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54 AGRICULTURAL. DANIEL LEG, M. Editor. SATURDAY JULY 9, 1559. OH WHAT BASIS ABE SOUND PRINCIPLES IH AGRICULTURE TO BE ESTABLISHED 1 In continuation of the subject of questions and answers in agriculture, barely commenced in our last issue, we proceed to inquire : on what basis are sound principles in agriculture to be es tablished ? Answer : Sound principles, wheth er in tillage or husbandry, can have no other ba sis than that of making restitution to the soil of all the elements of fertility removed in crops. It is not necessary that man should always mak# this restitution, because, under favorable circumstances, nature performs this necessary operation for him. This fact is strikingly shown on the fertile bottoms which are occasionally overflown by a river, or smaller stream, and made rich by aqueous deposites. These per form the office of manure, and thereby Save the cultivator the necessity of expending either la bor or money in renovating an impoverished soil. There are several other ways in which nature kindly recuperates the weakened pow ers of longarated fields without the aid of hu man thought or industry. The principal agen cies concerned in this renovating process are the dynamical and chemical forces that exist in moving water, and in moving atmospheric gases. The activity and efficiency of these forces are largely increased by solar heat and light, by freezing cold, and by the inherent powers of both vegetable and animal vitality. Each of these elements and others not yet named, are the means used by Providence to rejuvenate land which has by any change of condition lost its former fruitfulness. Where uplands are sub ject to wash and denudation, nature is very slow in repairing the injury done by improper cultivation, and the work of making restitution becomes a part of agricultural labor. But in such cases, prevention of damage is better for the land and its owner than the employment of expensive remedies after the injury has been done. Hence, the art and wisdom of construct ing hill-side ditches to guard against the bad ef fects of our almost tropical rains that sometimes deluge the earth to a limited extent. Every fur row should be made with reference to the pos sible damage from washing showers, and thereby avoid the loss of mould, and of tho fine and more soluble mineral particles at and near the surface of tho ground. After all has been done that experience dic tates as proper in our-climate to prevent the loss of fertility, by the dynamical forces of tillage and moving water, we have to consider tho ways and moans at our command to plow into the soil the identical substances required for the growth of profitable crops, so far as they may be lacking, or present, but in an unavailable con dition. When one lias reached this point in the improvement of impoverished land, or of that which is naturally thin, poor, or barren, he feels the want of more reliable information than ho possesses. lie wants to know’ how far nature is able to draw the several constituents of fruitfulness from the atmosphere, and from the deep subsoil to create as it were a new' fertility in ground which is really too poor for successful cropping. In all such cases one must rely exclusively on liis own experience and observation, or avail him self of the recorded experience of others, in form ing liis judgment liow to operate. Wo have always thought, and long taught that tho latter course is wiser than the former ; for it improves a man’s capacity to see and understand all agri cultural phenomena better, if he studies the practice, the truths, and the errors, developed in the lifelong experience of hundreds and thou sands of other farmers and planters. In this way he really makes their dear bought wisdom his own by a little reading and thinking. There are few recipes in agriculture for extract ing manure from rain water, or from the deep earth, which are valuable to any but men well grounded in the true principles of agricultural science. This arises in part from the infinite diversity of soils and subsoils ; so that a system would be eminently successful in one place might fail in another. Liming is just the tiring required in many localities ; while liming alone proves valueless in some geological dis tricts. Gypsum and phosphate of lime often fail of paying their cost when used as fertilizers. All special manures will only liit in special cases. Stable manure makes not a special, but a comprehensive restitution of both the organic and inorganic elements of fertility ; and there fore where the soil is not poisoned t\y some sol uble mineral, nor by stagnant water, stable dung, rotting in the ground, never fails to enrich poor land. But w’here shall the cultivator of a poor farm go to obtain those plants which will yield rich stable manure, or equally enrich land if plowed in green, or, if ftiey rot on the sur face of the earth ? The owner of such barren soil really lacks the very seed of the dung heap. yet even he is not wholly without remedies to cure the natural poverty of his fields. Moss grows on a naked rock, and there are at least a hundred plants that will assist a wise man in fertilizing poor land. The cultivation of some of these plants as renovating crops lias rarely failed of being very profitable in the end.