52 
THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
From ihe American Farmer. 
RESTORATION OF WORN-OET LANDS, 
Some time since, we published an account of 
the astonishing improveiiient of Dr. Noble, of 
Philadelphia, on a worn-outfarmof hisin Dela- 
ware, which he had bought at ^15 per acre, and 
so ieriilized in a short period as to produce up- 
wards of 47 bushels ol wheat per acre. In in- 
serting that account, we expressed the hope that 
the Dr. would lavor the public with a particu- 
lar account of the modus opera'riui pursued by 
him, in order that the Agricultural public might 
be benefitted. Some friend ol tne Dr. has an- 
swered our inquiries in the annexed article, 
from the Farmer’s Cabinet, but we regret that 
he had not been more particular : 
Worn-out Lands. — In the American Far- 
mer, of December 27th, appeared an extract 
from a communication by John Jones, ol 
Wheatland, to the Fanners’ Cabinet, in which 
he makes allusion to the astonishing effects 
brought about in the renovation of worn-out 
lands, in Delaware, by Dr. Noble, of Philadel- 
phia. On land which cost but $l5_per acre, and 
produced but five bushels of wheat three years 
ago-, by the application of eight loadsol manure, 
costing — freight included — less than $1,50 per 
load, the Doctor has raised forty-seven bushels 
of v^heat from 4 acre, and from the remainder 
rather less, the average being an enormous in- 
crease over the produce of former years. The 
editor of the American Farmer expresses an 
intense desire”' to learn the secret by which 
the Doctor has been enabled, at the small ex- 
pense of less than $42 | er acre, to effect such 
astonishing results. 
We- would inform him, theie is no secret 
whatever in the method pursued, but such as 
any larmer might discover lor himsell, if he 
would but take the trouble to read some of the 
numerous works upon the application of Chem- 
istry to Agriculture, lately published. Know- 
ing, by chemical analysis or examination, the 
composition ol the- grain and straw of wheat, 
and that of the soil, it was an easy matter to ap- 
ply those materials w'hich were needed, in or- 
der bo prod-ice a healthy and vigorous growth. 
Ke prescribed for his- wheat and soil as he 
would for a patient, and with equal success ; 
health and strength have been, restored to the 
suffering subject. 
Now, as to the sources of the manure which 
he has made useol, we will say a word : it is in 
the power of every farmer, near large cities, to 
procure the materials which are needed to en- 
rich the soil.. 
The Doctor formed a compost obtained from 
various sources, consisting of the refuse of tan- 
ners’, soap boiling establishments, &c., in short, 
of such animaland vegetable substances as con- 
tain soluble salts, or which can be made sub- 
servient to the growth ol plants. In the selec- 
tion of these substances, he was guided by their 
composition as made known by chemical analy- 
sis. “ Give,” says the rational agriculturist, 
bo one plant such substances as are necessary 
lor its developement, but spare those which are 
not requisite for the production of other plants 
which require them.” 
“ An emphatical,” or quack system “of ag- 
riculture, has administered the same kind ol 
manures to rll plants, or where a selection has 
been made, it has not been based upon a knowl- 
edge ol their peculiar composition.” The phos- 
phate of soda or lime, the silicate of potash, and 
sulphate of ammonia, or other salts eontaining 
these in other combinations, are necessary for 
the production ol wheat ; these have been sup- 
plied by the Doctor, and why should we be as- 
tonished at the results which have lollowed 
their application 7 He has adopted the scien- 
tific method ol manuring, and if his knowledge 
of the composition ol the soil and wants of the 
crop was exact, and his conclusions correctly 
drawn, he could not err in the application of his 
manures. His is indeed a triumph of science 
over the old-fashioned, uncertain, and empirical 
mode of farming ; here is an example worthy 
the attention of every larmer, and especially 
should it be considered by those whom preju- 
dice has so blinded that they cannot perceive 
the vast benefits arising Irom the judicious ap- 
plication of scientific knowledge to agriculture. 
It is indeed “creditable to the Doctor as a sci- 
entific farmer,” we hail him as a benefactor, 
and desire that he may persevere in that path of 
useiulness in which he has lour.d both pleasure 
and profit. J. L. S. 
Philadelphia, Second month dt.h, 1844. 
Pram lEs Southern Planter. 
SALT— AN IN.IHRY TO STOCK. 
In conversation with a very practical farmer, 
who has been successful in raising stock, (I re- 
fer to Dr. Venable of Mecklenburg, — I know he 
will excuse the liberty ol giving him as autho- 
rity, lor what follows,) 1 was a little surprised 
to hear from him, that if he was requested to 
give a recipe for the most effectual method ol 
gradually destroying a good flock of sheep, he 
would say — “ Salt them freely from the Isl of 
November or December in the Ist of April.” He 
thinks also, that it is very injurious to cattle, to 
salt thera during the winter months. His rea.s- 
on for this opinion is, that the use ol salt creates 
an unnatural thirst, and the introduction of cold 
water into the stomach of the animal, (especial- 
ly of sheep,) is followed by many of the “ ills 
that brutes are heir to.” I am very sure, Mr. 
Editor, that the Doctor is very willing, and 
would desire to hear any objections and reasons 
in opposition to his theory, and I hope you, or 
some of your eorrespondents, will give their 
“ notio-ns” on this subject. The theory is sup- 
ported, (the Doctor tells me,) by facts — a very 
satisfactory mode ol argument. Those of his 
neighbors who have made free use of salt in 
winter have lost ‘heir sheep and cattle : he and 
others of his neighbors have been very success- 
ful in rearing them. 
