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4 gSjmner of the jeouth slanter’g Journal, DEVOTEDTO AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE HEWS, M EMORIES OP TUB LOST CAUSE, LITERATURE, SCIKNOB and ART. HfSNRY MOORE, A. K. WRIGHT. PATRICK WALSH. TERMS—S3.OO per Annum, in Advance SATURDAY, nov. 4, iH7i. Roster of the C. S. A. We are now prepared to furnish all numbers of the last volume of the Banner op the Bourn, containing a Roster of the Civil, Military and Naval Departments of the Confederate States, together with other valuable contribu tions to the history of the struggle for Southern Independence. Price $2. Cultivation as Manure. IV. We notice now the absorbent powers of the soil, and how far these are de pendent on cultivation; or, in other words, we propose to show that culti vation is manure, because it increases the absorbent power of the soil, and ac tually enriches it by its contact with the atmosphere. It lias been observed that when a solution containing am monia, or other alkaline salts, was passed through a portion of soil, the soil sep arated ' the ammonia from the liquid, and held it, and this action was finally traced to the presence of bodies in the soil known as double silicateaAsili cato is a compound TTut the double silicates are very peculiar, for in these we have the silica combining' not with one body, but with two; for example, there is the double silicate of soda and alumina, the double silicate of lime and alumina; and a third which is the double silicate of ammo nia and alumina. Alumina is present in each, and the difference is that soda is present in tho first, lime in the second, and ammonia in the third. In most soils we find these double silicates, but their value varies considerably. The double silicate of soda, and the double silicate of lime are each capable of separating ammonia when it is dissolved in water, but tho double silicate of lime alone has the power of separating ammonia from the air; the double sili cate of lime is, therefore, decidedly, the more valuable salt. The double sili cate of soda is readily converted into the double silicate of lime when lime is added to the soil, consequently the addition of lime to tho soil renders it competent to absorb more ammonia from tho atmosphere, and thereby gives it greater power of acquiring fertilizing matter than it previously possessed. Tho lime has a double action in this case, viz; it sets free part of the am monia which is found dormant in all soils, and renders it active and availa ble, and also renders the soil more capa ble of absorbing the fertilizing element from the air. Thus it is seen that there are within the soil itself, elements or properties capable of separating ammonia from the rain and from the air, and preserv ing it, until it is required by the crop. The facilities for the increase of these powers are two, viz: the free exposure of the soil to the air, and the passage of rain through the laud. The tillage of the land is just the agency required to accomplish these results, for the turning, stirring, and crusliing of the soil, by the hoe, plow, spade and roller, BANNER OF THE SOUTH AND PLANTERS’JOURNAL. promote the exposure of fresh portions of the soil to atmospheric action, and the soil is thus furnished with the means and power of exercising what ever capacity it has for the secretion of ammonia from the air. Many operations of the farm which are supposed to have only mechanical value, in preparing the land for seed, and giving freedom and growth to the roots, assume fresh importance when viewed in the light of these princples, as so many means of exposing the par ticles of soil to the air, for by means of thorough cultivation we accomplish both purpses fully; the roots have free room for easy growth, and the soil ac cumulates new stores of fertility from tho air. Many an extra ploughing has seem ed to the eye productive of no material change, or benefit, but the succeeding crop has in many such cases given evi dence of increased capacity for produc tion, which, until lately, has been set down .oh simply resulting from the me chanical condition of the soil being more favorable, instead of being re ferred in large part to the increased supply of fertilizing constituents afford ed to the soil from the air. Thus or cultivation affords its own advantages to tho soil in every con- ceivable way. The active mineral constituents of tho soil are afforded for present support of the growing crop. The dormant elements are gradually brought from a useless to an available condition, and the grit of the soil is advanced through tho successive degrees that nature has provided to bring it to its future state of usefulness. The air about us is of its ammonia andcarb^Hßl[|h|kM^L^ e *' rosts are converted to good, and the inorganic elements are prepared for vegetable nutrition. Cultivation is a manure, because un der its influence all tho stores provided by nature are opened to the wants of vegetation, and every source yields its supply. Labor Saving Appliances. An exchange tells of a blacksmith's shop in Brooklyn, in which a revolving bellows is worked by one dog, and blows the fire on four forges. The tread wheel is obout eight feet in diame ter, hung like an old-fashioned water wheel, having two sets of 6pokes or arms, about twenty inches apart, with boards nailed to the periphery of the segments. The dog works on the in side as a squirrel ruus within the wire wheel of his cage. Four large dogs are kept for no other purpose than to drive