34 
THE SOUTHERN CULTIVAT OR, 
us and transmiued to (>ur children, would in- 
sure their starvation; we must iherelore turn 
our attention to scientific and useful books; 
we must s'rive to know all that the collected 
experience ol the world, from the earliest ages, 
can inform us, of what has been done and can 
be done again ; we must take agricultural pa- 
pers and learn what the practical men all over 
the country, having in view the same great ob- 
jects as ourselves, have done, and are now do- 
ing ; and having in waruly digested these things, 
we must exercise our best judgment in appro- 
priating the results to our own use. We must 
try carefully and thoroughly every experiment 
from which we have any reasonable hope of 
advantage. Ninety-nine of them may utterly 
fail us, yet the hundredth may remunerate all 
our trouble, and fi.x our fortunes on a sure 
and enduring foundation. The Chinese, who 
have carried agriculture to its greatest perfec- 
tion, did indeed arrive at all their knowledge by 
the slow process of experiment, unaided by sci- 
entific principles. How much more rapid 
shauld be our progress and more sure our suc- 
cess, blessed as we are, with the incalculable 
benefit ot acquaintance with the physical sci 
ences and especially with the grand revelations 
of modern chemistry. 
In reclaiming lands we must make the best 
use of the resoitrces which nature offers us, 
and has deposited most conveniently frr our 
purpose. With manure made in our stables, 
cow and hog pens, all of us are familiar. I 
propose to suggest the means of greatly increas- 
ing and judiciously using them. 
The most extensively employed in other 
countries and the most valuable of all materials 
for improving land, is lime. For ages past it 
has been regarded as the “ basis of all good hus- 
bandry.” It is an essential element of a good 
soil. Spread upon the land, its mechanical ef- 
fects, at least they are yet regarded as mechani- 
cal, are to loosen and make porous stiff soils and 
give adhesiveness to sandy ores, and it gives 
valuable aid in restoring “galls” and prevent- 
ing washes. Applied in its caustic state, it 
combines with free acids, which check decay 
and converts them sometimes into fertilizing 
substances, as in the formation ol gypsum. It 
has an important solvent action upon certain 
inorganic compounds, and largely absorbs car- 
bonic acid from the atmosphere, which it gives 
up to the rootstd plants, and is thus highly be- 
neficial even when applied to calcareous soils. 
But its greatest advantage is in hastening the 
decomposition of vegetable matter, such as 
weeds, mots, &c., uniting with their elements, 
rendering them soluble in water, and yielding 
them, when required, to growing plants. In 
this respect, it is the best of all materials for re- 
ducing our compost heaps; yet as it expels am- 
monia, the Promethean spark of putrescent 
manures, care must be taken to cover the heaps 
with absorbents, in order to arrest the gases as 
they are evolved. Lime is burnt near the 
mouth of Briar Creek, and was sold last year 
at 12 cents a bushel. 
. On account of its destructive action on the 
texture of plants, when applied to the growing 
crop, it has been superseded, when convenient, 
by the use of marl, Protessor Johnston asserts, 
“ that a larger surface ol the cropped land ol 
Europe, is improved by calcareous marls, than 
by the aid of lime and farm yard manure put 
together.” Though producing, with pure lime, 
uUimately, the same general effects upon the 
soil, it has the advantages of acting beneficially 
at all periods, of supplying carbonic acid, the 
grand principle of nutriment, and of sometimes 
adding to land animal and saline matters of 
great value. And while promoting temporary 
fertility, this substance, caustic or as a carbo- 
nate, has a tendency likewise, with the addition 
of vegetable materials, to give durable and in- 
creasing strength i 'the soil by awakening with 
the earthy compounds a beautiful play ol che- 
mical affinities. Marl has been found in va- 
rious parts of this county, and if diligently 
sought, I have little doubt, may be discovered 
within the reach of all who desire its aid. Un- 
certain experiment need not be apprehended, as 
its value has been amply tested in Virginia and 
in Carolina. The quantity to be applied de- 
pends altogether on the strength of the land, lor 
which rules may be easily formed. 
