54 
THE SOUTHERN OULTIVAl'OR 
adapted to corn than any other crop; if employ- 
ed when putrefaction has commenced, immedi- 
ately before the period of committing the seed 
to the ground, or in the fall, in the shape of long 
muck, to allow the frosts, rain and wind of win- 
ter, to prepare it lor the putrefactive process, 
every portion of the decaying and fermenting 
fertilizer will be gradually absorbed by the roots 
and leaves of the plants. All the facts that 
have come to my knowledge sustain conclusive- 
ly the principles and reasoning 1 have advan- 
ced. I repeat that very rich ground rarely sof- 
lers materially the want of water, especially if 
it has been properly divided and loosened by 
artificial means. If, therefore, the withering 
power of drought should at any time show it- 
self on poor land, let the farmer instantly ap- 
ply putrescent manure on the surlace of the 
ridge. To the spreading of compost wiihout 
burying it over the cereals during the vegeta- 
tion, the English attribute an almost magical 
influence. They assert that “the plants may 
almost be seen to renovate and regain their ver- 
dure.” It is evjdent, says Thaer, that not only 
actual advantages, but also security against 
evil is to be derived from the possession of an 
active manure of this nature, and wiihout any 
sensible diminution of its value. Though the 
quantity may be small, yet the beneficial results 
first itidicaied in the change of color in the 
leaves, will soon appear. In the instance of a 
planter of this place, whose crop was In a peri- 
lous condition from the excessive dryness of the 
summer of ’44, one cart load only to the acre of 
stable manure, partially decomposed, was in- 
strumental in producing a fine yield, while from 
the remainder of the field the harvest was very 
meagre. When the application w'as made, the 
corn had begun to tassel; the -stalks were small 
and the leaves yellow and curled. Although 
the former never increased in size, the latrer 
soon exhibited a healthy green. This favora- 
ble indication took place before the first shower 
of rain, which was slight, and occurred about a 
fortnight after the trial of the experiment. This 
secret of my friend’s success is traceable to the 
fact that, as all fertilizers have a strong attrac- 
tion for atmospherical moisture, he used the 
one, which of all others, in that respect, guano 
excepted, possesses the greatest power. 
A prominent error in Southern husbandry is 
over-planting. Manuring, consequently, as a 
system is not practised. This alone is suffi- 
cient to account lor the smallness of the aggre- 
gate crop for the extent of ground annually in 
tilth. Reformation on this head is therefore 
loudly demanded. But until this ensue, what 
is to be donel In what way may the injurious 
operation of drought be modified, as well by the 
ignorant as the skilful, the poor and the rich? 
4. Salt. In small quantities salt is a septic; 
in large quantities it resists putrefaction. 
Though not strictly germane to the subject en- 
trusted to my charge, I hope I shall be excused 
for here stating the estimation in which this 
substance is held by many observant agricultu- 
rists. It destroys, they maintain, noxious 
weeds and vermin; gives luxuriance and ver- 
dure to grass lands-; prevents the scab in (Irish) 
polatoes; sweetens grass, and hastens the ma- 
turity of crops. Wheat or barley following 
turnips on land that had been previously salt- 
ed, the ensuing crop, it is well authenticated, 
escaped the mildew. For a top-dressing for 
grass land, six bushels per acre are recommend- 
ed; for cleaning the ground preparatory to the 
putting in of the grain, sixteen bushels, it is 
aaid, may be employed upon fallows. An 
ounce of salt to a gallon of water benefits vege- 
tables ; a larger quantity gives a brown color, 
and is therefore injurious. As it is a stimu- 
lant, salt should be mixed with compost, mud, 
or loamy earth. Its great capacity for inhal ing 
atmospherical moisture renders it peculiarly 
valuable in dry and hot weather. For cotton I 
have used it successfully at the rate of 5 pecks 
to the acre. Beyond that its effects were ad- 
verse to the growth and production of the plants. 
