Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1860-11-03
nranuring by Muddy Wnter.

New York State Fair at Elmira last week
were improved by a meeting of farmers at
the Farmers Club" where informal but
interesting interchanges of opinion and dis
cussion took place The following we cx-
tract as report of some remarks OH manu-
featuring grass through irrigation by muddy
water, made by A. b. Dickinson:
| said last night that / would make u
heavier growth of grass by the use of clay
than could by barn. yard manure. 1t won't
pay to haul much where clay eau oe had
Grass is the all-important crop of this coun-
try. All countries that don't produce grass
naturally, run down and become unfertile.-
hold that one load Of manure on the sur
face is worth two loads ploughed in. A load
OF clay run on to grass land by irrigatiom is
worth more than manure in any quantity, be-
cause it nourshes the roots and it makes the
crop all stand up and grow very heavy
In running on liquid manure, my grass
grew too fast and lodged, and lodged grass
will not make over % tons per acre of cured
hay L have made 4 tons per acre BIZ run.
ning on muddy water. But this must be
very carefully applied, and it must be done
in cool weather. In hot weather the water
is apt to rot ,hc sod. [ have irrigated about
100 acres; and | make the water muddy by
pioughlnS and stirring up the clay in pond.
Clear water will benefit land, but it takes
great while longer to do it. | never NOW
second crop; prefer to let the second growth
remain to cover the land. One acre of old
meadow, thick and fine grass, is worth an
acre and ',alf of new meadow.
Upon farm where grass will grow there
is no difficulty in making land rich There
is no dressing of manure, such as is often
given to land, equal to a thicl, grass sod
Manure may be drawn upon grass land the
very day the grass is cut, to the best advan
toge. / don't approve of fastening moving
land. run the muddy water on in winter,
as well as the fall and spring. use the
natural drainage of hundred acres of land,
concentrated by under drains, made by a
mole plough, into an artificial pond, and use
that water made muddy, to run on other land
L run my drains about eighteen inches deep
and have some of these mole drains, made
twenty-five years ago, which are rs etfectual
now as when first made. | do not attenInt
to enrich whole farm in one year by irrigx-
ton, but take it in sections, say ten acres
year My mannrc haul upon the fields that
| cannot reach with water"
THERE Is LIFE EvERYwuERE-Lif cv-
erywhcrc The air is crowded with birds
beautiful, tender, intelligent birds, to whom
life is song, and thrilling anxiety, the anx-
cty of love. The air is swarming with in
sects-those little animated miracles The
waters are pcoplcd with innumcrabe forms,
from the animalcule, SO small that one hun
dred and fifty millions of them would not
weigh grain, to the whale, so large that it
seems an island as it sleeps upon the waycs.-
The bed of the seas is alive with polypcs, crabs,
star-fishes, and with sand-numcrous shell-ani
malculcs. The rugged face of rocks is Scared
by the silent boring of soft creatures, and
blackened with countless mussels. barnables
and lmpcts. Life everywhere ! on the earth,
in the earth, crawling, creeping, burrowing,
boring, leaping, running. If the seouestercd
GOODNESS of Che wood tempt us to saunter into
its chequered shade we are suluted by the nu-
merous din OF insects the twtter of birds.
the scrambling of sQ rrels, the startled rush
of unseen beasts, all telling how populous is
this seeming solitude. If we pause before
tree, or shrub, or plant, our cursory and half
abstracted glance detects Il colony of various
inhabitants. We pluck flower, and in its
bosom we sec many charming insect busy at
its appointed labour We pick up n fallen
leaf, and if nothing is visible on it, there is
probably the trace of an insect larva hidden
m its tissue, awaiting their development
The drop of dew upon this leaf will probably
contain its animals, visible under the msoro-
scope. This same microscope reveals that the
bloodrain suddenly appearing on bread, and
| awakening superstitious terrors, is nothing but
a collection of minute animals; and that the
vast tracts of snow which are rcddcned in
single night, owe their colour to the marvel
lous rapidity in reproduction of minute plant
The very mould which covers our cheese, our
bread, our jam, or our ink, and disfgures our
damp walls, is nothing but a collection of
plants. The many.cooured fire which spark
les on the surface of summer sea at night,
as the vessel ploughs her way, or which drips
from the oars in lines of jewcllcd light is pro-
duced by millions of minute animals.
CoMFoRTERs OUT OF NEWSPAPERS Soon
after the advent of chilly nights, finding the
extra covers too heavy, and remembering the
suggestion of year ago, | took off a weighty
coverlid and substituted half dozen copies
of popular weekly never slept more
pleasantly. mentioned it to some of my ac-
quaiptances, who, on trial of the past two
weeks, pronounced it effectual / used it on
three beds insmy house, and as nothing can be
cheaper, feel authorized to recommend it
for general uso had the curiosity to weigh
the newspapers in use on my three BEDS aud
the amount of all was three pounds only
The papers can be spread loosely, overlap
ping one another, though for convenience, |
have pasted tho edges together. How triAing
is the cost, and how easily obtained A
pound or two of old newspapers can be pro-
ourod for fnur onnfa n wound and ;f sxrood