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4
*gmntt of the
planter's Journal,
DEVOTED.TO AORICULTUKE, HORTICULTURE
SEWS, MEMORIES OF THE LOST CAUSE,
LITERATURE, SCIENCE uul ART.
HUNKY MOOIIE,
A. K. WRIGHT.
PATRICK W A Ij S H .
TERMS--$3.00 per Annum, in Advance
SATURDAY, FEB. 10, 1872.
Roster of the C, S. A.
Wc are now prepared to furnish all
numbers of the last volume of the
Banner ok the South, 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.
Spot the Facts
‘‘Prove all things: hold fast to that
which is good.”
This may be sound doctrine- and a
wist! precept to all men, in all branches
of business, in every department of
life. But with the farmer, it is more
than a merely wise precept—more than
simple good advice. For the science
of planting and making profitable
crops is not a book of science that
goes by rule. The conditions of soil
and climate, and of seed and culture
and seasons, are neoer the same two
successive years, nor on two adjacent
farms. The farmes therefore cannot
go by fixed rules, bust must ever rely
on his judgment. He must cultivate
his judgment, that it may become re.
liable, —and this can be done by ob
servation and reflection.
In every other science, there are
fixed rules that, apply uuder given
conditions and these conditions are not
difficult to identifiy, where they exist.
In farming the conditions are too
various and too complex, ever to he
certainly identified. Facts may be
established as facts on one farm, and
not be facts on the next farm. A sys
tem of cultivation that is judicious
and successful with one may prove
disastrous to another. What is “sauce
for the goose" is not always “sauce for
the gander.”
Therefore the farmer must jlulge of
circumstances and conditions and not
rely on stated rules; he must prove
all things, determine what is good, and
hold to it.
Each successive year is a chapter in
his lesson of life. Each years crop is
his subject tor study: he should so
regard it, and see that he improves 1 is
opportunities; and whatever the
present result may be, the next year
should find him more competent and
skillful in his work.
The yield of the crop, is the result
of the forces of Nature as they may be
enlisted for our aid by the prudent
skill of men. Those who would suc
ceed, must watch nature, and learn.
Many of her operations are strange
and hard to understand. Therefore
“prove all things." Try those things
which varefill thoughts may suggest to
you as judicious, watch results, and
note facts as they are proven to exist.
He who is unobservant, and heedless
in his course, will learn nothing. Facts
may exist, and be proven to him every
year, and yet he never accepts the
proof, never recognises the fact. By
this he goes on yearly to repeat his er
rors instead of correcting them. llow
BANNER OF THE SOUTH AND PLANTERS’ JOURNAL.
can wc hope for improvement on the
part of such an one, who will not ob
serve enough to see a thing that is
proven before his eyes year afle rvear.
Let the planter be watchful and
thoughtful, spot the facts as soon as
they are proven to him by experience
and so avoid errors that lead to losses,
and get at last into a safe and sure
system that will ensure success in his
calling.
Raising Onions
Onions, whether from the seed, or
from setts, like a rich, light soil, exposed
to the full influence of the sun. Fresh
or rank manure is injurious, and if ap
plied at the time of planting, the ma
nure should be well rotted and fine, and
turned in only to a moderate depth.
I’ulvdHsc the soil carefully, and if it be
tenacious, add sand or charcoal dust to
lighten it. Ashes and soot are specially
beneficial to this crop, and a liberal
dressing of salt, six or eight bushels
per acre, is a specific, as in case of
asparagus. To raise setts, sow the
seed in February pretty thick in drills,
cover very lightly and press or roll a
little. Whyn the sprouts appear, keep
the soil clean of weeds and grass, and
stir it occasionally. If thinned out to
six or eight inches, and the earth
scraped away from the roots, very good
onions for eating may be had in June
and July. But to raise setts, let them
stand thick, and gather them in to a
dry loft, as sown as they turn brown.
In putting out setts, which should
be done early in February, firepare the
ground as above directed, and lay off
shallow drills 10 or 12 inches apart.
Haoe the setts eight inches apart,
barely covering the tojm or sprouts.
Keep the soil mellow wheu they begin
to grow, and to get good sized roots
scrape the dirt away from them. If
seed steins grow out, break them off i
promptly, or no roots will be formed, j
In very wet seasons the roots may fail,
to bulb out properly, in which case j
bend down the stem about two inches
above the neck.
It is time to gather them when the
tops die dow'n, and they are easily kept
through winter in a dry loft.
Ashes, bone dust, and Land plaster
supply all the elements needed for this
crop. Onions require no change of
soil, and in this respect are an excep
tion to the general rule. They have
been grown yearly in the same spot for
an hundred years, it is said, in the old
countries.
For a garden crop it is convenient
to lay off narrow beds, just wide
enough for four or five rows, so as to
avoid treading the soil, in weeding out.
This crop may be raised to great per
fection in the South, and in the days to
come, when small farms and various
products shall be the order of tilings
here it may become one of the stand
byes for a market product. The yield
per acre at the North is enormous, and
would lie greater at the South. Our
present practice is to buy oin- Onions
from Massachusetts at a cost four
times as great as if we raised them at
home.
