animals kept in the South to be doubled by 
the general introduction of this system, as 
they soon would be, the amount of fertilizing wp 
elements saved would be of almost incalcu- 
lable benefit. Cotton and sngar cane are w 
not, exhausting crops for the soil, if only the • $ 
cotton and tlie sugar are parted with by the ' 
planter. Cotton and sugar are composed 
almost wholly of combustible or organic 
elements, which are obtained from the at¬ 
mosphere. and do not impoverish t he soil. 
It is the refuse canc, cotton stalks and cotton 
seed which take most from the soil. These, 
with the refuse of the sugar-house should ba 
most scrupulously returned to the soil. 
The introduction of this system would 
soon teach the Southern feeders the great im¬ 
portance of retaining their cotton seed for 
home consumption, Decorticated cotton 
seed, ground and led to their animals, would 
first produce a rich return in beef and 
yield as valuable a manure as that made in 
England from oil cake, A thorough system 
of feeding for the purpose of'producing 
manure for her worn-out fields would yield 
astonishing results. 
The advantages of soiling for the South 
may be summed up thus: 
First .—It would save an immense outlay 
in fences. 
Second .—It would enable the planter to 
keep double his present number of ani» ,a K 
through the year, on the same lari now 
used to pasture them, and also kca J them in 
much better condition. / 
Third. 
feeding crop between the cuttings of clover, 
and also affords the desired change of food. 
Corn should be sown at intervals so as to be 
in condition to cut at different periods. If 
cut before the formation of tassel, It will 
grow again and afford another crop. It pro¬ 
duces milk of nearly as fine a flavor as clo¬ 
ver. The amount of corn fodder that may 
be raised npon an acre is something almost 
fabulous, reaching, in the green state, to 
sixty tons. Com, when grown thick and 
stalks small, may be cured, and furnishes an 
excellent winter food. For curing as fodder, 
it should be» put in large, compact shocks, 
and bound tightly around the top. 
CHinene Sugar Cnne, (Sorghum,) 
must not be overlooked as a soiling crop. 
In the Southern climate and soil it grows 
most vigorously, and produces, if possible, a 
still more abundant crop than corn. This, 
like clover, may be cut many times in a sea¬ 
son, and furnishes a most excellent quality 
of 'green food. Forty rode of rich ground 
would grow enough of this to supply a cow 
through the season. We have used it, and 
know that it produces milk of very rich, 
sweet flavor. Those who soil a large stock, 
may greatly lessen the labor by using a 
reaper with the latest sclf-raking attachment, 
in cutting corn, sorghum, or rye, laying it 
off in compact, gavels, easily loaded upon a 
one-horse cart and taken to the feeding barn 
or yard. To produce the best flavored milk, 
the green food should be fed first to cows, 
({unlit)' of Butter and Cheese. 
The flavor of the butter made from these 
soiling crops will give entire satisfaction for 
present use, and will keep, with proper care, 
for short periods. In fact, it will bo as valu¬ 
able for home consumption as if made from 
the best perennial grasses. Yet there is 
nothing that w ill make butter with such re¬ 
markable keeping qualities on a long voyage 
a» the natural grasses. Still, this is a ques¬ 
tion ol Uv«Jc practical importance, as the 
South will be quite satisfied with the result 
of furnishing, in abundance, a palatable ar¬ 
ticle of butter fot its own consumption. 
There will he very latle difference in the 
quality of cheese made at the South or 
North. The factory system, which is des¬ 
tined to prevail in all parts of the country, 
will make an excellent, quality of cheese from 
cither soiled or pastured cows. Whoever 
has been on a tour of observation South, thus 
brought in contact with the people, lias noted 
the want of home comforts and luxuries, or, 
as a Northerner would say, necessaries of 
life, has felt, most the absence of dairy pro¬ 
ducts, and thought of the great change which 
would be wrought in almost every house¬ 
hold by the addition of the healthy products 
of the cow' to the everlasting corn bread and 
bacon 
this month (April.) Here was a good test, 
showing the Alsike could stand the drouth 
much better than the mixture. It. lias stood 
the open winter admirably. The plant has 
suffered nothing by the alternate freezings 
and thawings. The ground from which we 
get those sample plants is rich, rolling prai¬ 
rie ; soil not the best adapted to the Alsike. 
Clay, moist, soil is the best. 