For specific purposes, plaster or gypsum has 
been applied with great effect in other countries 
and in our own. The increased luxuriance of 
vegetation which it produces everywhere, de- 
monstrates clearly its tertilizing influence. It 
is a disinfector, and thrown over our manure 
piles, absorbs the gases which arise from fer- 
mentation injurious to Health, and concentrates 
and preserves them for the legitimate purpose 
of enriching the ground. It has a peculiar af- 
finity for ammonia, the gas encountered in our 
stables and known by its pungent and offensive 
smell. Scattered in these nauseous places, it 
renders them as sweet and the ait as pure as in 
our parlors, while it fixes and saves to us this 
ammonia, ihe vital essence of manure. Thus 
is the health ol our negroes and work animals 
essentially promoted, by the very means which 
improves so materially the quality of our ma- 
nure. Plaster is not found among us that I 
know of, but it can be procured at the North on 
reasonable terms. After plaster, peat is proba- 
bly most uselul in our stables and pens. 
Though flora disinfector, it absorbs largely and 
combines with ammonia. It has been applied 
to .soils in the different forms ol ashes, compost, 
and in its natural state, and where a deficiency 
of vegetable matter exists, is highly serviceable 
in all. But it is preferable to us as ia compost, 
as it is .scarcely abundant enough to supply the 
desired quantity of ashes, and requires a long 
period for decay in its natural condition. Swamp 
mud or muck, when well dried, is in many re- 
spects superior to peat, as it is more finely di- 
vided, more soluble, contains a larger propor- 
tion of earthy sails, and absorbs equally as well. 
We possess rich mines of this material, which 
it becomes us to work as early as practicable. 
It should be dug out and piled to dry at least six 
months before it is used for any purpose. 
Red clay has an affinity for ammonia, and 
diiecl, absorbs remarkably, while in its burnt 
state or reduced to ashes, which is done on a 
grand scale in other countries, it resembles 
lime in its mechanical effects, and supplies va- 
rious salts essential to vegetation, and which 
are rendered soluble by the burning. Leaves 
and straw, in proportion to their weight, lurnish 
a large amount ot alkaline salts, and absorb 
freely the liquids of the farm yard. I’hey are 
abundant about us and in general use. Corn- 
stalks are not only excellent absorbents for our 
heaps, but, containing a large proportion of sil- 
icate ol potash, an essential manure, should be 
carefully preserved. Marl, in addition lo its 
other advantages, is likewise an e.xcellent ma- 
terial for our compost heaps and stables; when 
it begins to operate it stimulates powerfully tlie 
process of (iecomposilion, and also absorbsno.x- 
ious gases, since experience proves, that it ren- 
ders stables more healthy for animals. 
In some parts of this county Bommer’s pa- 
tent system of making manure has been adopt- 
ed with eminent success. This method should 
not have been patented, and it is not certain 
that the patent is valid. The plan was s} steril- 
ized by Jauffret in France, but has been more 
or less practiced in all ages and countries. It 
is simply a mode of composting, a little more 
expensive and laborious than those in common 
use, by which the raw material is much more 
rapidly carried through the process of fermen- 
tation. There is no magic about it, but still it 
merits attention, and perhaps is worth the re- 
duced price now asked for it. On small plan- 
tations it can certainly be employed with great 
effect, and possibly on large ones. Yet, as 
time and labor cannot always be conveniently 
spared to collect at once the large quaniiiy of 
materials required — without counting the mo- 
ney cost of some ol them — while our ordinary 
compost heaps may be built up by gradual ad- 
ditions during the year; it is a question, whe- 
ther we could not excite fermeniaiion sufficient- 
ly by pouring into the heaps the liquids of the 
yard and stable, p.ixed with marl or plaster, 
and loosening the piles to admit the air, at the 
same time render the manure good enough for 
all practical purposes. 
