Agriculture^ 
TERMS, $3.00 PER YEAR.] 
PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT 
[SINCLE NO. TEN CENTS 
VOL XYIII. NO. 30. t ROGHESTER, N. Y.-FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, JULY 11, 1867 
ESTABLISHED IN 1850 
AGRICULTURE IN MISSISSIPPI 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AX ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
AGRICULTURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER, 
Eds. Rural: —Hoping a letter from Missis¬ 
sippi, tclliug Something of the productions of 
the State, manner of cultivating, <&c.,tnay inter¬ 
est some of your numerous readers living in the 
fur Nort h and East, or the distant West, I send 
this about the north-eastern portion of thcStato. 
A great part is sandy and broken, with an abund¬ 
ance of pine, suitable lor lumber; and though 
this branch of Industry Is just commencing to 
be developed, the region comprising the agricul¬ 
tural portion of' the State is extensive. The soil 
on the best lands is a black loam, which 5 b usu¬ 
ally underlaid with a pale red day usually six to 
ten feet In thickness, Beneath that Is a strata 
of what geologists term indurated marl, (white 
as rotten limestone,) of a pale blue color when 
llrst dug out in its moist state below the sur¬ 
face, but which bleaches and crumbles to pow¬ 
der by exposure to atmospheric action. This 
marl is supposed to be marine deposits, as there 
are mixed with it quantities of shells bearing a 
close analogy to various sea shells. In many 
places there is no intermediate strata of clay be¬ 
tween the top soil and the marl. This marl has 
proved a powerful fertilizer when applied to soil 
that has sand. Our forest growth embraces 
many species oi the oak, hickory, walnut, syca¬ 
more, gums, poplars, cotton woods, honey lo¬ 
cust, mulberry, and many others which arc use¬ 
ful, as well as many trees and shrubs suitable for 
ornament. 
The soil is productive, growing ordinarily 
from one thousand to seventeen hundred lbs. of 
seed cotton per acre, and from forty to fifty 
bushels of corn. The nuidus operands of corn 
raising here is thus: For early planting the 
ground is plowed Into ridges, from three t,o 
four feet in width; high beds are preferable. 
The beds are then opened with a small plow— 
sometimes checked off. If three feet each way_ 
one to two stalks left in a hill, usually one; 11 
four feet, two stalks In the hill. It Is usual to 
plow early corn three times. Late corn, planted 
from 1.5th May to loth June, is usually planted 
in the water furrow, and if coverd very deep is 
often as good as that planted the 10th of March. 
The fodder is usually stripped from the stalk, 
and the corn left until it matures. Late corn is 
plowed twice only. Year before last, and last 
year, very good corn was made here, planted In 
the latter part of J uly. The different grasses do 
well here—clover finely—though little attention 
is given to such things. My sheep and some 
brood marcs keep fat through winter on corn 
and winter grass. \Vheat, oats and rye do fl noly, 
though never raised for market. AH vegetables 
flourish here without the trouble of hot-houses. 
Apples, pears and peaches, equal to any l over 
saw In the Atlantic States; blackberries and 
strawberries grow spontaneously. Thu wild 
strawberry is not so large, bnt delicious; culti¬ 
vation improves the size. Some Illinoisans liv¬ 
ing here say our strawberries arc equal to those 
grown In Central Illinois. 
Our climate is healthy—no very great extremes 
of heat and cold. 1 do not remember the ther- 
CONDFCTED BY I>. D. T. MOORE, 
With an Able Corps of Assistants and Contributors, 
Hon. HENRY S. RANDALL, LL. D., Editor of the De¬ 
partment or Sheep Husbandry. 
HON. T. C. PETERS, late. President N. Y. State Ag’l 
Society, Southern Corresponding Editor. 
GLKZKN F. WILCOX, Associate Editor. 
Tim Rural Nkw-Yorkkr Is designed to be nnsnr- 
passed In Value, Purity, and Variety of Contents. Its 
Conductor earnestly labors to render the Rural a Reli¬ 
able Guide, on all the Important Practical, Scientific and 
other Subjects connected with the business of those 
whose interests It zealously advocates. As a Family 
Journal It Is eminently Instructive and Entertaining — 
being so conducted that It can be safely taken to the 
Homeeof people or!nteiiigcnce.ta«teanddlBcrtmUiatlon. 
It embraces more Agricultural, Horticultural,Scientific, 
Educational, Literary and News Matter, Interspersed 
with appropriate engravings, than any other Journal,— 
rendering it by far the most complete Aouicr r.TtrrtAL, 
Literary and Family Xkwki-ai’kii lu America. 
XW For Tkrms and other particulars see last page, 
//yu- 
ABOUT WEEDS,-No. I 
WHAT ARE WEEDS? 