“ I send you three plants of less than one 
jear’s growth, and one plant of two years’ 
growth. The plant indicates that it. should 
h.ve considerable room for the roots to 
spread. We sowed last year four pounds of 
seed to the acre ; but on a part of the land 
We sowed but three pounds. Wc find that 
thre^ pounds are enough on our rich prairie 
soil A 
stiff clay, but the quality is in- 
or even on a 
ferior to that imparted by a sandy tyil. At 
the North, heavy soils are entirely unsuit¬ 
able, and no one who plants on suck soils 
can reasonably expect dry, sweet, fine-flavor¬ 
ed roots. Choose, then, for the sweet potato 
a Randy soil, or, lacking that, a light loam 
It is important that, the land be judicious¬ 
ly manured. If a heavy crop be desired, 
the ground must be well enriched, but strong 
animal manures in their crude state must al¬ 
ways be avoided where a fine quality in the tu¬ 
bers is one of the objects aimed at. Well rotted 
compost, largely made up of vegetable mat¬ 
ter, ami with a bushel or two of wood ashes 
to the load, Will be found just the thing. Ex¬ 
cellent crops are made in the South on light 
soil, and with no other manure than half- 
rotted leaves, pine straw and other vegetable 
matter scraped up in the forest and scattered 
into the furrows upon which the ridges or 
beds n>c planting are to he thrown. Tins 
manure is hauled mid scattered in the win¬ 
ter, and then covered so as to allow it to be¬ 
come well rotted by tJie time the plant roots 
require it for the support of vegetation. 
The most common mode of manuring 
’’-and for sweet potatoes in the South, is by 
" ‘‘'w-penning ” it. The portion of ground 
set apv]-{, f or ])oxt season’s crop is inclosed 
ana camping ground of the cattle 
during the vqpter, or as long as is necessary. 
By this meansqhe land gets not only the 
solid excrements Vtltc cattle and the refuse 
of their fodder, but .tjie urine also, which 
seems to b<7 particularly v<teable for this crop. 
I) heie the land has not Ixpn cow -penned, 
I scatter broadcast a good cutty pf well rotted 
Compost, and turn it in with a plow, or, if 
manure is scarce, and I desire \ give the 
crop the full benefit of what T have)! reserve 
it to l>c scattered into drills. The plowing 
is done several weeks before planting time. 
When the slips, or “draws,” are nearly 
ready for plantiug, the land, or such portion 
of it as is required for the first planting, is 
thrown up into parallel ridges or beds, three 
and a half or four feet apart, and when lev¬ 
eled oil' with a rake or hoe, from six to eight 
inches high. If the ground has not been 
manured, drills ore made, the manure scat¬ 
tered into them, and the ridges thrown up 
with the plow as before. This is the plan 
for the South. 
THE SWEET POTATO 
BY D. H. .JACQUES. 
The sweet potato may, I think, be safely 
pronounced the best of all esculent roots. It 
is certainly worthy of more attention than 
it has hitherto received; for, white it has 
long been an important farm crop at. the 
c^h, and in some portions of the Middle 
into, two efforts seem to be made cither to 
ori g mwr i r; «”*•* or . t0 
... , , 1 better varieties. Good as 
it is, and large as ilk , , .. 
. . . f*fd under the. present 
treatment, them can 1,1- J ** 
our crops may be unproved m „ 
and m quality. 
The sweet potato belongs to the bind¬ 
weed family {cormlmlaccos) and is closely re¬ 
lated to the common but always beautiful 
and never-to-bc-despised morning glory. It 
is indigenous in China, India and the Astil- 
les, and was introduced inlo Europe lonir be 
fore the Irish potato, as we call it at the 
South, was known there. It is mentioned 
by Shakespeare, and is doubtless t he vege¬ 
table referred to by Fa LSTABr where he saps, 
“ Let the sky rain potatoes.” 
There arc almost as many varieties of the 
Bwect potato as of the common potato of the 
North, and the difference between the vari¬ 
ous sorts Is even greater. In some, the vines 
are large, in others small; some have angled, 
others lobed, and others still, pedate leaves. 
The roots are long, spindle-shaped, and oval; 
white, red, purple, and yellow of many 
sm*te s . The blossom, which seldom appears 
except, te the Yam, is bell-shaped and of a 
pate, roSC vll ,pte color. It resembles the 
flower of tub coming glory. Among the 
best varieties are \bp following: 
The Bed Bermuda \ go far as I know, the 
earliest sort in cultivation it belongs to the 
Yam family ; leaves many-te^ed ; color red ; 
flesh white; quality, when grtevp on light, 
sandy soil, excellent. 
