Newspaper Page Text
[Written for the Southern Field and Fireside.]
HOW CAN WE IMPROVE OUR LANDS, AND
MARE COTTON!
This ever recurring question has been con
stantly before the public mind for near half
a century, and has as yet never been satis
factorily answered. Various attempts have
been made, as well by practical farmers, as those
who claim to be scientific, but none have suc
ceeded so far as to make any permanent impres
sion upon the masses generally of their success.
We apprehend that a proper answer to this
question can only be obtained by a long con
tinued process of induction; and then, so multi
farious will be the points embraced, that to no
one man can the discovery ever be justly
awarded. It is the object of this essay to pre
sent, as succinctly as possible, after the ex
perience and observation of a series of years,
what are the cheapest and best processes of
improving the soil, while we cultivate the great
staple of the South.
In what do our lands so rapidly deteriorate,
under the cotton culture adopted generally by
our planters? What do they require to restore
them to their pristine vigor? We answer to
both questions, nitrogen and humus. The first
is mainly of animal, the other of vegetable ori
gin—though nitrogen is sometimes produced,
not in large quantities, from vegetable decompo
sition, and humus results to some extent from
animal sources. Nitrogen, being the chief ele
ment of ammonia, is always forming this com
pound in a soil where it exists, under favorable
circumstances by combining with hydrogen.—
Ammonia is the great principle upon which de
pends the fertilizing qualities of guano and all
animal manures. It is a volatile salt, and hence
the difficulty of having it retained in dung heaps
on soil?. It is estimated that sixteen pounds of
ammonia will render an acre fertile, all other es
sential elements being present. We doubt not,
a single cow, with proper food, would waste
enough, if properly husbanded, in a year, to en
rich five acres of land. Humus is the decayed
organism of plants or vegetation of any kind.
During the gradual process of its decomposition,
it forms humic, ulmic, geic, cremic and apo
cremic acids, by combining with oxygen, all of
which are essential to the healthy growth of
vegetation. There is no system of farming that
substraets the humus so rapidly from the soil,
as cotton culture, not because the lint and seed
of cotton are more exhausting in themselves,
but because it is a clean culture through the
whole of a long summer, and there is nothing
returned to the soil of which to make humus,
but the stalks and leaves of the cotton.
Now, the question recurs, where can the
Southern planter obtain nitrogen and humus at
the cheapest rates, with which to rejuvenate his
barren fields ? The dung and urine of animals
are the great sources of nitrogen. Not only
ammonia, but other voluble salts, answering the
same ends as humus and its acids, and redupli
cating this humus a thousand fold, by the rich
verdure with which it clothes the fields, —there-
by calling into action, through the medium of
green manures, much of the soluble, as well as
insoluble elements of the soil.
The following propositions, then, may be con
sidered as apharistic : without animals, there is
no ammonia; without ammonia, there are no re
munerating crops. Have we the animals, then ?
the horses, the cows, the sheep, the goats, the
hogs ? Very few formers have enough stock to
improve their soils as fast as they draw upon
them, even if they could save all their excre
ments. But with the small amount of stock they
now have, much can be done towards improve
ment, by adopting the right system. We frequent*
ly hear it remarked that such a man has too much
dtock —it takes too much to keep them. Alas!
what a fallacy ! This is the foundation of the
whole farming economy of the South. No won
der it takes too much to feed them, when there
is such scanty provision made for them, and such
little attention paid to them in any way.
With a view of correcting all the evils, inci
dent to the important question of stock hus
bandry at the South, we propose to the careful
consideration of her agriculturalists, the grazing
and folding system, by which the cattle are kept
fat by permanent pasturage of luxuriant grasses
during the greater part of the year, and the cot
ton fields fatted in return, by the droppings of
the animals. Here, doubtless, some of our
readers will smile derisively at the idea of haul
ing in litter, and hauling out manure, at such a
cost of time and labor, for an increased number
of stock, as under the old composting system.
