66 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



while the throat is commonly so large that most 

 of the heat from the fire goes up the chimney. 

 I don't think that one fire-place out of every 

 hundred, in this country, is shaped as it ought 

 to be. And } r et the right shape has been known 

 ever since Dr. Franklin's day. Let me give 

 your readers the measure and form of a fire- 

 place, that will always be found to draw best, 

 to throw out most heat, with least wood, and 

 with least smoking. 



The front should be three feet wide ; the back 

 from twenty inches to two feet. This would 

 splay the sides properly. From the front of each 

 jamb to the back, measuring along the splayed 

 side, down at the hearth, should be fourteen or 

 sixteen inches. The back should rise perpendi- 

 cularly (straight up) from the hearth, for nine 

 or ten inches, and then lean forward till, upon 

 its jutting as high as the arch or upper face in 

 front, it should be only eight or ten inches from 

 the outer edge of the jamb; making the throat 

 of the chimney only three and a half or four 

 inches deep. This leaning forward of the back 

 at once narrows the throat, thereby preventing 

 the heat from escaping up the chimney, and 

 making it draw better, and throws the heat for- 

 ward, where it is most wanted, upon the feet 

 and knees of those who sit by the fire. The 

 splayed sides aid much in casting the heat out- 

 wards, instead of upwards. This effect will be 

 increased by lohiteiu ashing the sides every two 

 or three days. 



With such a fire-place, whoever will quit the 

 abominable custom of leaving the door open, 

 may count with confidence upon a warm room ; 

 abundantly supplied, too, with fresh air. For 

 the fire's burning, is of itself a sufficient sign of 

 plentiful air, and the very sort of air we breathe. 

 Your friend, 



John Dumpling. 



Louisa, January, 1844. 



P. S. — Road survej'ors don't seem to know 

 how useful ploughs are in mending roads. One 

 two-horse plough is equal to six hoe-hands. If 

 a scraper was added it would be better still. A 

 scraper is equal to twenty men with hoes. I 

 may say more of this hereafter. 



A NEW CHURN. 



It having been found by experiment, that the 

 greatest quantity of the finest quality of butter 

 is obtained from cream at a mean temperature 

 of 55 degrees Fahrenheit, Mr. David Ritchie, 

 of Edinburgh, Scotland, has made a churn 

 which seems well calculated to accomplish the 

 object of keeping the temperature of the cream 

 at the desired point. It consists of one cylinder 

 placed concentric within another, so that water 

 either cold or hot as the case may require, may 

 be put into the outer cylinder. 



For the Southern Planter. 

 A CURE FOR CHILLS AND FEVERS AND 

 "NO MISTAKE." 



JWr. Editor, — In sending you the enclosed for 

 circulation in Eastern Virginia, you must not 

 suppose that I mean to intimate that that region 

 of country is more than others liable to chills 

 and fevers. Let it rather be attributed to my 

 overweening affection for the people who inha- 

 bit it ; and after all, what a glorious country it 

 has been ! in its good old days of mint juleps 

 and apple jack, and apple toddy and peach and 

 honey, and fox hunting and driving four in hand, 

 and sleighing parties, and accidental dances to 

 the tune of some grey headed old negro, Caio ! 

 or Titus! or Pompey ! or Ccesar! playing on 

 three strings — a much more enlivening and un- 

 derstandable music than ever came from the 

 bow of Ole Bull ! 



The gentleman to whom this recipe was ad- 

 dressed after trying in vain to shake off this 

 loathsome enemy for the last six or eight months, 

 was thoroughly cured by one trial. At my in- 

 stance he allows it to be published for the com- 

 mon benefit of all lowlanders and uplanders ! 



I. S. S. 



Petersburg, Jan. 31, 1S44. 



Mr. J. L. Mustean : 



Dear Sir, — According to promise, I give you 

 below the recipe for the pills ; go to a drug store 

 and have it put up: 



24 grains quinine. 

 20 grains blue mass. 

 16 drops oil black pepper. 

 Have them made up into twelve pills; take 

 one every hour for six hours, and the next day 

 take the other half, say six, in the same manner. 

 The next day they must be taken in the absence 

 of fever ; if necessary, open the bowels with a 

 dose of calomel and castor oil. You may have 

 confidence in this remedy; I have cured, I may 

 say, a thousand persons, and in no instance has 

 a failure been known to me. All I can say to 

 you is, try it, it can do you no harm, and will 

 only cost you twenty-five cents. 

 Yours, respectfully, 



Solomon Davis. 



For the Southern Planter. 

 REPORT ON CAPTAIN HASKINS' FARM, 



Read at the Meeting of the Upper Hole and Corner 

 Club of JMecklenburg, in November last. 



The Committee appointed to examine the farm 

 of Capt. Edward Haskins, have performed that 

 duty, and report : 



That Capt. Haskins commenced with a very 

 small farm, to which he has made several addi- 

 tions, and for which he had to involve himself 