Manure designed for corn, should receive, se- 
veral weeks before it is put on the land, as 
' much salt as will luinish to cveiy acre not ex- 
ceeding one and a hail bushels. It. however, 
none of the measures noticed in this communi- 
cation have been adopted by the larmer, and his 
crop be suffering from the absence ol rain, let 
him sprinkle on the ridge of each plant or hill 
as much well pulverized salt as he can conve- 
niently take up with the thumb and two lore fin- 
gers. In a short time the result, from my own 
experience and that ot some of my co-laborers, 
will be the same as though the ground had been 
recently moistened with a moderate shower. 
How long the benefit will continue I am unpre- 
pared to state, for after every experiment of my 
own, rain fell in from ten to filteen days. 1 can 
only assert that, in the inter/al, the salted por- 
tion of the field was in every respect much su- 
perior to the remainder. 
5. Organic absorbents. It is not merely ne- 
cessary that atmospheiic gases should be in- 
haled by the agents which the vigilant care of 
the fanner may have provided, but to render 
his labors and knosvledge more effectual, they 
must possess the additional merit of retaining 
them. The atmosphere is the matrix of ma- 
nures; these however, are so subtle and evan- 
escent, ihat they quickly escape, unless elabo- 
rated into permanency by the use of vegeiablos 
in a hardened term. The valuable propenies 
of organic matter in a stale of putrefaction, if 
buried in the earth, are absorbed by plants, and 
“exactly that portion of manure which is lost 
by the custom of rotting it before it is ernnloy- 
ed, becomes the '^arent of a great crop.” *l'he 
most common and yet the most esteemed re- 
tentive atmospherical absorbent with which I 
am acquainted, is the leaves ot the pine.* 
When mixed with farm yard or stable manure, 
especially if a little salt has been added, it forms 
a highly fertilizing compound In attracting 
and preserving the gases and vapor ol the at- 
mosphere, lies, however, its great virtue. In a 
drought, if applied a few inches thick around 
each ^iill of corn, considerable moisture under 
the heaps will be seen in tweniy-four hours, 
and shortly afterwmrds, the field, should the 
farmer’s operations have been so extensive, 
will prove the efficacy of this simple experi- 
ment. At the late session of the Legislature, 
a member of the Senate informed me, that the 
last summer he employed pine leaves for his 
growing crop of polatoes with the happiest re- 
sults. During the drought he filled the alleys 
with this material. At the time ot harvest po- 
tatoes were found on the earth below the trash. 
Though unable to speak with precision of the 
difference between this section of his field and 
that on which no leaves had been placed, yet 
the product of the one was far greater than that 
of the other. To determine a question of vege- 
table re-production, in 1841, near Brest, in 
France, on a few rods of poor land, untilled, 
and which received no ulterior attention, grains 
of wheat were strewed, and then covered with 
wheat straw about an inch thick. In despite of 
excessive droughts during (he spring, prolong- 
ed and several times repealed, while all around 
was drooping and uncertain, the protected wheat 
sustained no injury. When the plants matur- 
ed the straw was found to be more that six feet 
high, and in the ears were filly, sixty, and even 
eighty grains of wheat of lull development.” 
A satisfactory explanation of this experiment, 
remarks a French writer, is found in straw be- 
ing a bad conductor of heat, and a good conduc- 
tor of electricity. The roots consequently were 
maintained in a medium temperature, and the 
rnoisture of the earth furnished by the straw la- 
ciliiated the absorption of carbonic acid from 
the atmosphere. As pine leaves contain a 
much greater proportion of nutritive juices, 
they should always be used, if obtained, in pre- 
ference to the straw of other trees or any crop. 
