VOLUME VIII. CHERAW. SOUTH-CAROLINA, TUESDAY. JANUARY 24. IS43. NUMBER 11. By M. MACLEAN. T Cft ?PaHIir one doll ir the first time, and fifi v cents each ibseq'nnt ti no. For insertions at intervals of two week* 75 cents after the first, and. a dollar if the intervals are longer. Payment due in advance for a Ivertisein mls. When the number of insertions is not in irked on tho copy, the advertise nent will bo inserted, and charged ti 1 ordered out. U" The postage must be paid on loiters to the editor on the business of ih*> office. j be cent and extjs.ysivs marling ix south cali 'l na. Communicated for the Firmer*' Register. Columbia, S. G\, Nov. 3v?, Ib42.. I)e\r SiK :?It ali'ortls me on at plea, sure to comply with your request, In fur. rush you Willi a statement of my marling operations during the first year, and tlm j result of liiem Si> far as it mis ti ecu as^ certained. " i . . i I commenced in Aovrniwr nisi ?? in in my plantation at Silver Hindi oil S.ivan. , nah river. There is no marl on the place, j I procured it from S.icll HI .ti on the same | river, and had to hoal it 12 miles up tuc ' stream. It r?-q lire's eleven prime hands to man the boat f use,and when the river is not too high they make two trips a week, loading and unloading themselves. They hrioh uhijut 110(1 nusucls at a load, i The marl is lauded at a spot belovv high water mark, and during tin; whole crop season two other hands and two carts are j constantly engaged in hauling it ma place ! of security on the top of [lie hlu.'f. At [ other tunes it is hauled directly from tiie j landing to the fields. Tnere are h nvev- ; it 13 hands and 2 mules lost to the crop. My hout, winch is a common pole hoal, was hudt chiclly by my own people, and cost me about S'JOd, including lUeir la. bor. There have been incidental expenses to the amount of about ?230 this year. During the year ending on the 8th of November, there were 85 trips made and about 93,3i)J bushels brought up. I think 1 can safely calculate on , hriroriiitf ui) 10U,dl>l) Oiisucls p.-r auiium j w- o . . hereafter, witu toe same lorce. I men. tion these facts that every one may form his own estimate of I tie cost of procuring mail under similar circumstances. My calculation ,s thai it costs me about two cents a bushel delivered ?n m> bluff.? To one having mart on his own premises nearlv the whole of tins expense would l>e saved. I am enabled, by omitting to | open new land. I" haul out and spread j this marl, without interfering with other i plantation work, or lessening the number | of acres planted per hand. In hauling! out I have not been able to d<> as much as they do in Virginia. Mr. Rurfiri, ihe author of the marling system, liauied 24 loads of 5} bushels with each cart per day a distance of #47 yards; I have done hut little over half as well. 1 use mules I however, and land being level earned bushels at a load. I found the mules could not stand trotting hack with the , empty cart. The marl weigus about 105 j lbs. per bushel. My land was (aid olfui squares, so many to an acre, and a load urop|M*d in each square. It was spread by hand; each negro taking his square, and carrying his marl on a hoard or in a small tray. A prune fellow can spread an acre ill a day. Hut it is a hard task, and counting the gang round 1 have not averaged over half an ucr for each worker. The marl spreads hot when damp. It will then yield to the hand, and lumps are in general easily crushed. Shell muffin a hold chlfon Savannah river, over 2i)d feet high and in some places more tuan lOi) feel perpendicular. Professor Vanuxem, who examined it Monto years ag , \s.-o Farmer.' R 'gister, vol. tii. p. 70, and alio vol. x. p. 457.) discovered 14 varieties of marl, varyum in quality from 117.2 to 93.4 per cent, of carbonate of lime. Ia ?