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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.