THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
T21 
in Ireland ; Drainage ; The Drainage of Farms ; 
National Characteristics; Tile and Pipe Draining, 
All these subjects are discussed with the au- 
thor’s usual ability ; and are illustrated b 5 ' cuts 
wherever these are necessary to a full under- 
standing of the text. This number has a beau- 
tiful plate ef Southdown Wethers, engraved on 
steel. 
In addition to the intrinsic value ol the nratter 
contained in this number, there is a positive lux- 
ury in reading a book so handsomely printed. 
We are sorry that so small an amount of patron- 
age has been bestowed on this work by the 
South. 
The New England Farmer. 
This most useful and excellent paper in all re- 
spects, after an existence of twenty-four years, 
on the 24th ult., sunk into “ that sleep that 
knows no waking.” Among all our exchanges, 
but few were regarded by us as equal in solid 
substantial usefulness to the JVew England 
Farmer. We are sorry, very sorry indeed, that 
its fate could not be avoided. 
Southern Independence, 
The lime mentioned in the following letter 
was not received until after our arrangements 
were made for the July number of the Cultiva- 
tor ; we were compelled, therefore, to postpone 
a no-tiee of it until nown Having examined it, 
we take great pleasure in saying, that, like near- 
ly all the Southern lime we have seen that was 
properly burnt, it is just as good as there is any 
need of, either for building, or to be applied to 
the soil. The terms on which it is offered are 
stated in the letter. Every man can determine 
for himself whether he can afford to use it for 
agricultural purposes. This much is certain, 
that lime, being in the practice of agriculture 
pretty much what calomel used to be in the prac- 
tice of medicine, planters can afford to give a 
great deal more for it than they will believe be 
fore they try it. In Delaw^are, it is confidently 
asserted, by a writer in the Farmin' Cabinet, 
that any prudent, industrious, working man, 
can lime and clover the_ worn-out land of that 
State, and he will receive in two years, or in two 
crops, as much grain and grass, over and above 
all which the land would have produced without 
lime or clover, as will pay for the lime, and cost 
of hauling, and spreading, and interest. Land 
in Newcastle county and in Cecil county, Md., 
bought ten years ago at $10 and $20 p?r acre, is 
now worth $40 to 330, and the owner not out one 
cent for improvements beyond the clear income 
from his improved lands. The crops will dou- 
ble in two years from the use of 40 bushels of 
lime per acre ; in five years they will increase so 
as to sell for three times the original cost. 
Can there be any doubt that, over all the South- 
ern Slates, the like results will follow from the 
application of lime to the soil 7 
To the Editor of the Cultivator; 
Sir Mr. Denmead and myself have opened 
a Lime Q,uarry in Cass, and I have directed a 
barrel to be sent you as a specimen. VVe can 
sell it at the kiln, unslaked, at 15 cents per bu- 
shel by the car load of 170 bushels. Persons 
having occasion for its use either as a manure or 
for other purposes, would do well to furnish 
their own boxes or barrels as it will greatly lessen 
the cost to them. Respectfully yours, 
Charles J. McDonald. 
]\Iariit!a, June 12, 1846. 
Pennsylvania Farming. 
Mr. Gowen has long been famous for the large 
income he manages to get from a small .''arm near 
Philadelphia. He doubtless has a very great ad- 
vantage in his convenience to the Philadelphia 
market, but to his very superior management is 
chiefly due the very extraordinary income he en- 
joys from a farm of only one hundred acres, and 
with an annual expenditure for wages of about 
one thousand dollars. Mr. G., in a late number 
of the Farmer's Cabinet, gives the result of his 
last years’ operations, as follows: — 
“I raised no less than one hundred and twenty tons 
of hay — say at S18 per ton is . .$2,160 00 
400 bushels of wheat, a-t. . . .$1.00 400 00 
300 
do 
rye. 
80... 
too 
do 
oats 
40.. . 
. . . 
40 00 
1000 
do 
corn 
60. . . 
500 
do 
potatoes. . . . . 
, 75. , . 
900 
do 
cat rots.. . .. . 
40..., 
600 
do 
ruta-baga. . . , 
. e • 
600 
do 
s-’jgar-peas, , , 
40... 
1500 
do 
turnips 
124.. 
187 50 
15 hogsislaughlered weighing 45 cwt , at S5 
per cwt 225 00 
Cattle, calves and pigs, sold 347 00 
Actual sales of milk and batter, over.-. 1,400 00 
S6,724 50 
Independent of milk and butter, meat and vege- 
tables, poultry and fruit for family consumption. 
While jiroducing this, I maintained upon the 
farm upwards of fifty head of cattle, seven horses, 
and some thirty head of swine, and the only out- 
lay incurred for feed during the year 1845, was 
about three hundred dollars of ship- stuff’ or mid- 
dlings, which was principally fed to the horses 
with finely cut timothy hay, and part made into 
slop for the swine. The horses had no other feed 
— they get neither corn nor oats, and the hogs 
when fattening, had little else but imperfect ears 
of corn, a little slop, and occasionally small po- 
tatoes cooked for them. 
“ How can H. S. or any of his brother farmers 
of the old and easy-going school, make a better 
exhibit in proportion to their outlay and number 
cf acres they hold? If they can, T should be 
pleased to see it, and to be permitted an opportu- 
nity of examining into their practice, the condi- 
tion of their land, the character of their Stocks, 
&c — while T here invite him to visit Mount 
Airy, and judge for himself. The stock now 
consists of 51 head of colvs, heifers and calves, 
principally thorough bred ’Durhams; 5 brood 
sov/s, and 20 shoats, to be fed for next winter’s 
slaughtering.” 