|>ing the marl 1 have excluded toe inferior as much u possible, and have not found the very bent in any gteat quantity. I tested the quantity ot carbonate ot lime in one sp.?. cimen taken at random from each boat load brought up this summer, and found the average 01 oq loans to m* 11-4 3 per cent, vary trig Iruin ol to 77. la every specimen there was a small proportion of of oxide of iron, and clay and sand, usually in about equal quantities. Tftcre were* no doubt, oilier component parts which I did not ascertain ; hut I satisfied myself that there was neither gypsum nor magnesia. Toe marl presents various appearances, being in color white, brown, olive, yellow, and violet, and in consist ence from sand to soft stone. Some of it appears to be a concretion of shells from a size scarcely visible to the naked eyt to an inch in diameter. There if no j hard limestone, and it is doubtful whcth; cr any of the marl here will make lime, though it is an excellent cement. Much j of that which I have used has been cut from the face of the cliff with pick-axes, j li falls down sometimes in tine grains, : sometimes in masses. At every handling it breaks up finer, and exposure to the air assists disintegration. I do not hurn or pound it, or use any preparation whatever, hut spread it as I get it.? J Where it was spread last winter, an oh. server would readily discover it,and lumps as large as an egg, and occasionally much larger arc to lie seen. A mere passer by, however, would not notice that the land hid been marled. At every working it is more and more mixed with the soil. But I imagine it will be several years before it is completely combined with it, ! and until tur n the full effect of this nrirl | cannot be known. A difference was a p. j parent in this crop between the effects of j that spread earlv in February and that spread in the latter part of April. By the 221 of April last, I had in tried 175 acres at the rate of 200 bushel* to | the acre. Of those I planted 50 acres in corn on the 17th March, 50 acres in cot. Ion on the I (Itii April, and 75 acres in cotton on the 22; r cent, (if CiirlMirnite of Iiiiih. This land has occn iri cultivation more than one hundred j years. I have planted it myself 11 of the last 12 years, and sowed it in oats the other year. I have given it three light coats of manure, the last in 1839. It is a light, gray, sandy soil, of which the following was the analysis before marling, viz. Water lost at 31)0 degrees 2 per cent. Vegetable matter . 3 Silica 81) Alumina . 11 Oxule of iron 2 Lois 2 100 This cut was in cotton last year, and J ' my expect itioa was that with common seasons it wo dd pro luce 12 bushels of corn per acre. And h id I not kept the iirnnarled acre as a test, I should have set down all over that quantity to the credit o: the marl. The corn came up I badly, and suffered by the lords. The four experimental acres were cultivated precisely as trie rest of the cut, and were distinguished only by the posts which marked the corners of each acre. From the rirst however the marled torn exhibited a different appoarance. It was stouter and of a much deeper color. As the season advanced, the difference became greater. The marled corn was as dark a green as swamp corn usually is. The fodder was pulled on the. 3.1 Angus?, and after hanging two days and a haif on the stalk in dry and rather windy weather, weighed as follows: Increase. Per cent. ! ITnm.itl.fl .i state that this last acre i had a si.ji .t sink in tin centre. and thai j the slopes ar??u id it are much thinner than tlii' an?r.i'''! tan I. These constitute about line-tilth of the acre, and w< rn t*vii dently injured by the marl. I; was a had selection for the heaviest marling; { hut at the lime tl was made I did not ' sunnas '? judging by the rales at which | they marled in Virginia, thai 300 bushels j i would injure any land. My fear now is i that 200 hushels may prove too much for j soil like this; and I have according!) : detrrunned to put only .50 bushels on I ihe acre liereaflsr, until I see its further j efleets. This has been a remarkable productive season for corn. I think the ! uniiiarlcd acre in this cut made at least 5 hushels more than it would h ive dour - T ? - tku m:irl. ot an average vi*>?r. i jMcsuuiu u?? cd acres iiavc done so likewise. But .whether it would be fur to attribute any i of the four bushels increased to thcpgcu- j liarity of the season operating on the marl i I am wholly unable to decide. Supposing the increase from the season to be the same on the marled and uninarle.l land, and deducting 5 bushels from the produce ol eacii acre there will be 33$ per cent, in favor of the ten best marled acres. T lis However is all conjecture. The average per acre of this whole cut was 18 bushels. ' Pi... ........