The Nansc-mond is another curly potato, 
very popular in Virginia and northward, it 
is of yellow color, and is good at any stage 
of its growth, which is not true, to the same 
extent, of any other variety. It is the hest 
kind for the North, except, perhaps, on the 
lightest sandy soils, where the red Bermuda 
might he substituted for rL 
The Poland , which I think originated in 
Virginia, where, however, it may he known 
by a different name, is an early sort, of the 
very best quality, but. not very productive. 
Color a light, yellow; leaves a very light 
green; grown for an early crop in Florida. 
The Bed-White or Negro Killer is a popu¬ 
lar kind at the South —very productive and 
of excellent quality. Roots long; color of 
the skiu, red; flesh white; vines large and 
red; leaves veined with red. 
The Yellow-Bed is somewhat similar to 
the foregoing in external appearance, but 
the flesh is yellow. The flavor is different 
and is preferred by some: lint. I like the 
red-white better. 
The Brimstone Spains is a sulphur-colored 
sort. Very productive; roots long and large; 
flesh dry and sweet. It keeps well, and is 
esteemed in Georgia and South Carolina as 
one of the best sorw. 
The Red IFetrf India, grown extensively in 
FteiUn is a wonderfully ptmjnctive variety, 
and grows to a very largo size. <: 0 lor, a pale 
red; flesh white; shape oblong, but soteo 
what irregular; quality, especially irthe soil 
be heavily manured, rather poor. 
The White West India is equally produc¬ 
tive and superior in quality to the red variety. 
Both arc excellent keepers. 
The Common Yam , sometimes called Pump¬ 
kin Yam, is a universal favorite throughout 
the South. Leaves, many lobed; vines 
numerous; roots, large, oblong or gl fruiter ; 
color, yellow. Its flavor suggests tint of the 
pumpkin. It is a long keeper and Very pro¬ 
ductive. 
The Hayti Yam, cultivated in Florida, and 
to some extent in other parts of the South, 
has white flesh, and is not fo sweet, but 
more farinaceous than the common Yam. 
It grows to an immense size, especially in 
the semi-tropical climate of Florida. 
The quality of the Bweet potatoes grown 
north of the Carolines is never equal to that 
of those raised further South. Probably it is 
not possible to make it so; but the watery 
and tasteless condition of a large portion of 
those sent to New York from New Jersey 
and elsewhere, is owing in great part to un¬ 
suitable soil and injudicious manuring. The 
nature and requirements of the plant do not 
seem to he well understood. 
The sweet potato is tropical or semi- 
tropical in its character. In a Northern cli- ; 
Canada corn culture. 
As turners, I believe everywhere, love to 
have thei- ideas rubbed together, perhaps 
the last ycir’s experience of a Canuck, along 
Lake Erie. n growing corn, will not be amiss. 
The crop was grown on a sandy, loamy 
soil. The grmml Was a clover sod, which 
had laid one y^ar in pasture. At the begin¬ 
ning of May wc drew about one hundred 
and eighty-five wagon loads of barn-yard 
manure on it. YT: then plowed six or seven 
inches deep, and airrowed it over four times, 
then marked four feet each way, (which was 
done with care, in order to have the cultiva¬ 
tor work close to tkft hill); planted the last 
day of May. All we did to it after that 
until cutting was to <\i)tivate it twice each 
way with a onc-horse cultivator. Wc cut it 
from 15th to 25th of September, when it was 
husked and drawn. Wc realized 1,100 bush¬ 
els of cars from nine acres and forty-one and 
one-third rods,—equal to about one hundred 
and thirteen and two-thirds bushels per acre. 
Many of the ears measured from twelve to 
thirteen inches in length, and ■* tew four- 
to-n. The stalks more than half wintered 
sixteen cows • too corn fattened thirteen 
hogs, six A-atfie, besides selling several hun¬ 
dred bushels lu market, and about sixty 
bushels to the neighbors for seed. 
mlon, Elgin, Ont. Josiah Long. 
It would supply * icm W1 dt an 
abundance of dairy prodtyW, eave a large 
outflow of cash, besides substituting a much 
healthier diet for the peiA' 1 - 
Fourth,—The savijii °1 manure would go 
far towards doublin/ their cotton and sugar 
crops. Within liv* years after its general 
adoption it wou>< increase her exports one 
hundred million^ 
MAKING PREMIUM LISTS 
Ho ye! to ye! You who are the arbi¬ 
ters and efreoctors of how awards and what 
awards shll be given at exhibitions of stock, 
grains, frfJts and flowers, look over all your 
old lists Of years gone by and see wherein 
you ha» made progress in twenty years. 
