of reason, but al- 
so of economy ; for by adopting the above plan, 
we should be able to apply every thing just where 
it would be most wanted; and as nothing would 
be misapplied, nothirrg would be wasted. 
Now, my friends, nnless we arouse ourselves 
and shake off the lethargy which binds us to old 
customs, .and cea=^e to be content to carry a rock 
in one end of the bag to balance the pumpkin in 
the other end, because our fathers did so, and 
look into this matter deeply arid thoroughly, and 
take some steps, ay f some long strides, in the, 
i.mprovement of our avocation, we shall be soon 
left out of sight, in the rear of our .more enter- 
prising neighbors, and be reduced to even a 
greater degree of dependerce for our necessities 
and comforts', than at present. But under the 
old system we shall soon be reduced to a point 
that will not enable us to purchase all the little 
eonveniencies which our northern friends are al- 
v.'ays so ready to furnish us with while our money 
lasts, tilt when that is gone, credit soon follows. 
Then, if not before, shall we see the error of our 
ways, and set about making those improvements 
which ha\e already placed our neighbors so far 
before us. 
Improve your T,aiid9. 
We take the following sensible article (says 
the Mobile Register,) from an old number of 
the Alabama State Intelligencer. It was co- 
pied very gene.'ally by the Southern Press some 
eight or ten years ago, but it has lost none of' 
its interest, or its aprlicabiiity to modes of cul- 
tivation among our Planters. We think we re- 
cognise in it the pen of one of our most intelli- 
gent and practical cultivators; one who has 
done more by precept and example to advance 
the interests of agricultural and horticultural 
industry than any man in the State. 
If to produce the greatest quantity possible of 
any article or article.s, from a given quantity of 
land, and in the process of production to increase 
the tertility ot the soil in a great degree, is the 
acme of agricultural pursuits, it may be fairly 
advanced that to cultivate a large surface of 
land, and by the mode of cultivation, for a small 
production, and with a great destruction of the 
productive properties of the soil, must be the 
acme of absurdity. 
If there is any available process, that by the 
additional expense of one halfot the additional 
production, will add one hundred per cent, to 
the product of labor bestowed on land, the pro- 
cess ought to be adonted for interest’s sake; but 
if the one-lourth left is added to the increase of 
the productive quality given to the land, it then 
claims trora every rational being who cultivates 
the soil, an immediate attention. It is astonish- 
ing, that the land wearing out so rapidly, as we 
often see it, does not startle every cultivator, 
who is but one degree removed from an idiot. 
If the people ct the northern part of the United 
States, were to go as honestly to work in the 
destruction ot their land, in their mode ot culti- 
vation as we do, we should soon hear melancho- 
ly news of their situation, in lieu ot that agricul- 
tural prosperity which their land and labor se- 
cures them. 
When a farmer in that section of the Union 
sits down on a tract ot land previously worn out 
by some squatter, (for the'breed is not worn out 
there, nor w'ill it be, as long they hear of a Tex- 
as,) with not a toot to “clear” he feels n® great 
uneasiness. He can tell by his mode of pro- 
ceeding almost precisely the increase of crops 
he will get and the time it W'ill require to get 
his land “ into heart,” for the production of se- 
venty or eighty bushels of corn to the acre; and 
although he live in the midst ot a thick settled 
country, wdth not one of the available means of 
fertilizing his land, which we Southerners have 
around us, he is easy, while we should think 
of no other resource than Arab like to move to 
a “new range.” Bat the Northern farmer who 
cannot w'orship cotton, tor it is not found 
amongst his household gods, it jie is a judicious 
cultivator, he goes with all his energies into 
provision crops — to the production ot every ar- 
ticle ; in this way his situation will admit him 
to expect rationally a remuneration for his labor, 
for in this course he secures the thing called ma- 
nure, of the best kind, and in securing that, he 
findo the key to agricultural success. This fact 
allows him to “settle,” and he finds he is not 
compelled to run away from his land every ten 
years, which has been running away daring 
that period from him, he giving it the start. 
But it there is any process ot cultivation in 
the pursuit of which the improv'ement ot the 
soil will pay for the extra labor, and give to the 
laboring man the whole extra crop, 1 must re- 
peat that there must be idiotism in not availing 
ourselves of it. 
•Nov.', in cultivating land, we know that there 
is a positive expenditure of capital, animals and 
gear, carriages, provisions and labor. If one 
half of most of these can be made to produce the 
same result that the whole usually produce, 
there is then a positive saving of capital, wear, 
tear, provisions and labor, of one half. 