If we should put this question seriously to 
any farmer lu the land he would doubtless think 
we were asking for iuluramtion which should bo 
obvious to every person of ordinary understand¬ 
ing, for so numerous and widespread are nox¬ 
ious weeds that we may safely assert that no 
farm can be shown, which bus been cultivated 
for a period of twenty years, now entirely free 
from the presence of tills pest. Yet who lias 
given an accurate definition of the term “weed.” 
Webster defines it as “ any plant that is use¬ 
less or troublesome,” but it is obvious that 
many useless plants would not be recognized 
by farmers as weeds, and of all plants it may 
be said that they arc troublesome. The phrase 
“ noxious plants,” although fur from being ac¬ 
curate, is frequently used as a synonym lor 
“weeds;” and expressiveness has been claimed 
for the term “ plants out of place.” But with¬ 
out continuing these remarks further, we will 
proceed to treat the subject of “ Plant*, the 
growth of which is injurious to the farmer’s 
interests.” 
HOW WEEDS SPREAD. 
When land is first brought under cultivation 
it is found nearly free from weeds, unless in 
proximity to older settled regions, whence seed 
Las been deposited on the new lands, where they 
only await favorable circumstances to spring into 
life. Most of ou r weeds are of foreign origin; 
they spread and increase with civilization. Few 
are indigenous to onr soil. LLonce it is a matter 
of importance for fanners to understand what 
avenues of approach they must guard to cheek 
the advance of the enemy. Weeds are almost 
invariably transferred from one locality to an¬ 
other by carrying the seed, but many kinds, 
after they are once established, increase rapidly 
from their roots. Along the courses of rivulets 
and rivers the roots of some weeds, as alders, 
couch grass and the Canada thistle, muy he car¬ 
ried considerable distances by freshets, aud de¬ 
posited on the fields when the floods subside. 
Seeds spread in the same way. Straw and hay 
used for packing merchandise and nursery trees, 
which are sent long distances and throughout 
the whole country, often contain the seeds of 
weeds, and the mischief resulting from careless- 
ness in this respect is frightful. Birds carry 
seeds from one farm to another very readily, 
and frequently to considerable distances, aud 
weeds are also introduced by animals—as many 
of the hard-shelled seeds will grow readily when 
voided in their excrements. Seeds are carried 
from one farm to another by thrashing ma¬ 
chines, and the downy bloom of the thistle and 
milkweed float in the air through miles of space. 
Once established ou the farm and nearly every 
operation of the husbandman facilitates their 
Bpread; when he plows aud harrow's the creep- 
mg roots of perennial weeds are scattered; when 
ho gathers the straw and hay from his fields to 
the bam and transfers the manure from thence 
to other portions of his farm the vital seeds of 
weeds go with it; stock carry the seeds as they 
are filled with weeds. Grain, uud grass >ced, 
frequently contain the germs of weeds, and no 
farmer can take too much cure in scrutinizing 
seed not grown on his own premises. 
The means by which weeds are spread are 
indeed innumerable; they avail themselves of 
all modes of transportation. They ride iu the 
steamboat aud the rail-ear, and journey in the 
emigrant’s wagon across the virgin prairie to- 
wardslthe setting sun, and the winds and waters 
spread them abroad. 
Judges, there will most Ekely lie a closely ap¬ 
proximating, if not entire unanimity, hi their 
estimates of the condition and character of the 
parts examined. If the report is unfavorable let 
the animal be removed without being uncovered, 
but if the reverse, take olf the hood and proceed 
as before with an examination of the head, eyes 
and neck. This done, compare notes again. If 
these agree and are favorable, the presumption Is 
fair that the animal is a good one and deserving of 
a premium or certificate of character as the ease 
may be. The animal may then he entirely Un¬ 
dressed, and thus viewed or examined as before. 
It would be rather surprising should not this 
closing inquest equal in unanimity of opinion 
that arrived at with reference to the several parts. 
This is rather an elaborate process, hut it seems 
eminently judicious, and more likely to render 
justice to competing stock than the careless and 
superficial examinations which too often mark 
the proceedings of judges at Fairs. 
PLOWS-THEIR WOODWORK AND POINTS, 
A Plow-Maker sends the Rural the follow¬ 
ing facts and suggestions for farmers: 
Formerly all the manufacturers of plows 
painted their woodwork, but the tricksters in the 
trade put in such miserable timber that now all 
our best made plows are simply oiled and var¬ 
nished. This the honest mechanic has to do to 
clear himself of suspicion, though he knows It 
is not a sufficient protection to the woodwork. 
Every farmer Bhould give his new plow a good 
COttt Of paint before he uses it,. 