Not too fast, gentle reader; we propose a much
cheaper system than this—one that puts all the
animals to work gathering their own feed, and
then depositing the manure just where it is
needed, without the waste attending the com
posting system, and the trouble of loading and
unloading.
Our system, then, involves, first, permanent
pasturage, without which it is impossible to
keep stock to advantage in any country. The
great difficulty of stock raising at the South, lies
in this very thing—the dependence of farmers
on the woods’ old fields and highways, with
their scanty supply of grass and herbage, to keep
their cattle during the summer, and then to have
the run of the com and cotton fields during
autumn, gathering all they can of leaves and
shucks, and stalks, leaving the land down-trod
den and depreciated; while the remainder of
the winter and early spring is eked out with a
scanty supply of dry forage. We propose, as a
remedy to this great evil, for every planter to
put down a portion of his arable land in Bermu
da grass; and if too poor to produce luxuriant
grasses, buy guano, and give it a good start with
this fertilizer. Rolling lands might be selected,
as the grass roots will protect the soil from
waste, by washing rains, while the more level
fields could be retained for cultivation. This
grass, on good land, will give excellent pastur
age for nine months in the year, say from April
to November, unless the freezes come early ; in
which case, the time may be less by a few
weeks. It is useless for our planters to seek
for a better grass for the South—it has all the
necessary elements of a good grazing grass, be
ing nutritious, tenacious of its rights, fighting its
way through all opposition, and maintaining its
hold in the severest draughts of our long sum
mers. Such a grass is invaluable, and we hesi
tate not to assert, that with proper care, it will
pay better than any other grass, or grain, or root,
on a given section of land.
The only objection ever urged against the
Bermuda grass among cotton planters, is its ten
acity of life, and the difficulty of eradicatihg it
from a soil where it has possession. Hence, the
plan is among many to destroy every vestige of
it oh their farms. The true policy is to put
down a field which will never be needed for cul
tivation again, and, as it is propagated by the
roots and not by seed, it is very easily kept in
bounds. On all common uplands whore the soil
is not very rich, it may be easily destroyed, as
we have seen it done again and again, by turn
ing the turf over with a good turning plow in the
fall, and let the roots take the freezes till Feb
ruary; then sow oats, and follow with peas—it
will be completely shaded out, and ready for
cotton the next year. By scattering the roots
xkx sovsxx&n ims xxxxsxxx.
over a corn field before the last plowing, it will
take complete possession of the soil, and be
ready for pasturage the next summer. We have
no doubt that it is a great ameliorater of the soil,
and will be used for this purpose in coming time,
when the philosophical axiom of ‘less land and
more labor,’ shall be recognized by the planters
of the South.
Our main reliance for winter food must be on
the turnip crop, upon what is called the folding
system. One thousand bushels of Ruta Bagas
may be relied upon, per acre, when properly ma
nured and managed. As the object is not sim
ply to feed the stock but to improve the land,
we would purchase super-phosphate of lime,
sow in the drill, and cultivate well. Our plow
ing and our hoeing are, however, all that will be
requisite. When the turnips have matured,
fence off a small section, enough to last your
stock several days, and turn them in, to feed
ing and working. It may be well to have dif
ferent sections for kinds of stock, or the hogs
may follow the cows, as they would make a
clean sweep of all that was left in the soil. A
light hurdle fence might be constructed with
movable pannels, which would save much labor
in changing from one section to another. Our
plan is to have two slanting planks nailed to
gether on slats, which will be about two and a
half •feet high, then drive two stakes at each
end, and put a heavy rail in the cross. If not
high enough, another rail could be added. This
could be taken down and put up with very
little labor.
Now, what are the qbjectionsto this system?
Nothing, but the same old plea of not having
time to stop a hand to attend to the stock in
cotton picking time, or of planting the turnips
in crop time. What a foolish objection! We
assert, and we can maintain the position, that
with good Bermuda grass pasturages, and a
fine field of turnips, one hand can make more
money by attending to the stock on the folding
system, than a dozen can, who do nothing
but plant, tend and pick cotton the year round.
