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AUGUSTA WASHINGTONIAN.
jfeikEs inpr: Sfci&art U itot?simiMm« Jrtmilsmeisjwa
% Yol. II No. 13.]
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i —" . ■ . -a
From the Camden (S. C.) Journal.
'lhe Cotton Crop.
We tender our thanks to Capt. Boykin
for the information contained in the fol
lowing letter, anti would remark, that it
may be relied on as correct, Capt. Boykin
Jiejiig an experienced planter—being rare
iy deceived in. his calculations. His ob-
I semitions, it will be perceived, are con
fined to the section of country within the
bounds ofthe Wateree Agricultural Soci
ety, but from what we can learn from
> other portions of the State, his remarks
will apply to the cotton crop generally.
The corn crops we understand are gen
erally very good.
Mr. Editor —Several communications
have taken the rounds of the newspapers,
describing choice and select stalks of cot -
son, the early bloom, and the opening of
the fruit which no doubt were intended as
puffs, and ought not to be taken as a crite
rion by the present crop is to be
judged. Such publications have a ten
dency to mislead, when founded upon no
better data ; various opinions are formed,|
and thence springs up speculation and a
fluctuating state of the market, so per
plexing to the producer, and often times
embarrassing and ruinous to the purchas
er. Cotton affected to rust, or scalded by
too much wet, will hasten to maturity the
fruit upon the famished and sickly plant, j
The eye of the observer, if possessed of
any judgment, condemns such localities;
nor .should choice plats of ground in the
highest state of improvement, with its |
clyster »f bolls to repay the industry ofthej
proprietor, be a specimen by which it canj
be said that the general crop is forward,j
«r that it will be a good one. For aj
number of years, I have examined with I
minuteness, a number of crops during;
the month of August, (an interesting pe- !
j iod of the year to the planter,) inasmuch
as a very correct opinion can then be!
formed, whether there will be a large or
Small turn out of the cotton. I have kept
a dairy, noting season, occurrences, place
and manner of working; and from time 1
to time, stating the prospect of my own,
and my neighbors’ crops. Correspond
ing dates and seasons are referred to, to
•show that the growing staple will not be i
as abundant, as the year 1841, which
was considered far below an average t
crop, 1841 is taken as bearing a tflose
analogy to the present year. The springs
of both years were cold, inclement and
unpropitious, for an early rise of cotton;
but the severity oPthe freezes that occur
t Je d >n March last, with the accompani
ment of the heavy and dashing showers
of rain exceeded that of the former, which
left the land in a bad condition to ger
minate the seed, by which an early stand
could be obtained. The stands general
ly were later, refused to grow off kindlv,
■and are consequently at this time, two
weeks more backward. In August of that
year much rain tell, which was injurious,'
causing much shedding. But being ear
lier, there was more fruit made to this ;
‘date, before the shedding commenced; i
up to the 15th August of this year there I
have heavier rains fallen, the crops two
weeks later, the shedding of forms more i
abundant, the plant more sickly from lice i
and rust, the time to recover too short, i
and the probability of an early frost, will ,
no doubt make this crop fall far short of i
the year compared. September, 1841, i
was favorable, and the slight frosts that i
' fell on the 4th and sth of October, were
of deckled advantage; they checked veg, j
etation, hardened the piaut thereby!
forced a great number of bolls to maturi-j
ly before the ‘23d of the same month,l
when there fell a killing frost, which j
1 brought things to a close. 1 have seen
and examined with some minuteness
> nearly forty growing crops since August
has come in, confined, however, to the
’ Wateree, and its tributaries within the
bounds of the Agricultural Society, em
bracing some of the largest plantations
( in the State, the proprietors of whom arc
jas efficient as can be found anywhere,
r and from personal observation and infor
mation to be relied on, I have no hesita
tion in saying that there will boa defi
t cicncy of at least a third from the last
Ivcar’scrop, and if a killing frost should
ioccur on or before the 10th of October,
half of that crop will not be realized.—
j Acres last year that readily yielded 10 to
! 1200 lbs. seed cotton, from the present
appearance, will not produce more than
7 or 800 lbs., and old unimproved lands
that brought from 6 to 800 lbs., will not
go beyond 4to 500. I have over-rated,
‘ and prefer doing so, for obvious reasons.