— Tree planting has done much for the sterile granitic soils of Scotland, Belgium, and other Eu ropean countries; and some of cur readers may be surprised one of these days, when we show them the official returns to prove that timber i 3 one of the staple crops grown for exportation in Belgium, which is the most densely peopled na tion in Europe. There is no land in Georgia so poor that for est trees will not grow upon it; and we may grow valuable timber, and all fruit-bearing trees *gaK® sowmiui vxs&ai ill huubxm. adapted to our climate, with equal success. There are at least a score of trees that will enrich our old fields more than twice as fast as the pines that now very generally occupy the ground. The writer’s limited experience in tree planting and forest culture has been quite en couraging ; and he desires to see this branch of land-improvement, and source of wealth, extend ed. It is at once a natural and very eco nomical way to augment vegetable mould and fruitfulness in any soil not already exceedingly rich. Trees judiciously selected and planted, will grow as fast as young children, and thus give existence to valuable timber, and more valuable fruits, as a sure income from wliat is now a cheap and unproductive landed estate. — CUTTING TIMBER AT THE RIGHT SEASON. A correspondent of the Walhalla Banner in vites public attention to the subject of cutting fence posts and trees whose timber, or plank may be exposed to tho weather, at that season of the year when the wood will be least liable to decay. He says: During the month of August, 1851, I had post-oak posts cut for a garden. They were hewn in March, and charred to about five inches above the ground. I finished the garden on the 19th of March, 1852. There were wanting three posts to complete the line, and I sent a boy into the woods to cut them ; one was charred, and one of the other two was put into the ground reversed. On tlie 18th of March, 1859, a heavy gale passed over my farm, and the line of gar den-paling last finished was blown down. Upon examination, I found the three posts last insert ed, completely rotted—the very heart was in a state of decay. I could see no difference in fa vor of the charring or inverting, worthy of note. This induced me to examine all the other garden j posts. I found the sap generally decayed, but the heart sound. The charring seemed to have delayed, but not prevented, the decay of the sap wood. x I have post-oak gate posts now standing, which were put in the ground seventeen years ago ; the heart is sound vet, while other posts, cut at different times, have completely rotted in half the time, all things being equal in the way of exposure or situation. Cannot your practical and observing correspondent, ‘’Laurens,” throw some light on the subject ? A Backwoodsman. In countries where the people have been com pelled to plant acorns, walnuts, and the seeds of other forest trees, to grow timber for home consumption, it has been a matter of much in terest to determine at what time of the year it is best to fell trees with a view to secure the greatest durability to the wood. Modern ana lytical chemistry, as applied to the study of veg etable physiology, lias thrown light on this sub ject. Certain substances, like pitch, wax, tal low, and oil, possess a remarkable power, where diffused through the cells of wood, of resisting that natural chemical action called decay. These fatty particles are wanting in most forest trees; yet, the starch, sugar, gum, young, and old woody fibre vary materially not only in young and old trees, but in different months of the year. The same remarks apply to all the nitrogenous tissues of these noble plants. WHY STOCK-GROWING WILL BE PROFIT ABLE. An examination of the statistics of the live stock in the United States, as shown by the census of 1840 and that of 1850, lurnishes some facts worth considering for the remarkable de crease exhibited in the six New England States, in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Dele ware, Maryland, and Virginia. In the twelve States named, the falling off in ten years was very nearly eight and a half million head. We give the official figures : 1840. ISSO. Decrease. Horses and Mules, 1,612,533 1,529,199 58,694. Neat Cattle, 6,178,509 6.083,841 89,728. Swine, 6,897,896 4,909,884 1,988,018. Slieep, 11,872,622 5,450,678 6,221,950. Total decrease, 8,388,885. With a pretty large increase of population, the fact of such a decreaso in the number of domestic animals appears extraordinary. It is due entirely to the general, and almost universal impoverishment of the soil in tlieso old States. The