this wheel. Each dog works it two horn's and a half daily, making ten hours in the aggregate. No one man could perform that service incessantly for ten consecutive hours. The ex pense of keeping those four dogs is stated to bo about ten cents each per day. Many kinds of heavy manual labor can be performed advantageously and economically by mechanical appliauces for utilizing the power of steam, water, wind, or horse power, dog power or sheep or goat power, and therefore should never be performed by human muscle. There are other kinds of hard labor that will always, perhaps, be per formed by hand. P. when a man lias in his possession one or two fat horses, he ought to contrive some cheap ap pliance by which dumb animals may aid in performing laborious drudgery. Horses were made to work, and to be the servants of man; and heavy work does not hurt them any more than it does a kitten to play, provided they are not worried and abused by harsh and cruel drivel's. It may be necessary for men and women to milk cows by hand, (though even this is not beyond the reach of ingenious machinery,) but the ever changing wind, the tumbling stream, old dog Tray, or the submis sive sheep may be commanded to do the churning. At an expense of only a few dollars for lumber and manual labor a, wooden tread wheel may be made for either a sheep, goat or a large dog, that will work the chum or tarn the grindstone. Dogs are generally the aristocratic loafers of the animal kingdom. Avery few do efficient duty as watchers or guards; a still smaller number are useful in hunting; but the vast majority of dogs play upon the sentiment of mankind with expressive eyes and eloquent tails, and lead a life of pampered ease. The high prices now demanded for human labor, necessitate the most judi cious economy in the employment and appropriation of manual forces. A man who has a span of good horses, or a yoke of good oxen, or a steam en gine of two-horse power, is in jiosses sion of a force equal to ten faithful la borers. If he has mechanical appli ances with which his oxen or horses can perform his bidding, the team will often do the work of ten men. The thousands of acres of unimproved land all over the conutry need more produc tive forces. Let idlers stand aside and let horses and steam engines jierfomi what eye servants demand an extor tionate price for doing. Setting Trees. To insure success in setting trees, begin early in the fall as convenient Dig the holes two and a-half to three feet deep, and wide enough to take in all the roots, gijai*m<Lstnall. without crowding. Lily the top soil on one side to itself and the subsoil on the other side. Have some good loam or woods earth hauled, and one or two bushels of it put down by each hole, according to the size of the hole, and the tree to be set in it. Let all this be done and everything is in readiness be fore the tree is taken up. In taking up the tree be very careful to cut as few roots as possible. The larger ones should be cut with a spade, and the rough edge trimmed off smooth with a pocket knife. The small root lets should be unbroken, and if the removal is only a short distance, pre serve as much native soil clinging to the roots as possible. Trim the tops of the trees pretty closely, letting the top correspond in proportion to the roots that are preserved. Set the tree in the hole to the same depth at which it grew in its original position, first filling in the woods earth* or foam, in the bottom of the whole. Then draw in tie top soil and remain ing woods earth, shaking it down among the roots and pressing a very little. If very dry, settle the soil down with a little water. New Music —We have received from Messrs. G. D. Russell & Cos., 126 Tremout street, Boston, Mass., the fol lowing pieces of new and select music: I've only jwt Found Out; a banjo song, arranged for the piano,—by Geo. F. Hartly: 30 cents. Sleighing /Sony; by J. C. Proctor: 35 cents. 1 Vake from thy Slumber, Love ; Serenade, by Samuel N. Mitchell: 30 cents. The Regatte; a yacht song, by Oliver Optic: to cents. Washington Elm ; a Quickstep, by Chas. Moulton: 40 cents. They are haDtlsoroely gotten up, and will be sent (by mail upon receipt of price. Literarv Notes. THE rOCNO BYRON OF THE WEST. ‘‘SONOS OK THE SIERRAS." CONCLUDED. BY PAUL H. HAYNE. We proceed from Miller's life to his poetry. “Songs of the Sierras” con sist ot ten jKiemsjof considerable lengtli, in addition to the beautiful dedicatory lines “to Maud" whom we take to be the poet's little daughter; for Miller— as we have neglected remarking hitherto, is married, and (« la Byron,) separated from his wife! The chief of these pieces we shall analyse as briefly as possible; endeavoring to show wherein their real strength consists, and frankly exposing what seem to us, j their numerous shortcomings; their! roughnesses, and eccentneities of thonght, treatment, and rhythm. The first story called ‘C4 rizonian" is in its plot commonplace enough. The hero, bom in the East, and loving a blonde beauty, cannot marry her, be cause they both are poor. Therefore, he girds-np his loins, and travels Westward in search of gold. Years are consumed in this quest. Encoun tering meanwhile, a “sun-maid,” (as Mr. Miller expresses it,) he falls not, over purely, in love with her, alwavs, however, cherishing the recollection of his distant sweetheart, and day by day gathering the gold, which is finally to make their union possible. One evening tl»e jealousy of his tropic mistress is fear fully aroused, and in the midst of a