536 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



ble — also frequent and thorough harrowing, or the 

 use of the ciihivalor during the winter months, so 

 ihat the tubers and stolonilerous fibres oCthe plant 

 may be broiiiiht to the gurlace, and exposed to 

 the Irost. They need have no fears of injuring 

 their lands tiy deep plouirhintr, provided they fur- 

 nish them with an adequate supply of manure. 

 'I'he common prejudice atrninst the plough, and 

 the deleciive use of it. are the greatest cur^^es upon 

 low country agriculture, 



2d. To put such crops upon the ground as will 

 admit of its being frequently stirred during (he 

 growing season, with the plough and the cultiva- 

 tor — especially the latter insirument. 



By the adoption of this course, we will venture 

 to predict, that in a l(?w seasons they will have 

 the satislaciion of seeing one of tiieir most trou- 

 blesome enemies eHectually vanquished. — Ed. 

 Southern Agriculturist, 



AMERICAN COTTON PLANTERS IN INDIA. 



The Mobile Journal publishes the following ex- 

 tract from a letter from a native of one of the cot- 

 ton growing slates who is now in India under a 

 contract vviili the Government, or a company 

 who are making an attem[)t to in)pt;ove the cul- 

 ture of cotton in that country. The letter contains 

 information which is curious, and deserving of 

 attention from the aulheniicity of the same. — Jour, 

 vj Commerce. 



Calpee, May Wth, 1841. 



I am now about six hundred miles from Cal- 

 cutta, in the district of Bundlecund, and have 

 conmienced business after a sort of fashion. As 

 to labor, I can get plenty, such as it is ; one of our 

 negroes will do more work than five of the na- 

 tives. They are something like our Choctaw 

 Indians at home, only much inferior in strength, 

 courage, and energy. 



There is no forest for them to roam in here, as 

 the Coctaws have, and they are therefore com- 

 pelled to make a living, such as it is, by labor, and 

 the rent to the government eats out the profit of 

 all they do cultivate. The land here all belongs 

 to government, and the natives have to pay rent 

 for using it. The rent is from three to nine rupees 

 per begha, accordmg to situation ; the nearer a 

 well the higher the rent, three beghas make about 

 one acre ol our measurement. This grinds them 

 down so hard that they rarely attempt to make 

 more than a mere living, which is nothing but a 

 little rice. There are lew of them that ever get 

 animal food at all, so you may judge what sort of 

 creatures they are for labor, cocnpared with our 

 negroes ai the south. [ do say that this is greater 

 slavery than that of the slaves in North America. 

 You may say they have no masters to order them 

 to their work as you do slaves, but they are no- 

 thing like as well provided for or as happy. You 

 can hire the best men here for five pice a day, 

 women and boys at two to three pice — there are 

 43 pice in a rupee, and a rupee is worth about 45 

 cents of our money — so you seethe free laborer 

 here gets less than five cents per day, or one dol- 

 lar and a half a month, with which to clothe and 

 feed himself and pay rent to government. 



Besides this, there are other circumstances 

 against this being an agricultural country. There 



is hardly any timber fit for use, I have seen no 

 tree, since 1 have been here, higher than 30 feet 

 to ihe top branch. There are no horses fit for 

 work, except the Arabian, brought from Persia 

 and sold at high prices from hundreds up to two 

 thousand rupees, which is too much for any farm 

 horsp, and so we have nothing to depend upon 

 for ploughing, but very small oxen, much inltirior 

 to those in America, We may make about 200 

 pounds of cotton to the acre, and three acres to 

 the hand, which will be about 600 pounds, or a 

 bale and a half of our weight, to the hand, but I 

 have not yet heard of more than 100 pounds to 

 the acre, and that of very inferior siufi compared 

 with Mississippi cotton. Siill, as this is much bet- 

 ter than the native cultivation, I may do quite as 

 well for myself as at home, for I am disposed to 

 think the government will be liberal, I shall, 

 nevertheless, return to America at the close of 

 my engagement. 



SAWDUST, 



From the Albany Cultivator. 



"A. VV, L., of Hempstead, L. I,, in a commu- 



nicalion says : 



"My predecessor was in the habit of putting 

 large quantities of sawdust, straw, &c., in hia 

 pig pen, let it get thoioughly incorporated and 

 rotten, and then use it as a manure. On the pur- 

 chase of the place last spring, I /bund on it a 

 quantity of this sawdust manure, horse manure 

 and long manure, which three kinds 1 separately 

 put in difierent pans of my corn field. The 

 result is this ; the part with long manure is very 

 poor, (by the way would not poudrette help it 7) 

 the horse manure good, and (he sawdust first 

 rate?'' 



This method of using sawdust has been prac- 

 tised by the Shakers with great success. Rotted 

 sawdust of itself would be a good manure, but 

 put in a pig pen it not only decays, but it absorbs 

 and retains much of the most valuable part of 

 the manure, that would otherwise be lost. Of 

 the great value of hog manure lor the corn crop 

 there can be but one opinion. It is decidedly 

 superior to any or all of the ordinary manures 

 for this crop, and a farmer should use every ex- 

 ertion, by frequently replenishing his pig pen with 

 refuse matter, to increase the amount or prevent 

 waste. 



GARLIC, A CURE FOR KIDNEY WOR»I. 



From tlie Western Farmer and Gardener, 

 Bloom'mgton, Ind., July 9ih, 1841. 



Sir: — In the ninth number of your valuable 

 periodical, under the head " kidney loorms,^^ the 

 use of corn boiled with ashes is proposed as a 

 remedy. 



This remedy in recent and slight affections, I 

 believe ofien proves successful ; and so does 

 arsenic, given in a dose of a teaspoonful or more ; 

 but this poisonous drug should never be given, 

 except to stock hogs. The most certain plan of 

 treatment, however, is to make an incision through 

 the skin, about an inch long, parallel with, and 