ground that once supported sheep, hogs, neat cattle, and horses now yields so much loss that nearly all its products are required for hu man sustenance, leaving but little for live stock. The evidence of this fact would be far more con clusive, did not the prolific West furnish New England and large districts in New York and other States with much of their breadstuff's and provisions; thus saving much land for the support of horses, and other domestic animqls. Not withstanding every gain of this kind, a larger population is compelled to do with some eighty four thousand horses less in 1850, than a small er population had in 1840. The larger popula tion also had fewer sheep than the smaller to supply them with wool and mutton by some six and a quarter million head—the reduction being over fifty per cent. Is not this condition of things in twelve States most encouraging to stock husbandry in this quarter of the Union, where grazing lands abound to an almost unlimited extent? At no time within the memory of man have wool growing, and the rearing of horses, mules, and neat cattle been so remunerative in this country as they now are; nor is the supply likely to equal the demand for generations to come. All our national habits and customs operate against the systematic improvement of land. This will render the profits of such as act wisely in the mat ter of stock husbandry, both large and certain. No one should wait till his fields cease to pro duce good crops of cotton, corn, and wheat bo fore he seeds them down to the best European grasses; for if he does, it may be too late to re alize any profit. No one can stop too soon the bad practice of wearing out the land he culti vates. By keeping breeding mares and raising fine colts, or by keeping sheep, a farmer may easily improve a farm without plowing a tenth part of it. After the soil is nearly exhausted, tho family must still get their bread from it, an- as at the North, live stock will bo driven off the premises. When one raises no more corn than the children need, it is easy to see that but few hogs will be fatted on this grain. Something like this state of things reduced the number of swine nearly two million head from 1840 to 1850, where there ought to have been an increase of a like number. Similar causes re duced nearly twelve million head of sheep to a fraction over five million. The next census will show some thirty million inhabitants in the confederacy, and very little if any increase of horses. Hence, horse flesh must rise rapidly in its market price; while wool will certainly be at least twice as profitable as cotton culture in the hands of men who know how to take care of sheep. The dairy business pays more than three times the profit now in that part of New York where the writer was reared, that it did thirty years ago. It is easy to see that, if one can pay expenses and produce but ter on a large scale at ten cents a pound, a for tune may be made at this branch of rural in dustry, when butter is sold at twenty cents a pound, as it will give a clear profit of one hun dred per cent. A cow that twenty years ago would have sold for fifteen dollars, will now bring forty-five dollars; and steers have risen equally in price. It is choice cows, sheep, horses, and mules, that yield the greatest returns to skilful hus bandmen. The production of scrubs, or mean stock of any kind, is rather a mean business in a pecuniary point of view. Raise superior ani mals on rich perennial grasses, if you seek a good income from your farm in stock husbandry. Such animals may obtain a part of their living from unimproved old fields, particularly sheep; but they want good clover and pea hay in the winter, or hay made from the English grasses. The most prominent error in stock growing is the attempt to rear fine hogs, cattle, and sheep, on scanty and defective food. Some want a good deal of meat, milk, or wool, from little or noth ing. They ask nature to make them rich, while they lie in the shade in summer, and set by the fire in winter, and leave their poor animals to nearly or quite perish from neglect. Give stock the same diligence and care bestowed on a crop of cotton,'and the profit will be far g reater, be cause the one branch of business is now pushed rather too far, while the other is sadly neglected. Hence, there is more money in growing horses, mules, and wool than in growing our great com mercial staple. Let us diversify our agriculture, and learn to make a little labor go a great way by pursuing a system of wise husbandry. ■ ' [Written for the Southern Field and Fireside.] Effingham, July Ist, 1859. Dr. Lee : Dear Sir : You will send me an ounce or two of the grass seed so kindly offered to your subscribers. lam a novice in farming, (this being my third crop.) yet I love farming more than every other profession, and believing that the successful cultivation of grasses, and fo rage plants, and the consequent rearing of stock, underlies all agricultural improvements, my