Having already extended this communica- 
tion to an unreasonable length, I will merely 
add, that the true and permanent interest of the 
Oak leaves,” says Thaer, “ are not easily decom- 
posed, and contain an astringent matter which is high- 
ly injurious to vegetation as long as the leaf remains 
ondeconiposed.” 
agriculturist is to be found in preparing against 
the vicissitudes of ihe season, and not in weak 
and uncertain attempts to mitigate their influ- 
ence. Deep plowin?, loosening effectually 
the texture of the soil, and a bountiful supply of 
appropriate aliment, are the surest means for 
the accomplishment of that purpose. While a 
parsimonious use of manure is sure to develop 
slender returns, it promotes slow ly but inevita- 
bly the deterioration of the land. It is belter, 
then, to cultivate a few acres to he plow' or la- 
borer, fuinished abundantly wiT enriching’ ma- 
terials, than iieble the number w iihout nutri- 
ment. These trulhs were practically er.foiced 
in the paimv days of Egyptian agriculture. 
The Roman hu-bandman was considered bless- 
ed who owned 7 acres of ground 
In England 20 or 30 acres constitute a good 
farm, and in China on one third of that quanti- 
ty, a large family is well supported. 7 he grass 
lands in the irnmediaie vicinity o( Edinburgh, 
rent lor SlOO the acre. In West Cambridge, 
ivfassachiiseils, manure to the value ol SfOO per 
acre, is supplied by many of the farmers, and 
instances are not iinfrequent of ten acres, thus 
leriilized, yielding in money ^5,000.t To us 
the full power ol land is unknown ; indeed, no- 
where has it been as -ertained that there is a li- 
mit to production. 7'he perii'd perhaps has ar- 
rived, w’hen not only the advancement of their 
peruniary welfare, but it may be, the preserva- 
tion of the domestic institutions ol the South, 
depends on a radical change in the habits and 
practices of the tillers ot iissoil. If, in relation 
to this State, the distressing visitation of the 
last sumiTier ha ve the effect of f rousing the at- 
tention of our agriculturists to the necessity of 
union among themselves, with a view to a free 
and full interchange of opinion in matters per- 
taining to their common vocation, they may yet 
have ample cause to be grateful to a merciful 
Providence for the calamity with which they 
have so recently and heavily been afflicted. 
Whitemarsh B. Seaerook, 
President State iltgriculiural Society, S. C. 
t Farmer’s Register. 
From the London Gardener’s Jeurnal. 
Poultry. 
7’he economy of poultry may be classed un- 
der three heads, first, in their natural slate, 
which is the def'artment of the naturalist; se- 
cond, in their domes'ic state in the country, 
with a full range of the farm yard and field, in 
which the poultry-keeper is concerned, for his 
profit; and third, in their artificial state, in or 
near towns, in pens or yards, which will chiefly 
engage my attention in the present article. The 
best and cheapest method of feeding I must 
leave to be detailed by those who keep poultry 
in large quantities. 
Shelter. — Fow’ls should always be kept in a 
dry, warm, sheltered situation — a southerly as- 
pect is to be prelerred — for they enjoy and bene- 
fit greatly by the “warms in the sun,” as w’ell 
as requiring protection from its scorching rays, 
and a secure (storm) shed lor rainy weather. 
7’he roosting-house and laying house, if sepa- 
rate, should communicate, that early layers 
may have early access to the nests, and also 
communicate with the storm-shed for the fowls 
to run in for security, i( they should leave their 
roosts early in the morning. The nests should 
be numerous, either in boxes or barrels, not too 
deep, but roomy, some situated high, some low, 
and as independent of each other as possible, 
each supplied with sweet, short and soft straw 
and a small nest-egg or two ot chalk, the size 
of a pigeon’s egg. If the nest be too deep they 
break the eggs in jumping in and out, and if the 
nests are not roomy, sitting bens have no room 
to turn easily, and consequently break eggs by 
not being able to get to them softly. They then 
eat the broken eggs, which gives them the ha- 
bit of doing so at other limes. They should 
roost warm at night, the perches high from the 
ground and of easy access, by means of lower 
ones or ladders. The more lightsome the house 
the better lor promoting dry air and free circu* 
