182 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



and speedy remedy for the scab, and also 

 a preventive for the fly that produces the 

 worm in the head, for the properties con- 

 nected with burnt woods are very offensive 

 to flies, and they always avoid coming in 

 contact with its effects ; and if sheep have 

 free access to a fresh piece of burnt woods 

 during the pasturing season, they are sure 

 to make it their place of rest and lodging : 

 it promotes greater quietness, prevents 

 disease, and does no damage to the wool ; 

 and they will invariably go half a mile 

 or more from their pasture ground to get 

 the benefit of burnt woods to rest and 

 shade in, when the temperature of the 

 weather is too hot for grazing; and their 

 condition in the fall will be much better 

 than others deprived of such grateful re- 

 treats.— Southern Cultivator. 



HINTS TO FARMERS. 



The farmer's life is shunned by many 

 because it seems one of mindless drudge- 

 ry. It ought not so to be. If our far- 

 mers would study and reflect more, they 

 might do less hard labor, and yet accom- 

 plish move in the course of a year. Ten 

 hours' work in summer, and eight in win- 

 ter, ought, with good management, to 

 give any man a good living. He who 

 works so hard that he cannot read or re- 

 flect after the labors of the day are over, 

 because of fatigue, does not plan wisely. 

 Let no man shun work when work is to 

 be done ; delve, delve, forever, is not the 

 end of man's life. The farmer's evenings 

 should be devoted to mental acquirement 

 and rational enjoyment. To sup and 

 tumble into bed is a hog's fashion, and 

 highly injurious to health. But let a far- 

 mer have about him the choicest works of 

 his own auxiliary avocations; let these 

 form the subject of study and conversa- 

 tions at least two evenings in a week, 

 while the newspaper, the newest and oldest 

 volume, each have their allotted seasons. 

 Two or three dollars, contributed by each 

 family in a neighborhood or district, would 

 go a great way in the purchase of stand- 

 ard books at modern prices. These are 

 but hints which each reader will modify 



as his judgment shall suggest, I plead 

 only for the essential thing of making 

 home pleasant, and its hours of relaxa- 

 tion, hours of instruction also. 



H. Greely. 



For the Southern Planter. 

 GATES. 



Mr. Editor, — Having noticed in a late 

 number of your valuable paper, some di- 

 rections for making a simple farm gate t 

 with a drawing thereof, I wish to make 

 a few remarks upon the suggestions there 

 thrown out. 



The writer proposes to make this gate 

 of white oak plank. Now my experience 

 tells me that this is the very worst mate- 

 rial that can be used for such a purpose. 

 Its tendency to warp is so great, that al- 

 though you season and keep it in press 

 for years, so soon as it is worked up and 

 exposed to the sun, it bends and twists 

 out of all shape. Now it is absolutely 

 necessary that a gate should hang per- 

 pendicularly, to shut close, to be of any 

 use ; but if it be made of white oak, it 

 will infallibly hang all awry after a very 

 short time, and probably only touch the 

 latch post at one point. 



In the next place, the writer says his 

 gate may be made by any farm hand 

 who knows the use of the saw and gim- 

 let. This is true. But if the small ad- 

 ditional trouble be taken to make the gate 

 with mortises, it will last just three times 

 as long as that which he recommends. 

 For the nails used to hold together the 

 un mortised planks on his plan, soon cause 

 them to split. The waiter names it as 

 one of the advantages of his gate, that 

 it has no mortises to rot. But if he will 

 choose locust or walnut for his posts and 

 bars, I will insure their not rotting in his 

 life time. I would further suggest paint 

 instead of whitewashing for the gate. 



Huttins Field. 



White Post, Clarke Co., June 15th. 



We second this last suggestion of our cor- 

 respondent. We wish our readers to recollect 

 that paint upon wood work costs nothing. So 