In the range of observation there are
some exceptions, highly manured, warm
and fresh soils, the cotton is good, parti
cularly on the west side of the Wateree ;
these localities arc of small extent com
-1 pared to the unfruitfulness of nine-tenths
‘ ofthe section of country under considcr
• ation.
’ In conclusion, I would state that being
• a member of the committee to report the
• probable amount of cotton that will be
• made in the neighborhood, pains have
’ been taken, to arrive at the best informa
• tion by which the report when made, may
1 be relied on.
Yours, Respectfully,
Aug. 18th, 1843. J. Boykin.
Wonders of Cultivation,
i “In this bleak clime, but few of the
, sustaining fruits of the earth were indi
genous, or in a perfect state. Even the
Indian Corn, so often considered a na
s tivehere, was with difficulty acclimated.
. It was brought from the South, and by
■ degrees was coaxed to ripen in a northern
. latitude. The aborigines who cultivated
lit, taught the pilgrims how to use it;
. they plucked the earliest ears with the
; husk, and braided several of them togetli
. er, for the next year’s crop.
The Pumpkin, brought from Spain,
was first planted in Rowley, Massachu
setts, and it was several years before it
came to a knotty shell, which marks
ithe true Yankee pumpkin, such are se
lected for the golden pies of their glorious
thanksgiving festival.
Our Wheat was with difficulty accli
|mated. That brought from the mother
icountry had grown from spring to fall,
| but the season was not long enough hare
to insure a crop; it was then sownjjn the
fall, grew under snows in winter and
icatching the warmest growth of spring, ,
yielded its increase by mid summef. * ,
Asparagus, which is now the delight ■
of all as an early vegetable, and for
; which many millions of dollars are paid
our gardnors yearly, is of late culture in
this Country. At the time ofthe revolu- (
tion, asparagus was only cultivated on 1
the sea-board ; this luxury had not then 1
reached the fanner of the interior.
The history of the Potatoe is singular. 1
Rees’ Encyclopedia states that the pota
toe was brought from Virginia, by Sir ,
Walter Raleigh,, to Ireland. The writer
should have said South America, in the .
latter part of the sixteenth century. Sir
Walter had no idea of its ever being used
as an esculent at that time. It was
pointed out to him as a beautiful flower,
and its hard bulbv root was said, by the
natives, to possess medical qualities. He
took it to Ireland where he had estates
presented to him by Queen Elizabeth,
and planted it in his garden. The flow
ers did not improve by cultivation, but
the root grew larger and softer.
The potatoe in *its native bed was a
coarse ground nut. The thought struck
the philosopher.to try the potatoe as edible,
and boiling and roasting it, he found it,
by either process, excellent. He then
gave some plants to the peasantry, and
they soon became, in a measure, a substi
tute for bread when the harvest was scanty.
The potatoe was successfully cultivated
in Ireland before it was thought much of
in England. It grew into favor by slow
degrees, and it was so little known when
our pilgrim fathers came to this country,
that it was not thought of for a crop in the
new world. It was not until 1710, that
the Irish potatoe reached the country. A
AUGUSTA, GA. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1843.
:! colony of Presbyterian Irish who settled
din Londonderry in New Hampshire,
\ I brought the root with them. This people
-i found* their favorite vegetable flourished
,J well,irf new ground. By degrees their
i j neighbors’(?amd into the habit of raising
i potatoes; but many years elapsed before
s the cultivation of ilien> was generally
: known among the ydprtianry of this coun-[
: try. Long after,thel \ferfe‘cultivated in
. New England, they Ve're held irf con
. i tempt, and the master iW Jianlc othfnhad
> to sti|)ulate with his apprentice that* he,
: | should not be obliged to eat potatoes.