Don’t be startled, but let reason predominate
for once. Two acres of rich Bermuda grass,
will keep one cow, eight months in the year.
A half acre of Ruta Bagas, with what dry for
age can be easily husbanded on a farm, will keep
her the remainder of the year. A cow voids
from 1,200 to 1,500 gallons of urine in a year,
the salts of which, after evaporating the water,
will be equal to about 100 lbs. of solid matter,
composed of urea and other organic matters
containing nitrogen, sulphates of soda and am
monia, muriate of ammonia, and common salt.
A cow fed on excellent pasture land, produced
37 lbs. of dung in a day and night, equal to
13,500 lbs. a year,* in which are contained all
the elements of good soil. How much land,
think you, would these solid and liquid excre
ments of one cow, fertilize in a year ? How
much would a hundred cows manure in three
nights, after feeding on Bermuda grass during
the day, or folded day and night on a luxuriant
plat of turnips ? These are interesting questions,
to be answered by some future scientific agri
culturist, who will adopt and carry out the only
system of improving lands adapted, in our
humble opinion, to the wide spread plantations
of the South.
Sheep folding has been adopted in England
and other countries of Europe, for the purpose
of manuring land, and doubtless would be used
much more extensively, but for the fact that
land is too high for grazing purposes generally;
hence, soiling and stall feeding are the best sys
tem. Most of the manure, solid and liquid, can
be saved and carted out over the few and not
distant acres of land possessed by a single
fanner. In the South, however, this system
will not pay, and has already been abandoned
by the few who have tried it, while many are
growing doubtful as to the value of hauling out
composts at all. All admit the utter impossibi
lity of keeping up extensive lands by this pro
cess, and hence, many have introduced guano,
and other foreign manures, which is thought to
be more profitable, and better adapted to the
cotton culture of the South. We feel well as
sured that the grazing and folding system is
destined at no distant day to take precedence of
all others.
Connected with this system, there must be a
judicious rotation of crops. Very few Southern
planters, even among the more intelligent, pay
any regard to this important fact in agriculture.
The plan, generally, is to keep the best lands in
cotton, and the poorest in corn and wheat, until
so exhausted that they will produce neither, then
turn them out to slowly recuperate under the
growth and leaves of the old field pine. Learn
ing wisdom from the past, some of the more in
telligent planters of middle Georgia have adopt
ed a three-years rotation thus: 1. corn; 2. cot
ton ; 3. faUow or rest. Wheat, oats, potatoes
and turnips are of such secondary importance,
that they do not bring them into the rotation,
but have lots and small fields adjacent to the
farm yard, which are kept highly manured for
these crops. In our ojfinion, a more judicious
rotation would be as follows: 1. corn; 2. wheat,
followed by turnips; 3. cotton; 4. rest. The ad
vantages of this rotation can be made very ap
parent to any one under our grazing and folding
system. Let it be premised that one-fourth of
the plantation is in Bermuda grass for permanent
pastorage. The remainder is divided into four
equal parts, No. 1. in com; No. 2. in wheat, just
ground; No. 3. in cotton, and No. 4. at rest.
Our stock feeder drives his cattle from the pas
tures every night, and folds them on No. 4. now
at rest, until, section by section, the whole field
or all the fields are manured in this way, and
turned in, when the turnip crop, which was
planted after the wheat, takes the place of pas
tures, and the stock feed on them during the
day as heretofore indicated. At night, if the
weather is cold they can be put under sheds
that are well littered. No. 1. is now sown in
wheat. No. 2. prepared and planted in cotton,
after the turnips are cut off. No. 3. put to rest,
and No. 4. (which has had the advantage of rest
and the folding of cattle at night) planted in
com. There will be quite as much compost as
can be hauled out, which may be applied to com
or cotton, or wherever it seems most needed, or
is most convenient. Thus the plan moves on
during the four years of rotation. If, under this
system, there is not a manifest improvement of
the land, then have all the calculations of agri
culturalists and chemists signally failed to throw
any light upon the subject of ameliorating the
soil And if under this system, with the same
amount of land and labor, a planter does not
make more money, including the increased value
of his land, we have wofuUy mistaken our call
ing in an attempt to write an agricultural essay.
