86 
THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
rest of the field. The soil is a sandy loam, 
mixed with limestone gravel. 
I do not wish to be understood that plaster is 
of no benefit to land, for I believe it is very ben- 
eficial; I believe if farmers would apply their 
ashes to their land, it would net them nearer 100 
per cent, than 10 or 12. — Cent. N. Y. Farmer. 
THE RUST. 
The very general injury to the wheat crop 
last season by rust, appears to have given new 
impulse to inquiries after its cause, and to have 
enlisted in the laudable work of discovery, many 
practical and scientific farmers. We are grati- 
fied at this, as the interest involved is one of 
deep moment to the farming community, it be- 
ing certain that unless the cause of the disease 
should be satisfactorily discovered, that its re- 
medy must ever remain among the hidden my.s- 
teries of nature. One set of farmers believe in 
the theory, that the rust is occasioned by parasi- 
tical plants, which fix upon the stalks and eat 
up those juices which should go to the. perfec- 
tion of the grain — another believes that it is 
owing to plethora or oveifullness, whereby more 
juices are generated by the root-feeder's, than 
can be healthfully taken up by the plant, and 
converted into straw and grain, and hence a 
cracking of the straw, and, consequently a loss 
ot those juices Avhich tend to ptrfect both the 
straw and kernels of wheat. 
Now those who ascribe the disease to parasi- 
tical or fungus influence, as well as those who 
refer it to plethora, agree in one thing, that this 
disease always occurs under a peculiar condi- 
tion of the atmosphere, just before the time of 
ripening. This is admitted by both parties. — 
The one contends that the moist, foggy and sul- 
try condition of the atmosphere, tends to en- 
courage the settlement of parasites upon the 
stems of wheat, and their consequent taking 
root and growth, to the total abstraction of the 
pabulum of both stem and grain, and that this 
is the primary cause of the malady. The be- 
lievers in the doctrine of plethora, view the pre- 
sence of the parasitical or fungus tribe as the 
effect and not the cause of disease: that the exu- 
dation of fluid through the cracks, superinduced 
by a too exuberant flow of sap from the roots, 
attach the parasites to the stalks, where, in the 
glutinous pabulum which escapes from within 
and forms on the outerside, they not only find a 
safe lodgment, but food withal to sustain their 
growth — and that this state of over feeding is 
produced by the atmospheric cause to which we 
have alluded, it operating to bring about a su- 
perabundant-supply of nutriment, thereby inca- 
pacitating the growing plants from healthfully 
digesting it, or of giving out aliment, in due 
proportion, to the organs requiring it. 
The believers in the fungus doctrine, maintain 
that the seeds of this parasite take root on the 
straw and extract their sustenance from within, 
— while those of the plethoric faith, believe that 
before there is any lodgment of those parasitical 
enemies, the food is already prepared by the 
bursting of the stem and exudation of the sap, 
the which forming on the outside, supplies the 
enemy with the sustenance on which he is nur- 
tured into disease. 
We have thus stated Ihe two theories, and 
■would ask gentlemen who may engage in the 
laudable work of searching into the cause of 
this disease, to let their observations be thor- 
ough. The character of the soil, its situation 
and exposure, mode of preparation, kind of ma- 
nure used, state of the weather, period when the 
rust may first make its appearance, its changes, 
the time it may take to perfect its evil work; 
whether the straw becomes cracked before the 
rust makes its appearance on the surface; if so, 
v/hether its color is light on its first appearance 
and becomes discolored subsequently to the 
straws being affected by the rust, and at what 
period the parasites are discernible. It would 
be well too, to mark those spots where the rust 
first show itself, so as to ascertain whether 
the decomposition of the manure, if any may 
have been used, or clover, if a clover ley had 
been turned under, had been carried on to great- 
er excess, than on those parts where the rust 
had not appeared so early. By carefully not- 
ing such phenomena, the observing farmer 
would be the better enabled to make up an in- 
telligent opinion as to the true cause of the dis- 
ease, than he could do, by quietly looking on 
and awaiting its fatal result, it is by watching 
the symptoms of human disease, in their every 
form, that the skilful physician is alone enabled 
to determine to what type to refer it, and by 
which he is enabled to point out and exhibit his 
counteracting remedies. Without this diagnos- 
tic supervision and philosophical inquiry, he 
would neither be able to determine the nature of 
the disease, nor make the appropriate use of re- 
medial means — all his efforts -would be failures; 
or at all events, should they prove successful, 
would be altogether accidental; for unless you 
first understand the nature of the disease, knov/ 
what organs are impaired in action, and how 
impaired, it is groping in utter darkness to at- 
tempt their restoration to healthful volition. 
Before the nature of the Typhus was under- 
stood, we have seen the patient relapse into syn- 
cope from the moment that the vein of the arm 
was opened, and the pulse sink under the loss of 
the most trifling quantity of blood, so that its 
motion became so thread like, as to be recogniz- 
ed with difficulty by the pressure of the most de- 
licate finger — and eve have seen the same pa- 
tient, on the prompt tying up of the arm, and 
the administration of a potent stimulating drink, 
rouse into sensibility, and the pulsation so 
quickened in action, and filled in volume, as 
•would, in any ofher disease, have justified the 
free use of the lancet — but in this, as the expe- 
rience just related indicated, it would have pro- 
ved fatal. Here the medical gentlemen found 
it imperiously necessary to observe the symp- 
toms,^study the nature, and contemplate the ef- 
fects of the disease, and it was only after the 
most patient and searching investigation that 
the)" were enabled to adopt their sanative appli- 
ances; and we hold it, that it is equally neces- 
sary for farmers to bestir themselves in well di- 
rected observations, as to the nature of the rust 
— they must watch its appearance with eager- 
ness, examine every phenomenon the disease 
may present, with coolness and discrimina- 
tion, and by making proper deductions from 
the premises which may be presented, they may 
find out the cause; that once ascertained, and a 
remedy will be of easy discovery and applica- 
tion. — American Farmer. 