at tention has been earnestly directed toward them. Until this spring all my efforts have proved fail ures. On the 22d of February last, I planted a spot in my garden with Lucerne and Stanford grass. The Lueerno is now in bloom, and is two and a half feet high. Land would possibly produce eighteen to twenty bushels of com to the acre. The Stanford grass is nearly four feet high, and is now ripening its seed. Lind same as before. It is likely that they would have been earlier and better, if planted at the proper season—the fall of the year. The Hungarian grass may be worthy of cultivation, but lias disappointed me. In the latter part of March one bed of it was planted, and another in April. Both were planted in drills, and well worked, upon about such land as the Stanford grass grew on, and it attained only the average height of two feet; and as it is an annual, and said to be ex hausiing, I do not believe it to be adapted to our section of the country where good land is scarce, and will grow many other crops to more profit. You can better judge of the success attending my efforts, as I have never seen the cultivated grasses grown before. The farmers around, tell me that they would be content if they could kill, instead of raising grass ; and my experience has been of necessity limited. But I hope this state of things will not long last, and they will not, if my efforts, with the assistance of your valuable pages, will do aught towards effecting a change. Please answer the following queries in the way that best suits you. What I wish is ano ther grass seed to add to my list : Can the sulphate of lime, refuse from the man ufacture of “Soda Water,” te profitably used, and if so, what is its value for agricultural pur poses ? Can any grass be grown to profit on rich bot tom land subject at some periods of the year to an overflow of two or three inches ? Do you know a preventive to the grub or wolf on cattle ? It is said that they are in poorer condition, and more apt to die at seasons when they are most numerous. Respectfully, M. A. J. — 1 1 > HUNGARIAN HONEY BLADE GRASS. Office of tiie Country Gentleman, ) Albany, N. Y., June 24,1859 J Dr. D. Lee : Dear Sir—Wo are much obliged to you for sending us the card of “A. P. Beers,” cut from an Augusta paper, or otherwise we might not have seen it. The statement of Mr. Beers, that “ the Country Gentleman is pecu niarily interested” in the sale of any species of seed which is affected by “the increasing popu larity of the Hungarian Honey Blade,” is un qualifiedly false. We have no interest, pecuni ary or otherwise, in the sale of any kind of seed whatever. All we have had to say about the “ Ilungarin Honey Blade,” has been with a view to save our readers from paying a high price for an old thing under a new name. Respectfully yours, Luther Tucker & Son. Scented Oils. —Some of theso are sold by per fumers at a very high profit; they can all be prepared at a very small expense. Take a quart of common olive oil, and heat it in a stone ware vessel up to 212 deg. then add half an ounce sal-soda, and stir all for fifteen minutes. Allow it to cool, and a sediment will fall .to the bottom; pour off the clear, and sent it with any of the essential oils, such as rosemary, bergamot; and lavender. One fourth of an ounce of essential oil will scent a quart of tho prepared oil, which is very excellent for the hair, and equal to Row land’s celebrated Macassar oil, sold, at such ex travagent prices.— Scientific Aineriaan. SHEEP SHEARING FESTIVAL. A public sheep-shearing took place at the resi dence of Gen. J. S. Goe, near Brownsville, Pa., May 26, at which James Higenbotiiem was cho sen President, and William Duncan Secretary. Resolves were passed, expressive of the industry and energy of Gen. Goe in breeding stock, and of the excellency of his flock. We give a sum mary of the number sheared, as furnished by the committee under whose superintendence the shearing took place: Two French Merino Ewes, washed, average of fleeces, eight pounds four ounces. Eight French Merino Ewes, unwashed, aver age of fleeces, ten pounds two ounces. One French Merino Buck, unwashed, weight fleece, twenty-two pounds two ounces. One Silesian Merino Buck, unwashed, weight of fleece, sixteen pounds six ounces. Three Silesian Merino Ewes, unwashed, aver age of fleeces, seven pounds. Four Silesian Merino Ewes, washed, average of fleeces, three pounds seven ounces. Four Spanish Merino Bucks, unwashed, aver age of fleeces, twelve pounds two ounces. Eight Spanish Merino Ewes, unwashed, aver age of fleeces, eight pounds seven ounces. Fifty Spanish Merino Ewes, washed, average of fleeces, five pounds. The Spanish Merino Sheep, both males and females, are the variety best adapted to wool growing in Georgia and the contiguous States. They are smaller than the French Merinos, and therefore better able to subsist on scant pas tures; and at the same time they yield quite as much value in wool for the food consumed