THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 99 



This may be called an expensive method ; but 

 our readers may be assured that the fowls will 

 be enough better to pay for it. Meat derives 

 much of its taste from the kind and quality of 

 food that the animals consume ; hence gross, 

 fatty substances, fish, or anything that is disa- 

 greeable to the taste, should be avoided in the 

 food given to fowls during the fattening process, 

 as these invariably impart more or less of their 

 disagreeable flavor to the flesh of the poultry 

 fed upon them. It is well known that the cele- 

 brated canvass-back duck derives its delicacy of 

 taste from feeding on the bulbous roots of a pe- 

 culiar grass growing in the Chesapeake Bay, 

 and that other kinds of ducks are scarcely eata- 

 ble, in consequence of their living almost entire- 

 ly upon fish. These remarks will hold good to 

 most kinds of birds, both of the water and land, 

 and, indeed, of all animals ; accordingly as their 

 food is good or bad, so will be the quality of the 

 milk, meat, or eggs. 



" We recollect, when a boy, of having occa- 

 sionally seen geese and ducks nailed through 

 the webs of their feet to planks and floors, and 

 hens and turkeys tied up and so closely confined 

 to stakes, that they could not exercise. This 

 was done so that they might fat the faster! — 

 How shockingly barbarous, and any one guilty 

 of such a practice in these days, ought to be 

 indicted, and severely punished for their cruelty 

 and cupidity. We are totally opposed to the 

 close confinement of beast or bird. Without 

 exercise, the system cannot be in a healthy state; 

 and the meat of close confined animals is never 

 as good, to say the least of it, as when they 

 have plenty of fresh air, and are allowed to 

 move moderately about. 



" The best method of killing fowls, is to cut 

 their heads off at a single blow with a sharp 

 axe, and then hang them up and allow them to 

 bleed freely. By this process they never know 

 what hurts them, or endure pain for a second. 

 Wringing the necks of poultry is almost as 

 shocking as nailing their feet to planks for the 

 purpose of fattening them, and follows in the 

 same barbarous category. 



"Scalding the fowl previous to picking, in- 

 jures the feathers, and makes it troublesome to 

 dry them, and we think the quality of flesh is 

 somewhat injured by this process, especially if 

 the weather be not pretty cold at the time. — 

 They should be picked as soon as possible after 

 being killed, and their offal taken from them ; 

 be clean rinsed then in cold water, and hung up 

 to dry, and kept as separate as possible till sold ; 

 packing them together in heaps injures the flesh. 

 To be hung up and frozen for a few days, or 

 even weeks before eating, makes the flesh more 

 tender. To keep them the same length of time 

 after roasting, especially if well stuffed, also adds 

 to their delicacy of taste and tenderness. 



w When the bird is brought on to the table, it 



is perfectly shocking to see its head, legs, and 

 feet, left upon it, though we know in many places 

 this is fashionable, and considered highly gen- 

 teel ; but for our own part we detest such offal, 

 and the sight of them frequently destroys our 

 appetite for the time being. The process of 

 carving also at, the table is a dead bore. We 

 like the French fashion of cutting up the bird 

 in the kitchen or at a side table, and having it 

 passed round on the dish, every one then help- 

 ing himself to such pieces as he likes best," 



For the Southern Planter. 

 PEAS. 



JVEr. Editor, — In your December Planter some 

 remarks are made relative to sowing peas. For 

 the last three years, at the last working the 

 corn, which happened to be about the 3d and 

 5th July, I sowed a kind of hardy red pea, 

 which also matures as early as any other we 

 have, and which, by the bye, will remain through 

 ihe winter on the ground perfectly sound, and if 

 covered in the spiing will come up and do well. 

 The last summer I was more particular, both in 

 measuring the peas as well as the land — the 

 average quantity of seed was a half bushel to 

 the acre — sowed on the 3d July. They came 

 up well, and matured a bountiful crop. Many 

 are now lying on the ground perfectly sound. 

 They are truly a great fertilizer, perhaps not at 

 all inferior to red clover, and much cheaper. 



I have lent my aid to increase the circulation 

 of the Planter in this vicinity — it is both instruc- 

 tive, interesting, neat and cheap, and I truly 

 wish that it, or some other good agricultural 

 work were in the hands of many more of our 

 farmers — and also, I am truly pleased with your 

 "cash system," for then, when I receive the 

 work, I know that it is paid for. 



Mr. Editor, I wish to make a few remarks on 

 a compost that I put up early the last summer, 

 and used. I crushed up 12 bushels of castor 

 beans, with which I used 6 bushels stone lime, 

 6 bushels plaster, 24 bushels leached ashes, 

 and about 150 bushels of very rich surface earth, 

 putting a course of each till completed. It so 

 remained for eighteen days ; the corn then being 

 about two feet high, when about one quart was 

 put around the hill — increased ultimately to 

 about a half gallon : this done, I gave the corn a 

 working. During the whole time, even to the 

 gathering, I could not perceive any good effect 

 it had produced. 



In my farm pen, I am making a compost of 

 first woods litter, stable manure, marl, woods 

 litter again, swamp muck or mud — having used 

 three courses each to this time. 



You can read this and throw it under the 

 table, J. Bunch. 



C/mckatuc/c, Nansemond, Dec. 27, 1843. 



