125 
THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
ing, become stagnant and ooze tlirough their 
pores; and it is on these putrid and extravasat- 
ed juices, that the animals feed. Nowueal- 
v/ays see, even in the most blighting seasons, 
that some plants— those lor instance that i.tighi 
be she:tered Irom a cold and blighting atrnos- 
pljere— will he found to have escaped the gene- 
ral evil, while others are doubly afllicled by the 
malady; but if asked how these things can be 
accounted for, or by what peculiar means they 
were brought about? I can only answer, reve- 
rently, God knows ! 
Your subscriber, James Corwin. 
June 30, 1844. 
Fcocn the Bojloii Cullivator. 
NEW MODE OF FAU.MING. 
I pray you, Messrs. Editors, permit me to de- 
tail, whai appears to me, a new mode of larm- 
ing. It was communicated in the way ol con- 
versation with an honest old German, who in- 
lormed me he had purchased a small farm of 70 
acres in the neighborhood of the Lehigh coal re- 
gion, where also he had charge of a lock on the 
canal; that the next year he should have a taller 
(largei) farm, and devote himself to its cultiva- 
tion. 1 inquired if he would grow corn ? ‘Yes.’ 
And wheat? ‘Yes.’ Oats? ‘Yes, tor the 
lodder, and cut it all up together, grain and 
straw.’ Would he keep a dairy ? ‘ No, only 
one cow for my wile, as I do not care tor milk 
and butter.’ Hogs? ‘No, only one or two to 
eat up the waste about the house,’ Then what 
stock would you keep? ‘ None in summer, but 
plenty in winter.’ I then desired him to detail 
his plan, which he did in his quaint manner, as 
follows: 
“ I keeps no cow, no ox, no sheep, no hog all 
summer, nor plow much. All my land, so 
much as I can, I give to grass. Then, when 
my neighbors say, oh, my cows and my hogs 
get in my corn, and eat all up; 1 say I keeps no 
cow and no hog — I very comfortable about my 
lences; they cost me nothing, lor 1 have no cat- 
tle to break them. But I makes the hay so 
much as 1 can, and my cornstalks so big as I 
can, and my oatsso much as I can, and save all 
up for winter; a great barn and stable quite full, 
ana the ricks in the yard. Then I watch my 
neighbors; for when I hear John J?tone say, in 
the spnns, oh, I got much grass, 1 must buy tw'o 
cows, wlien he hant ’nough lor one cowq I say to 
myselt, oh, I buy your cows in winter, when you 
got no hay lor them. So w'hen he come and 
say, you buy my two cows ’cause you got plen- 
ty hay; I say yes, 1 give you five dollar a piece 
for them ; and so I gets them, ’cause he got no 
hay nor nothing to give them. So I do w'iih t.ie 
rest ol my neighbors, only 1 do not buy the bad 
cows, only the good cows what will have calfs ; 
and they keep the bad cows ’cause nobody will 
buy them. So I keeps them well, and cleans 
them very nice, and makes them very lat and 
big; and when the little calfs comes, I gives 
them all the milk, and they grow fat and big; 
and then my neighbors comes in the spring, 
and wants to buy their cow's again, for they got 
the grass and no cows to eat it; and so 1 sells 
them their own cows for 20 dollars apiece, and 
sometimes thirty or forty ; but I keeps the calls, 
’cause I wants them for the butcher. And so I 
sells my neighbors their owm cows again, bul I 
gets all the dung; and as they gets no dung, they 
get no crops ; while I gets all the dung, and the 
crops, and the profit tool” 
Messrs. Editors, when I hear my neighbors 
inquire what course they shall adopt, so as not 
to follow exactly in the' path which others are 
pursuing, I think of my old German friend who 
“gets the dung, the crops, and the profits too,” 
and am led to ask, if there be any objection to 
the plan here pointed out. 
RECIPES. 
An excellent plan for preventing young fruit 
trees from becoming hide-bound and mossy, and 
for promoting their health and growth, is to take 
a bucket of soft soap, and apply it with a brush 
to the stem or trunk, from top to bottom ; this 
cleanses the bark and destroys the worms or the 
eggs of insects; and the soap becoming dissolv- 
ed by rains, descends to the roots, and causes 
the tree to grow vigorously. 
It is said that a mixture of one ounce of salt- 
petre, and seven ounces of salt, applied on the 
suiface of the ground, in contact and around the 
trunk of a peach tree seven years old and up- 
wards, will de.stroy the worm, prevent the yel- 
lows, and add much to the product and quality 
ofihelruit. Also, dress the orchard with the 
same mixture, at the rate ol two bushels to the 
acre. 
To have green peas in winter, take them 
w'hen they are plent}^ shell them, wmsh and 
Scald in hot water, then drain, pul them into 
bottles, and pour strong brine on them until they 
are perfectly covered; overthis pour a thin lay- 
er of good salad oil, and cork tight, then dip the 
corks into melted pitch. The bottles should be 
quite full- and kept upright. — U. S. Practical 
Receipt Bonk. 
rom the Hostoti Cullivator. 
COLL.\RS vs. YOKES. 
Messrs. Editors — How' much has been said, 
bul how little has been done on the subject ol 
substituting the collar for the yoke in working 
oxen. That the collar can be made to supercede 
ihe yoke for all purposes, there is no question, 
»nd that it has been done to manifest advantage, 
there is no doubt. But there is just one thing 
more needed: it is for some one to fit up a hand- 
some pair of Devons with a set of elegant har- 
ness; their collars fitting the hollow of the 
shoulder, so as to allow the free motion ot the 
leg; their blind bridles like those lor the horse, 
except not being furnished with bits for the 
mouth ; with eye-flaps decorated with brass 
plates, bearing the name of the philanthropic 
owner, by which he would cl im and retain the 
honor ol being the first to introduce the humane 
custom into the country — a distinction enviable 
from the fact of being the first to advocate the 
cause of one of the most noble of our domestic 
animals. 