What j w idea have you embodied in your 
lists? nVhat, have you done in making up 
your tets toward inducing new thoughts? 
Wlit towards inculcat ing a love of agricul¬ 
ture and horticulture ? What toward in- 
erasing decoration of rural homes ? 
T could go on, ad infinitum, with quea- 
tons of tlie kind, but these are sufficient for 
-he present. It is true the wealth of the 
country and the gains from exhibitions of 
horse racing have enabled you to pay larger 
premiums thau of old; but wherein have 
you made requirements of those who shall 
receive the premium, corresponding with 
the supposed advanced knowledge of a com¬ 
munity in which education is free, and 
fancy, scientific agricultural colleges are be¬ 
coming abundant. 
If I take a premium for the best horse, ox 
or sheep, die best bushel of grain, best apple 
or pear, best collection of flowers, (trees and 
shrubs are always left out,) who knows why 1 
took it? It's all humbug as now arranged, 
and as it has been always. Any man that 
can log-roll a little can take a premium, or 
all the premiums. I have been and done it. 
A. Thorn. 
utmstrhxl 
At the North I would pursue 
a similar course, except that I would irubsh- 
tule hills for the continuous ridge®, and raise 
them at least a foot in height. 
When the plants in your nursery bed are 
about three inches high and well rooted, it 
is time to prepare for planting The ridges 
or hills being ready, draw the plants care¬ 
fully from the bed and gropt the roots thor¬ 
oughly in batter compost'd of equal parts of 
vegetable mold, fresh cov dung and wood 
ashes, (which is a good fling to do in plant¬ 
ing strawberries and otter plants also.) Now 
let one person drop tty plants, one on each 
hill, or on the ridges, /rum twelve to fifteen 
inches apart, while another, provided with a 
large dibble, makes/lccp holes, inserts the 
plants deeply, and presses the earth about 
the roots, leaving,'a depression around the 
plants. A cloudy day, or late in the after¬ 
noon, should be chosen for the operation. 
Unless the ground be very dry, nearly every 
good plant will live. If it be very dry, a 
small quantity of water should be poured 
upon each plant, ftnd *, little dry earth drawn 
about it. to prevent halving. in a few days, 
go over the ground to replant where any 
slips may have failed. 
The time of planting varies,^of course, 
"•’■fill the latitude and the season. In Florida 
we commence planting slips in March, and 
continue to plant, at intervals, usher cuttings 
of the vines Jafcr in the season, till August; 
in Georgia the planting season extends from 
about the first, of April to the first of July ; 
and in New Jersey from the tenth or fifteenth 
of May to the first of June. 
At ihe South, the seed potatoes from 
which the rooted plants arc to he grown are 
bedded in some warm exposure in the open 
air, about a month before planting. At the 
North, a hot-bod is necessary, and should be 
prepared, in the latitude of New York, about 
the tenth of April. Plants are raised for 
sale in ihe neighborhood of New York and 
elsewhere, and can be procured at a reason¬ 
able price, in their season. 
SOILING FOR THE SOUTH. 
BY E. W. STEWART. 
Any system which offers the South a rea¬ 
sonable hope of competing with the North 
in animal productions, so far even as to 
supply its own wants, must be of the highest 
interest. Much of its climate is found to be 
uncongenial to the production of the best 
permanent grasses. Besides the natural 
obstacle to the production of the best peren¬ 
nial grasses for stock, the South is, at pre¬ 
sent, almost destitute of fences; and this 
offers another inducement for adopting the 
soiling system, which will not only overcome 
the serious difficulty of climate, but will 
render fences unnecessary, except for a yard 
in which to feed and exercise animals. In 
discussing this question in the Rural for 
May, J868, we proved that the expense of 
fencing, where timber is reasonably cheap, is 
quite equal to the whole extra labor of soil¬ 
ing the animals ; thus showing that, in point 
of expense, soiling is as cheap as pasturing. 
And if this system is practicable ami bene¬ 
ficial for the South, one great loss of the war 
—the destruction of fences—will not be felt; 
besides, this system will enable the South to 
keep ihieo times as. many animate as she has 
ever done by pasturing. It affords us pleasure 
to assure our Southern brethren that when 
they fully understand the application of this 
system, they will cease to envy the North its 
rich milk, yellow, nutty flavored butter, and 
delicious cheese. 