-i,.u* Mil lint the exoeri- ! * Ill^UOUi ? ?# ? ? ?? ... w -.. jmental acre* was made however by waggon loads accord.ng to the usual plantation estimate, in winch there is a liberal 1 allowance for shrinking, &c. H.id the whole been measured hi tne same manner as the experimental acres were, the produce would nave appeared greater, i nave had tin* cut planted in corn once lie I ore, hut having been absent the whole year, no account of it was preserved, and 1 do not know what it produced. 1 selected aiso and l.ud oil*separately 4 acres ofcollen along the turu-row of tne 75 acre cut of cotton. At the time I thought thcin nearly equal in quality, ami the one .supposed to he tne best ot in esc was ielt u.tin-uled, and 1, 2, and 3J9 bu. sncis of m trl sp eao upon tne oltier tnree. It turned out uowe.er that tne acre wito 1 tlil ndsn>ls was infer.or to lite uv?;rage oi tin; CU;, wii.le too ot.ier two were tar super or. 1 wis deceived by tne siaiss grown tiie year lie lose. Toe two first named acres being so newiiai rolling, and tiie year a wet one, tlicV produced as good cuioit aa me oilier two whicu were ilii. i he unm tried acre was not much it anv superior to tne one marled with 3jJ o.islieis, save that mere was a spot wn*-re fodder stacks had stood hi lod-s? 9, winch produced nearly douole the cotton of any other spot ot the same size in \ either acre, and added probaiily 3J l is. to | tne amount gathered Iroui that acre.? J I lit? marl 0:1 tneae acres couluuieu, like liial on (lie corn cut, an average of 54 per cent, ot' carbonate of lime. Thi? I mil i* of the kind commonly known a* mulatto so.I, and was clearly at least as eaity as tiie corn cut. It was certainly , planted ny the ind.ans in 174J. lue following was tue analysis ol it before marling, lor winch, as wed as for the analysis of tne corn cut, I am indebted to the kindness of Prof. Fillet; Water at ft.)0 degrees 3 Vegetable matter 4 51 Silica . 74 Alumina - 14 51 Ox.de of ir??n ... 4 i . This cut was not planted until the 22 I April, because it could not lie marled he. fore. A dry spell occurrt ig mi Mediately after, at the end ot two weeks very lillle cotton had c ome up except in the marled acre in which there was about half a stand. My overseer becoming alarmed in tny absence replanted tbe whole, and threw o.it the whole se-?d wherever jt had not come up. This was done on the Gill May, no that the crop of this cut dates from that period, which is at least a month later than 1 should have preferred. For my experience is that early cotton, like early corn, ss almost always the best. I consider the two weeks s art which one half the unmaried acre obtained in this instance as of considerable consequence to it. These early stalks could he dis. i tinguished until the bolls began to open. The difference between the marled and unmarlud cotton was as obvious as it was in the corn. The leaf too appeared broader and the stalk stouter from the first. The following was the production of thest four acres. I state the pdodticlion of all, though that of the 1 and 2011 bushels acres ought not to he compared with that of the other two, on account of the relative inferiority of the soil. The unmarled acre 1111 lbs. in (he seed. M tried do at lOOhti. 846 " " " ** at 200 44 1003 *? 44 ?* ** al3'JU " 1318 ? ? The dilforenee between the unmarled acre and that with 300 bushels of marl, wis 17.7 percent, in favor of the latter. It would have been greater perhaps an\ other year than this, which has been al. most as favorable for cotton as corn. The average production of the whole 75 acres was 006 lbs. per ne'e. I have had (hi* ent in eel on 10 of the last 12 year.* ; in corn 1, and in o.ts 1, and tne following is a statement of its production of coit.e for 6 of tne 10 year* ; that of the otli?u y ars not having teen preserved. 1833 av'gc p. acre in seed 731 lbs. manured lightly. | 1834 ,l 44 4 4 7 84 44 i 18 3 5 4 4 4 4 44 9 5 1 44 manured lijht[y. 17'aa ?? o ?? 451 ?? l8|.j 44 44 44 497 44 1841 44 44 44 5J9 44 manured. 1842 44 4 4 4 4 9 6 6 44 marled. The other 59 acre cat of m irlod land was planted iti cotton on the 10th April ( ?