116 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



to attempt to plan a house, as to conduct his 

 own law-suit, or to make his own clothes. 



Excuse this troubling you with these thoughts, 

 and do with this communication as " to you 

 seemeth good :" if it shall suggest to your at- 

 tention a most neglected, though important, sub- 

 ject of interest, hitherto unnoticed in the Planter, 

 I shall not regret that I send this paper to you. 



Junior. 



J Cottage, March 30, 1844. 



There is nothing within the compass of our 

 small abilities that we will not do, to assist our 

 correspondent in giving to our Virginia homes 

 the only charm they lack, that of outward em- 

 bellishment. 



For the Southern Planter. 

 FOUNDER IN HORSES. 



JVfr. Editor, — I had a fine horse last summer, 

 badly foundered. He could barely hobble about 

 and seemed to suffer from the slightest move- 

 ment. I recollected a remedy recorded in the 

 Planter, and, after bleeding the horse copiously 

 from the neck, I applied your correspondent's 

 prescription. Heating hog's lard to boiling heat, 

 each hoof was inserted in the vessel filled three 

 or four inches with the oil, which hissed upon 

 the hoof. Nothing more was done, and the 

 next day the horse was entirely recovered. 



T. Y. D. 



ANIMAL POISONS. 



The venom of the bee and the wasp is a li- 

 quid contained in a small vesicle, forced through 

 the hollow tube of the sting into the wound in- 

 flicted by that instrument. From the experi- 

 ments of Fontana, we learn that it bears a 

 striking resemblance to the poison of the viper. 

 That of the bee is much longer in drying when 

 exposed to the air, than the venom of the wasp. 

 The sting of the bee should be immediately ex- 

 tracted; and the best application is opium and 

 olive-oil ; one drachm of the former finely pow- 

 dered, rubbed down with one ounce of the latter, 

 and applied to the part affected by means of 

 lint, which should be frequently renewed. No 

 experiments upon which we can rely have been 

 made on the poison of the spider tribe. From 

 the rapidity with which these animals destroy 

 their prey, and even one another, we cannot 

 doubt that their poison is sufficiently virulent. 

 Soft poultices of fresh flesh, bread and milk, or 

 in the absence of these, even mud, are excellent 

 applications to the stings of insects, and even 

 the bites of the most venomous snakes. The 

 specifics, recommended in such cases for internal 

 use, are not to be compared in efficacy with the 

 timely application of a poultice of the flesh of 

 a chicken or other animal recently killed. The 



flesh of the rattlesnake itself, in some parts of 

 America, is reckoned to possess specific virtues, 

 and doubtless will answer nearly, if not quite as 

 well, as any other good soft and moist poultice, 

 which will seldom fail to effect a cure when 

 promptly applied and frequently renewed. In 

 this way the irritation and inflammation induced 

 by the poison in the part bitten, is often arrested 

 at once, and prevented from extending to vital 

 parts. These conclusions are the results of ex- 

 periments made with the poison of the rattle- 

 snake, in which the most celebrated Indian and 

 other specifics were used with little if any ad- 

 vantage. — Farmers' Encyclopedia. 



From the Farmer's Gazette. 

 PROTECTION AGAINST DROUGHT. 



Mr. Wood, — The severe drought this summer 

 has destroyed a great many young trees in this 

 city — some even that had been planted several 

 years. This is a serious evil, and much greater 

 than the loss of a portion of our garden vegeta- 

 bles, or shortening the crop of potatoes and 

 grass ; because the latter may be produced an- 

 other year, whilst many years and much care 

 are necessary to repair the loss of trees of any 

 considerable growth ; and it is, therefore, an in- 

 quiry of interest to every one who has a young 

 tree, how he may protect it in a season of 

 drought. The method which I have practiced 

 with unfailing success for several years may be 

 new to some of your readers, and I will, there- 

 fore, relate it. In the summer, when there has 

 been no rain for some time and vegetables begin 

 to droop, I put a coat of ground tanner's bark, or 

 tan, (as it is called,) about the trunk of my 

 young trees, from eighteen inches to three feet 

 in diameter, and two or three inches thick ; and 

 if the drought continues long I wet the tan oc- 

 casionally — perhaps once in ten or twelve days. 

 The tan prevents the rapid evaporation of mois- 

 ture from the ground, and the soil beneath it 

 will remain moist and light if not wet for two 

 or three weeks. I set out fourteen elms about 

 my lot in a very sandy soil in April last, and in 

 June, on the first appearance of drought, I put 

 some tan about them, which I wet but once af- 

 terwards ; the trees have grown finely the whole 

 time, and now look better than any I have seen 

 which were planted this year. 



My garden is situated on high ground, with- 

 out the protection from wind or sun from any 

 quarter, and naturally a very thin and sandy 

 soil ; and yet 1 have not in four years lost a tree 

 from drought, out of a large number planted 

 every year, having protected them in this man- 

 ner. The trees and shrubs in the burying- 

 ground have been preserved through the drought 

 by watering and cutting the grass and putting 

 it about them. This is a very effectual protec- 