Minor Vegetable Products
. Under the head of Minor Vegetable
Products *sft their Sources, the last
Report of the Commissioner of Ag
riculture furnishes extensive and
valuable information, including the
nature and properties and process of
manufacture as well as the sources of
supply of ail vegetable Oils, Extracts,
Gums, Waxes, Dyes, etc., that are
known in commerce, The list is a
long one, and we suggest only a few
of the names that are most familiar to
us. Among the oils are Croton, j
Thyme, Cajeput, Bene, Palm, Almond,
Cashe, Pea-nut, Clove, Cinnamon,
Cassia, Castor, Olive, Onise, Pepper
mint, Fennel, Lavender, Linseed, ]
Cubebs, Rapeseed and Bergamot, with :
thirty nine others. AmoDg the Gums, i
are Gamboge, Asafetida, j
Copal, Aloes, Arabic, Guaiacum, 1
Opoponax, Gutta j»ercha, India-rubber;j
Balsams of Tolu, Pcnne, Copaiba \
Myrrh, with fifty five others Gums and j
Ilesins. Os Spices and Condiments!
there are accounts of near thirty kinds- j
such as Cinnamon, Cassia buds, Cloves,
Cardamons, Nutmeg, Ginger, Caraway
and Coriander seed, Tamarinds, Capers,
Liquoric and Vanilla: And ofj
Waxes a dozen kinds not properly in 1
eluded among Gums and Resins.|
Tea, and the substances used for tea,j
and also Coffee, with the kinds raised j
and used, in various countries, are also j
included in this valuable chapter.
The information it furnishes is j
valuable indeed, and with nothing else j
in it, the volume would be worthy of!
preservation for reference.
The Department of Agriculture has I
introduced seeds and plants of au hun •
dred useful kinds from foreign J
countries for experimental purposes in j
the United States, and has done much
to stimulate tests of such products as
would be valuable in our soils and
climate. Os course there are very
many that are not susceptible of culti
vation in this country, but no small
number of such as have been tried are
found to flourish with ready vigor, es j
pecially in the Southern States. It is
probable that in the limits ol the two ;
Carolinas and Georgia and Florida a i
more varied, as well as more uniformly I
general soil and climate may be found, I
than anywhere else within a like area,
on earth—anil capable at the same ]
time of snstaining and producing a
more’ extensive variety, and a larger
number of different kinds of growth,
than any other like area.
There is a great field for useful ex
periment in these States, and the facili
ties offered by the distiibntion of seeds
anil plants by the Bureau of Agricul
ture are inducements to the undertak
ing.
The following table shows the value
of imports of the articles named in the
year 1860. Os the Olive oil, and Lin
seed oil, it is likely three fourths was
cotton seed oil, made and sold first in
this country and use abroad for adultera
tion. Tea. it has been already found,
may be cultivated here with as great
ease and profit as Mustard and Pep
per.
Coffee y, $52,779,574
Tea 12,880,383
India Rubber 2,672,569
Olive Oil «... 521,117
Castor Oil 21,891
Linseed Oil 70,648
Cassia and Cassia buds. 178,822
Pepper 299,813
Ginger 100,140
Palm and Cocoa 0i1.... 232,354
Jalap 8,939
Aloes 15,626
Nutmegs 205,128
Caraway Seed 24,889
Bergamot Oil 130,386
Mustard 63,731
Cardamon Seeds 23,998
Major J. 11. Wilkins, of Jefferson,
has written au urgent appeal in behalf
of reeorganization of the Jefferson
country Agricultural Society. The
address is published in the County |
paper. We trust it will be effectual in
the accomplishment of the worthy pur
pose proposed. Major Wilkins is a
most energetic and worthy citizen,
highly respected and esteemed among
his people.
Condition ok Negroes on the
Sea Coast. —The Savannah -Republi
can states the Rice crop on the Georgia
afld South Carolina sea board is twenty
five per cent less than last year, and is
now so small that the whole of it would
scarcely remunerate the labor required
to produce it. In the days of slavery
the same population of laborers pro
duced four times the crop they make
since labor is voluntary. Then they
were well fed and happy, and their
owners became wealthy, and the coun
try prospered.
In these latter days of blessed
freedom, these poor people are learning
the meaning of the policy suggested
in the words “make them free and then
starve them to death.” *
Jn sowing tine seeds, such as spring
turnips, lettuce, cabbage, raddish, press
the earth lightly after covering the se-“d,
but be careful not to cover 100 deep.
To press the earth, use a light roller,
or else lay a plank on the drill and
walk over it once, then remove it to
the next drill.
Texas Correspondence.
Houston, Texas, January 17, 1872.