If he does not make quite as much cotton, which
wo are not willing to admit, the amount of but
ter, beef, mutton, pork, ludes and other animal
products, with com, flour, Ac., will at least equal
if not outstrip the cotton crop on the old plan.
And then, deduct the depreciation of the value
of land in the one case, and the increased value
in the other, and there is no comparison between
the profits of the two systems. Our plan takes
•Thault's principle of Agriculture, page 95.
less land, less labor, less capital, and contem
plates larger profits.
The single county of Hancock is now spend
ing about $50,000 annually, for nitrogen, trans
ported from the Chincha Islands. Who doubts
but that the same elements may not be produced
and sowed at a much cheaper rate by our plant
ers, on the system which we have presented so
imperfectly ? Not only nitrogen, but humus is
also developed by the rotation of crops, and the
permanent pasturage system. For, instead of
the cattle devouring nearly everything left on
the land, as under the present system, the leaves
and stalks of all products remain to decay, and
return to the soil more humus than was taken
from it by the crop.
But one more item remains to be discussed, in
this essay, for the proper and permanent im
provement of our lands: and that is, level-culture.
In this climate of rolling lands, and washing
rains, it is useless to apply manure in any way
to the soil, unless it is protected from waste.
We have for several years abandoned hill-side
ditches, upon steep declivities or long slopes,
having found the improved system of level cul
ture to answer a much better purpose. Our
plan is to cultivate every field and every crop on
a perfect level. Beginning, generally, at the
highest point, with a spirit level, constructed on
the most improved plan, we lay off our guide
rows from twenty to fifty yards apart, according
to the steepness of the hill-side. Each of these
rows, being on a perfect level, is intended for a
seed row. We now begin to run on one side
parallel rows, the proper width for corn or cotton,
until wo approach near half way to the other
guide row ; we then begin at that and lay off,
until the rows meet in the narrowest pai t. Short
rows are then filled in by running on one ridge,
and returning on the other, always splitting out
the middle between the ends of the short rows
more narrowly than the width of the regular
rows. If the corn rows are six feet, the ends
of the short rows should not be more than four.
By this plan, when a short row is plowed, there
is always another near at hand to be taken,
without having to lift the plow some distance to
get to another row.
We hesitate not to assert, that if a former will,
take a hill side however steep, and cultivate on
this plan before gullies have been formed, he
will never be troubled with them. In old fields
where they have been formed, hill side ditches
are, to some extent, advisable; but it is always
a necessary evil; for when not connected with
level culture, it as surely, but more slowly, car
ries off the surface soil. On a hill side, protect
ed by land culture, simply, the deterioration is
gradual, from the base to the summit; but where
there are hill side ditches, it begins at one ditch
and terminates at another—that portion of the
soil which would have kept the land immediately
below the ditch, in good heart, has been carried
off by the ditch, as can be illustrated in any field
where ditches have remained permanent for a
number of years; just below the ditches the soil
is always the poorest. Level culture also pos
sesses the rare advantage of holding all the
water, between the com or cotton beds, of sum
mer showers, so that none is lost only by evap
oration. Frequently on clay lands it remains
for a day or two, gradually soaking in and add
ing moisture and nourishment to the plants,
when under the old mode of plowing it would
have passed down the slope as fast as it fell, and
leave but little permanent moisture behind.
