AGRICULTURAL ERRORS.—SOUTHERN CALENDAR FOR AUGUST. 
249 
clear of weeds, it had better lie fallow. Too much 
grass-seed, in my opinion, is just enough. This 
young man sows on his land intended for mowing, 
20 lbs. of clover and 12 quarts of herds-grass per 
acre. I have been looking over some of the Eng¬ 
lish statistics of practical agriculturists on seeding 
lands to grass, and find in some instances they put 
on as high as 47 lbs. per acre of mixed seeds, while 
many of our farmers do not put on to exceed 10 or 
12 lbs , one half of which is frequently killed out 
by drought or freezing, and the stalks of the re¬ 
mainder are not near enough together to be neigh¬ 
bors, and after being mowed the land looks like a 
barren waste. 
I find three kinds of clover-seed used here in 
Massachusetts; the large Dutch, the June, the 
southern, and the white-clover—all ripening at 
different seasons of ihe year. 
A Traveller. 
AGRICULTURAL ERRORS. 
Mr. Partridge is doing a public service in ex¬ 
posing the errors of the chemists in many of their 
dogmas relating to agriculture. “ Chemistry ap¬ 
plied to agriculture” is quite the rage now-a-days. 
I like it. It shows that improvement and inves¬ 
tigation are active among thinking minds. But 
whoever swallows all the assertions of theorists 
in chemistry, as applied to husbandry and the 
soils, is prepared to swallow a great deal of hum¬ 
bug. The people knew something even in Hesiod’s 
and in Virgil’s day, and parts of their practice have 
been valuable from that time to this. Study, ac¬ 
companied by thought, and steady, intelligent ap¬ 
plication, only, will ascertain exact truth in all 
this matter. No man can become a thorough 
farmer unless he read considerably, and think a 
great deal more. With these we can approximate 
to something like truth, and learn a good deal. 
Different soils, with different localities, climates, 
products, &c., &c., require different investigation, 
and sound discrimination in determining the right 
practice for each individual in managing his own 
husbandry. This is a prolific and inexhaustible 
subject, and may well employ the strongest minds. 
Simplicity, however, for the American farmer, 
should be a prominent object in all his agricultu¬ 
ral operations. Cheap land and dear labor is what 
we have to deal with. Of course the land must 
do all it c % and the labor is to be applied where 
the least will effect the most. 
Putnam. 
SOUTHERN CALENDAR FOR AUGUST. 
Make it a matter of special attention to have every¬ 
thing in readiness for picking cotton. It will require 
only the same time to prepare, and if done in season 
there will be no detention. Therefore, examine bas¬ 
kets, sacks, gin-stand, running gear, presses, &c., and 
if anything requires repairing, do it immediately. Con¬ 
tinue your improvements all spare time, such as grub¬ 
bing up bushes, &c.; repairing fences and buildings, 
making shingles, and scaffolds for drying cotton, and 
collect forked stakes and poles for curing tobacco. 
Top cotton early this month if it was not done last. 
Cut crab-grass and throw it into heaps, there to re¬ 
main for a day, and then into heavy winrows until 
cured. Gather fodder from late corn. Clear potato- 
plantings, designed for seed or slips. Thrash oats, rye, 
and wheat for fall sowing, to provide against loss of 
time from cotton-picking, when the seed will be want¬ 
ed, and that the straw may be used to pack away pea- 
vines. 
Prepare turnep-ground at once, if it has not been 
done before, and sow the seed about the middle of the 
month, rain or no rain. In the second volume of the 
American Agriculturist, Mr. Affleck of Mississippi, 
says: “Turneps are usually sowed in August or Sep¬ 
tember, on ground enriched by penning the cows and 
other stock upon it some time previously, or what is 
still better, on a piece of newly-cleared land.” Procure 
Dale’s hybrid or any other good variety of seed, and 
sow half a pint to the acre. If the ground is not wet 
or there is not an appearance of immediate rain, it will 
be better to brush in the seed. The ground should be 
finely pulverized by the plow and harrow, then the 
brush will rather settle the earth to the seed than other¬ 
wise. 
Cut such rice as may have ripened this month, and 
see it carefully stacked. Be careful to shut the water 
off the fields ten days at least before cutting. 
About the middle of this month cotton will have suf¬ 
ficiently ripened to burst its covering, and will bear 
picking. Open the branches to the sun, that a freer 
circulation of air may pass through them, and the cot¬ 
ton will open sooner, and not rot in consequence of 
moisture. 
Cut tobacco-plants as soon as they come to full ma¬ 
turity. This may be known by the leaves becoming 
mottled, coarse, and of a thick texture, and gummy 
to the touch; the end of the leaf, by being doubled 
will break short, which it will not do to the same ex¬ 
tent when green. Do not cut it in wet weather when 
the leaves lose their natural gummy substance, so ne¬ 
cessary to be preserved. When the cutting is to com¬ 
mence, procure a quantity of forked stakes, set upright, 
with a pole or rider resting on each fork, ready to sup¬ 
port the tobacco and keep it from the ground. The 
plants should be cut obliquely, even with the surface 
of the ground, and should receive two or three smart 
raps with the back of the knife, in order to remove the 
sand or soil from the leaves; then tying two stalks to¬ 
gether, they should be gently placed across the riders 
or poles, where they should remain in the sun until 
they become wilted. Then they should be carried into 
the drying-house and strung upon frames, leaving a 
small space between each plant that the air may cir¬ 
culate freely and promote the drying. As the drying 
advances, the stalks may be brought closer to each 
other, so as to make room for others. Exclude all 
damp air possible, and be equally guarded against the 
admission of drying winds, in order that the operation 
may not be too precipitate, except in the rainy season, 
when, the sooner the drying is effected the better. 
When the middle stem is perfectly dry, the leaves may 
be stripped and put in bulk to sweat. This is done 
more conveniently in cloudy weather, when the leaves 
are moist and more easily handled. The leaves should 
be assorted according to their qualities, and their stems 
kept all in one direction in the bulk, which should be 
two or three feet high, and of a proportionate circum¬ 
ference. To guard against the leaves becoming over¬ 
heated, and to equalize the fermentation or sweating, 
after the first twenty-four hours, place the outside 
leaves in the centre, and those of the centre to the out¬ 
side of the bulk. By doing this once or twice, and ta¬ 
king care to exclude the air from it, and leaving it in 
this state for about forty days, the. tobacco will acquire 
the odor and other qualities desired. For further in¬ 
formation, see General Hernandez’ letter in Volume II. 
