THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR 
127 
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7,1844. 
welcome with much pleasure the an- 
Jiexed letter from our correspondent, and firm 
and steadfast friend John Farrar, and we avail 
ourself of this occasion to return himoui thanks 
lor his numerous and continued manifestations 
of friendship, since we entered upon the experi- 
ment of publishing an agricultural paper in 
Georgia. He was among the first to take us by 
the hand and bid us persevere, and he has never 
faltered in his effortsto secure our success. 
There are also many others, who have on all 
occasions manifested an unflaging interest in 
our behalf, to all of whom we shall ever feel 
gratefuL 
Stanfordsville, Putnam county, ) 
August 31 St, 1841. ^ 
Messrs. Editors : — In the last number of the 
Southern Cultivator, you congratulate your 
readers on the subject of the increasing number 
and character of your correspondents, which 
affords me a great deal of satisfaction to find is 
a fact. This is as it should be. Is not Geor- 
gia as able as any other State to sustain an 
agricultural paper? I, for one, will say she is. 
If our planters, as yet, axe not able to give an 
account of as many experiments as to the ma- 
nagement of manures, &c., as the Northern 
farmers are, by applying themselves to the sub- 
ject, they may, in a few years, be able to do so. 
At this time, however, they are fully able to 
sustain you, Messrs. Editors, in your worthy 
undertaking, in being the first to hazard the 
publication of an agrieulfural paper in this 
State. It does me good to receive your paper ; 
and still more so, when I can find communica- 
tions in its columns, written by Georgians ; 
which leads me to understand that there is an 
increasing interest getting up lor the prosperity 
of your paper. I am at a loss lo understand why 
any planter should value one dollar higher than 
the advantages of reading an agricultural paper 
for one year ^ even if he did not intend to be go- 
verned by any of the new plans laid down in 
farming, there is always enough other matter to 
be found in such a paper that is well worth a 
dollar. 
In the same number of your paper, you speak 
of me in rather fladering terms, as an early 
friend and correspondent, and inquire why I 
have been so long silent ? My friendship, &c., 
as a correspondent — humble and feeble as my 
efforts were, in my own estimation — were put 
in requisition solely for the advancement of your 
paper ; knowing, as I did, that any undertaking 
of the kind was more in need of help while in its 
infancy than after it had grown in strength ; and 
if my efforts have been of any advantage to your 
enterprize, I can but feel glad that I have 
thrown in my mite. I hope the number of your 
correspondents will continue to increase, and 
that they will give the county and post-office 
from which they write, as 1 like to know where 
the difierent writers live. 
As to my silence as a correspondent, I can 
say to you, that it has not been from a diminish- 
ed zeal for the prosperity of your paper, nor from 
a lack of desire to see agricultural improve- 
ments progressing, but rather for the want of a 
subject that I thought would be interesting to 
your readers^ though I think it likely you will 
hear from me occasionally, before the year 
is out. 1 have had a thought of making a re- 
quest of your subscribers in different parts 
of the State, to give an account of the crops 
in their different counties. Such a statement 
would no doubt afford some satisfaction to 
the readers of )our paper. I will therefore 
speak of the crops in this section, as cor- 
rectly as my knowledge admits of. 
Corn and Colton are both better than an ave- 
rage crop thus far. The corn is safe, as we are 
half done pulling fodder. Cotton, as well as 
corn, is more forward than common. The 
wheat and oats crops are both short — though the 
quality of the wheat is tolerably good. 
1 am, dear sirs, yours respe^ti'uTy, &c. 
John Farrar. 
AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT. 
Mr. J.B. Lawes says it would contribute 
much to advance our knowledge of the action of 
artificial manures, if the experiments were con- 
tinued upon the same piece of land during suc- 
cessive years. The problem would then be 
solved whether a plant can supply itself, year 
after year, with organic matter, when inorganic 
matter only is supplied. I found that the ashes 
from 5 cwt. of dung, produced an equal weight 
ot turnips as5 cwt. of dung unburnt; but wheth- 
er the succeeding crops will be as good, re- 
mains to be proved. The expense of carriage 
prevents the use of dung which accumulates in 
large towns, except by those farmers who live 
within a few miles; but if the ashes proved 
equally beneficial, the weight would be reduced 
nine-tenths, and the expense of carriage almost 
completely removed. 
Guano. — The price of this celebrated fertilizer 
of the soil is quoted in the market report of the 
N. Y. Tribune, at 3^- cents per pound. A cargo 
of 400 tons was recently landed at Baltimore. 
ll^Capt. Eldridge of the schooner Emeline, 
says the N. Y. Farmer, has arrived at Stoning- 
ton with a cargo of African guano. It can be 
had in New" York at about SJO per ton. 