Thus we have, in brief outline, presented what
we deem the true system of improving lands
in the older sections of the South, where the soil
has been so much abusod and deteriorated. It
involves four important principles, neither of
which belongs to the present agricultural system
of the South, except in a few isolated cases, viz.:
permanent pasturage—folding of stock—rotation
of crops, and level culture. Every other sys
tem, or combination of systems, that has yet
been proposed, has failed; and we offer this to
the planters of the South as one that has suc
ceeded as far as it has been tried, and in all its
parts sustained by the principles of agricultu
ral chemistry and philosophy. The cheapness
of our lands and large extent of our farms have
already brought the composting system into dis
repute, which has been succeeded by the intro
duction of foreign manures, which seems to be
now in the ascendant; but the tocsin of alarm
has already been sounded from Virginia and
Maryland, that it is not an ameliorating, but ex
hausting system, and our planters will have to
look to other sources for the hope of permanent
success. We verily believe that the plan we
propose, taken in all its parts, will succeed.
Whatever may be its faults, it at least commends
itself to all the lovers of progress in science and
art, as being suggestive. Whether in all its
minutia?, we have hit upon the very best processes
for improving our soils, and protecting them
from wash, remains to be tested, by the unerring
calculus of the inductive philosophy.
-»«»• —-
A Fish Story. —The following, from an Eng
lish paper, is hard to beat: “On the 6th of
April, while a fisherman in one of the boats be
longing to Ferryden, was hauling his line at a
considerable distance from the shore, a circum
stance occurred which illustrates the voracity
with which different kinds of piscatory animals
prey upon one another. While a fisherman was
drawing up a haddock that was on one of the
hooks, he noticed a large halibut making an at
tempt to devour one of the smaller fish as he
was drawing it up. He immediately seized a
clip and laid hold of tho halibut, but he had
hardly got a proper hold of it when he perceived
a ling trying to seize the halibut. Having freed
one hand, he immediately seized the ling with
the other, and proceeded to pull it on board,
when he noticed a large sea cat making
strenuous attempts to seize the ling. This ani
mal was also successfully laid hold of and taken
on board, concluding this remarkable chase.”
—
Henry Ward Beecher ox Newspapers.—
Consider how universal are newspapers in
America. They penetrate every nook and cor
ner of society. No other element of power has
such a sphere. The pulpit, the court, the lec
ture, compared with the newspaper, touch so
ciety in but few places. The newspaper in
America is universal. It reaches within and
without, from surface to core; it travels every
where, is bought by everybody, read by all
classes, and is wholly or nearly the only read
ing of more than half our population. Its ser
vice to good morals and to intelligence among
the people is incalculable. All the libraries of
Europe are not of as much service to the na
tions of Europe as the newspaper is to the
American nation. Its power is growing! Who
would, twenty years ago, have dreamed of such
growth and power as has been developed ? But
the next twenty years will witness a greater.
The editor is to be the schoolmaster. The best
talent will find its highest sphere in the edito
rial room. Already that chair is more influen
tial that the bench or the platform. No braiu
can act upon so many as that which speaks by
the printing press of the daily paper. Ink beats
like blood in the veins of the nation.
Independent.
AYRSHIRE AND WEST HIGHLAND CATTLE,
CLYDESDALE HORSES BLACK-FACED
MOUNTAIN SHEEP.
The following interesting letter of Sanford
Howard, now in Scotland, we extract from the
Rural New Yorker , to which Mr. Howard is a
regular contributor:
Kilmarnock, Scotland, June 18,1859.
In my last I made a brief allusion to the
Glasgow Cattle Show, and more particular no
tice of some portions of it may be interesting to
some of your readers. To the public generally,
the most attractive department was the Ayr
shire cattle. In several of the western coun
ties of Scotland dairying is extensively carried
on. Butter and cheese are made in large quan
tities, and in the large towns much milk is sold.
The Ayrshire breed of cows is almost univer
sally kept here, and it is deemed settled that
they are the most profitable for the purpose
mentioned. In fact, it is the only dairying breed
in Scotland.