But il we are at length ronvinced, and the time.s 
oughtat least to have induced this conviciion, 
that it is cheaper to raise our own rneai than to 
bring it across the mountains, and have fully 
resolved to make the trial, our hog and other 
pens will supply the most considerable portion 
of our manure, and of the most valuable kinds 
that are known. From this source we have 
heretofore derived little or no benefit. The 
tew hogs reared among us, with some excep- 
tions, are usually turned into a scanty range, 
with scarce lood enough to preserve life, until 
shortly before killing. They are then allowed 
the run of pea fields, olten picked over, and an 
increased supply of corn to give as'reakof 
fat. Excepting the straw for bedding, which ab- 
sorbs something by accident, no manure what- 
ever is co’lecied. And under such treatuicnt 
a hog rarely weighs 150 lbs. at a year old. The 
plan should be changed; we should pen all our 
hogs and feed them regularly the year round. 
This course has been adopted successfully at 
the North and partially practiced with profit by 
certain planters in boih our adjoining States. 
Thus enclosed and attended, hogs have been 
knowr. to exceed 500 lbs. at a year old, and to 
increase for short periods as rapidly as 3 lbs. 
per day, w'hile each hog, when amply supplied 
with straw, peat, rotten w’ood or charcoal and 
other raw materials, has manufactured in the 
year as much as two cords or over 200 bushels 
of excellent manure. Thus, the manure alone 
would pay for the leeding, and the increase ol 
flesh over the ordinary accumuldlion Irom the 
means I have described, would be nett gain. 
Taken from our range, hogs will consume more 
in fattening too, than they w'ould under judi- 
cious treatment in pens, during the whole year; 
and by enclosing they w’ould be kepi out oi 
mischief to ourselves and cui neighbors, would 
multiply more rapidly, occupy less time in at- 
tending to them, and be less liable to be stolen 
or destroyed by wild animals. From the heat 
of our summers and the liability to mange and 
lice, our pens should not be loo confined, and 
free access should be had to running or liesh 
waier. Houses are built for hogs at the North, 
where they ar*e removed from their element and 
pairqaered in the second and sometimes even as 
high as the third story from the ground. We 
may not obtain immediately such results here 
as at the North, though an approximation to 
them has been made recently in Alabama ; yet, 
with a good choice of breeds — among w hich I 
should by no means recommend the Berkshire 
— an abundant growth ot turnips, artichokes, 
peas, potatoes and corn, and with our mild w in- 
ters, there is no reason why we should not sur- 
pass them. 
By enclosing likewise our cattle, even great- 
er advantages would result to us. After pro- 
viding our negroes amplj' wdlh milk, the in- 
crease ot meat and butter w ould repay the tron- 
ble and expense incurred, while vast quantities 
of manure wmuld be collected nearly equal in 
qualiiy lo that from our stables. 
A grand benefit ihat would accrue from the 
enclosing all our stock, if universally practised 
among us, w'ould be the ability to dispense al- 
logether w’iih fencing, except for these enclo- 
sure^. Few' taxes are heavier than keeping up 
ihe infinite line ot lences and cross-fences, not 
only upon our lime and labor, hut also or, our 
lore-ts, w hich w ill soon be cemsumed wiihout a 
change ol system. It has been esiimaied by 
an enlightened planier of South Carolina, that 
there are at least 100,000 miles of rail fence in 
that Slate, requiring 8 or 0,000 rails j-er mile, 
valued at S50, which gives loi the value l i all 
their tences, t' e enormous amount ol five mil- 
lions ol dollars! And ihe Slate interest being 
7 per cent., and the annual decay ol such fences 
being 13 per cent., or their duration only seven 
years, the annual interest on the sum thus 
invested, is 20 per cent., or one million ol dol- 
lars. The calculation for this Stale would be 