>< a lift u':is n hnf* li c IH.C Uj* ... * ...... ~ stand. Th's is also a light gray so/, w11i? lisss clay thai; the mulatto land, and less sand llian the corn cut. It is probably n> old as either, and has been cultivated in much the sumo way. Although planted 10 (lavs later than some other fields, and 1 ' j after all of them except the 75 acre cut, I it soon appeared to he the: oldest cotton, j and certainly matured the earl est of any. I Immediately after the cold weather, ahout ; the 1st August, thu rust commenced in it, and by the 20th of that month it had the appearance of a Held after frost. Form*, small holla, and even the leaves dropped. Most persons who saw it thought it had t t Uo IT T I ! \ I M \f it1 'i v.11 1.111 un iiiiu mm. * .. , ?4iifTered to the extent of one-fourth at I least. B it I have made on this cat this year 810 Ihs. of seed cotton, which is nearly 50 per cent, inore than [ ever had made on it before. The following is the average of its production (or 4 other years. 1833 av'ge p acre in seed 59S lbs. manured. 1834 44 " 44 435 44 184'J 44 4' 44 36% 44 1841 44 " " 3>i6 " manured lightly. 18-12 44 44 44 843 44 marled. I think the injury from the rust nearly or quite equal to the benefit derived from the favoratile season. And that the in. crease from the marl was greater on this cut than oti any other, because th- earliest marled and most seasonably planted. The rust here was more injurious than in any other field, and I migiit have at. tributod it to the marl, but that the 75 iere cut also marled suffered least of all. [ am inclined to think that the inns* advinced cotton was most affected, and the youngest least; ami that mirl had no in. rlucncn one way or the other. It is worthy of remark, that while all my other rot ton .sum-red from hue ana me worm both, neitiicr made their appearance on the marled land. I have troubled you with this length, enod detail of my operations, became this being the first serious experiment with marl in South Carolina (that 1 know of), it may he interesting to those who have this earth within their reach, to kno,?*. the particulars. From the facts I have slated, each one can form his opinion on nearly as good data as 1 can my own.? I cat: only add that tny expectations for the first yea* have been fully answered. I did not calculate on any of those magical results which agricultural experimentersso often look for, and so seldom realiy.o to the full extent. I regard an in. crease of 20 per cent, as a very handsome ream, and if it only docs as well another >car. I shall at all events he repaid for mv lahnr even if tiie beneficial effect of the marl ceases then. But the experience of all who have med it is, that it continues to improve the soil every year, until thoroughly disintegrated and combined w;lh it ; and that with proper culture it never declines from its maximum. Under these circumstances, and with these hopes, I shall continue invsclt to prosecute the business vigorously during the suurnc. I have hauled marl over !()() acres, ai.d v?ve n??w at my Sanding enough to cover 3UJ acres more. My great regret is that i did not engage in tha business sooner. I have long known .Shell Bluff, and for some years had heard of Mr. Ruftiu's successful introduction of marl ...i.. tiw? i u f(ird ; his shoulders are well set, his chirm full, hack short, loin and hips very wide rump long, legs clean and sinewy, and he is considerably heavier than any othei animal I over saw of so little hone anri offal. At the time I saw him, Mr. Rusl thought nis weight could not he loss than 8.700 pounds; and it had been ascer. tamed by repeated weighing, that his gain was at least three pounds per day. Not with-itnndmg his immense weight, ho was, from the justness of his proportions, very active. Wlmn lying down, he would gel up as quick as a sucking calf. I saw the man who said he raised this o\ ; and the history wh.eh ho gave of him, was that the hull which sired him was '"purl HerefordIn this, both he anil Mr. Rust agreed. I cannot seo why this statement need he doubted; for accord, ing to an account which Mr. Bemenl has ??? ? finrfto wpm intro |jlluii9lll~l|y owiiiu tawi ??