Messrs. Editors Runner of the South
and Planters' Journal:
Our enemies have claimed that they
were* the peculiar apostles of jieaee
and good government. They have as
sumed that the Southern people were
opposes 1 to law and order, and there
fore not to he entrusted with public af
fairs on their own soil, and that it was
necessary for them (the Radicals) to
direct and manage the governmental
machinery of the South, in order to
advance the best interests of the
people. These have been the pre
tences and assumptions. Now, let ns
see what has been the practice and the
results.
’Heaven knows it was bad enough to
place over us white men, of the North,
who had despoiled our country, and
robbed us of property and sacred
rights, during the war ; and hated, in
sulted, robbed and oppressed us after
wards; it was very trying; though
we might have patiently borne all this,
execrable as it was.
But the Badicals were not con
tent. The great complaint of the
abolitionists, before the war, was
against slavery. The destruction of
the institution, then, was the professed
object; and not without the most
glaring and J inexcusable hypocricy,
oould they go beyond the object which
they had in hounding on the war. But
they did not stop here. Having
gained an inch (a very long one) they
demanded au ell. The ell was not a
legitimate result of the war, but Radi
cal aggression, and a good cause of
war on our part. They (the Radicals)
must not only place the degraded
negroes on an equality with us, but
raise them yet higher ; and they legis
latcd especially and particularly in
favor of the blacks ; regarding them as
the wards of tJie nation (which did
not add much dignity to the Washing
ton concern), and placing’t he laws, to a
great extent, in ti e hands of these
icards for execution. They changed
the wards to guards—transformed the
pet lambs into wolves. They have
made us white men subject to arrest
and trial by negroes. Negroes, in
great part, make and administer the
laws.
The Radicals, have known (as far as
they were capable ot knownig) the
feelings of the Southern people in re
lation to giving this power to negroes;
and they had good reason to believe
the appointment of Africans to execute
the law in the South, would unavoid
ably produce infractions of the law ;
that making negroes peace officers
Mould cause breaches of the peace.
Such has beon’the result. Was this
not really the purpose? And the
Radicals, having in this manner caused
the ill-feeling and these outbreaks, in
the formerly peaceful and prosperous
South, have savagely pursued those
whom they are pleased to call wrong
doers.
If the Radicals really w anted peace,
it is reasonable to suppose they would
have adopted the means of securing
it; and having taken the opposite
direction, it is equally rational to con
clude they have not wished for quiet
and good government in our section.
If the powers that be have wanted
our people to be friendly, and desired
harmony and prosperity in this part of
the land, why have they not, at least,
given us white officers instead of black,
and recognized our people as possessors
iof intelligence, human instincts and
pride? It they do not so recognize
us, they must expect a continuance of
I outbreaks, and what they choose to
'call crimes. All the Ku-Klux and
| similar laws that they could enact
in ten years would not prevent it.
Ku-Kluxism in the South is, after all,
I nothing but the exercise of the right of
self defence, a right which, according
Sir William Blackstone and other
jurists, cannot be legislated away, and
which our people will and must exercise.
We will not lie the victims of negro
thieving and lust.
The Radicals, if they stop the evils
of which they complain, must deal
with causes and not with effects. Be
fore they accuse us of wrong they
must be right themselves. They have
no foundation for saying or doing
anything against the South, where
they have sustained such governors as
Holden, Scott, Bullock, Warmoth,
Clayton, and Davis.
Our enemies pass laws in plain
violation of the constitution, violate
those laws—all for the oppression of
the Southern white people—and then
! jiersecute us for resisting the violations.
They brutally trample upon our
| highest and best feelings, goad us to
madness, and call us the aggressors.
Their “God and Morality” is on a par
with the “God and Liberty" of the
Mexicans. The result of all is the
destruction of peace and prosperity in
the South. Jacinto.
Disinfectants. —Unpleasant odors
j often gather in sick rooms, cellars?
j sinks, drains, stables, outhouses and
' other places, rendering the use of a
i disinfectant needful* if the air is kept
pure, and the people healthy. Chloride
!of lime is probably the best, though
othei-s are useful. In a sick room,
coffee inrv be roasted; a solution of
copperas may be sprinkled about, or
clothes wet with it and hung up, or
j chloride of lime moistened in some
; corner, and each will soon purify the
i air. /
Where considerable quantities are
jto be used, much of the expense may
be avoided by manufacturing it for the
purpose. An impure chloride of lime
may be manufactured by dissolving
salt in water till it will take no more]
| and then using it to slack lime. No
more of the salt water should be
poured on the lime than will dry-slack
it, leaving it in the form of a thick
paste. More salt water should be
added for severel days, as the lime will
take it up. This will prove a powerful
disinfectant equally good for out door
: purposes with the article bought at the
! drug store, and very much cheaper.
I It should be kept under a shed or some
! out-building, water added from time to
| time to keep it moist and may be ap
| plied wherever any offensive odors have
been produced, with the assurance that
| it will effectually purify the air.
i Those living in villages and cities
would find it greatly for their health
and comfort to keep a supply on hand
ready tor use, during the hot season.
It is far more healthful than quick
lime, which scatters the offensive
effluvia through the atmosphere.