tremendous upheaval of the elements, she throws herself into a neighboring river, and is drowned! Half stunned by this catastrophe, and haunted for ever after by the ghostly eyes and face Um. jlfad woman, wta> appeare to him in various shape?;—the miner, now a wealthy man,—seeks his youth ful home, eager to meet writh, and es pouse, his earlier loye. The denoue ment is precisely that of one of Tenny son's most perfect idyls. Wholly un conscious of the lapse of years, the man comes across the Annelte Mc (Leod of old—or so he dreams—in her native village, addresses her, and to his dismay, finds she is Anneltes daughter! From that moment, it is “all up with our unlucky sentimen talist. He goes back to the “gold diggings,” and the mountains of the far West; becomes a confirmed misan thrope, who'envies the quiet existence of the cattle in the clover, talks a vast deal of rather spiteful twaddle in re ference to the world and society, and briefly, degenerates into an unreaso- i nable, ami by no means fascinating in dividual; a moral hypoeondraie, in : fact! by surely," our readers may ex claim, “there is nothing original, or striking in all this!” True! but the extraordinary merit of the poem ap pears in the eloquence of its descrip tions of natural phenomena; in the superb freshness'of its lyrical bursts, which with their unstudied passion, and earnestness, are sometimes thril lingly grand ; and in a certain reckless savage intensity of tone and style, demands instead of soliciting atten. tion! Two extracts w|l suffice to exemplify our meaning. The first depicts the storm in which the “brown ladye," of the midnight eyes, and im passioned spirit—loses her life : *'l lay in my hammock; the air was heavy And hot and threatening: the very heaven Was holding its breath ; and bees in a bevy Hid under my thatch; and birds were driven In clouds to the rocks in a hurried whirr As I peered down by the path for her. She stood like a bronze bent over the river. The proud eyes fixed, the passion unspoken— When the heavens broke, like a great dyke broken. Then, ere I fairly had time to give her A shout of warning, a rushing of wind And the rolling of clouds, and a deafening din, And a darkness that had been black to the blind, Come down, as I shouted, “come in! come in! Come under the roof, come up from the River, As up from a grave—come now, or come never!” “The tasseled tops of the pines were as weeds. The red woods rocked like lake-side reeds, And|the world seemed.darkenedand drown ed forever!” Now, observe the lines we have italicised. How vigorous, and full of suggestive images they are!; especially the lines which refers to “a darkness that had been black to the blind, ” a whole poem, by the way, in itself,) Our next extract is an exquisite passage, in the faith, tender feeling and exalted trustfulness of passion, it displays, rendered only the more ef fective, by the terrible disappointment which ensues:— “She has braided her tresses, and through her tears Looks| away to the West for years, the years That I have wrought, where the sun tans brown : She has waked by sight, she has 'watched by day. She has wept and wondered at my delay, Alone, and in tears, with her head held down. Where the ships sail out, and the seas swirl in, Forgetting to knit, and refusing to spin. She shall lift her head, she shall see her le>ver, She shall hear his voice like a sea that rushes, She shall hold his gold in .her hands of snow, And down on his breast she shall hide her blushes. And never a care shall her true heart know, While the clods arc below, or the clouds are above her!” All of Mr. Miller's longer narrative poems resemble “Arizonian ” in one particular: They are utterly destitute ot a genuine characterizationJ In their b eroes we find the LaraJ and Corsair of Byron- revived under dif ferent circumstances, and among dif ferent scenes. These old acquain tances stalk before us, with the fami liar theatrical stride; only, they address us now’ an-ayed in the sombrero of the Mexican Alcalde, and with the belt and beard of the Californian miner. Their sentiments, we need hardly say, are wholly unsoftened, and unchanged. Society has somehow’ wronged them, and they hate and despise society. The amount of cursing at the expense of their fellow’ creatures, which these truculent gentlemen indulge in, is harrow’ing to gentler spirits. As for Mr. Miller’s heroines, they— as an English journalist truly observes —are one and all, the merest “lay figures’'—vague, mystical, wtih ab solutely nothing to make us distinguish or subsequently remember them, be sides their “w r onderful eyes,” and magnificent length of tresses, unless indeed it be their untamed passions, unregulated desires, and generally dismal fate! When, therefore, the Critics talk, (as some have talked) of Mr. Miller’s Homeric quality, and the probability of his becoming “the Home of America,” they utter but random nonsense; ignoring the man’s actual gifts, his special and splendid genius, which—as we have said—is con spicuously, essentially, in its every peculiarity of conception and style, of imagination, rhythmic force, color, treatment, and unconscious art, lyrical and only lyrical! “ Walker in Nicarauga ” is a poem of more equable, sustained power than “ Arizonian ,” although even here where the author has a real personage to portray, one with whom he was habitually brought in contact, it is amazing to see how vaguely he has painted him! But with Nature, Mr. Miller is thoroughly at home. His Nicaraguan poem is starred all over