,j An aged mechanic once informed me that
-1 he had raised nine bushels, having at that
.[time (1746) a dozen appreotices-4-but did
. not venture to offer them a boiled potatoe
t with the meat, but left them in the cellar
L; for the apprentices to get and roast as
, they pleased; he soon found that he would
- not have enough for seed, and locked up
) what was left. The next year he raised
t the enormous quantity of thirty-six bush-
I els; the neighbors started! but his boys
3 devoured them through the following
II winter.
, About this time some of the gentry
. brought this vegetable on fheir tables,and
3 the prejudice against it. vanished. Thus
j by degrees a taste for this food was form
. ed, never to be extinguished The culti
; vatiou of the potatoe is now well under
. stood, —a crop ameliorates instead of
s impoverishing the soil, and the culture can
.be increased to any extent. Thus by the
curiosity of one lover of nature, and his
r experiments, has a humble weed been
i brought from the mountains of South
3 America, and spread over Europe and
3 North America, until it is emphatically
. called ‘the bread of nations.; Still the
i country from which it was.takeij has been
too ignorant and superstitious to attempt
its cultivation, until within a few years.
Rice was brought from India in 1796,
and was cultivated byway of experiment,
in South Carolina. It succeded well, and
' was tor many years the staple article
■ of that State.
The Col/on plant was at first cultivated
- as a flower in our gardens, and a beauti
• fid flower it is. This plant alone has
made a revolution in the finances of the
1 world. Look at the growth and con
-1 sumption of it in the United States, and
; the immense manufacture of it in Eng
; land, where it cannot be grown, and you
■ will find my assertion true in its most ex
tended sense.”
*
Meadow Hay.
Low ground hay should never be suf
, sered to stand till it turns. This greatly
, injures it as a feed for stock, and renders it
! fit for little else, often times, than for lit
er, whereas, if it were cut early, and be
fore the seed has ripened and fallen out,
it would make excellent fodder for sheep
and other stock, and be highly beneficial
in eking out other hay in the spring.
There are some species of low ground hay,
which require cutting as early as herds
grass? We think that in most instances
it isTfbltcr to cut early while the grass is
green and succulent, and to give it a good
salting,—say from three pecks to a bushel
to the tfifl (fy This with care in
packing,'will insure its preservation, and
cause it to come out bright and sweet in
the spring. When tl liberal quantity
of salt is allowed, faffo&’cafrfis requisite in
making, as the antiseptic properties of the
mineral will retain it in perfect sweetness
if stored quite green. —Maine Cullitator.
To make an unproductive Fruit Tree befcr.
A lady of our acquaintance took us into
| her garden a few days ago, where v/e
were shown an apple tree, which she in
! formed us, had been planted for ten or
| more years, but had never before borne
any fruit. In looking over an old volume,
she accidentally met with what purported
ito be a remedy for this unproductiveness :
| which was simply to cut from each limb,
close to where it diverges from the trunk,
a piece of bark about four inches round
the limb, and one inch in width, and im
mediately replace it by tying it on with a
rag until adhered again. Early in the
Spring she tried the experiment upon the
tree we speak of leaving, however, two or
three of the limbs untouched. The result
is, that it is now filled with apples, which 1
bid fair to ripen finely; but if. is worthy
of remark, that only on those limbs which (
had been cut is the fruit to lie seen. The !
operation is very simple; and, as it has
proved successful in this instance, wo have ]
no hesitation in recommending its trial in
similar cases .—Reading Gaz.
Number of accidents during twenty-five f
years past, on the Western waters, by f
steamboats, is 228—loss of lives 1700. i
1 -'ii 1 - -i""- JJ-.-.- -- "
. I^o§©[E[LLAMlE@ty)© o
\ - i _ - -p
1 Extract of a letter to the Editor of the Phiiadel
- phia Inquirer and Gazette, Dated
r Princeton, N. J. Aug. 2, 1843.