The editor of the F’etr/reer’s Cabinet lately spent 
. a day with Mr. Gowek, at Mount Airy — and in 
his paper for June, vve have the following ac- 
count of Mr. G.’s management : 
‘‘The day was spent with James Gowen, at 
Mount Airy, whose land lies mostly on the east j 
side of the Germantown road, some eight miles I 
from the ciiy. The readers of the Cabinet, by 
means of its occasional communications, are 
w’ell acquainted with his good farming, and its 
consequent results — large crops. His farm lies 
beautifullv, and his fields of grass w^ere splendid 
His hedges too, of the Madura thorn, or Osage ! 
Orange, look thrifty, and promise to do well, j 
His spring wheat, and lucerne, and oats, and j 
corn, sown broadcast for soiling, showed that j 
they had been put in the ground by the hand of | 
a master, who intended they should produce j 
well, or the failure should not lie at his doer. | 
The cattle have been so repeatedly exhibited at i 
our agricultural shows, that the readers of the [ 
Cabinet know more of them than the editor can I 
tell them. They are truly a splendid lot of Dnr- j 
hams, and though some eighieeii or twenty have 
been lately sold, to lessen the labors of the dairy, 
the remainder — about thirty — make a fine display 
in the pasture. We remarked the milk dripping 
from the udder of Dairy Maidd.s she stood lei- 
surely chewing her cud. Thg yard and shrub- ! 
bery around the house are just what they should j 
be, showing very plainly the delicate and guid | 
ing hand of a mistress, as well as the stronger one j 
of~a master. When you get among the out- | 
buildings — the barns and sfieds — you might na- 
turally enough conclude you had. stumbled into 
the village. We liked their arrangements, and 
the neatness of every thing connected with 
them. There was a place for everything, and 
everything was in its place- The thorough mea- 
sures adopted for the saving of every thing that 
might be turned into manure, were very obvious. 
We could find no little ditch to carry from the 
cow-yard its juicesinto a neighboring ravine, but 
on the contrary, means were adopted to save and 
to abs rb every liquid of the stables, and to car- 
ry into a general reservoir the slops, soap suds, 
&c.. of the kitchen — all was saved. Our friend 
at 3Iount Airy does not act upon the idea that he 
can afford to waste his manures at home, and 
come to Philadelphia to replace them by pur- 
chase. In the different sections of stabling was 
the keg of plaster, and < very day some was 
strewn on the floor to absorb the ammonia, 
which from its volatile nature would otherwise 
be wasted. The heap of poudrette, that was of 
course under shelter ready to be used on corn 
that was then being planted, was carefully cover- 
ed an inch or two with plaster of paris, that ev- 
ery particle of its virtue might be retained.” 
Yankee Farming. 
A traveller from the West is recording the im- 
pressions made on him during a recent visit to 
New England, in a -series of very clever letters 
which are published in the Western Farmer and 
Gardener. From one of his letters we make an 
extract, v/ith the hope that it may aid in correct- 
ing some of our Southern bad habits. Though 
his blows are aimed at the West, they arc none 
the less palpable hits at the South. 
‘“ Bostov, 3Iass., May 16, 1846. 
‘‘Eds Far. and Gard : — There, sirs, I have 
seen the good and bad, the rich an 1 poor sides of 
New England farming. Travelling through the 
Connecticut valley from Hartford to Hanover, 
takes one through the paradise of New England, 
and in ju.'-'tice to the valley, I set it down as an 
extremely fertile and highly cultivated tract, 
which renders a full return for all the skillful la- 
bor given to Its tillage. But leaving Hanover, 
New Hampshire, and going down to Concord, 
gives the other side of the picture, and you may 
see what a stony, sterile country New England 
is. A vegetable garden here, looks to me much 
like a western gravel walk, and the pasture lots 
resemble stone quarries ; the corn fields I could 
not find, for corn is not yet up, and with some 
little skill in guessing, I gave it up ; for where 
under heaven, earth and moisture forcorn can be 
found, is a mystery to me as yet. 
‘‘ But there is a bright side to New England 
farming, frtmr vchich we Westerners ought to 
take a lesson. I noticed chiefly great and skill- 
ful economy by every device that a Yankee brain 
can start to save a penny, or render useless 
things useful. This is evident in a thousand 
points. To use up old stumps, drawn out bodi- 
ly, roots and all, they lay them roots to the road, 
and makine secure and picturesque fences; to 
clear the fields of stone they chuck them toge- 
ther in long rows around the border, and call 
thorn stone fences; if a hill has an inch of soil 
upon it, a “side-hill plow” cultivates it ; if the 
grass and moss of a peculiarly barren stone quar- 
ry won’t keep a cow alive, it answers to keep a 
dozen sheep nibbling through half the year ; if a 
swamp is too wet to be productive under culti- 
vation, it yields muck for land less fortunate. 
There you see no rails lying round to rot and 
waste ; no cornstalks in the feed yards; no cobs 
in the manger; the barns and houses are all in 
fine order, neat and commodious ; and the wood 
houses at this time (spring) are already filled up 
with sawed and split wood, seasoning in neat 
piles fur the summer and winter consumption, a 
providence that I never saw in any Western 
State. Itwouldseem that a Yankee farmer does 
not know what an idle moment means : ram or 
shine, cold or warm, he always finds useful and 
appropria'e labor, which is sure to tell in his fa- 
vor in the final result 
“I could not help thinking, wfith some mortifi- 
cation to my western pride, how ditTerent the 
west would appear; how much richer her re- 
sources and rapid her growth, if New England 
industrv could be allied to her e.xhaustless fer- 
tility ! Co-mpare, for instance, the crop of “sod 
corn,” as raised upon the prairies of Illinois, 
with the equal produce of a field cultivated here 
with hard incessant laPor. In the former, a yoke 
