THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
148 
up. Besides this crop the Colonel has about 
200 acres in corn and other summer crops in 
proportion. His sheep and cattle are ol the best 
Leeds, and in his herd are several buffalo cows. 
The Park.— Over 20 fallow deer and a num- 
ber of elk sport in his park. The early dawn 
is ushered in by the sweet carrolling of feather- 
ed songsters that here have no dread of man, 
for no gun is allowed to be shot upon the pre- 
mises. The consequence is, that the birds 
make their home within the reach of the very 
windows, and thus sweet dreams are made still 
sweeter by the delightful music that accompa- 
nies them, and which, mingling with the bright 
visions ol fancy as you be half sleeping, hall 
waking, make you almost wonder as you open 
your eyes, whether you are not in the region so 
glowingly described by the Eastern labulists. 
In the woods too, the squirrel chirps in the tree 
above you and gambols Irom bough to bough 
to attract attention, not knowing man to be his 
foe. Another great advantage of this benificent 
rule is, that the trees and plants in the neighbor- 
hood are preserved uninjured by those destruc- 
tive insects that are doing so much evil to flow 
ers, fruit and grain throughout our land. 
The Garden. — Adjacent to the pleasure 
grounds the Colonel has his fruit and kitchen 
garden, containing about three acres, surround- 
ed by a high brick and stone wall, aid filled 
with the finest kind ol fruit and vegetables. In 
it are lound over a dozen varieties ol the straw- 
berry, the choicest raspberry and other beating 
bushes, A spacious garden-hr use gives great 
convenience in the cuhivation of the ground 
and gathering in and preservation of its pro- 
ducts. The basement is fitted to store away the 
winter vegetables. Ihe first floor holds and 
keeps from injury Ircm weather the gardet. tools 
and implements, while above is a capacious 
and well arranged pigeon-house. But although 
much attention, as is seen, has been given to the 
useful, the ornamental which tends to soften 
and minister to the kindlier leelings receives 
also the care of the Colonel and bis fascinating 
lady. 
The Green-House.— Besides the beautiful 
flowers that line the many w’alks ol the pleasure 
grounds and are interspersed throughout them, 
a fine green-house evinces the great taste for 
the beautiful that peivades the owner. In re- 
lation to it the editor of the Valley Farmer thus 
writes ; 
“ In the green-house we noticed a large col- 
lection of exotics, the fragrance of which, w’hen 
the folding doors w’ere thrown open, emitted an 
odor through the rooms that reminded us ot 
those strange romantic tales which lovers de- 
scant so much about, and which nine-tenths of 
them never realize even in their dreamy imagi- 
naiicns, Col. Tulley showed us many rare spe- 
cimens of the rose, honeysuckle, the magnolia, 
the Rose ot Sharon and the Lilly ot the Valley, 
so be; luilully mentioned in Scripture, and the 
Builrush o! the Nile, such as formed the ark 
of the infant Moses. There we also found 
the Lemon and the Orange tree blossoming and 
bending ’neaiti the weight of their luxuriant 
fruit. There are many more rare plants which 
we should like to take notice of, but as w'e miut 
bring our remarfs to a close on this subject we 
would merely mention in this place, that the 
m( St beautiful flower blooming in this vast col- 
lection, is the smiling, laughter-loving native 
called ‘ mine hostess' ” 
We observed in the finest specimen of the 
wax plant we have ever seen, a perfect curiosi- 
ty covering half of one of the sides of the green- 
house, filled with clusters of those delicate flow- 
ers. 
An Alabama Plantation. 
By Gov. Hiu, Editor qf the Farmer's Monthly Visitor. 
The county of Montgomery, of which the 
busy town of the same name is the capital, is 
said to be the most wealthy agricultural district 
ot the State: at this place several citizens of 
New Hampshire have located and resided with- 
in the last twenty years. In a somewhat hur- 
ried journey home from New Orleans, the edi- 
tor ot the Visitor was induced to stay over at 
Montgomery one day, by old friends w’ho soli- 
cited a longer tarry. 
Mr. Seth R,obinson, an old trade acquaintance 
of this towm, who has resided through all the 
vicissitudes of prosperity and depression for 
several years at Montgomery, and is now set- 
tled down in a prosperous business, desiiing to 
show us the specimen of an Alabama farmer, 
took us an afternoon ride seven miles out of the 
city. Passing on the great road from Montgo- 
mery eastward toward Georgia, by several 
beantilul plantations, and many extensive en- 
closures devoted alternately to a forest growth 
and cultivated fields lor cotton, corn and the 
other cereal grains, he brought us to the pre- 
mises of Col. Green Wood, a planter who emi- 
grated here several years ago from the State ol 
Georgia. This was the 4th ol April, and ve- 
getation was then in the condition of what we 
mieht expect to be in New England on the 4th 
of July. 
For nearly two miles before we reached his 
house, on both sides ol the road, did we pass 
successive enclosures ot his plantation, iii 
which cotton or corn had been planted or grain 
bad been sowed — all of it with as clean culti- 
vation as a New England garden : the rows ol 
cotton in a direct line to the dis ance of one 
hundred rods and hall a mile, straight as an ar- 
row, were traceable by the naked eye. The 
fences of this country, for w hich there has been 
abundant materials ready at hand, are of a kind 
which we in New England call the “Virginia 
fence.” They are made ot split rails of hard 
wood, and to that caietui height of seven or 
eight feet, wl ich would seem to be sufficient for 
shuttiDff out the fleetest deer. The habit of 
careful farming is shown in Alabama by the 
safe fences surrounding each cultivated field. 
That part of the fence nearest the ground soon- 
est decays ; and w’e observed, as the older rails 
w ere crushed down at the bottom, their places 
were supplied by new ly split rails at the top. 