For instance, say twenty-five acres is made 
to produce the same amount that fitly usually 
does, and that one man and one horse is em- 
ployed in the cultivation ; the capital expended 
on one man and one horse, a set of gears, seed 
lor twenty-five acres, saving of the production, 
cleaning, clearine-, fencing, and keeping up the 
enclosure, &c. &c., is actually saved. 
And if the planter’s resources enable him to 
work the fifty acres, as it ought to be, and to 
obtain the production for his labor that he ought 
to obtain, the conclusion is doubly conclusive 
in favor of the better or more productive system. 
For in spite ot ignorance, intentional or real, it 
remains a truth strong as holy writ, that twenty- 
five acres ot manured or enriched land are as 
easily tended as the same number of acres of a 
caput/mortuum or impoveiished soil. 
That a judicious manuring: system would 
bring about the result contended tor, is as cer- 
tain as that there are a Northern and Southern 
section ot the Union. 
If ihe.se views are correct, then it follows that 
to insure a successful agricultural pursuit, ma- 
nure is almost every thing, and the mode of 
making it, to the greatest advantage, is to the 
planter ot incalculable importance. In the 
whole circle of common sense, no fact is better 
established than that if you will take an acre of 
land, that will produce ten bushels oi corn to the 
acre in its natural state, and manure it, the pro- 
duct will as readily become thirty. Yet if you 
will look at it, the quantity of “stuff,” and ac- 
tual manure, wasting around the plantations, 
and especially in the lanes on almost every 
plantation in the country, you would be obliged 
to conclude that idiots were quite common, or 
that this fact is not believed, or that rt was not 
known. 
But the fact still remains that land can be 
made to yield Ihiee, nay four times the quantity 
of many agricultural productions, by a judi- 
cious application ot manure, combining the 
materials judiciously that compose it. From 
land that would not give more than ten bushels 
of corn per acre, T have grown fifty, with the 
aid of cotton seed alone. Planter. 
The Dairy. 
From the Salem Gazette, 
We extract from the report and statements, 
presented by the committee of the Essex Agri- 
cultural Society, on the dairy, such portions as 
will be most interesting to our readers : 
The committee on the dairy, in presenting 
their report, would remark that the first prere- 
quisite in making good butter, is to have good 
qows. And to be sure in this respect, every far- 
mer should test the value of each cow by milk- 
ing and preserving her milk separately, and no- 
ting carefully the quantity required to make a 
pound of butter. By a very little attention in 
this way, it may be readily ascertained whether 
a cow is worth keeping for dairy purposes. 
Cases have occurred where a cow has been 
kept for years with several others and their 
milk put together; on using it separately, it was 
found that butter could not be made from it. 
Thus, for the want of attention in this respect, 
much loss may be sustained. There are un- 
doubtedly many co-ws kept which add little or 
nothing to the value of the dairy. 
The kind and quantity of salt used, is of much 
consequehee. The Liverpool bag salt should 
be rejected; it contains impurities, and will not 
preserve butter. Rocksalt perfectly pulverized, 
and three-fourths of an ounce used to a pound 
cf butter, will preserve it well. 
Process of mailing butler by those who gained the 
Society's Premiums. 
By Geo. W. Dodge . — The milk is strained in- 
to tin pans, where it stands from thirty-six to 
forty-eight hours, when it is skimmed and the 
cream put into tin pails, standing on the bottom 
of a cool cellar. A little salt is added to the 
cream which is frequently stirred. We churn 
twice a week. When the bnttercomes, the but- 
termilk is thoroughly worked out, and the butter 
salted with an ounce to the pound. After 
twenty-four hours it is again worked and weigh- 
ed. 
By Mrs. Abi Worcester . — The cream was 
churned twice a week, then the butter was wash- 
ed in cold water. One ounce ot fine butter salt 
was used to one pound of butter, well-worked 
in. Alter it had remained twenty-four hours, i£ 
was worked over and packed down solid in a 
stone pot and covered with strong brine. 
By Paul Pillsbwy . — The milk is strained in- 
to tin pans and stands thirty-six hours. The 
cream is then taken off and put into a tin firkin, 
and kept until it is ready to be churned, which 
is twice a week. The butter is well rinsed in 
cold water and then salted with one ounce of salt 
to a pound of butter. In about twenty-four 
hours it is worked again and packed down and 
kept on the bottom of the cellar, covered with 
fine salt. The feed of the cows was a common 
pastille. 
By Allen W. Dodge . — Treatment of milk and 
cream before churning: Strain the milk in tin 
pans, place them in a cool cellar for the cream 
to rise; when sufficiently risen, which will be 
according to the weather, separate the cream 
from the milk, and the day previous to churning 
k»wer the cream, in tin pails or cans, into a well, 
in order to become cool. By this means, the 
butter will come of a hard consistency, and no 