If farmers will take the advice of one that is 
interested, they will never buy a plow at a shop 
or of an agent who cannot supply them with 
points, landsides, <tec., (with which to wear out 
the plow,) that arc not all yround smooth and 
briyht. It costs the manufacturer about live 
cents to grind a point well, and it would cost a 
farmer twenty-five cents before that, same poiut 
would wear smooth while plowing. 1 wish every 
farmer wiio has to use rough poiuts would, when 
he gets the next new one, keep account of the 
time lost to hfrnself and team while scraping 
and Bcourlng the same. He need not count 
horseflesh or patience any tiling, it is a good 
idea (and a great many do it) to grind them on a 
hand-stone at home; but, then, there is so little 
fun turning grindstone that it never gets well 
done. Like Franklin’s story of the men grind¬ 
ing the surface of a new forged axe, the man 
who turns will after a little while, when his 
wind gets short, like the point better If it is only 
ground “speckled.” This matter of ground 
castings is of some consequence, for formers 
will more than overage to buy us many dollars’ 
worth of points, &C., after they have got a new 
plow, and before it is worn out, as the plow it¬ 
self cost. A farmer will ultimately save at least 
five doUars by purchasing at the right place. 
CORN FOR SEED 
TnouGH rather unseasonable, it may not be 
amiss to place on record an experiment of a 
correspondent of the “ Working Farmer,” .with 
reference to see,d corn. It has been generally 
assumed thut the central section of an ear of 
corn contains kernels more fully developed than 
those on either of the extremities, hence prefer¬ 
able for planting. To determine whether this 
assumption was correct or the reverse, selections 
were made of a given number of kernels from 
the butt, the center and the tip of half a dozen 
ears and weighed on the scales of an apothecary. 
The result was that the grains from the tip were 
considerably lighter than those from the central 
section of the cobs, and these again lighter than 
those from the butt. As the germinating power 
of the kernel naturally depends on its solidity 
the conclusion is naturally and logically in favor 
of the butt section for seed. There may be more 
in this than is generally supposed, and it should 
induce u thorough test, especially when the 
comparison can be so readily and cheaply made. 
ATMOSPHERIC PLANT FOOD AMMONIA 
GREEN CROPS. 
David Dickson of Sparta, Ga. 
a planter, as 
masterly and successful as l;e is Intelligent, writes 
to the Southern Cultivator that “ laud may be im¬ 
proved and eventually made rich under a system of 
proper culture, by atmospheric agencies alone.” 
His experience is, that the better the soil, the bet¬ 
ter drained it is, and the deeper plowed, the more 
rapidly the laud can lie improved. Mr. [.awes’ 
English experiments fully prove the truth of 
this theory ; he raised 15 bushels of wheat to the 
aero year after year by a good and deep tillage 
without any manure, But on an acre of the 
same conditioned laud, by the addition of 200 
pounds of the sulphate of ammonia alone, he got 
20 bushels of wheat. Mr. Dickson is a strong 
advocate of Peruvian guano for plantation crops. 
Tt takes about 300 pounds of guano to supply the 
ammonia of the 200 pounds of Bulpbatu; yet the 
phosphoric acid, soda, «&c., of the guano is not 
supplied by the sulphate of ammonia. 
The beat evidence that the Agriculture of the 
Cotton States is at thlB time iu the high road to 
permanent improvement, is the present great 
Increase in grass growing, and the leguminous 
green crops, cow peas, rod, yellow, and crimson 
clover, «&c. One planter who has made success¬ 
ful experiment* with Bermuda grass and the 
clovers, avers that “grass growing is to be the 
salvation of Georgia, llis programme is, 1st, 
grass; 2d, cattle; 3d, manure; 4th, everything 
that any other country produces, and all the 
cotton required by a hemisphere.” He pastures 
on Bermuda grass from March until Christmas; 
but the biennial yellow clover it seems makes 
good pasture in February, aud the crimson clo¬ 
ver, trifolium lucwrnutum, an annual, makes still 
bettor pasturage and bay. Although the legu¬ 
minous plants do not stand the dry hot weather 
of a Southern summer like Bermuda and Guinea 
grass, they are invaluable both in early spring 
and iu the late fall months to early winter. * 
HORSES AT FAIRS. —DUTIES OF JUDGES, 
In a late number of the Canada Farmer there 
was a timely and judicious article by William 
Hardy, on the duty devolving on Committees 
of Examination at Fairs —especially with refer¬ 
ence to competing stud horses. He assumes, 
from many years’ experience, that much injury 
is done to the business of stock raising of this 
description, by the incompeteuey or partiality of 
those chosen to pass upon the merits of com¬ 
peting animals at Fairs. Owing to this, many 
breeders have withdrawn from exhibitions who 
would otherwise have participated in them. 
To obviate all chance of favoritism, as far as 
possible, it is proposed to have the competing 
horses brought upon the ground completely 
covered, with nothing to indicate breed or own¬ 
ership. Select the judges from known and com¬ 
petent horsemen, from three to live iu number. 
Supply each with a note-book, and let them 
proceed singly to examine the limbs of the ani¬ 
mals. Begin with the tiigh fore-leg and examine 
the hoof carefully; if perfect note it so; if oth¬ 
erwise state the defect, and proceed thus entirely 
around the horse with an examination of each 
hoof and limb. When each meru be r has th us made 
a separate examination let them come together 
and compare notes, when, if they are competent 
POTATO BEETLE —REMEDY, 