’ Dear Sir :—Our little town of Prince
ton and vicinity were thrown into great
-[commotion a few days since, by the arrest
i of a colored man w hose name is James
- Johnson, as an alleged fugitive slave from
1 Maryland. It seems, he first came into
", this neighborhood about fire years since,
* jand has behaved himself in the most ex
femplarv manner, giving satisfaction by
t his correct and industrious habits, to all
I those by >v]io employed.
1 j A warrant having been issued by Mr.
I'l Justice Lowry, J magis'trale residing here,
s thc alledged fugitive appeared and de
-1 branded a trial by jury, instead of by a sin-j
f gle magistrate, given by a late act of our!
I [Legislature. A noble provision and a
-! monument to the humanity of Jersey,
s The trial came on yesterday afternoon
J (Monday.) The room was tilled almost
to suffocation, and the greatest interest
Y w'as manifested in the proceedings. The
rl claimant, a Mr. Thomas, of Mississippi,
s was represented by J. T. Wallace, a
- member of the Baltimore bar, and J. F.
- Hagerman, Esq., and the alledged fugitive
-by Major W. C. Alexander, and Edward
1 Armstrong, Esq.
ii The counsel tor the claimant objected
e to the calling of a Jury on 'the ground
sos unconstitutionality: That the act of Con
ii gross had directed that the alleged fugitive
h should be taken before a magistrate, w r ho
J was to pass upon the testimony, and that
Y trial by jury was an addition of the Act
e ofCongress, and also conflicted with it, and
ii that no State had concurrent legislation
t with Congress upon this subject. In sup
port of these positions, they produced a late
t case, decided by the Supreme Court of the
t United States—the Peggs case, which
1 you may recollect was so ably argued by
-■ the Attorney General of our State. View
ed in a common sense light this decision
if clearly proved the Act of our Legislature
■ unconstitutional, but the Justice decided in
s favor of a trial by jury, not feeling cm
i' powered to pronounce an act of his own
* State unconstitutional. There was also
1 a penalty in the Act, provided that if any
- magistrate neglected to carry out all the
i provisions of the act, he should be guilty
-of a misdemeanor, and lie fined <s>soo.
This we can say would not have deterred
the w'orthy Justice in pronouncing the act
. of his Legislature unconstitutional, if he
" believed he bad the power to do so. The
main witness on the part of the claimant
1 was J. T. Wallace, Esq., who unequivo
' callv identified James, as a slave belonging
’to claimant—that it bad been his duty to
’ wait upon witness on all occasions, and
j that he was as sure ofhis identity, as if his
1 own father, and could not be mistaken.
The only ground left for the opposite
’ counsel was in urging the dangers of too
[ great reliance upon identity, and they re
* lated some well authenticated anecdotes,
j where identity had been as positively
j sworn to as in the present case, and where
from incontestible proofs, the party so pos- ,
j itive was afterwards shown, and to his own
satisfaction, to have been mistaken; and
_ that any doubt in the minds of the jury
should weigh for the accused.
It cannot be denied, that there are-some
[ wonderful instances of this kind on record.
’ Their efforts, however, were of no avail; ;
the Jury after an absence of half an hour
, returned a verdict for the claimants.—
, This, we understand, is the first claim
, ofthekindthat has been made in the north
ern part tj# eur State, and has an interest
. as well from thy npvQl{y,|is from the im- ,
, portant question that arose at the trial.
We have heard that S3OO has been offer- ,
j ed for James’ freedom, but the claimant ;
asks s>sso. He has been sy excel- ,
lent and industrious a person, that this ejf- |
fort has been made to retain him,here*,
Much sympathy has been felt for him.
We learn from other sources that the i
man was at last set free upon the payment ‘
of SSOO by a rich lady, (Johnson agreed to '
repay the amount by working for her for
five years) and SIOO subscribed, by other
citizens. h
Be not dismayku.—“ What claims has
that man to courage,” said Napoleon, *
“ who trembles at the frowns of fortune ?” j.
No man is worthy of confidence that has
not been well tried. Strong winds only g
serve to make stronger the foundation of
those trees they do not overturn. We n
should despise ourselves ifwe cannot man
fully bear up against whatever may hr-faII
us in the journey of life. p;
[One Dollar a Year.