The Doctor, however, advocates the free and 
frequent use ol salt lor cattle, from 1st April to 
1 st November. He gives it three times a week. 
He does not givethe salt alone. He makes use 
of the following recipe, viz : 
Mix 4 bushels of clay, 2 bushels of salt, 2 lbs. 
of sulphur, and 2 lbs. of saltpetre : he gives the 
mixture in ample quantities, and sometimes 
makes up the mixture in cakes, and puts it 
about his gullies and galls — thus inviting the 
cattle to frequent such spots and enrich the soil 
(on which he has scattered herdsgrass seed) by 
their “ deposites.” Junior. 
December 6, 1843. 
We have frequently noticed objections, in the 
northern papers, to curing hay with salt, on ac- 
count of its injurious effects upon the animals to 
which it was fed, arising Irom the unnatural ex- 
cess ol salt with which they were thereby drug- 
ged, But we had imagined that if a plentiful 
supply of salt were placed at the disposal of the 
animal, instinct would direct him as to the quan- 
tity required for his system. 
Age of the Sheep. — The age of sheep may 
be known by examining the front teeth. They 
are eight in number, and appear, during the first 
year, all of a size. In the second year, the two 
middle ones fall out, and their place is supplied 
by two new teeth, which are easily distinguish- 
ed by being ol a much larger size. In the third 
year, two other small teeth, one from each side, 
drop out and are replaced by two large ones : so 
that there are now four laige teeth in the mid- 
dle, and two pointed ones on each side.^ In the 
fourth year, the large teeth are six in number, 
and only two small ones remain, one at each end 
ol the range. In the fifth year, the remaining 
small teeth are lost, and the whole front teeth 
are large. In the sixth year, the whole begin to 
be worn and in the seventh, and sometimes 
sooner, some fall out or are broken. 
Warts on Cows’ Teats.^Mt. Jonathan 
Perry,, of Dover, tells us that lamp oil will kill 
warts on cows — apply it several days in succes- 
sion.. If other farmers, find this effectual, they 
will oblige by sending additional testimony. 
Wass. Plough. 
From the Practical Farmer. 
AGRICULTURE AS A SCIENCE. 
All knowledge is founded on experience ; in the 
infancy of any art, experience is confined, and 
knowledge is limited, to a lew particulars j but 
as arts are improved and extended, a great num- 
ber ol facts become ka-own, and the generaliza- 
tion of these,, or the arrangement of them, ac- 
cording tu some leading principles, constitute 
the theory laws, or science of an art. 
Agriculture, in common with other arts, may 
be practiced without any knowledge ol its theo- 
ry j that is, established practices may be itnitatr 
ed ; but in this case it must remain stationary. 
The mere routine practitioner cannot advance 
beyond the limits of his own particular expe- 
rience, and neither derive instruction from such 
accidents as are favorable tTi his object, nor 
guard against a recurrence of such as are unfa- 
vorable. He can have no resource for unseen 
events but ordinary expedients, while the man 
of science resorts to general principles- refers 
events to their true causes, and adopts his mea- 
sures to meet every ease. 
The object ol the art of agriculture is to in- 
crease the quantity and improve the quality of 
such animal and vegetable productions ol the 
earth as are used by civilized man, and the ob- 
ject of the agriculturist is to do this with the 
least expenditure of means— in other words, 
profit. The result of the experience of man- 
kind as to other objects, may be conveyed to an 
inquiring mind in two ways i he may be in- 
structed in the practical operation of the arts, and 
their theory, or the reasons on which they are 
founded, laid down and explained to him a& he 
goes along;: or he may first be instructed in gen- 
eral principles, and then in the practices which 
flow from them. 
The former mode is the natural and actual 
mode in which every art is acquired by such as 
have no recourse to books, and may be compar- 
ed to the natural mode ol acquiring a language 
without a knowledge of its giammar. The lat- 
ter mode is by much the more correct and effec- 
tual, and is calculated to enable an instructed 
agriculturist to proceed with the same kind of 
confidence and satisfaction in his practice, that 
a grammarian does in the use of language. 
GRAFTING GRAPE VINES. 
The late Mr. N. Herbement, of South Caro- 
lina, a successlul cultivator of grape vines, al- 
ter referring to the usual naodes oi grafting fruit 
trees, says ; 
“But let vines be grafted in this manner, un-- 
less the operator knows the particular requisite 
for the vine, and the probability is that he will 
scarcely succeed once in five hundred trials. 
The mode of grafting, which I practice usually, 
and which is attended with no difiiculty, and ve- 
ry seldom lails, is as follows : — All I do, is to 
take away the earth round the vine, to the depth, 
of lour or ftve inches; saw it off about two or 
three inches below the surface of the ground; 
split it with a knife or chisel ; and having taper- 
ed the lower end ol the scion in the shape of a 
wedge, insert it in the cleft stock so as to make 
the bark of both coincide, (which is perhaps not 
necessary with the vine;) tie it with any kind 
ol string, merely to keep the scion in, its place ; 
return the earth to its place, so as to leave only 
one bud of the graft above the ground, and the 
other just below the surface, and it is done.” 
TO YOUNG MEN— TRUTH WELL SPOKEN. 
We commend the following well-timed re- 
marks of the editor of the New-York Tribune, 
to the special attention of those young men in. 
the country who feel inclined to murmur at their 
lot, and to envy young men in cities their im- 
aginary advantages. — Gen, Farmer.^ 
It is a. sore evil that 1 abor, so essential to health, 
vigor, and virtue, is generally regarded with 
aversion. Even those who boast that they live 
by straight-forward hard work, are almost uni- 
lormily seeking to escape from their conditiori. 
