372 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
enormous labor, and furnished a field for the 
genius of such a man as Mr. Strawn. It was 
his custom to scour all Southern and Cen¬ 
tral Illinois, Missouri, and the settled parts 
of Iowa ; riding by day and by night, across 
prairies, and through timber, by the road or 
without a road, as the case might be, in a 
manner fairly entitling the story of it to the 
pages of romance. Sleep was of no conse¬ 
quence to him. To ride a week day and 
night, without a wink of sleep, except what 
he got upon his horse, was no uncommon 
occurrence ; and this has been followed for 
eight, and nine days together more than once, 
as we have it from his own story. When 
the country was particularly wild and diffi¬ 
cult, pilots were employed, and men were 
ready here and there to heed the call of 
Jacob Strawn, at whatever hour of the night 
he happened to make his appearance. Yet 
he would cross a new section of territory al¬ 
most as if by instinct; the quick and accu¬ 
rate apprehensions of the features of territo¬ 
ry, which habit and keen observation had 
given him, seldom left him at a loss while 
there was daylight or stars. 
Perhaps some may suppose that there is 
no chance for art or skill in driving cattle. 
If any have such a notion, atrial or two with 
a drove of wild bullocks would extract the 
conceit. Mr. Strawn can drive any bullock 
any where. Wo to the wild steer breaking 
from the drove to escape him. On his train¬ 
ed horse, Mr. Strawn is along side of him, 
and the youngster feels the whack of that 
terrible cattle whip, fairly cracking through 
all his interior in repeated strokes, till he 
roars with pain. If this does not suffice, the 
story is told us, that in his prime, he could 
ride alongside the animal, and without dis¬ 
mounting, seize him by a horn with one hand, 
and by the nose with the other, and tumble 
him upon his side before he could “ know 
what made his head swim.” How far this is 
true, we do not know, but have reason to 
think it has been done. Of course one or 
the other must “ give in,” and so far it has 
always been the bullock. 
A constant service of twenty or thirty 
years of this kind, could not fail to develop 
a personal heroism, none the less real, on 
account of its peaceful ends. For years to¬ 
gether the beef market of St. Louis was 
either supplied or eontroled by Mr. Strawn. 
Till his business had reached $25,000 per 
annum, he kept no book$ whatever ; all his 
receipts, payments and balances, being car¬ 
ried in his head ; yet no man caught him in 
a mistake ; nor could any man be found who 
could at all cope with his rapidity of calcula¬ 
tion. He would ride through a drove of a 
hundred steers, weigh them all in his mind, 
add the amounts together, calculate their 
cost at the market price, and before the 
owner counted their number, the money 
would be tendered. “ Will you take it 1 if so 
here it is ; if not, enough said ;” and Jacob 
Strawn is somewhere else. We have heard 
it said that he, or two of his three older sons, 
would almost infallibly decide, by the eye, 
the weight of any bullock, or number of bul¬ 
locks, within from five to ten pounds each, 
on a ride through them ; and that the differ¬ 
ence would never pay the'trouble of putting 
the animals upon the scales. All steers are 
known to him. His eye once on a horned 
animal, and he knows him henceforth as a 
man knows his brother. Of all his 2,000 cat¬ 
tle, each is an acquaintance, and his proper 
pasture is remembered, and his absence 
from it noted at once, even though in his 
possession but a day. 
His present dwelling is a large two story 
building, of brick, erected in 1838. The tim¬ 
ber cost $50 per thousand in St. Louis, with 
expenses of hauling. It is a fine farmer’s 
home, with a kitchen perhaps 20 by 40 feet; 
capable of the work necessary to feed the 
large household employed about the farm. 
The parlor is of moderate size ; well, but 
not extravagantly furnished ; adorned with a 
life-like picture of himself at full length, with 
his huge riding whip in hand, and with the 
portraits of his wife and children. The cen¬ 
ter table is covered with beautiful sea shells. 
Mrs. Strawn is a lady of about forty years 
of age, and of about the stature of her hus¬ 
band. She is a woman of much apparent 
strength and vigor of character, united with 
the gentleness and suavity which become 
her sex. She is obliged to support heavy 
cares ; being the treasurer of the household, 
and having the entire oversight of all farm 
business, most of the time in the absence of 
her husband. Yet she takes a warm interest 
in matters of education and benevolence, and 
is ready for every duty possible to her situa¬ 
tion. Prairie Farmer. 
MANAGEMENT OF TOBACCO. 
In looking over the November number of 
the Southern Planter, my attention was par¬ 
ticularly called to an “ Essay on the Culture 
of Tobacco,” over the signature of Wm. H. 
Jones, of Mecklenburg. Being a planter my¬ 
self, I read it carefully, and think it a good 
production. By writing this, or saying what 
I shall, I do not mean or intend to controvert 
any thing said by him ; but as we differ in our 
management in several particulars, I thought 
it would not be amiss to give to the readers 
of the Southern Planter, as a suggestion 
only, my plan of management upon a few of 
the important points in the management of a 
crop of tobacco, in which we differ. He says 
after the tobacco is cut, “ as soon as it can be 
handled without breaking, it is placed in 
small parcels, say enough for six or eight 
sticks, and hung on sticks.” My plan is to 
stack it in round stacks, by setting it up upon 
the tails, as straight up as I can to make it 
stand and press it close together, else it will 
fall about and coddle ; but if put up right it 
will never coddle. I put as much in a stack 
as is convenient, paying no regard to the par¬ 
ticular quantity. In this condition, it may, 
if you choose, remain for days, if the weath¬ 
er is suitable. My practice, however, is (if I 
do not want it to yellow some in the stacks) 
to haul it immediately off to the barn upon an 
ox cart, placing planks upon the bottom of 
the wood body, made fast, with all the wood 
standards out; put a little dry straw or hay 
upon the planks to make the load slip oft' 
when the body is tilted, which will place the 
load in a pile where you want it without 
damage, and as it was put upon 'the cart. 