Other breeds have been tried—as the milking
(Yorkshire) variety of the Short-horn, and the
Channel Islands (Alderney) breed. The former
is less hardy than the Ayrshire, is a large con
sumer, and is said to afford less milk—and es
pecially less butter—in proportion to the cost of
keeping. The Channel Islands breed answers
well for butter where shelter is given, but does
not bear the exposure which the Ayrshires are
generally subjected to, and is less ’profitable in
the cheese dairy. The Ayrshires are constantly
disseminating themselves. They are rapidly in
creasing in Ireland; many orders are annually'
sent from England for them, and even the gov
ernments of France, Prussia, Russia, and other
countries have sent agents to procure them.—
The rising colonies of Australia and }'an Die
man’s Land have also introduced them. The re
putation which the breed has acquired, has
tended to make breeders more careful in their
system of breeding, and much improvement has
been the result I cannot help thinking, how
ever, that the rules by which this stock is some
times judged, are in some respects at variance
with the principles of actual utility. Too much
attention is paid to a fashion in regard to the
shape of the udder and the position of the teats.
No doubt the shape, and especially the capacity
of this organ has more or less to do with the
power of the animal for yielding a large quanti
ty of milk; but that the special model assumed
here is always indicative of the relative intrin
sic value of the animal for milking purposes,
cannot be shown. Indeed, several persons have
been candid enough to admit, that a cow which
did not come up to the fashionable standard in
this point, might afford an equal or greater
quantity of milk, and be in no way inferior on
the score of actual profit. Yet the shape of the
“vessel” (as it is called) is often made the
leading, and sometimes almost the only point,
in judging cows in milk. At a show, (not that
of Glasgow,) which I lately attended, the medal
for the best cow or heifer was awarded to a
clumsy-headed, sour-countenaneed, weak-backed
animal, which I wpuld not have accepted as a
gift. But this was probably an extreme case,
and lam glad to know that there are breeders
who will not be led by the mere caprice of the
day, to sacrifice the most important points in
reference to constitution and general usefulness.
Tho classes of “aged” animals (those three
year old and over) of the Ayrshire breed, at the
Glasgow Show, were very fine. Several of the
bulls and cows were almost faultless, so for as
regards their external points, and it was wholly
by these, in connection with pedigree, that they
were judged—no statement, so far as I could
learn, respecting the quantity of milk, butter or
cheese, afforded by any cow, being given or re
quired. The one which took the first premium
as a cow in milk, was a really splendid animal,
latciv bought by her present owner for £9o—
’
There was a good show of short home.—
They were judged wholly in reference to their
fattening points. With the exception of a sin
gle animal, none of them competed in the dairy
classes.
Next came the Galloways and West High
landers—aboriginal breeds of Caledonia, and
admirably adapted to her healthy mountains
and moors. Both are very handsome in form,
though differing somewhat from each other.—
The West Highlanders occupy the bleakest dis
tricts, and thousands of them are reared with
out shelter, and with no other food, except a lit
tle milk from their dams in early childhood, than
what they grub from the rugged pastures. Na
ture has given them a coat of hair which pro
tects their bodies against the winter’s storm.
Some of them at this show had still a conside
rable portion of their last year's hair, three or
four inches long, hanging in patches on them.
The Galloways are not so heavily coated as the
Highlanders, and belong to a lower country.
They are larger, but hardly as deep chested in
proportion to their size as the Highlanders—very
round bodied and lay their flesh very evenly.
These breeds would be valuable in America, in
the hilly and mountainous districts and on the
northwestern prairies. They are bred almost
exclusively for beef, but some of the Highland
cows present by no means a mean appearance
for dairy purposes, and their milk is of the rich
est kind and affords butter of the best quality’.
There was a large display of draft horses,
chiefly of the Clydesdale breed. They are the
best horses of their kind that I have ever seen.
