Vol.il AUGUSTA, GA., OCTOBER 2, 1844. No. 20, 
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
For the Southern Cultivator. 
A HINT TO SEEDSMEN. 
Mr. Editor — The writer has been for seve- 
ral years in the habit of buying more or less 
garden seed, and frequently after taking much 
pains in preparing the ground, has been morti- 
fied at having no plants. The reason is plain : 
the seed were over and did not germinate. 
I propose, as a remedy, that friend Landreth, 
and other horticulturists, .who prepare seed for 
market, be required, yos, required, on pain of 
forfeiting their customers, to mark the year in 
which the seed are grown upon their labels, in 
the place of “ warranted fresh.” Then, by a lit- 
tle attention to the time or age of vitality in 
seeds, (vide table, 2d vol.S. Cultivator, page 2.) 
the gardener might be saved the disappointment 
of the loss of time, seasons, labor, &c., saying 
nothing about the cost of seed. Will dealers in 
seed look lothis matter a little 1 They might 
thereby do the country great service. 
Pumpkins. — This year I raised a very fine 
crop of pumpkir s on a piece of poor corn land, 
(which had been improved a little before,) laid 
off for corn about by \\ feet, and planted 
about the middle of April, in every ninth hill — i. 
e., every third hill in every third row, without 
any corn ; about one peck of compost manure 
was used to the hill, well dug and mixed in 
and about the hill ; old cotton seed were used in 
a few rows without any perceptible difference. 
The ground was, of course, worked mainiy in 
view of the corn crop, but the yield was very 
handsome, though 1 cannot tell the precise quan- 
tity, as they have been fed liberally to mv stock 
for several weeks past, (since the squash vines 
failed,) leaving them still very thick in the field. 
The injury to the corn crop could not be more 
than the hills not planted. This plan succeeds 
much better for me than the one in the Southern 
Cultivator, (vol. 1, page 5,) which I partially 
tried last yean 
Seed Corn. — This is the time to select your 
seed-corn. Go into your best corn-field, select 
the largest ears from the most prolific stalks, and 
when well dried put the ears by till planting 
time. 
Rotation of Crops. — I have read a great 
deal about proper rotation, &c., and would like 
to see something more specific on the subject. I 
would be thankful, if some of your experienced 
correspondents would give their views, founded 
on experience, as to the best course of rotation 
for a man who does not make cotton, and works 
level land, poorenoughandrather sandy. How 
would corn, peas and wheat, or oats do 1 and 
how should they follow each other — and the rea- 
son why 7 
Artichokes and Peas. — Has anyone tried 
mese together! I think they would make a 
hog- pasture of the richest character, and do but 
little hurt to each other. The artichoke should 
^it every plantation by filling every corner of 
the fence, keeping out briars and bashes: thus 
! planted, they will pay w’ell for their room — they 
i also present a handsome bordering for a field or 
plantation. 
Yours, &c., Greene B. Haygood. 
Casulon, Clarke county, Sept. 27, 1844. 
For the Southern Cultivator. 
Mr. Editor — In the l6th No. of theCultiva- 
j tor, I am glad to see that “Franklin” has again 
resumed the subject of “Overseers.” I have 
not the pleasure of being acquainted with Frank- 
lin, but I am certain that he has handled that 
very interesting. subject in a masterly manner, 
and in a manner which does not only reflect on 
him the honor of much practical skill in the art 
of husbandry — but, at the same time, such com- 
munications add intrinsic value to agricultural 
papers, which will be seen and appreciated by 
the wise and virtuous. 
I agree with Franklin, who says: “My idea 
of a fine crop is first an increase of negroes,” 
meaning a natural increase, as may be proved 
by his third interrogatory to an overseer. It is 
a remark made by travellers, both foreign and 
domestic, and has now a place in the records of 
our history, that the people of the Southern por- 
tion of the U. States are characterized by “libe- 
rality, kindness and hospitality.” These are 
encomiums of no ordinary grade, bestowed up- 
on us as a people, not by fawning sycophants, 
but by historians and philosophers, and whose 
jealousy of us has ever circumscribed such e.x- 
pressions in our favor to the narrowest possible 
limits. And while I endorse with pleasure the 
sentiments of “ Franklin,” I would urge the pro- 
priety for us, as a people, to continue to merit such 
laudations by universal benevolence, as well to 
our slaves as the “ stranger within thy gates.” 
