18 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



some ten or twelve years has used plaster very 

 freely every time he has sown clover upon 

 them, and will continue the free use of it as long 

 as he lives. Now I wish to know if there is 

 not some danger of applying this substance to 

 an injurious extent. 



Is there not some land which is by nature 

 sufficiently calcareous ? land, for instance in the 

 limestone countries which cannot be improved 

 by the additional application of lime in any 

 form. 



I request that some of the scientific readers 

 of the " Planter" will afford the information re- 

 quired for the benefit of many a 



Rustic. 



Henrico, December 12, 1842. 



TO HOUSEWIVES. 



Recent experiments in more than one family 

 in this city, says the Delaware Gazette, have 

 established that the plant known to botanists as 

 the Polngonum punctatum, commonly called wa- 

 ter pepper, or smart weed, and which may be 

 found in great abundance along ditches, roads, 

 lanes and barn yards, is an effectual and certain 

 destroyer of bed-bug. It is said to exercise the 

 same poisonous effect on the flea. A strong 

 decoction is made of the herb, and the places 

 infested with the insect are carefully washed 

 therewith. The plant may also, with much 

 advantage, be strewn about the room. Elder- 

 berry leaves, laid upon the shelves of a cupboard, 

 will also drive away roaches and ants in a very 

 short time. 



For the Southern Planter. 



Messrs. Editors, —In laying off corn rows 

 parallel with hill-side ditches, or horizontally, 

 where there are no ditches, I have found a very- 

 simple contrivance, somewhat like a gig-whip, 

 answer an admirable purpose. Take an old- 

 fashioned whip-staff, such an one as our fathers 

 drove with, and if such can't be found in these 

 days of improvement, make one of white oak, 

 four, five or six feet long, according to the dis- 

 tance designed for the rows, and to the little end 

 of it, instead of a lash, attach half a dozen links 

 of small chain or a heavy piece of leather about 

 a foot long. The other end of 'his staff must 

 be fastened into a piece of timber about a foot 

 long, an inch thick, and two inches wide. In 

 the bfarn of the plough, on lop near the handles 

 a hole must be mortised for the reception of one 

 end of this piece of timber. As the plough 

 passes on, this chain or leather falls into the ditch 

 or a furrow previously run, if there be no ditch. 

 On reaching ihe end of the row, the ploughman 

 lifts up this instrument and whilst, the horse is 

 turning round, turns it round also. As he re- 

 turns the chain falls in the furrow just made, 



and so on. The piece of timber must fit loosely 

 in the beam, that it may be changed about easily. 

 Yours, respectfully, 



P. B. W. 



Nottoway, December, 1842. 



From the New England Farmer. 

 RED OR BLACK ANTS. 



Take a few sprigs of green wormwood, and 

 place them in immediate contact with red or 

 black ants, and they will disappear. I have 

 found this to be effectual after using every other 

 remedy within my limited knowledge. 



Another remedy is to sprinkle chalk around 

 the places they frequent. It is said the chalk 

 will cause them to make their exit, but I have 

 not had occasion to prove it. G. C. 



From the Philadelphia Saturday Courier. 

 STALL-FEEDING. 



Directions to Stall-feed Cattle — read be/ore u The 

 Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agricul- 

 ture" June 1, 1842, by James Mease, M. D. } 

 Vice-President. 



1. The subjects on which it is intended to lay 

 an extra pioportion of fat, must be in good con- 

 dition when put up — otherwise they will not 

 pay for the cost, feed, and care. 



2. Give one handful of fine salt three times 

 weekly to each beast. 



3. The hay must be of the first cutting, (if 

 clover) and well cured — that is, not left before 

 cutting, in the field, until the stems are deprived 

 of all nutritious moisture, the leaves and blos- 

 soms turned black, and when cut, turned day 

 after day in making, until they fall off from age, 

 and exposure to ihe sun, and probably a rain or 

 two. These consequences (the last excepted) 

 are the invariable result of sowing timothy with 

 clover seed ; for the first grass dues not attain 

 its full grow i h until two weeks after the latter 

 is fully ripe, and farmers almost always refuse 

 to cut the crop until timothy is fit to mow. — ■ 

 The union of orchard grass with clover, does 

 not admit of the objections to which ihe first 

 combination' is liable, for both progress equally 

 to maturity, and if cut when in full blossom, 

 and not kept too long in the field, make a hay 

 which cannot be exceeded. Hay should be 

 given thrice daily, and no more put in the rack 

 at a time, than the animals will eat before their 

 next allowance, as they become fastidious by 

 confinement, and will refuse hay upon which 

 thev have often breathed, and which is also im- 

 pregnated with the confined air of the slable. — 

 At night, enough must be given to last until the 

 morning, and ihe remains of the former supply 

 at all times taken away, to give place to a fresh 

 one. 