as any other breed or race of sheep whatever. The reader will find in this connection, a life like likeness of a group of Spanish Merino Rams, bred by, and the property of George Camp bell, of Westminster, V ermont. The fifty Span ish Merino Ewes that yielded Gen. Goe an av erage of five pounds of washed wool a head, would give their owner two dollars and a half each for its fleece, and probably something more than that sum for their lambs. Indeed, we should like to take their lambs at five dollars a head. Good Merino wool is now worth fifty cents a pound ; and we will take an early leisure hour to state briefly the reasons for believing that one may grow a pound of this wool at about the cost of producing a pound of cotton. Americus, sth July, 1859. Dr. Li:e —Dear Sir: Please find enclosed five post office stamps, to pay postage on (he grass-seed, you have generously proposed to send to the subscribers to the Field and Fireside. I have a very good bit of land reclaimed from marsh by ditching, but cannot prevent an oc casional overflow and sometimes for several days together. A suggestion through your paper as to what kind of grass would probably be best, will be properly appreciated, and greatly oblige yours, Ac. A. A. Robinson. The grass known as red-top and lierds-grass in the Middle States, as foul meadow in New England, common lent in Old England, and bo tanically Ajrostis vulgaris , is one of the best you can cultivate. It is quite common in Clark county, Ga. The Poa pratense may also be grown to advantage. If the water remains on the ground too long, it will kill all of tho better kinds of grass; when you must seed again. Raise your seed as you do your corn, and always keep a little over when you sow, after you are once fairly started in a good meadow. Fine vs. Coarse AYool Sheep. —Having been a reader of tho Farmer for the past ten years, I have during that time noticed more or less dis cussion with regard to tho relative qualities of coarse and fine wool sheep, some recommending one kind and some another, as yielding the great est profit to the farmer. I have kept both kinds, and as far as my experience goes, am greatly in favor of the fine wool, provided they are of the right kind. I kept through the winter, one year ago, thirty-one sheep of the French and Spanish cross; fifteen ewes, (which reared me fourteen lambs,) thirteen lambs and three bucks, which sheared mo six pounds and eleven ounces per head (on an average,) of clean, washed wool. That sold for forty cents per pouud, while coarse wool sold from twenty-five cents to thirty cents. My pheep were provided with (what I consider indispensable,) good shelter, racks under cover, and fed with corn, oats, and wheat bran, in equal parts, half bushel per day, and watered regular ly. Now, if any one can show a greater profit from the same number of coarse wool sheep, I hope they will give us their experience. Z. B. S., Fairfield, Ohio. HOWTO KEEP INSECTS OUT OF DRIED FRUIT. The Lexington Flay says that pieces of sassa fras bark put in with dried fruit, will keep all in sects away from it. The statement appears highly probable; for the fragrance and essen tial oil of this bark are very offensive to these pests to every house-keeper. Try the fresh bark to drive off chinch bugs, should any reader be troubled with them. — CORN. • The Bowling-Green Gazette says it is the uni versal opinion among farmers that, if the weath er continues favorable, there will be tl)e largest com crop ever produced in that country. AGRICULTURAL LETTERS FROM HANCOCX NO. 6. BY AS OLD MEMBER Or HIE PLASTERS’ CLUB. UiU-side ditching—lts decline—Objections to it — The grading system—Land culture — Terracing. Mr. Editor: It is a fact not to be disguised, that hill-side ditching, as the means of improv ing land, has seen its best days in Hancock county. Though not entirely abandoned, yet it is partially superceded by another and a better system. Discerning men havo long since seen objections to it, which in the estimation of many are sufficient to condemn it. The most promi nent of these, are : First, the difficulty of main taining the right fall on different kinds of soil, and in the different curves around hills, so as to keep an open ditch, without making a gully.