SHEEP IN THE SOUTH. 
Important Facts. — In Chester District, S- 
C., there is a gentleman who has been breeding 
sheep for 30 years He was lately written to 
for information on the subject by one of our sub- 
scribers — and he replied at considerable length. 
This gentlgman’s experience sustains the opin- 
ion heretofore expressed by us, that this is the 
very country for sheep. An impression prevails 
quite generally among Mississippians, that 
sheep and wool will deteriorate in our climate; 
and this deters many from entering -with spirit 
into sheep husbandry. 
j To correct this evil and en’oneous impression, 
we mean to leave no efibrt untried. We there- 
fore ask pardon for taking an extract from a 
strictly private letter fhorxi the gentleman in South 
Carolina, above mentioned. 1 le is a man, as 
we have said already, of 30 years experience in 
sheep-breeding — of fine education — and of ex- 
tensive observation, having traveled in much of 
the best portions of Europe. He is, withal, a 
practical as well as a scientific farmer, attend- 
ing, in person, to the operations on his own farm. 
His word, then, is authority cm. this subject, and 
he says; 
“The quality of wool wiU not deteriorate in the 
South; and with proper care, can be preserved 
as pure iin the South as in the North. I have 
some merino ewes and wethers, a cross of the 
Escurial and Guadaloupe breeds, now giving as 
fine wool as the original stock, after breeding 
them in and in, upon this farm, without any 
change for 30 years.” 
It is unnecessary to explain why no new cross 
or new rams were used, if it be remembered 
that Chester is about 200 miles from the sea- 
board, and that there is no fine stock in tt.at re- 
gion. As to the quality of mutton, ever)- 'over 
of that delicious' meat knows well that the mut- 
ton of the south is unrivalled; yet on this point 
also, we shall draw upon the above mentioned 
letter. 
‘‘The opinion,” says the writer, “as to h e in- 
feriority of merino mutton is merepreju. 'ice.— 
After the experience of 30 years, I can sav from 
my own taste, and the praise of it at my' lable, 
that it is equal to any mutton in the world— 
Welsh mutton not excepted.” 
The writer knew what he was speaking about 
— for he had bred South Down, Bakewell and 
Tunis, 
We earnestly entreat our farmers to bear 
these facts in mind, and to pay more attention to 
sheep husbandry. If only a part bred uck, 
with a few ewes, were commenced with ly ev’- 
ery one that has the means, it would be an im- 
mense advantage not only to owners bu. to the 
country, — South Western Farmer. 
The Compost Heap.— Begin with the arri- 
val of the first favorable weather to gather ma- 
teria Is for compost. Don’t let a particle of mat- 
ter capable of being converted into f.od for 
plants slip through your fingers. Manure is 
the farmer’s capital— the wand by the favorable 
instrumentality of whose mystic and occult op- 
erations, he diversifieth the surface of the earth 
with the smiling beauties of vegetation, and 
causeth the waste places thereof to bloom, and 
the desert to blossom as the rose. “Giv"e me a 
sufficiency of manure,” said an elderly farmer 
to us, recently, “and I can work out a lit ing in 
any country, and from any soil.” 'I’he merchant 
must have capital — the mechanic must have im 
struction, materials and tools, and the :hrmer 
whose heritage is the broad fields and fertile val- 
leys of his “mother earth,” must have manure. 
It therefore behooves eveiy one to be attentive 
to this grand point, and to gather up the means 
of enriching and rendering fruitful the soil, the 
products of which sustain his life. 
No one who has not made the experiment 
will be able easily to appreciate the importance 
of attending, practically and habituallu to the 
rules thus hastily laid, down. Let every one, 
therefore, be sedulous in his efforts, and our 
word for it, he will never have occasion to de- 
precate the results.— ikfanie Cidtivator. 
CATTLE FOR THE SOUTH- 
Messrs. Editors— I should be pleased to learn 
through the Cultivator, your opinion of the re- 
lative merits of the Devon and Ayrshire breeds 
of cattle, as best suited to the South. The Dur- 
hams will not suit this latitude, (Charlotte, N. 
C., and a light .soil.) The object is principally 
butter and beef, and sometimes for the )-oke. 
A.’* 
We wish to answer the question of our cor- 
respondent, in part, by asking another. Has 
“A.” ever tried the Durhams, and satisfied him- 
self they will not do in that latitude? The Dur- 
hams require good feed it is true^ and no breed 
will do well without it. Devons and Avrshires 
must have feed, or they will make neither beef 
or butter. The soil may be light, but ' ■ made 
rich it is precisely the soil for corn and lucerne, 
and if a little marl or clay should be added, clo- 
ver w"ould doubtless succeed admirably, and 
with these, Durhams we imagine would do well 
in any latitude. 
If experiments properly made, have proved 
that the Durhams will not succeed, then for all 
the purposes mentioned by our correspondent, 
we should prefer the Devons. For beef and for 
the yoke, there are few if any breeds superior 
to the Devons, and if not in general equal to the 
Short Horns or Ayrshires for milk, still we 
have known some excellent milkers among 
them. The Devons are hardy, walk quick and 
lively in the yoke, and when fed make beef of 
exceilent quality. For milk or butter alone, 