(vi % %? .. v. w iuced into this part of the country severe years ago. But history and tradition oul of the question, it appears to me therr would he as much propriety in taking an animal which should show ail the princi pal points in shape and color of an irn proved Short Morn, as a specimen of the native stock," as there is in taking the ox as such. All example of tms kmc would probably be regarded by the advo. cute* of the Shorl Homsas not altogcthci fair. Your reviewer, Commentator, in the Oct. No. of the Cultivator, in his remark: on Mr. Sot ham's expression, given above, says Mr. Bakewell made a similar experiment in England to that proposed by Mr. Randall, "and it is presumable with nc belter cattle to begin with than Mr. Ran dull might probably find among what i: called the native breed' in New York.' Now it may be pretty near true thai Bikewell began to breed with catth which were not better than those which some have called native in this country hut from the best evidence to he had, ii seems to me certain, that the animals with which Bakewell began to breed, were no! only very g' od in themselves, but belongec to a race whose superior excellence hac been long acknowledged. That undei o ~ his master mind they attained still highci improvement, is neither denied nor doubt od ; but that the originals were nltogeihei superior to our common cattle js plain, i we admit testimony on this subject. The Hr*t great advantage which Mr Bakewell possessed over any one win might attempt a similar experiment, con fining hun.sclf to the common cattle o this country, was ihe Jixed character o his stock. Their leading points had bcci the same, without admixture, as far as w< learn, for ages. Hence he might calcti late on a certain transmission of the quali ties possessed by those he H st selected hereditarily, to their offspring. The ori ginnls of our common cattle have beei brought Irom almost every country am district front which this country has eve received emigrants. These animals, n heterogeneous in their character, havi generally been bred in an indiscriminate haphazard manner, until they have, ii most cases, lost all marked resemblano to any distinct breed. Youatt, in the work on British Cattle gives a very interesting account of Ih? stock frc.i: which Mr. Bakewell made hi original selections. Under the head o the "Long Horns," ho savs: "In thi district of Craven, a fertile corner of th< YVe?t Riding of Yoikshire, bordering 01 ? / ti; . Lancashire, and separated trom >vesi nioreland chiefly by the western moo lauds, there has been from the earliest re cords of British agriculture a peculiar an valuable breed of cattle." At page 1?! is given a portrait of a Craven bull, "sup po.-cd to bear about him many of th characters of the old breed." The pni i rait conveys an idea of a most exccller Hiiiinai; one of the best in the book ; th body and limbs indicating surprisin strength, with a rich, mellow coat t j flair. in 1720, it is stated that a black.smit by the name of YVilby, commenced 111 work of improving th? Craven cattle, wit some cows which he procured from S I ThomasGresley. "Soon after this,"sa) j Mr. Voutttt, "Mr. Webster, of Canle) i near Coventry, distinguished himself as (! breeder. He, too, worked upon S i Thomas Grcsley's stock. Ho was at cor -adorable trouble in procuring bulls froi Lancashire and Westmoreland; and he i said to have had the best stock of cattl 1 ihen known-" At pages 191, 192, it said, " improvement had hitherto bee attempted to bo produced by selecting f< males from the native stock '?" the coui d try, nnd crossing them with males of an e alien breed. Mr. B.ikewell's good senso y led hitn to imagine that the object might j? be better accomplished by uniting the aur perior branches of the s-une breed, than t by anv mixture of foreign ones. On this now and judicious principle he started ? 1 Ho purchased two Long Horned heifers e from Mr. We.bster, and he procured a promising Long Horned hull from West, t morelnnd. To those and their progeny he '*onfincd himself." ? * ?. Many 3 years did not pass before his stock was ? unrivalled for the roundness of its form, the sinallness of its bone, and its aptitudu ) In ncnilirn ovlornnl \'a f ivhilfl WCT? ... .... ...... j ( small consumers of food in propoition to ) their size." I The object in making these quotations is to show ihnt the ancestor* of Mr. Bako* 5 well's stock had been considered excellent 1 long before he began his cartel as a breed. 