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THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



There is no butter that bears the West India 

 climate equal to the Irish. Indeed we believe 

 scarcely any other can be preserved sweet there, 

 any length of time. This is probably owing, 

 first, to their mode of scalding or melting it, in 

 order to make it more compact, and expel all 

 the butter-milk. And in the second place, to 

 their custom of charring the inside of their fir- 

 kins. This important fact should be known to 

 every dairyman. The conservative power of 



charcoal, is well understood in the preservation 

 of fresh meats, eggs, and every other article af- 

 fected by exposure to the warm atmosphere. It 

 is a perfect preventive of every bad quality im- 

 parted to the butter by wood, which is generally 

 found in that put up in firkins. If surrounded 

 by charred wood, the deleterious effects of the 

 atmosphere, which is very searching, will be 

 perfectly prevented. The charring should be 

 so slight, as not to impart color to the butter. 



For the Southern Planter. 

 GATE AND FIXTURES. 



The above is a sketch of my manner of fixing 

 posts and gates, which I think is superior to 

 Mr. Rice's, as published in the last number of 

 the Planter. The posts are planted three feet in 

 the ground, which is important, and a sill is accu- 

 rately fitted in between the posts, which will 

 prevent them from inclining towards each other ; 

 in addition, there is a brace from each post to 

 the sill, which still farther prevents the gate 

 from swagging ; but they answer the still better 

 purpose of preventing careless drivers from run- 

 ning against gate or post, which is at the ex- 

 pense of the gate or vehicle, and not unfrequent- 

 ly giving fright to a young horse, from which 

 he does not soon recover. You discover that 

 the posts are capped, with an inclination out- 

 wards, by which they shed the water and are 

 thereby preserved, and it looks as well as any 

 other finish, when neatly done. The hinges are 

 made to embrace the frame and to extend eight 

 or ten inches on the top and next to the bottom 

 rails with screws or bolts to pass through them. 

 The gate is much stronger, as the rails cannot 

 $raw out from the frame, which is too often the 



case with the cuff hinge, or the hinge like Mr. 

 Rice's. 



The last number of the Planter is worth all 

 of the subscription money. 1 think I shall keep 

 a standing lot of the Jerusalem artichoke for my 

 hogs. No root crop can surpass the sweet po- 

 tato for hogs, but the artichoke has an advan- 

 tage in its withstanding the winter, which su- 

 persedes the necessity of digging, and I would 

 say of planting, if the hogs are taken off of 

 them in good time. 



If the tomatoes be as valuable for milch cows 

 as the S. C. Advocate says it is, it is truly a 

 valuable vegetable — none superior to it for the 

 table — few equal to it for pigs and poultry, and 

 the ripe fruit forms a most excellent application 

 for the bite or sting of insects, allaying pain and 

 destroying the effect of the poison almost in- 

 stantly ; and, to 11 cap the climax," I have been 

 told by those who have tried it, that there is 

 nothing better to destroy that dire enemy to 

 " tired nature's sweet restorer," the bed bug. 

 Yours, &c 



Albert E. Wrenn. 



