122 
THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
improved, the primary object of the system will 
be found the next year, superiorly adapted to the 
culture of corn; requiring simply the surplus 
cotmn seed of the previous crop, with the same 
treatment otherwise, to insure a yield of 50 to 
75 ! mshels per acre. The treatment of the suc- 
ceeding two year.?, first in small grain, giving 
an equally large yield, and last, which com- 
pletes the cyclus of rotation, to lie one season 
in the state oi’ fallow, will each add greatly to 
the improvement of the soil. I have neither 
time nor space at present to enter more minute- 
ly into this most interesting branch of the sub- 
ject, which sketch, however, will serve to illus- 
trate my object in the institution of these expe- 
riments. 
A short reply to your editorial commenda- 
tion and I have done. It has not appeared sur- 
prising to me, gentlemen, that the result of my 
experiments should ‘-seem extravagant” to you 
in your office, when I have seen planters, men 
too of experience and extended observation,, 
from Baker county in your own State, and oth- 
ers Irom the rich alluvial valleys of the Chat- 
tahoochee, and the great Mississippi, while 
standing in the midst ot my cotton, to express 
even greater reluctance in according their as- 
sent, though looking upon the well proportioned 
weed, yielding its thousands per acre. An op- 
tic entertainment this, infinitely more interesting 
than the rapids of Harper’s Ferry, or their coun- 
terpart, Jefferson’s Rock, which that great man 
declared to be worth a voyage across the At- 
lantic. N. B. Cloud, M. D. 
Alabama, July 15, 1843. 
P. S. You wull probably be told, gentlemen, 
by some ad captandum planters, whose specula- 
tive temperaments have induced them to grasp 
at the “golden fleece” wuth impure hands, “that 
they have tried this system and it will not an- 
swer.” Ask such men if they have complied 
with the conditions, and believe them not. 1 
will here, in a very few' words, inform you, and 
the friends of improvement, that I have cotton 
now growing upon pine land, a fair experiment, 
the present very unfavorable season, treated 
precisely to the letter as detailed in No. 2, that 
was topped on the lOth inst. six feet high, and 
so entirely interlocked the wide way as to for- 
bid the further use of the horse hoe or sweep. — 
Upon a single stalk of this cotton, and it not 
better than others around it, I counted on the 
same day, (10th,) upwards of 300 bolls, blooms 
and squares— they literally hang upon the limbs 
in tresses — and this cotton has yet 75 days to 
mature. Think you the same success may not 
be attained m Carolina and Georgia'? I tell 
you that the ingenuity and industry of the 
American farmer’s sons, attained by the stem 
maxim of Roman perseverance, ‘Nil de.speran- 
dum, possent quia passe videntue,” may, under 
this system, grow the same cotton and corn up- 
on the poor, piney barrens of Edgefield and 
Richmond. 
If there is a man who may eat his bread at 
peace with God and man, it is that man who 
has brought that bread out of the earth by his 
own honest industry. It is cankered by no 
fraud — it is wet by no tear — it is stained bv no 
blood. 
SMUT IN VVHEAT. 
StA.VFORDSVILLF., P0TN.4M Co., ) 
July 28, 1843. 5 
Messrs. Editors — Your paper of the 19ih 
inst. has just come to hand- in which I find a 
communication from your correspondent “H.” 
of Athens, giving some account of the benefits 
resulting from soaking seed wffieat in a solution 
of bluestone or strong brine, and rolled in slack- 
ed lime, to which I wish to add my experience. 
And 1 wdll here state, that the benefits I have 
enjoyed by .soaking my seed wheat in a solution 
of bluestone have been derived from reading 
agricultural papers — my advantage from this 
one piece of information has been worth more 
to me than all the money I have ever paid fo'' 
agricultural papers. 
Year before last I soaked 15 bushels of my 
seed wheat in a solution of bluestone, and sow'- 
edit in a field as far as it would go; there being 
G or 8 acres of the field left, which w'ere sown 
with the same kind of wheat, the land in about 
tlie same order, and the w'heat equally as wmll 
cleaned, but had not been soaked. The result 
w'as, the wheat that was soaked was of good 
quali'.y and clear from blast or smut; that part 
of the field sowed with the un.soaked wheat, had 
a considerable quantity of smut in it. I soak- 
ed my seed wheat again last year in the same 
kind of solution, and have a nice crop of wheaj. 
with not a grain of smut in it that I have seen. 
I did not roll my wheat after soaking in lime or 
any thing else, and several of my neighbors tried 
the experiment of soaking their seed wheat last 
year with entire success. 
