190 
THE CULTIVATOR 
PROGRESS OF SOUTHERN AGRICULTURE. 
One of the most gratifying signs of the times, and one 
■which as clearly, perhaps, as any one thing, marks the 
advance of sound opinions on the subject of farming in 
the country generally, is the evident improvement which 
has talien place within a few years in the method of 
southei-n farming. Formerly there was no rotation, no 
change. The leading crop, whether tobacco or cotton,was 
repeated until the soil was exhausted, and a long time 
was required for nature to restore its productive powers, 
an operation in which it was left entirely unassisted. 
All the reliance of the planter was on this single crop; 
with it he paid the debts previously contracted; with 
this crop he purchased his clothing and a large part of 
his provisions, and on it he depended for the supply of 
the many luxuries which habit had rendered necessary. 
If, as was sometimes the case, the leading crop did not 
succeed; if his rice, tobacco or cotton failed, he had 
no others to fall back upon, his resources at once fell 
short, and some privation was the necessary result. 
Sacrifices of some kind became necessary, and where 
these were not submitted to, vexatious debts, weighing 
like an incubus on the prosperity of the planter, were of 
course contracted. 
In a very large portion of the south, a better state of 
things is beginning to prevail. It is true the crops we 
have named are still the staple ones, those that are re¬ 
lied upon for sale or export, and they will doubtless 
continue to be so. But while this is the case, the agri¬ 
culture of the south is becoming more mixed; the whole 
labor is not put upon an article for sale; the culture of 
wheat and other grain, and the growing of cattle and 
hogs, receive a considerable portion of the industry and 
capital of the planter, and the results are of the happiest 
nature. This mixed husbandry has induced the planter 
to pay more attention to the rotation or change of crops, 
and the preparation.and use of manures; and while it is 
believed there has been no material falling off in any of 
the principal pi-oducis, there has certainly been a vast 
increase of those that formerl}'^ were wholly neglected, 
or considered only of minor importance. The number 
of those who grow their own wheat, corn and oats— 
who make their own beef, pork and mutton, has in¬ 
creased at a rapid rate; and as a natural result, millions 
of dollars that annually went from the south to purchase 
these and similar articles, are now retained at home. 
These things, however, must be considered as but the 
beginning of a better husbandry in the fertile south; as 
only examples of what may, and will hereafter become 
general. New plants, new implements of husbandry, 
new methods of euUUre, new and improtmd breeds of 
animals, will gradually take the place of the old; and 
the only womler will in a few years be, that such bar¬ 
barous agriculture could ever have been tolerated. 
There will be some failures in these eSforfs at improve¬ 
ment, there can be no doubt. Mistakes will be made as 
to soils, methoils and adaptation, but these very failures 
will aid the general advancement; they will show the 
things to be avoided, as the wreck of a ship sometimes 
points out to fleets that follo'W', the shoals that are to be 
shunned in their course. 
That the cultivators at the south are producing far 
better crops of grain than heretofore, is evident to all 
familiar with the history of their products—crops which 
five years since would have been pronounced increilible. 