When the cart body is tilted, the oxen are 
made to draw the cart from under the load. 
The load is placed on the cart by lapping the 
tails together, with the stalks out. Second¬ 
ly, when the tobacco is sufficiently cured for 
stripping, and it is put in a bulk for that pur¬ 
pose, he says : “ Whenever the weather is 
unfit for out-door work, the tobacco is strip¬ 
ped.” I am aware that the progress of the 
general business upon a farm may be ad¬ 
vanced by this course; but whether the in¬ 
terest of the planter is promoted by it, is a 
matter of some doubt with me, for the fol¬ 
lowing reasons : 1st. It is a difficult matter 
to keep a bulk in good condition for stripping 
in harsh winter weather, unless covered with 
damp oak leaves from the woods ; and even 
then, we are apt to let it lie in bulk too long. 
If it is too soft, we let it funk, and if not, it is 
liable to get too dry and waste much in strip¬ 
ping. My practice is, whenever I put tobac¬ 
co in a bulk for stripping, to strip it forth¬ 
with, straighten and bulk down by lapping 
the tails, weight heavily, and invariably re¬ 
hang in from four to six days, after bulking; 
if I re-hang at all. 2dly. If I purpose not 
prizing until spring or summer, as it is re¬ 
hung it is crowded high up in the house and 
then let it remain until I wish to order it for 
the hogshead. When, on a soft time, to pre¬ 
vent its shattering, it is opened for ordering. 
My conviction is from experience that good 
tobacco of any class will be reduced in its 
original value two dollars per hundred by 
bulking it and letting it remain in bulk to 
sweeten, then re-hang it to order for prizing. 
Consequently, tobacco should not under any 
circumstances, I think, be permitted to lie in 
bulk but a few days out of prizing order. 
Hence it is, I think, that the tobacco mer¬ 
chants mostly advise the planter against re¬ 
hanging. It is clear to my mind that if to¬ 
bacco is permitted to sweeten in the bulk 
and then re-hung, the finer properties and the 
more delicious qualities of it escape in dry¬ 
ing in the atmosphere, and can never be re¬ 
gained ; whereas, if it does not sweeten un¬ 
til in prizing order, it has all of its originality 
in it, and is undoubtedly better, and is worth 
more money. 3dly. In stripping we make 
two sorts only—good and lugs. When it is 
struck off of the sticks in prizing order, we 
then class the different qualities and sizes, 
and pack and prize separately. 
Albbrmarle, Nov. 25. 1854, Ed. J. Thompson. 
ITALIAN AGRICULTURE. 
Under the blue heavens and delightful sun 
of Italy, even its mountains are fertile ; and 
the fruits of the earth are reared with ease 
in every part of the ascent from the base al¬ 
most to the summit. An admirable terrace- 
cultivation—such as prevails in the moun¬ 
tains of Syria and of China—has every 
where converted the slopes, naturally arid 
and sterile, into a succession of gardens, 
loaded with the choicest vegetable produc¬ 
tions. “ The grapes hang in festoons from 
tree to tree ; the song of the nigtingale is 
heard in every grove ; and all nature seems 
to rejoice in the paradise which the industry 
of man has created.” Nor was that indus¬ 
try a small matter. The earth for these 
gardens had to be brought from a distance— 
retaining walls had to be erected—the steep 
slopes converted into a series of gentle in¬ 
clinations—and the mountain torrents divert¬ 
ed or restrained, so as to provide the means 
of artificial irrigation, wherewith to support 
vegetation during the long drouths of sum¬ 
mer. By the incessant labor of centuries 
all this has been accomplished. The rocky 
debris have been cleared off the slopes, and 
built into walls and terraces ; these terraces 
are always covered with fruit trees, and 
amid the reflection of so many walls the 
fruit is most abundant and of a superior 
quality. One who has himself visited this 
mountain paradise, thus speaks of it :—“No 
room is lost in these little but precious free¬ 
holds : the vine extends its tendrils along 
the terrace-walls; a hedge formed of the 
same vine-branches surrounds each terrace 
and covers it with verdure. In the corners 
formed by the meeting of the supporting 
walls, a little sheltered nook is found, where 
fig-trees are planted, which ripen delicious 
fruit under their protection. The owner 
takes advantage of every vacant space to 
raise melons and vegetables. Olive-trees 
shelter it from the rains ; so that, within the 
compass of a very small garden, he obtains 
olives, figs, grapes, pomegranates and mel¬ 
ons. Such is the return which nature 
yields under this admirable system of man¬ 
agement, that half the crop of seven acres 
is sufficient, in general, for the maintenance 
of a family of five persons ; the whole pro¬ 
duce supports them all in rustic affluence.” 
It may be added, that the sweet-chesnuts, 
which grow luxuriantly in almost every part 
of the Appenines, contribute to uphold this 
dense population, by the subsistence which 
they afford in regions where the terrace-cul¬ 
tivation can not be introduced. And much 
