THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



173 



keep of the slock, elicit their warmest admira- 

 tion, and the improvement in the soil is truly 

 astonishing ; and yet they evidently more than 

 doubt the benefit of the system which has le'ad 

 to these results. 



In a particular county in this State it has 

 been the custom, it is said, from time immemo- 

 rial, to keep a large stone on every farm, which 

 is pat in one end of the bag when it is sent to 

 mill to balance the corn or meal in the other 

 end. A benevolent traveller meeting the mill 

 boy once with his horse thus encumbered, sug- 

 gested to the little fellow the advantage of dis- 

 pensing with the stone, and dividing the corn. 

 With all the pliancy of youth, the boy took to 

 the innovation, and determined to try the expe- 

 riment ; delighted with the result, he hastened 

 to inform his father of the wonderful discovery, 

 and to prove by ocular demonstration the ad- 

 vantage of the riddance, in which old Dobbin 

 seemed to rejoice. The old man admitted that 

 the new theory looked plausible, u but, my son," 

 says he, shaking his head, "let us beware of 

 new-fangled notions ; go back and bring home 

 that stone, and remember that it is dangerous 

 to attempt to be wiser than our fathers." To 

 this day, in that county, the corn goes to mill 

 in one end of the bag, and the stone in the 

 other. 



The Committee doubt whether the improve- 

 ment is worth what it cost. A " barren waste," 

 be it remembered, by means of grass and cattle, 

 has been in a few years converted into the beau- 

 tiful farm so glowingly described by the Com- 

 mittee. Could the same result have been ef- 

 fected in any cheaper mode ? None is pointed 

 out, and surely the Committee do not mean to 

 doubt the value of any improvement 1 But the 

 Committee fear that the young grass will trou- 

 ble the Doctor in his corn crop. We do not 

 doubt that if the Doctor manures highly, and 

 turns under a heavy sod of artificial grass on 

 which to plant his corn, he will be infinitely 

 more troubled both with grass and corn than he 

 would have been if he had left his land in the 

 state in which he found it ; but we hope he 

 will permit the fear of the excess of neither the 

 one nor the oiher to delay him in his system of 

 improvements. 



There is reason even in the roasting of an 

 egg, and we do not mean that pasturage may 

 not be substituted for tillage to too great an ex- 

 tent; but wo do mean to express the opinion 



that an excess of tillage, to the exclusion of 

 pasturage, has skinned our lands, and that to 

 the reverse of that system we are mainly to 

 look for improvement. 



We hope that the Mecklenburg Club will 

 admit our claim to fellowship, and excuse the 

 freedom we have exercised in commenting on 

 the report of their Committee ; it is in many 

 respects a very valuable one ; especially, would 

 we invite attention to their well-timed remarks 

 upon the Doctor's fish-pond. 



PRESERVING EGGS. 



It would be quite a valuable discovery to far- 

 mers in the neighborhood of a large market, as 

 well as to household economy, if a cheap and 

 easy method of preserving eggs could be prac- 

 tised, whereby the price would be more equal- 

 ized through the various seasons of the year. — 

 Reaumer, the inventor of the thermometer which 

 bears his name, tried many experiments for this 

 purpose, and found that the cheapest and most 

 effectual method was to apply oil or grease, 

 with which they were rubbed, or into which 

 they were dipped. He found that they were 

 preserved quite as well by the thinnest layer of 

 fat, as by the thickest coating, so that every 

 part of the shell, (which is porous and admits 

 air,) was covered. All sorts of fat, grease or 

 oil, he found well adapted to preserve eggs, and 

 kept them in this way, he says, for nine months, 

 as fresh and good as the day they were laid. — 

 Will some of our readers try a few dozen in 

 this way, and let us know the result 1 



Newburyport Herald. 



From the Cheraw Gazette. 

 THE TOMATO. 



Few people have any idea of the great value 

 of this very common and easily cultivated plant, 

 although there are still fewer, perhaps, espe- 

 cially in the South, but who esteem it one of 

 the most pleasant and useful of vegetables. — 

 The ease with which it is raised is no inconsi- 

 derable recommendation, and its medicinal qua- 

 lities render it still more valuable. As a pre- 

 serve, the tomato has few superiors in the vege- 

 table kingdom, and it is an excellent substitute 

 for the fig, which, when dried and packed in 

 boxes, it very much resembles in many particu- 

 lars ; while the ketchup from tomatoes is known 

 and approved by the gourmand everywhere. — 

 There are three varieties of fruit — the large 

 common, the egg, and the golden drop — the 

 two latter of which are the most highly es- 

 teemed for their delicious flavor. The soil in 

 which tomatoes are planted should not be very 

 rich, or they will run too much to vine ; how- 