For instance, in South Carolina, where a short time 
since a eorrespondent of an agricul'ural journal declared 
no man had ever seen 75 bushels of corn raised on an 
acre, and that (he man was unreasonable who w'as not 
content with 25 bushels [ler acre, more than 75 bush¬ 
els to the acre have been raised the past season, the re¬ 
sult of intelligent and skillful farming. The following 
statement respecting a wheat crop in Maryland, rais¬ 
ed by a gentleman of Queen Annes county, which 
■we find in the Maryland Telescope, will show how 
wheat may be grown at the south; and we may add, in 
Virginia, the Cai'olinas, Geoi’gia and Alabama, fine crops 
of wheat have rewarded the labors of the intelligent 
farmer the past season : 
“ Our respected fellow citizen, W. Carmichael, Esq., 
raised this year upon 20 acres of land, one thousand 
AND TWENTY-SIX bushels of Mediterranean wheat, be¬ 
ing a fraction below 514 Irashels per acre, averaging 60 
lbs. to the bushel. This is a very great yield, larger,we 
believe, than was ever made before on this shore, and 
we question whether the state can beat it. This shows 
■what good farming can accomplish. The land on which 
this wheat was raised is not better wheat land than two- 
thirds of this county, but has been greatly improved by 
the use of marl and marsh mud.’b 
We question whether the United States can show a 
better 20 acres than Mr. Carmichael, and the secret of 
his success is to be found mainly in his improved cul¬ 
ture, in his “ marl and marsh mud.'” In the former vo¬ 
lumes of the Cultivator, we have recorded an instance, 
among many others, in which pond mud spread on an 
exhausted soil, gave about 20 bushels of corn per acre 
over the same quality of soil not so treated; yet even 
now in every part of the Union, these elements of fer¬ 
tility, marl and mud, are in immense quantities lying 
neglected, in the immediate vicinity of places where 
they are the most wanted. 
So, too, in districts where the planters depended on 
the importations of pigs from Tennessee or Kentucky, 
for the making of their bacon, droves of the finest 
porkers, in numbers nearly adequate to the wants of the 
inhabitants, are now annually bred; and the same re¬ 
marks will in a good degree apply to the supply of a 
stock of cattle for domestic use. Animals of the best 
breeds have been introduced; and the feeling that the 
planter should in these matters depend more on himself, 
is producing wonders in their spread. In Virginia, 
where but a few years since sheep were objects of such 
detestation that one of her most eminent state.smen de¬ 
clared he “ would go twenty rods out of his way at any 
time to kick a sheep,-’ fine flocks of these animals are 
now to be found; and some of the finest samples of 
wool we have seen, were from sheep grown in Missis¬ 
sippi, thus refuting the prevalent notion that such cli¬ 
mates are unfit for the production of fine wool. 
We repeat that we hail these things as indications of 
a far better day for the southern agriculturist than he 
has yet seen; more permanent and enduring, because 
based on the sure foundations of rational improvement, 
and the spread of intelligence. The single crop culture 
has been fatal at the south, as it must be every where; 
and the adoption of a better system, one which increases 
the chances of success, and lessens those of failure, must 
be considered as one of the most favorable indications 
in the horizon of American agriculture. 
ERGOT. 
WeitikG of the investigation which has been going 
on in the Cultivator as to the causes of abortion in 
cows, a correspondent says;—‘‘I perceive that some 
attribute this difficulty to ergot. Now many of your 
readers do not know what ergot is, or where produced; 
will you be so good as to tell us what is meant by the 
article, and on what plants we are to look for it?” 
The substance called ergot is also known by the name 
of Secale cornuium, spurred rtje, &c., and is occasionally 
found on many of the cereal grains and grasses, but 
most commonly on rjm. There appears to be no little 
discordance among botanists and vegetable physiologists 
as to the cause of this disease of seeds. Some attribute 
it to the puncture of insects, some to an altered condition 
of the pistil, and some consider it a fungus. Decandolle 
calls it a fungus, the Scelerotium clavus; Endlicher does 
not atlmit it as a real fungus, but considers it a diseased 
state of the seeds, generated by a particular combination 
of external influences. During the formation of the 
seed of rye, in which it most commonly appears, some 
of the ears will be found to contain seeds greatly en¬ 
larged and elongated, gradually protruding from the 
chaff, with a whitish or greenish color at first, but be¬ 
coming brown or black on exposure to the air. The 
interior is a light gray. It sometimes grows to the 
length of two inches, warps and curves like a horn; 
hence the name of cornutum. When fresh, these horns 
are tough, but become hard and brittle in drying, and in 
time it loses the nauseous, acrid taste and peculiar smell 
which indicates its fungous origin. Ils active proper¬ 
ties are supposed to reside in an extractive substance, 
called by Wiggers ergotine. Wildenow asserts that er¬ 
got may be produced on rye at any time, by sowing it 
in a rich, damp soil, and watering the plants freely in 
warm weather. 