The mildness uf the climate renders it unne- 
cessary to pay that particular attention to the 
construction of houses, barns and sheds that 
w e of the north must do from necessity. Little 
more is necessary there than to make a roc t for 
the protection ol cattle and crop- ; the negro re- 
sidences are sometimes without floor of hoards 
a single outside boarding or clapboarding is 
deemed lor them sufficient. Indeed, the rich 
owners themselves often occupy houses which 
would not be regarded as comlortable by the 
poorest tenant of the north. I'he habitation of 
Col. Wood, decorated with ail the artificial em- 
beilishmenis of a flow’er garden and beautiful 
parterre on either front, was surrounded at no- 
g’-cat distance w'ith the numerous dwellings ol 
the lamilies, wdiich do all the work upon his 
extensive plantation. The first noise that ar- 
rested our attention was the busy hum of the 
spinning wheel and the song of its operatives 
from the dwellings ol the colored people. The 
enterprising owner of the premises w'asnotat 
home himself; hut meeting us at the door and 
inviting our entrance was his wife, a lady ol 
plain dress and great sociability of manners, 
who at once mage us at home in a warm day 
by the invitation to glasses of sw^eet ice-cooled 
buttermilk, and a walk into an extensive gar- 
den, clothed in all the rich beauties of early ve- 
getation. Here we found— and the reader’ will 
mark the day to the4lh of April — rich head let- 
tuce fully grown and grow-ing in the open air, 
ripe strawberries and full g'-own peas: as an 
evidence of the early season, Mrs. W ood pluck- 
ed from the tree a lull sized fig which then only 
remained to be ripened. Fronting this garden 
of several acres, w'as another larger enclosure 
of flourishing peach, apple and other fruit trees 
which had then gone out of blossom. 
The family residence of Col. Wood was a 
well-finished and elegant wooden house of a 
single story. There were wide halls with en- 
trances on the four sides, so that in whatever 
direction might be the wind, the house had the 
advantage of airing: these halls embraced near- 
ly hall of the whole area. Separate on each 
corner were large and ample parlors or sitting 
rooms, and one or more suits of bed rooms. 
The height of the story and the rooms was ten 
to twelve feet. This house was constructed 
for comfort in w'arm rather than cold weather: 
the weaiher in that part of Alabama is never 
cold, and seldom only cool. 
The extent of farming in Alabama may be 
conjectured from the fact that Col. Wood has 
one thousand acres annually under the plow. 
Good calculations make the work there compa- 
ratively easy, because the milder climate ad- 
mits of work in the preparation for crops 
nearly the whole vear round. All the heavy 
manual labor in the fields is the work of horses 
and mules. The virgin soil in that State is so 
rich that the planters hitherto have paid little 
attention to manures. The facilities for mak- 
ing barn and stable manure are not in the cot- 
ton region as great as at the North. Col. Wood 
found means in various ways to make a large 
amount of manure in the last season; he dis- 
posed upon a portion of his plow land one thou- 
sand mule or horse can loads, tor whicn pur- 
pose he employed four carts wiih the drivers 
durins the last winter. His manure was taken 
from the staMes and from the cattle, sheep and 
hog yards. 
Of his cultivated lands five hundred acies 
are devoted to Cl tton, and an equal amount to 
corn, w'heat, rye, oats, &c. The one-half of the 
farm lurnishes mote than (he whole amount cf 
meat and bread for the laborers, by w'hom also 
the clothing is manufactured from the cotton 
and wool grown upon the premises. The prin- 
cipal part, if not the w-hole of the cotton crop, 
must be regarded as clear profits. A force of 
thirty to forty mules or horses wiih their drivers, 
kept up during the greater part of the year, is 
sufficient for the cultivation of these many acres, 
A more happy set ol laborers can hardly be 
conceived than the slaves upon the plantation 
ofCol. Wood. Thedaily task of those engaged 
in the out door work is easy; and they have 
murh time every week which they call their 
own, with opporiunities to cultivate their little 
garden plot, to raise and feed poultry, with other 
extra privileges. They ate all well led and 
clothed in the abundance wihich the plantation 
produces, with liitle of the concern w hich poor 
;p?ople ol other countries experience. Upon 
the faces of the colored people which we saw 
about the premises health and corrtentment were 
depicted ': the women chanted with their voices 
ot song and music correspondent to the move- 
ments of carding and the buzz of the spinning 
wheel. 
Col. Wood had tw o overseers, white men, to 
superintend the plantation concerns. One of 
these in the short lime of our tarry, showed us 
about his premises, which would do credit to 
the best New England tanner. As the better 
method of furnishingabundant meat at all times, 
he has five hundred hogs of the different sizes. 
Belter than the hogs which abound in the :nrests 
ol the West and the South, appeared the ani- 
mals of Col. Wood: he had not only been at 
the pains to introduce an improved and mainly 
of the Berkshire breed, but his hogs were deci- 
dedly more fat than we had seen elsewhere. 
They ranged in an open forest ground and pas- 
ture of many acres; and in addition to this only 
usual method of keeping and feeding hogs in 
that country, they were daily led with corn in 
the ear scattered over the ground in which they 
rooted and made manure. 
No hay is cut in Alabama: a general sub- 
stitute in feeding horses, mules and cattle is the 
corn shucks or husks, being the leafy part which 
is stripped from the principal blade and done up 
in bunrlles. The straw-' of W'beat with other 
kinds of grain and the grain itself is also ted 
out to the horses and cattle. The cows, inmost 
instances, range the woods in search of food, 
and through the forests of Alabama and Geor- 
gia w here we passed, seemed to be but skele- 
tons, like the lean kine of Phai'aoh. Col. W. 
had a fine drove of the milch kine, large, fat 
and sleek, and a notable bull which the overseer 
