252 
SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
an a day, and is worked by two horses and a driver. The 
iprice is $105. 
In forming good meadows and pastures at the South, 
we cannot too earnestly press upon our readers the neces- 
sity of making the land rich with manure, or the free use 
of ashes and lime. There are several well known grasses 
which yield profitable returns on strong fertile soils; while 
really poor lands never produce grass crops of any con- 
•siderable value. At the present prices of horses, mules, 
and neat stock of the best quality, good grazing land is 
worth $100 per acre ; and not a little in New York pays 
the interest of $200 per acre. Even in the cool climate of 
England and Scotland, 100 tons of green grass, (Italian 
Rye grass,) have been cut from an acre in a year. Liberal 
manuring will give a remunerating crop where the want 
of it will ensure a signal failure. Southern farmers must 
cease to let their stock drop so much of their manure in 
woods and old unenclosed fields, before they can fairly 
begin to make choice meadows and pastures of cultivated 
grasses. In rich limestone districts, this improvidence 
may exist with less apparent injury; but in all sections 
where the soil is comparatively poor, a better system of 
husbandry is indispensable. The New England plan of 
having cellars to stables and barns for storing manure, 
and to keep it out of all rains and snows, and covered 
with muck or loam, to prevent loss of ammonia, is worthy 
of universal adoption. It is quite as easy to make a 
profitable crop of grass \yith manure, as a profitable 
crop of manure with grass. Some may say that 
neither of these crops is worth having; and it is pre- 
cisely the sinister influence of this feeling which has done 
most to desolate the planting States. But a few wish to 
see here and there an oases — rich pastures of living 
green, and sweet, delicious meadows, with fat, deep red 
Devons to match. L. 
CALIFORNIA BARLEY. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — Enclosed, I hand you 
a specimen, including a few ears, of naked barley, (known 
to botanists as Hordeum Gymnodis tichum) introduced into 
this country from California, and grown by Mr. E. T. 
Shepard, of this city, the past season. 
It is, as you will perceive, of the two rowed variety, 
with exceeding long awns. Its weight, I should suppose, 
would nearly equal the best wheat. 
Mr. S. informs me that this specimen is not so full and 
plump as the seed sown. This might be attributed to the 
dry season under which it has matured, and not the 
climate, as barley will accomodate itself to most any cli- 
mate. We know it grows well in Europe. This species 
is not so highly regarded in Europe as the six rowed, 
(naked) so much esteemed there for its fertility’ and pro- 
ductiveness, and also for making bread, and for pearl 
barley ; but I cannot well imagine a superior grain of this 
genus. It is said by some French writers to produce 
twenty-four to one in mountainous countries. 
Mr. S. seeded down two acises of this grain, but as the 
seed was much weevil eaten, the stand was very imper- 
fect. Soil silicious, dry nature, (pine land.) 
Barley is not, as you know, entirely exempt from dis- 
eases, such.as smut, blight, &c., but not so liable as wheat'. 
It is more subject to be injured by wet weather, whe^i in 
head, than the latter. Of nutritive matter it is said to con- 
tain G.a per cent., and wheat 78 per cent. 
If you think this species v/orthy of being grown in the 
South, please give us a few thoughts upon the subject. 
Yours, very respectfully, B. A. Sorsby. 
Columbus, Ga., June, 1855. 
Remarks.— -Mr. Sorsby has our thanks for calling our 
attention and that of the public to this recently introduced 
species of barley. That it is worthy of trial at the South 
is beyond question; for any kind of this grain, in skilftil 
hands, rarely fails to give a good profit. In former years, 
when we had a limestone farm, there was no* other crop 
that gave us so cheap pork, and cheap horse-feed as 
barley. For hogs, our practice has been to grind and 
cook this kind of grain ; for horses, it is ground, and the 
meal mixed with w*et, chopped hay or straw'. 
Barley is easily mown with a grass-cutting machine, 
raked with a horse-rake, and is also easily threshed and 
cleansed by horse power. The farmers of New York 
raise about half of all the barley grown in the United 
States, according to the census returns. It delights in a 
rich soil, and we should never attempt to raise it in any 
other, without a liberal dressing of manure. With good 
farmers, fifty bushels per acre is about the average yield. 
Cut early, speedily cured, and. well housed, the straw of 
this grain answers as a substitute for hay in wintering 
stock. The slovenly neglect of wheat ‘straw, and the 
abundance of poor cattle which may be seen in some 
parts of the country, are not credible to American agri- 
culture. A plenty of good forage, will keep stock in a 
growing condition all winter, give the family an abun- 
dance of milk and butter, and the farm an additional sup- 
ply of manure in the spring. Boiled barley, without 
grinding it, makes capital feed for horses, mules, hogs, 
fatting cattle and sheep. Some of our friends in New 
York coin money by making fat sheep fed on boiled 
barley and oats. Of course, this furnishes much fat ma- 
nure. L. 
Crops in Jefferson County, Ga. — ‘‘A Subscriber’* 
writes us from Jefferson county , under date of July » ; 
Editors. Southern Cultivator— The crops in this 
section of the State were never more promising. If the 
seasons continue the present month as they have been, the 
harvest for corn will truly be great. 
M.anagement of Negroes.— A subscriber in Mississipa 
pi, writes us as follows : " 
“ I would recommend ‘Agricola’s’ Management of 
Negroes,” in the June number of the Cultivator, as the 
best I have ever seen; and would amend only by releas- 
ing them from packing cotton at night, requiring them in- 
variably to take breakfast before going to work, and giv- 
ing them another good dinner when the crop is laid by. 
J. N. L. S. 
A WORD FOR LARGE MULES. 
In opposition to the views of Mr. Cockerill, of Tenn. 
r J , 
(as heretofore published,) we have the following from 
Alfred Cohen, of Kehtucky. Our own taste runs en- 
tirely with the fch-mer gentleman, in favor of medium sized, 
active, well-formed animals, but we desire that both sides 
of the question may be presented. We quote from a late 
nt^mber of the Lov.isville Journal: 
Mr. Cockerill’s views, as regards the symmetry, spirit, 
[ action, and stamina necsssary for a good and serviceable 
mule are correct. I am myself a mule raiser, and have 
also driven mules for a number of years to the several 
Southern States, and use them also on my farm for the 
I different agricultural purposes. Although I do not nura- 
^ her quite as m.any teams as Mr. Cockerill, still from the 
