32 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Jan 
The building is40 ft. square, 10 ft. posts. The upper 
end of the plan, figure 12, is the front end of the build¬ 
ing, having a large window in the gable to put in fod¬ 
der. The carriage room A, is 20 ft. square, and has 
two set of ten foot doors. Upon each side, B and C, 
are two rooms ten feet square with outside doors, for 
saddles, harness, and all kind of horse trappings. Back 
of these, E and F, are two rooms of the same size, 
with outside doors and ooors opening into iHp passage 
G. One of these is for corn, and the other for chopped 
oats, &c. In one corner of this room the stairs H, open 
from the passage to the loft. 
The manger and feed boxes I, are along side of the 
passage very convenient for feeding. The back end is 
divided into stalls K, having each a door from outside. 
The passage being always open, and the sides of the 
stable part being made of slat-work, gives a free circu¬ 
lation of air; and for aught I coould see, this stable 
was full as good as a “ lot” enclosed with a rail fence. 
The Col. also has a very large stable with open-work 
sides for the field horses and mules. 
His whole farm, buildings, orchards, garden, yards, 
quarters, shops, stock, and tools, besides ten thousand 
little “fixings,” are well worth an examination and 
patterning after by his brother planters, whom I ear¬ 
nestly wish would visit his place and learn that there 
is nothing in the climate of Mississippi to prevent the 
existence of thrift, order, neatness, regularity, and con¬ 
sequent comfort upon a cotton plantation. 
I must say that I was delighted with my visit of a day 
to this fine plantation, and could have spent several 
other days profitably to myself, with a man of such a 
character for energy, enterprise, and intelligence, and 
whose laughing eye constantly tells you that there must 
be no “blue devil-ism” here; and w'ho has a wife of 
just such a character as I wish every other Mississippian 
had; and then, like Col. Dunbar, he would have a home 
worthy the name of that sacred place toward which our 
hearts constantly yearn as we wander over the surface 
of this rough world. 
But I must on! on! on! “There is no rest for the 
wicked.” The day (March 6,) is most lovely, clear and 
warm, and upon the ten miles to Washington we will 
make no call, although there are many fine looking 
places that would be worth, our notice; yet there are 
several others that bear the fatal mark of “ gone to gul- 
leyville ,” and others that are rapidly going the same 
gate. It is a most singular soil, and when a gulley 
once begins, it seems to melt down, down, down, into 
a deep ditch whose sides are as straight and perpendicu¬ 
lar as though cut by a spade and line. I have seen 
ridges standing between these ditches ten feet high, and 
quite sharp on the top., and only a foot or two thick at 
the base. It appears never to dry and crumble down, 
and of course never falls by freezing, and there they 
*tand, slowly washing down by rain, while upon each 
side the ditch grows deeper with every shower. 
Solon Robinson. 
CULTURE OF THE STRAWBERRY. 
Luther Tucker, Esq. —On my return recently from 
one of the courts in my judicial district, I took up “The 
Cultivator,” which had come in my absence, and no¬ 
ticed my name in association with Mr. Hovey’s, placed 
there by “J. F.,” of Rochester, to indicate a “discrep¬ 
ancy ” in the production of the strawberry. If J. F. is 
really seeking information, as he intimates, he could 
have have found it to a certain extent by a small calcu¬ 
lation as follows: Suppose Mr. Hoveyhad been gratified 
in getting two bushels from upwards of 5,000 vines, he 
would have obtained about one-tenth of a gill, or about 
a small table-spoonful of berries from each vine; would 
J. F. be satisfied to cultivate with this prospect? By a 
similar calculation, I obtained in 1843, about half a 
pint from each vine, the vines standing one and a half 
feet apart each way. Is this a wonderful product ? In 
1844, I sent to the Editor of the “ Cambridge Chroni¬ 
cle,” a heaping pint of strawberries, and the pint con¬ 
tained 32 berries, and 24 weighed one-quarter of a 
pound, averaging in size four and a half inches in cir¬ 
cumference; and if J. F. has ever seen the statement of 
the strawberries exhibited at the Horticultural Exhibi¬ 
tion in Washington last spring, he will remember that 
there Were six specimens of Hovey’s seedling, and none 
of the berries measured less than 4£ to 5 inches in cir¬ 
cumference, so that if they would have averaged an 
inch square, allowing for cavities in measurement, and 
as there are 2,145 and six-tenths inches to the bushel, 
Mr. Hovey’s two bushels would not have given him one 
such berry to the vine. But I will explain the “ dis¬ 
crepancy.” J. F. will note that I speak of my vines 
being a year old. They were planted in April, had the 
whole year to grow, and attained their full size. Now 
most persons plant out their runners in August or Sep¬ 
tember, as recommended, by Mr. Knight and other hor¬ 
ticulturists. These vines barely grow enough to stand 
the winter, and the following spring bear but little if 
any fruit. It was upon vines of this age that Mr. Hovey 
must have made Ms '•^Iculation; and I have no doubt 
that this vine, lik Ather vegetables, must have its age 
of fructification. I was precisely in this predicament 
this last spring. I had the same beds set last fall, which 
gave me the yield in 1843; plants set out last August, I 
mean of 1844, and this spring I did not get two gallons 
from them. But if J. F. could only see the perfection 
of the plants now, he would concede the prospect of a 
greater yield next spring than one-tenth of a gill, or 
one big berry to the vine. 
Brice J. Goldsborough. 
Cambridge , Md., Nov. 19th , 1845. 
FARMING IN ALABAMA. 
Mr. Editor—A s the year is now drawing to a close, 
I feel it a duty I owe to the different agricultural pa¬ 
pers I take, to give some account of my farm and sys¬ 
tem of farming. Could the plan of comparing notes 
become general,—that is, if each reader of an agricul¬ 
tural paper would in a short and plain way, write out 
his system, giving the amount of capital employed in 
farming, the number of acres planted in the different 
kinds of crops, the manner of cultivating them, the time 
of planting, the season, &c., &c.,—we should at once 
become acquainted with the mode of cultivating lands 
at the north, south, east, and west, and should knoAv the 
profits of farming in each section of our wide spread 
country. 
I will give you a few extracts from my agricultural book 
for 1845. In the first place allow me to say a word in 
regard to the manner in which I keep this book. I 
commence on the first of January, each year, and 
charge myself with every dollar I employ on my farm, 
and estimating all produce at what I believe it would 
sell for in cash. I make an entry of the kind and 
amount of work done each day. I also keep a complete 
account of the seasons, the time of planting, and the 
manner of working of each crop; keeping an exact ac¬ 
count of all money laid out. At the close of the year 
I give myself credit for all cash received and for all 
improvements made. In this way I am prepared to 
know what interest I am making on the capital employed. 
On the 2d page of my book for the present year, I 
find I have charged with capital employed in agricul¬ 
ture, $8,550. 
My land is poor pine land; half of the cleared land 
very hilly, and the other half perfectly level, as it is 
divided by a large creek. It is sandy land. There is 
cleared 267 acres, leaving about 100 acres timbered. 
Of the cleared land, we planted in corn, ... 120 acres. 
“ “ “ cotton,.. 80 “ 
“ “ “ oats,. .. 60 “ 
« « “ potatoes, 3 “ 
“ “ “ rice,.. .. * 2 “ 
“ « “ garden, . 2 “ 
267 
I find we had arrived at page 48 by the 1st of March; 