It has recently been declared, by one of our 
Southern patriots, that “ the slaves in the South- 
ern States are the happiest peasantry on earth;” 
and, with such a system of management as tha^ 
taught by Franklin, the above declaration will 
never suffer refutation. 
FranKlin propounds ten or twelve questions 
to an overseer applying for employment, the first 
of which is, “ Will you obey orders implicitly, 
fully,” &c. This question pre-supposes the 
proprietor is himself a practical planter; and 
here, perhaps, some would urge an objection, 
by stating that many persons own plantations 
who know nothing about planting: but here I 
take the liberty to say to all such as are unfor- : 
tunate enough to own a plantation of negroes 
and land, destitute of a common knowledge of 
planting, either part with the property, or serve 
an apprenttceship'by acting in the capacity of 
your own overseer. I also endorse the proposi- 
tion of Franklin, when he says, “ 1 appeal to the 
experience of all planters: during the recent 
hard times, has any single planter been brought 
to the block, (meaning tiis property,) unless for 
the security of debt, who made all or nearly all 
his articles of consumption within himself, 
though he made ever so small crops of cotton 7” 
If agriculturists, throughout the whole coun- 
try, would be governed by the maxim, “ bay lit- 
tle and sell much,” we should all do better ; cold, 
hunger, hard times and tariff, would cease to an- 
noy us. D. B. 
Hou-ston county, Ga. 
For the Southern Cultivator. 
Mr. Editor — The market for the present 
crop of cotton is now about to commence, and 
the price will mainly depend upon the quantity 
produced. Could the manufacturers know with 
certainty what will be near about th ? amount of 
bales produced in the United States, prices in 
our markets would be fair and remunerating, 
all things being considered. But w’hile the buy- 
er and manufacturer depend upon the vague and 
oftentimes spurious reports of A. B, and C.^ 
prices will be unstable — one day too high, and 
the next too low; first, to the serious injury of 
the planter, and in turn to the buyer. It appears 
to me that all these evils are within the reach of 
a remedy, and nothing could be more desirable, 
for uncertainty is a baneful check upon all kinds 
of business operations. The cotton planter, in 
conscience, asks no more from the buyer than 
fair and remunerating prices, and this is what 
the buyer is willing to give; but each parly 
having made his calculation upon the probable 
amount of production, based upon wild and in- 
correct stories of partial travellers (being bad 
judges too) through the country, both parties are 
honestly deceived, and one or the other made to 
suffer loss. The remedy I would beg leave to 
propose, is to be found through your agricultu- 
ral journal co-operating with all others within 
the cotton growing States, after the tollowing 
manner: — In the first place, let the President of 
each Agricultural Society in each county in the 
State, and in all the cotton growing Stales, sub- 
mit to the papers for publication, a report of the 
prospect and condition of the crop, with the 
probable number of bales likely to be produced. 
Counties destitute of regular organized Socie- 
ties, can send their reports by the most intelli- 
gent subscribers to the paper. These reports, 
comingfrom the most intelligent planters of eve- 
ry county, could be relied on for veracity, and 
be condensed in a tabular form, and compared 
with the lastyear’s production — each party, thee, 
both planter and buyer, will be furnished with 
almost absolute data on which to act. By this 
means prices will be more firm, and security af- 
forded against losses to both parties. 
The cotton crop in Houston county, where I 
reside, was very likely until the last of August ; 
heavy rains, and some remarkable cool days and 
nights, with a heavy wind, have altered the ap- 
peal ance very materially — and I venture the as- 
sertion that the present crop will fall short, in 
this county, of the crop of last year, from one- 
third to one-fourth. H. B, 
Houston county, Ga. 