But he who would do this, must have the 
means of carrying out the experiment ; humane, 
with the determination to withstand opposition 
and prejudice; desirous to relieve the woes of a 
race of animals that have been bowed down to 
the earth and oppressed with the cruel yoke of 
bondage all their lives long; and then, if en- 
dowed with patience in the good work, 1 will 
guaranty him perfect success, and an inward 
satisfaction above all price. 
Ard now, do you ask where such a person 
can be lound ? I answer, in Mr. Cheever New- 
all, of Dot Chester, whose elegant place and 
fine animals designate him as he to whom w’e 
might look lor the introduction of one of the 
most useful and important innovations of the 
age. Oxen, w’hen harnessed in this wayq are 
w'orked like horses; if single in a cart, the pad 
of the shall harness rests on the back; il double 
in a wagon, two pairs of light shafts are used; 
while in plowing with the collar, they are equal 
in speed to the horse, and will be found to go 
through their labor with as little latigue ; their 
heads being free and more erect, they will not 
be liable to drop and die in hot weather. 
In Mr. Col man’s forthcoming notes of his ag- 
ricultural tour in England, w'e shall no doubt 
find ample testimony in favor of the humane 
substitution here advocated , for he will daily 
witness many teams of oxen — no longer yokes — 
in the streets of London, taking over the pave- 
ments the heaviest loads, with the most perfect 
ease and facility; their feel shod, and theircon- 
venient harness enabling them to pass along the 
crowded streets without the least difficulty, or 
danger to the passengers, sure-footed and staunch 
in their draught, to a proverb. He will also 
have the opportunity of contrasting this mode ot 
gearing with that now in use on some parts of 
tho continent, where the wretched animals are 
made to draw by means of chains hung to a 
broad board affixed to their foreheads by straps 
passing around their horns ! 
Your subscriber, J. D, 
Salem, Mass. 
PROPER DEPTH OF SEED. 
Various experiments have been tried to deter- 
mine the proper depth at which seed should be 
put. The following is the result of an experi- 
ment with maize or Indian corn : 
'i'hat which was planted at the depth of — 
No. 1. 1 inch, came UD in 8^ days. 
2. 
Li 
a 
94 
3. 
2 
a 
n 
10* 
4. 
n 
lU 
5. 
3 
u 
a 
12' 
G. 
3* 
u 
13 
7. 
4 
(( 
131 
8. 
— 
9. 
5 
n 
— , 
10. 
4i 
ti 
u 
1 /5 
11. 
6 
— 
The Nos. 8. 9 and 11, wmre dug up after 22 
days, and it was found that No. 8 had an inch 
more to grow to reach the surface of the earth. 
Nos. 9 and 11 had just sprouted, and were short, 
and three inches below the sunace. No. 10 
came up in 17| days, but the tender leaf re- 
mained only six days green, and then withered. 
There is noexperimeirt which shows more clear- 
ly the adt antage of a shallow planting in a soil 
not too loose and trodden down than this. The 
more shallow the seed was covered with the 
earth, the more I’apidly the sprout made its ap- 
pearance, and the stronger afterwards the stalk. 
The deeper the seed lay, the longer it remained 
before it came to the surface. Four inches was 
too deep for the maize, and must, therefore, be 
for yet smaller grrin kernels. 
Petri gives an experiment made on rye, with 
the following results. The first column shows 
the depth at which the seed was put ; the second, 
the number of days that elapsed before it ap- 
peared above ground; the third, the number of 
plants that came up: 
inches 
Depth. 
1 inch 
1 “ 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
Appeared. 
11 days 
12 
18 
20 
21 
22 
23 
Number of plants. 
7 
all 
The root stock forms itself next below' the 
surface of the ground, and if we place the grain 
deep, it must first put its sprouts to the surface, 
and form its side branches in a nearer connec- 
tion with theair. We never find that the sucker 
roots are ranged from below' to above, but the 
contrary. 
From the experiments of Ugazy, who tried 
76, with different grains, it is clear that shallow 
sowing, if the seed is only so far covered as to 
sprout, and the germ is protected from immedi- 
ate contact w'ith the air, is preferable to laying 
the seed deep, because it springs up quicker, and 
acquires a stronger growth, and has hardier 
plants. — Burger's Economy of Farming, 
From the Hamburg indagator. 
BUCKWHEAT. 
Why is it that our planters do not cultivate 
buckwheat morb extensively ? We are obliged 
to send on to the North every year for a supply 
of this article, when it is so easily cultivated at 
the South. Who that has enjoyed a plate filled 
with buckwheat cakes of a cold winter’s day, 
but did not wish that it were cultivated more in 
inilhiisg^ ty. The grain not only makes a de- 
licious nd healthy food for man, but it is use- 
ful for stock, poultry, and lor bees. 
Agriculturists tell us that this grain is culti- 
vated on rough and hilly districts, and on fight 
soils, and yields well on poor soils. That it 
will produce a good green crop to turn in for 
manure on their land when little else will grow. 
It flourishes best on a dry, mellow, loose, sandy 
soil. In the middle Stales, it is sowed in July, 
and is generally cut immediately after the frosts 
in October. One bushel of the grain is suffi- 
cient to sow an acre of land, though if the ground 
be rich, a less quantity wdll be sufficient, as it 
will branch out. For a grass crop nearly twice 
as much is sown, It may be sown for a green 
crop after a crop of rye, grass, early peas, or 
oth?rcrop.s. 