0=*Asa Barton, in the Maine Farmer, says 
that he converted straw, cornstalks, and potato 
tops, into good manure in fourteen days, only 
by heaping them together, and mixing unslak- 
ed lime with them. He used six casks of lime, 
and had fifty loads of good manure. The loads 
measured a large half cord each. 
|:^Wesee it stated that a family were re- 
cently poisoned by eating rhubarb leaves as 
greens. The stalks are harmless, but the leaves 
are said to contain oxalic acid. 
A Useful Plant. — The sun-flower is per- 
haps destined to become one of our most valua- 
ble agricultural products. One hundred pounds 
of the seed afford forty pounds of oil. The re- 
fuse of the seeds alter expression, furnishes an 
excellent food for cattle ; from the leaves of the 
plant cigars are manufactured of singular pec- 
toral qualities ; the stalk affords a superior alka- 
li, and the comb of the seeds is a choice dainty 
for swine. So says the Hon. Mr. Ellsworth. 
FIome. — Keep your store of smiles and your 
kindest feelings for home : give to the world on- 
ly those which are to spare. 
|;|=The tropical fruit, the Prune, has been 
successfully propagated in Tuscaloosa, Ala- 
bama. 
JI^Nature works for the agriculturist wffiile 
he is sleeping. 
From the Albany Cultivator. 
KNOWLEDGE FOR A FARMER. 
A comparison of the several kinds of vegeta- 
ble food, generally used tor the purpose ot nu- 
trition, cannot but be useful, as showing the far- 
mer what quantity of one, may be substituted 
lor another. The following table, given in Bur- 
ger, from Petris’s wmrk on the “care and keep- 
ing of sheep,” may be considered as a list of 
equivalents. It will show that while of soute 
an animal could scarcely eat enough to support 
life, of others the nutriment would greatly ex- 
ceed what the wants of the animal demanded. 
100 lbs. sweet, well cured meadow hay, con- 
tainingSO lbs. of nutritious matter, are equal to 
nn 1 V. ^ 100 lbs. of ' 
90 lbs. clover contain 
90 lbs. ten ler vetch hay, do 
90 lbs. tender lentil hay, do 
3&0 lbs. wheat straw, do 
500 lbs. corn straw, do 
180 lbs. barley straw, do 
200 lbs. oat straw, do 
200 lbs. pea straw, do 
190 lbs. millet straw, do 
200 lbs. horse bean straw, do 
180 Ib-^. chaff, do 
200 lbs. potatoes, do 
200 lbs. cabbage turneps, do 
200 lbs. yellow turneps, do 
400 lbs. white turneps, do 
300 lbs. beets, do 
500 lbs. white cabbage, do 
82 lbs, Indian corn, do 
82 lbs. wheat, do 
55 lbs. rye, do 
61 lbs. barley, do 
64 lbs. buckwheat, do 
71 lbs. oats, do 
54 lbs. peas, do 
54 lbs. horse beans, do^ 
83 lbs. wheat chaff, do 
105 lbs. wheat bran, do 
109 lbs. rye bran, do 
55J lbs. nu- 
tritive mat. 
55i lbs. do 
55^ lbs. do 
14 lbs. do 
10 lbs. do 
27^ lbs. do 
25 lbs. do 
25 lbs. do 
36j lbs. do 
25 lbs do 
27| lbs. do 
25 lbs. do 
25 lbs. do 
25 lbs. do 
12j lbs. do 
16f lbs. do 
10 lbs. do 
lbs. do 
lbs. do 
lbs. do 
lbs. do 
lbs. do 
lbs. do 
lbs. do 
lbs. do 
lbs. do 
lbs. do 
lbs. do 
95 
95 
90 
82 
78 
70 
93 
93 
60 
48 
46 
To keep in equally good condition, it appears 
from various experiments, says C. W. John- 
son, that a horse will consume as much food, 
besides grain. 
As 8 sheep, 
A cow as much as 12 “ 
A fattening ox as much as 10 “ 
A 3 year old heifer as much as 8 “ 
A 2 “ “ 6 “ 
A 1 “ “ 4 “ 
A calf as much as 2 “ . 
GUANO. 
The British papers represent the guano busi- 
ness to be about the best going. A vessel of 500 
tons was ten weeks on its passage to Africa, 
seven in loading, and nine in returning to Liv- 
erpool. The guano itself cost nothing. The 
proceeds of the cargo v/ere £4,000, or $20,000 ; 
the expenses, $2,000. A British man-of-war 
has been ordered to the coast of Africa, for the 
protection of this trade . — Boston Post. 