— Second, the fact that unless it is done perfect ly, heavy rains make breaks, which result in larger and deeper gullies than under the old system. Third, it has been found that eveiy ditch carries off much of the good soil, and it is believed that the waste, though not so rapid, is still going on under this system. As collateral objections, the time it takes to keep them open, in being crossed with plows, or clogged with grass or stalks, and the loss of land they cause, as well as their unsightliness, have all been urged. These however, are minor considera tions, when compared with the others. The first objection is of a very serious charac ter, and one which no theory can obviate; noth ing but practice can make a man perfect in this os in almost every other art; even after a long practice the most practical minds find it difficult to succeed in every instance. As general rules, sandy soils require deeper grades than clay soils; and short curves, more fall, and higher banks, than straight ditches, and the nearer the mouth the deeper should be the grade and the wider the ditch. Long ditches should always be avoid ed, if possible, as they can rarely be made to carry off the accumulating waters of a heavy rain. Wo introduced an improvement, which now seems to be generally in vogue, by which both curves and long ditches are measurably avoided. It is, to begin the ditches at the centre of the ridge, and run up the sides of the hill, instead of down, till you strike the hollow; where, if there is no ditcli, one should always be conß*ructed, to receive all the ditches from each side of the hill, and carry the water off to the branch or creek. The grand objection to hill-side ditching, in our judgment, is that it does not protect the soil from gradual waste, as it was once thought it would do. In the western and northern parts of this county, where hill-side ditching has been long in vogue, it is discovered that on steep hills the constant action of the plow, together with the rains, has carried the soil from imme diately below each ditcli, further down the hill, until it will scarcely produce anything at these points. The most fertile parts of the land is always just above the ditch—the most barren just be low it. So that the richest land being the ac cumulated surface soil, for a number of feet above, are always just above the ditch, ready to be thrown in by the plow, or washed in by the rain, and carried, (somewhat circuitously, it is true,) to the valley beneath. Wc have several fields in our eye almost as surely mined in this way by hill-side ditching, as under the old plan; not so quickly, we admit. Under any system, all soils tend downward, under the action of the plow. Now, let us suppose a hill-side with a declivity so steep that the surface soil falls two inches down the hill for every furrow that is run. Allowing an average of thjee plowings a year for the different crops, the soil would recede a half foot annually, or ten feet in twenty years. Now, on a slope of one hundred feet the base of the hill would be getting deeper and richer from the action of the plow, while near the summit the soil would be much poorer, in fact entirely removed. The lower belt would be doubled in depth of soil, the middle retain its own, there being simply a replacement- of the soil and no loss—while the upper belt of three feet would not have a particle of the old surface soil. But let us suppose that we have threo hill-side ditches within the bounds of one hundred feet —which would not be too much for a steep hill. Each ditch arrests the downward progress of the soil, and carries off what accumu lates at the base just above it, which, just below the soil receiving no help from above, is denuded for ten feet of its soil, thus making thirty feet put of the one hundred a waste; while, under the system of level culture, there is but two feet impoverished. This is a question of much interest, and should arrest the atten tion, of all who advocate hill-side ditching so indiscriminately. To obviate these objections, it has been pro posed to supercede hill-side ditching by grad ing all the rows at a rate sufficient to carry off the surface water of a washing rain, without producing any breaks in the land. Thus each j-ow would carry its own water, and the neces sity of ditches bo entirely obviated. This certainly is an improvement, but has very serious objections, nevertheless. For let the grade be a long one, the soil of a loose texture, and the rain abundant, it will be perceived at once that at the termination of each row a gully would be formed, and much of the soil carried off. Be sides, it would boa w r asto of water in clay soils, for every particle would run off as soon it falls, leaving none on the land to bo gradually absorb ed, as it would when the rows run on a leveL This system has had but few advocates in this county, and has, as far as we are apprised, been entirely abandoned. What is known as land culture, is now the prevailing system among all scientific farmers, either with or without hill-side ditches. In all gentle slopes, and many steep declivities in the more tenacious soils, it acts admirably; and we aro of opinion if done perfectly there will be but little if any use for ditches. Os course in old fields where gullies already exist, the ditches must be re tained until the land is plowed to a level and the gullies filled up. But in new lands, if taken at the outset and done as it should be, we are of opinion the land culture will protect the soil sufficiently and much better than with hill-side ditches. At least so we havo found it, after a number of years experience. On our old fields, which had deep gullies when we came into