Ergot is found on some of the grasses, and perhaps 
occasionally appears on all. We have seen meadows in 
which June grass (Poa pratensis,) abounded, which 
were sensibly discolored, when the grass stood until 
ripe, by the immense number of the black horns that 
covered almost every head; anti when such hay was 
threshed on a floor, (a precaution deemed necessary to 
prevent its apprehended effect on the young cattle to 
which it was to be fed,) the ergot might be scraped up 
by quarts. We have also fouml it occasionallj', but 
rarely, on cat’s tail or timothy, (Phlcum pratense.) and 
last season we for the first time saw it growing on spring 
wheat. This spring wheat had been sown where winter 
wheat had been killed out, and among it occasional 
sralks of rye were to be found loaded with most magni¬ 
ficent horns or spurs of ergot. When the spurs are 
large, there are but few to the ear, but sometimes the 
character of nearly every kernel will be changed, and 
the seeds, though but little enlarged, possess all the na¬ 
ture or properties of true ergot. It is when it assumes 
this form that it produces the dreadful effects, described 
by medical writers as at times exhibits in Germany and 
Hungary on the poor, who are driven by want to use 
i-ye containing more or less of this fungus for bread. 
The mildest form of these effects is a nervous derange¬ 
ment of the system; the most severe nausea, vomiting, 
convuis'ons, frequently terminating in death, or when 
not immediately fatal, ending in dry gangrene or mortifi¬ 
cation, during which the feet and fingei’s swell and fa i 
off by a slow but certain decay. The effects of ergot, 
used as a medicine, it is unnecessary to refer to in this 
place. 
If eaten by cattle, we have no doubt it would exhibit 
its effects in some marked form. That it has produced 
hoof ail or gangrene in cattle, we have not the slightest 
doubt; the evidence we have had on the subject forbids 
it. That it may produce abortion in cows, we also 
think probable, but in some of the cases mentioned in 
the Cultivator, it could not have been the active cause, 
as none of this substance could be detected in the hay 
used or in the fields. If, as is asserted by Wiggers, the 
white dust or bloom sometimes found on the surface of 
the spurs will produce it on other plants, if sprinkled on 
them or sown on the earth about their roots, it would 
be well to avoid the use of grain for seed in which this 
fungus is found, as its poisonous qualities render it a 
substance much to be dreaded, whether in grain oi 
grass. 
SOUTHERN FRUITS.” 
Under this head, we find in that valuable journal the 
Southwestern Farmer, of Oct. 20, a defence of the cli¬ 
mate and fruits of the south against an article which 
appeared in (he Farmer’s Monthly Visitor, and was no¬ 
ticed by us in the Cultivator. It related to the rapid 
growth and perfection of apples grown from northern 
trees, such as the Russet, Greening, Pippin, &c., when 
planted near Mobile, and the consequent rapid decay of 
the trees, rendering their renovation by new imporla- 
tions from the north necessary every few years. Our 
friend Philips, from whose pen the defence proceeds, 
says to us, as editors of the Cultivator, “ Now it matters 
not if the ‘ Farmer’s Monthly Visitor’ should have pub¬ 
lished it, and you merely, as you do, noticed it, but as 
there is enough expressed to show you why their life 
was fleeting, you should have said that they were suf¬ 
fered to overproduce themselves, thereby doing a pal¬ 
pable injury.” 