5 er. I Tn what I have said, I disclaim any in. , lention to * underrnto the native stock," but hnve been influenced onlv by ? *?sh i . . . that (he public may be set right in matters ( of fact. SANFORD HOWARD. , Albany Cultivator. From the Southern Planter. GUIXKA CRASS. Along with some grass roots, for which i l.-J . .L. i i vvc arc inueoieu 10 trie puouc spun. ?nu i politeness of Mr. Garnctt, we received ' the following note : , Messrs. Botts& Bcrfoot: Gentlemen,?1 now send you the Guinea I grass roots which your North Carolina t friend requested you to procure for him ; . and, with your permission, I wiii avail , myself of th:s occasion to publish onco inure what 1 think of this grass, ns [ find that some of my good friends have attri. hutcd to mu opinions which 1 never enj tertnined. Not that I consider those I opinions at all important to ?ny of my brother farmers; hut having once publish. ed them, and perccivtng that somo persona have thereby been induced to make a trial . of the Guinea grass, I o*vc it both to them . and to myself to guard them, if I can, from forming an erroneous opinion on thu , subject* The good friends to whom I allude, ? have called it 44 my favorilo grass," pre ferring this, I presume, to the somewhat < ruder term?1 hobby," although it means ' pretty much the same thing. But (ho t truth is, that if I must have a hobby? ; like most of my brethren?it shall neither i be o\'grass nor straw; and as to the grasses ; I have been content to rank them as those t have done who have most expeiience in t their culture. What I formerly said of t the Guinea grass I still think; and it is, I that it will produce a greater weight of I green food?counting the four cuttings r which it uncertainly bear, ut an average r weight of between two and three feet, in high, dry land, of ordinary quality, than r any grass of which I have any knowledge, f 1 infer from this, it will yield u greater quantity of such food, on nigh, dry land, . of any quality. I have also said, that it ) will stand drought better than our other irrucjuc flint hnrsns and cattle cat it vcrv n'"-""*' I* freely, for I have seen them do so. How f it would compare with other grasses in nu. ) tritive properties I do not know, as none e of them, I helieve, have yet been analyzed tn this country. It is certainly a coarse grass, if suffered to reach a greater height , before cutting than I have mentioned, and- therefore less suitable for hay than ft the grasses commonly used for that pun J pose. It is also hard to extirpate, but not r more so than the red top, which is gencr. o ally preferred to ail oihers, for very wet e land. From all these facts, then, which f, I have noticed tor four years, 1 deem my. a self authorize.! to say of the G uinea grass, a that in all high, dry, and oven sandy soils of ordinary quality, such as are unfit for t, cither clover, orchard grass, timothy, rtd e tGjv-^: oat, it will produce a much s greater weight of green food than uny of f them ; that it will stand drought much b better, and that horses and cattle eat it e freely. But in all situations where the a climato and soil are well adapted to clover, . orchard gra?s, and timothy, it might conr tent any farmer to cultivate no other kinds. Still, the knowledge of their oxd cellence should not prevent small cxperi* U mcnts with other grasses ; for our maxim > should be, that there is no stopping place e for those who wish to acquire a thorough - know ledge of husbandry in all its branches, it Let your friend then, procoed to make a -1 .1 /I .? c small experiment wnn tne uumcu grass g roots, which I now send you for him.? >f They should he buried in the earth until the ground ceases to freeze in the spring, h Then cut the roots into pieces two or threo e inches long, and plant them in well pre. h pared land, between two and three inches ir deep. Let the rows be twelve inches s apart, and place the cuttings in each row, /, at the distance of eight or nine inches, a The plants will require working the first ir | year; hut after that they will occupy the i-; ground to the exclusion of any other ii growth, and w ill bear cutting at least four is tunes n year. In one season 1 cut it five le tines. With sincere wishes for the sue* is i cess o? n ; 1 remain, gentlemen, 5.1 Your obedient servant,