Influence of Women.
BY JUDGE HOJPKINSON.
If men hold the political power of soci
ety, women have mainly in their hands
the more important moral power. There
cannot be a moral community where they
are licentious ; there cannot be a refined
society where they are neglected and ig
norant. Upon them depend the earliest
education and first impressions of their
children. They regulate, or materially
influence, the principles, opinions and
manners of their husbaads and thei£j*p**»-
Thus the sound and healthful state of so
ciety depends on them. It is a remarks -
ble historical fact, that the wife ofOSver
Cromvvell endeavored to persuade him to
recall the exiled king, and that all his
children save one were royal. We must
believe they derived their feelings and
i opinions from their mother. Alfred, one
:ofthe most extraordinary men of any
age, who rescued his country from her
enemies by his courage, and by his wis
, dorftand energy rescued her from extreme
t barbarism to a high degree of civilization,
t in his youth was given to idleness and
. pleasure. His mother roused in him the
( ambition arid virtue that has made him
l the admiration of mankind for a thousand
, years. Napoleon said that to the man
. ner in which his mother formed him at
1 an early age, he - principally owed his
subsequent elevation. It was his opin
-1 ion that the future good or ill conduct
1 of a child depends upon the mother.
Mothers , while you are proud of this
, distinction, remember the responsibility
,it imposes on you. Be worthy of it.
’ A Man-Eating Society.
I General Cass, in his oration at Fort.
Wayne, on the 4th of July says, that the
1 powerful tribe of Indians, the Miamis, who
’ once occupied that country, had a fearful
' institution, whose origin and objects have
been lost in darkness of aboriginal history,
' but which was continued to a late period.
It was called the “Man Eating Society,”
’ and it was the duty of its associates to eat
1 such prisoners as wore preserved and de
livered to them for that purpose. The
1 members of this society belonged to a par
’ ticular family and the dreadful inheritance
1 descended to all the children male and fe
\ male. The duties imposed could not be
avoided, and the sanctions of religion
were added to the obligations ofimmemo
rable usage. The feast was a solemn
I ceremony, at which the whole tribe were
collected as actors or spectators. The
' miserable victim was bound to a stake, and
burned at a slow fire, with all the refine
ments of cruelty, which savage ingenuity
could invent.
General Cass says he h,is seen and con
versed with the Chief of the Society,
whose name was White Skin. He knows
an intelligent Canadian, wiio was present
at one of the last sacrifices made, to this
horrible institution. The victim was a
young American, captured iu Kentucky,
during the revolutionary war.
A converted Seminole.—liusti-coluc
chee, a converted Seminole Indian, is
preaching at Reading, Penn., to large au
diences, in the German reformed Church.
The Gazette states that he is a nephew
of Oceola, the late celebrated Florida
warrior, whom he is said to resemble
very strikingly, is about 19 years of age;
tall, stout, and altogether of a fine appear
ance. He speaks English well, uses
simple language, and is graceful in his
gestures. It is his intention to return to
his tribe, as a missionary of the Gospel.
A Rev’d. Forger. —The Rev. J. P.
Backus, a Methodist preacher of the Onei
da Conferences has been arrested at Gates,
N. Y., for forging two notes on the Bank
of Utica, for $1,400. About SI,OOO of
the money has been paid to his creditors,
aiid the remaining S4OO expended in lot
tery tickets. In his trunk were found
tome thirty or forty pages of manuscript,
purporting to be an account of his life,
which jlc intended to finish and then sur
sender "himself to justice. He left for
Utica on* Friday morning.— [Southern
Baptist Advocate.
Mad Dogs — a preventive. —An infalli
ble preventive of spontaneous hydrophobia
in dogs will be in flour of sulpher, a
small particle of which should be mixed
with their food or drink. It has been
known in Europe for centuries, and is al
ways used to prevent the dreadful diseaso
from breaking out among the packs of
hounds upon the estates of English noble
men.—[Ear. paper.
Getting into debt without intending ;o
aay, is an improvement on stealing.