Crops for the South. 
hog and hominy.” 
Beef lnstcn.il ol Pork- 
And when the South secs its way clear o 
keeping large herds of cattle #n every pln- 
tation, the hog may lose its post of hon<f in 
Southern civilization. Bee/ will be fund 
as cheap and much more vholesome. Fork 
is too oily food for gcnenl use in a warm 
climate, and assists in producing nany of 
those fearful epidemic diseases width often 
decimate the population^!' some Afetricts. 
The soiling system 6 most favorable to 
the growing of prime ieef. The feeder has 
the condition of the fiiiuul quite under his 
control, and having piundanceof feed at his 
command, can use ipvith tlie.greatest econ¬ 
omy. From thirtea years’ experience, and 
the test of many a<rarately conducted trials, 
we regard the exppse of raising an animal 
as fifty per cent, lesby soiling than past uring. 
liaisiug I*rses ami Alulcs. 
This system weld enable the South, even 
the Gulf States,-* raiso a full supply of 
horses and miflef and at lower figures than 
they can purcha- them, thus saving another 
considerable dam upon their resources. 
Saving the Urine— jlr. Wilkinson, in a late 
Rural, says that the urine in cattle stallsshould 
be run off to a manure heap under cover, and 
not absorbed in the stall by the bedding-. It 
strikes me this will not economise the Urine as 
well as to have it. absorbed in the stall by dried 
clay or swamp muck: when thus mixed and 
placed under cover it will not lose its ammonia 
by fermentation, as it must if mixed with dry 
excrements. Urine is so rich in nitrogen that it 
will putrify and waste its ammonia almost as 
fast as dead animal flesh; hence the importance 
of composting It With absorbents that will hold 
the ammonia by chemical affinity. 
It was asserted at a Farmers’ Club in New 
Hampshire that no farmer saved more than one- 
fourth of the urine voided by his animals, and as 
the urine contains more ammonia than the solid 
excrement, the loss is great.—s. w. 
Soil in 
The South has many and great advantages 
over a colder climate in the practice of soil¬ 
ing. ller climate, is such that a little car 
would afford green succulent food for stoet 
nearly the whole year through. Clover, .n 
most of her territory, will produce an abiii- 
dant crop, and will be ready for the list 
cutting in March and April; second, in jay 
and June; third, in August and Septein/ier. 
The amount of land, iu fine condition re¬ 
quired to keep a cow through the senate, in 
clover, will lie found astonishingly anall. 
Clover produces the richest milk ani the 
finest flavored butter, and its roots ratifying 
so extensively, furnish a large ainomt of 
vegetable matter to decay in and enroll the 
soil But winter rye will furnish n still 
earlier soiling crop. It will, generajy, be 
ready for a first cutting nearly a jnonth 
earlier than clover, and may, likewise be cut 
several times in a season. If clit tliraigh the 
first season before heading, Liebig .ays it 
will grow the second season; and if p, may 
be used again for soiling or perfectin' a crop , 
Protecting Birds.— The Legislature of Wiscon¬ 
sin, at its last session, passed a law making it a 
penal offence to destroy or kill, by any device 
wtatover, brown thrushes, bluebirds, martins, 
swallows, wrens, catbirds, meadow-larks, or any 
other insect-earing birds, anywhere within tvvt 
miles of any incorporated city or village in tba«f 
State. The Legislature of Pennsylvania also 
passed an act, afterward approved by the Gov¬ 
ernor, which Imposes a penalty of twenty-hvo 
dollars for the killing of any insectivorous olid, 
one-half of this line to be paid to the informer. 
ALSIKE CLOVER. 
A Copying Process.—Niepce St. Attcteu- gives a 
new process for copying very old wrirings. Or¬ 
dinary copying paper ia used, but is wetted with 
a thin solution ol glucose or honey instead of 
water. On coining out of the press the paper is 
exposed to strong ammonia, which brings out 
very clearly lines other wise almost illegible. 
Transportation of Fish.—“It has," somebody 
says, “been discovered that fish can be made 
dead drunk with brandy, packed in straw and 
sent on a ten days’ journey without any other 
damage than that which their morals suffer. 
When restored to the water they sober in a few 
hours and axe all right again." 
of rye. This green rye is not so nuritioufl 
in muscle forming matter as clovjr, but 
makes an excellent change of food. 
Indian corn may in this climate hi sown 
very early for soiling, and will come n as a 