Their weight is from 1,500 to 2,000 lbs. each,
their shape is excellent, and their action much
superior to that of any’ other large horses I have
anywhere met with. There was a class of road
sters, among which were some fairish animals,
but quite inferior to our best horses of this class.
A very useful kind of horse was shown under
the name of “Ponies for Milk Carts." They
were generally about 14 to 14$ hands high,
snugly made, full of muscle, and generally fair
trotters. They would weigh from 950 to 1000
lbs. each.
There was a large display of the Black-faced
Mountain Sheep, and to me they had a very in
teresting appearance. Their native habitat is
the same as that of the Highland cattle, and
there is between them a similarity of character
istics. Prebably there are no hardier sheep in
the world, or any which have more striking in
dividuality or fixity of type. The rams have
very large horns, handsomely curved, and the
ewes have small horns. Their heads, black or
speckled, are beautiful—the eye fuU and bright.
Their wool, of a year’s growth, nearly reaches
the ground. A prettier sight is seldom seen
than a flock of these sheep, led by a line of bold,
active, full horned rams, followed by ewes and
young lambs. I think the breed may be useful
in America, and I have bought a small lot for
Mr. Isaac Stickney, of Boston.
Among the implements at tho Glasgow Show
were McCormick's reaping machine, Hussey’s,
and Manny’s and Wood’s combined reapers and
mowers. The two former have been somewhat
modified since their introduction into Britain.
The latter has been tried the present season as
a mower, in England, with good results.
A few days ago I attended a fair for the sale
of cattle, at Tarbolton. The occasion was not
entirely novel, as I had attended some fairs of
this kind before, but taken in connection with
the associations of the place, it had a peculiar
interest. It wiil be recollected that this town
and neighborhood are connected with the Plow
man Poet of Ayrshire, or to give him a higher
title by which he is recognised, the National
Poet of Scotland. The fair was held on what was
called Fire Hill—that “hill” which Bums says
he “had come round about”—(it is hinted that
he could not have traveled the foot-path which
leads over it that night)—where he met a grim
personage who communicated to him the de
signs of Dr. Hombrook. The hill is a singular
spot for the curious. It is principally a natural
elevation, at the apex of which is a mound of
artificial formation, where, according to tradi
tion, the Druids held religious worship. They
kept a fire burning here day and night, for cer
tain periods, and called the place Tarbolton.
Partly in remembrance of this ancient custom,
the present inhabitants keep a fire here all the
night preceding the annual fair. This has been
done from the earliest period of the Anglo-Saxon
occupancy. At the foot of the mound is a broad
terrace, where it is said the heathen worship
pers were gathered, and who were kept from
the sacred mound by a circle of trees at its base.
It is said tliat at a later period, this spot was
the seat of judiciary tribunals for the inhabitants
of the neighborhood.
• On this terrace and on the slope of the hill
below, were collected on the present occasion,
within the space of two hours, between 100
and 500 head of cattle with their attendants,
while on the whole hill were several thousand
persons, as purchasers or spectators. It was a
most interesting scene. Viewing it from the
top of the mound, one could hardly help com
paring it, in the mind's eye, with the scenes
enacted here in former years. How wide the
contrast! Under the influence of Christian civi
lization, as here displayed, how has the condi
tion of man been improved, and his sentiments
exalted. Where the rude hunter obtained but
a precarious subsistence, the landscape smiles
under the hand of skillful cultivation; green
meadows alternating with fields of waving grain
are presented on every hand, while immediately
before the eye is a rich display of one of the
most important products of agriculture.
But there are other associations which height
en the interest of the picture. On an eminence
within view, is the lofty monument erected with
in a few years to the memory of “Scotia’s ill
requited chief,” William Wallace, in the inscrip
tion on which the name of our Washington is
combined with that of the Scottish hero and the
hero of Thermopylae, and all of them declared
to be “Watchwords of Liberty.” At a little dis
tance, and almost within sight, are the ruins of
Cragie Castle, wliich is said to have belonged to
the Wallace family, and where he is believed to
have sometimes resided.