Now we can assure our worthy coadjutor in the cause 
of agriculture, that at the time of penning the article 
in question, the idea of overproduction never presented 
itself to our minds, the large profits indicating rather 
the demand for fine fruit than the actual quantity pro¬ 
duced. Even now we see nothing that countenances the 
idea of overproduction, since at the north, overproduc¬ 
tion and fruit of good quality, such as the Mobile ap¬ 
ples certainly were, are generally incompatible or never 
occur together. We remembered, too, at the time, the 
remark of Mr. Kendrick in his Orchardist, that the ap¬ 
ple would succeed in nearly every part of the United 
States, except the maratime districts of Carolina, Georgia 
and Florida, and those near the Gulf of Mexico, and 
considered the fact stated by the F. M. V. a proof of the 
correctness of the Orchardist. Indeed, we believe it to 
be a law in all parts of the world, certainly we have 
yet to learn the exception, that as the climate and tem¬ 
perature approach that state fit for the fig, orange and 
other tropical fruits, it becomes less suitable for those 
whose home is the temperate zone, such as the cherry, 
apple, pear, &c. That the peach should flourish in the 
extreme south, was to be expected from its origin and 
its habits; that it actually does-so, we learned long ago 
from Mr. Darby, who assured us that he found excellent 
peaches in the western part of Louisiana, near the gulf. 
Vfe cannot but think our friend and correspondent is 
in this case a little too anxious to appropriate all the good 
things of the United States to the ‘‘sunny south,’’ and 
his own particular part thereof. We gi-ant them freely 
their cotton, sugar, rice, figs and oranges; and why may 
not we, in our “ bleak and frozen north,” enjoy our 
wheat, apples, cherries, quinces, pears and maple su¬ 
gar? But if, after the experience which it is acknow¬ 
ledged the south has not had as yet, on the subject of 
fruits, owing to the neglect of planters generally, it 
shall be shown that the fruits usually considered as best 
adapted to the middle and northern states, shall succeed 
equally well or even better at the south, we shall rejoice 
at the fact, as it will furnish additional proof of the vast 
resources and capabilities of our extended and common 
country. And further, we can assure our southern 
brethren ” that the cry of “ barrs ” and “painters,” 
which they say has been set up by some at the north, to 
prevent emigration or visits to the south, has had so lit¬ 
tle effect upon us, that we promise ourselves the pleasure 
at some future time, of taking them by the hand at their 
our own fireside, and receiving from them the cordial 
welcome with which they would be greeted should their 
wandering feet ever lead them to the shores of the Hud¬ 
son. 
CHINA PIGS—MERCER POTATOES. 
“Messrs. Editors —Can you inform me where I can 
obtain a pair of genuine China pigs? I should like ex¬ 
tremely to obtain a pair this fall, for the purpose of 
crossing with a superior native breed now in my pos¬ 
session. I should also like to have you give a descrip¬ 
tion of the Mercer potatoes; their form, color, &c., and 
whether the Chenangoes and Mercers are one and the 
same variety. D. C. Goodale. 
Chimney Point, Ft.” 
As to the China pigs, we are unable to state where the 
gem ine ones may he found. As they are too small for 
the farmer’s hog, and as the Berkshire, ■while it was 
larger, possessed nearly all the g’ood qualities of the 
former, it soon took the place of the China among 
breeders almost exclusively. If any of our friends have 
pure pigs of this breed, perhaps they would confer a 
favor by a notice in our columns. 
The Mercers, Chenangoes, Neshannocks and Phila¬ 
delphia potatoes, are, as appears from a paper publish¬ 
ed in the “Educator,” and copied info the Farmer’s 
Cabinet, vol. 4th, page 64, one and the same. From 
that paper, it seems the true name should he the Gilkie, 
as it originated from seed sown by John Gilky on the 
bank of the Neshannock creek, about five miles above 
its junction with the Chenango at Newcastle. The first 
■was produced nearly forty years since, and it has thence 
spread over nearly the whole United States. The Mer¬ 
cer is in shape much like the long pinkeye, but gene¬ 
rally larger and longer. It is slightly tinged of a red¬ 
dish or purple color, and when cut, streaks of the same 
color are found running through it When cooked, 
these mostly disappear. It is one of the most valuable 
of table potatoes, white, mealy, and of good flavor. 
Manure is to a farm what food is to an animal. 