The quantity of bluestone used in this settle- 
ment is one pound to every five bushels wheat, 
and the plan has been to put the wheat in soak 
in the evening for the next day’s sowing; reserv- 
ing the water to put the next wheat in, and then 
add enough more water with its proportion of 
bluestone to cover the wheat. The best plan is 
to dissolve the bluestone in a small quantity of 
hot water, as it is hard to dissolve in cold water. 
If the weather should become wet and any of 
the soaked wheat not sowed, it may be spread in 
an out house without any injury till the ground 
gets in the right order for sowing again. I soak- 
ed some of my seed wheat last year 6 or 8 days 
before it was sowed. I have no doubt but roll- 
ing the wheat in lime after it is soaked is an ad-, 
vantage, especially when the seed wheat is not 
as thoroughly ripe as it should be, or the ground 
^he least out of order, and this when it is too 
wet to be perfectly friable. 
I would advise all wheat growers who are 
troubled with smut, to try this experiment or a 
similar one. The cost of a trial is buttrifling, 
as bluestone costs only 20 to 25 cents per pound. 
In concluding this communication, I do most 
sincerely advise all wheat growers to have their 
seed wheat thoroughly ripe, and then effectual- 
ly cleaned with a good seive, (after being fan- 
ned,) letting all the small grains pass through 
the seive, and take all the light grains that rise 
on the top off with the hand. Should there be 
any cockel in the wheat, by using a seive of the 
right description, it will in a few years be en- 
tirely eradicated. 
lam, sirs, yours respectfully, 
• John Farrar. 
Wilkes County, Ga., July 17, 1843. 
Messrs. Jo.nes — I again address myself to my 
brother farmers, and would like, if I could call 
their attention to several things of importance 
to them which, I fear, are often neglected. 
1st. The importance of taking better care of 
their stock. I think after the severe lesson they 
learned last winter, they will see the necessity 
of providing more and better provisions for 
their stock than has heretofore been customary. 
Every farmer should have comfo.nable shelters 
I for all kinds of stock, and provender enough to 
keep them not only alive but in good order. — 
Sheliersfor cattle should face the south, and be 
boarded up on the ends and on the north; the 
roof should slant to the north, so that the cattle 
may get the benefit of the sun. There should 
be a ditch cut large enough for the rain to run 
off. Salt should always be kept in reach of the 
cattle, so that they can get at it as often as they 
want. A good mixture for cows is, half salt 
! and half ashes. 
2d. Farmers should make all the m.anure they 
can. They should save everything — soapsuds,, 
ashes, chamber ley, dish-water, dead animals, 
leaves, hair, and every thing that can possibly 
be made into manure. It should be applied to 
the land every year if possible, and it is better 
to manure one acre well, than five poorly and 
sparingly. 
3d. The Cultivation of Corn . — 1 should like- 
to see a discussion in your paper in regard to 
this subject. I think the old system of cul- 
ture may be greatly imj.roved, as I am o^ 
opinion it should not be plowed deep, if at 
all, after it bec-omes breast high. Plowing at 
this time cuts the roots, thus forcing the plant 
to form new ones, and of course checking the 
growth. I hope your subscribers wiU gh'e 
their opinions on this subject, as it is one which 
calls for discussion, and as almost every one 
has a different way of cultivating this plant. 1 
will close by saying that manure is the sheet an- 
chor of the farmer. 
I remain your friend, A. O. 
Spaying Swine — I have seen several direc- 
tions given for spaying swine; none however, I 
think, superior to mine, which is as follows: I 
have a crooked stick, in the form of the arm 
when half bent, about 18 inches long; to each 
end I attach a string, doubled, about 8 or 10 
inches long, which I put in a noose over the hind 
legs, just above the hocks; hang them up head 
downward; tie the mouth to prevent squealing; 
let a boy stand at their back and hold the fore 
legs. I then with a sharp knife split the belly 
just between the hind four teats, sufficiently to 
insert two or three fingers of the left hand, draw 
out the pride, and cut it ofi” with the knife in 
the right hand; then with a large crooked needle 
and waxed thread, sow up the wound in the fol- 
lowing manner: stick the needle through from 
outside to inside, then bring out the needle on 
the other side of the wound, from inside to out- 
side; cut off the thread sufficiently long to tie; 
repeat the same so as to make three stitches; 
then tie them, being careful not to draw the 
stitches too tight, and the work is done. I be- 
lieve I can spay as many in a given length of 
time and with as little loss, as any man can any 
other way. John M. Johnson. 
Hannibal, Mo., May 25, 1843. 
Albany Cultivator. 
Laziness travels slow and poverty thumps his 
heels. 