Much of “The Land of Burns” is embraced in
the view. In the distance are the Cumnock
hills, o'er which “the rising moon began to glow
er” when the poet sat himself with all his pow
er to count her horns, but could not tell whether
she had “three or four.” A little nearer, in the
same direction, are the woods of Ballochrugle,
the spires of the town ofMauehline, the scene of
several of his poems, and near which is the farm
ofMossgiel where he resided; while Lochlever,
his previuos residence,'is in the (Tarbolton) par
ish, and only two miles distant. At the foot of
the hill is “Willie’s Mill,” “Jonny Ged’s Hole,”
and the cottage where the “Brethren of the
Mystic Tie” assembled, of whom he took that
touching, “heart-warm, fond adieu,” when he
had prepared to go to the Indies.
Tl.e business of the Fair was dispatched with
great lapidity. By 1 o'clook, p. m., nearly all the
cattle had been sold, and many of them had left
the ground. I may here remark that a fee of
half a penny per head was collected for the cattle
offered, and this was all that was required to
obtain the facilities of the Fair.
Shortly after 12 o’clock, a band of music ap
peared on the mound, (the top of the hill,) and
many well-dressed ladies stationed themselves
there for a while, listening to the stirring airs
from the instruments, and enjoying the rural
holiday. Children of various ages had been out
by hundreds all the morning. Soon after 2
o’clock, every person and every animal left the
hill, and nothing was 6een of Tarbolton Fair,
except the numerous lots of cattle wending their
way, on the various roads, to the farms of their
new owners. But the picture was daguhrreo
typed on my mind, and will often bo reviewed
with pleasure.
DESTRUCTION OF SHEEP BT DOGS.
The assessors in Ohio, under an act of the
Legislature, have endeavored to ascertain the
total number of sheep killed and injured by dogs
during the year 1858. The returns from only a
few counties have been published; but these,
few as the counties are, disclose a fearful amount
of slaughter. We append the returns of eleven
counties, covering not more than one-eighth of
the State:
Count it*. Killed. Wounded. Value.
Greene 1,269 820 *8,104
Harrison 581 1,478 8,067
Delaware 781 555 1,026
Musklnpem 1,206 884 8,186
Champaign 682 564 8,189
Lorain 482 156 1,219
Summit 820 820 2,459
Lake 412 100 888
Stark 626 719 1,879
Cuyahoga 683 1,112 8,198
Wayns 747 657 2,182
, 7,054 7,860 *25,842
Here arc over 7,000 sheep killed and nearly
8,000 injured, at a cost to the owners of over
$25,000, and all by a pack of curs utterly
worthless. If the proportion holds good
throughout the State, the annual loss to sheep
growers must be about $200,000, and if all the
dogs in the State were put together they would
not be worth a tenth part of that sum. We
trust that the legislation under which these
statistics have been gathered will be followed
up vigorously, and that some judicious measures
will be taken to abate an evil of such magnitude.
Othor States will doubtless follow Ohio in any
efficient measures she may adopt. The danger
to sheep from dogs has for a long time prevent
ed an increase in the sheep-growing business in
this country. Many men Who would otherwise
engage in it are restrained from venturing from
the risk attending it in consequence of the dog
pest. If this were removed the business of
wool raising would at once become a leading
and profitable one.— Pittsburg Gazette.
To Make Dry Yeast Cakes.— Take a good
handful dried hops, pour on it a quart of water,
then boil it to one pint, and while boiling strain
it over one pint of wheat flour, mix well, then
set it aside until blood warm, then add yeast to
raise it, say a cake and a half of dried, or one
gill of bakers’ yeast; it will now take about
twenty-four hours to rise in very cold weather,
and should be placed in a warm situation. After
raising sufficiently, mix into it as much corn
meal as wiil form it into small cakes, place them
on a board and set in sun to dry, occasionally
turning them; when dry put the cakes into a
bag and hang them up for use.
95