106 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



get to pea fields even in January or February, they 

 are killed. Why this is, I leave to others to say, I 

 am not able. Certainly hogs or cattle did not die 

 thus the first twelve or fifteen years I lived here, 

 though all water from the earth is too hard to wash 

 with, indicating lime. 



I offer no hypothesis, I know it is so, and I do 

 not think I have a neighbor.who has been here ten 

 or fifteen years but can testify at their own experi- 

 ence to the fact, that hogs are killed by something 

 they eat in the pea field. 



I thought it but right to support Mr. Lee, as I 

 do not remember that your readers have been 

 served up this dish before. Indeed, I think I was 

 the first one to call attention to this matter ; there- 

 fore, in aiding Mr. Lee, I am but helping myself, 

 for none of us like to be deemed careless by our 

 peers. 



Suppose chemists cannot find any poisonous sub- 

 stance — forsooth our hogs are not dead. I have 

 known horses and mules killed by eating rotten 

 sweet potatoes. Rye in a spoiled condition is very 

 deleterious. Spoiled Irish potatoes, &c, also. Yet 

 I know not that a poison has been detected. 



I would plant peas for manure and provide feed 

 for hogs elsewhere, and advise all others to do so. 



Yours, with much respect, M. W. Phillips. 



For the Southern Planter. 



GAS TAR IN HORTICULTURE. 



Clover Field, 2m, January, 1855. 

 My Dear Sin: Enclosed you will find a scrap 

 cut from the Intelligencer, which might not meet 

 your eye. It appears that the insect tribe have a 

 great aversion to gas tar. Only suppose that roll- 

 ing in this tar when the corn is planted should be 

 a remedy against the bore worm, the benefit would 

 be incalculable. 



I remain yours, 



F. K. Nelson. 



F. G. Ruffin, Esq. 



From Galignani's Messenger, as quoted in the 

 Franklin Institute for December, 1854, we learn 

 that a discovery, which is likely to be of great 

 advantage to agriculture, has been reported to the 

 Agricultural Society at Clermond, France. A 

 gardener whose frames and hot houses required 

 painting decided on making them black, as likely 

 to attract the heat better, and from a principle of 

 economy he made use of gas tar instead of black 

 paint. The work was performed' during the winter, 

 and on the approach of spring the gardener was 

 surprised to find that all the spiders and insects 

 which usually infested his hot house had disap- 

 peared, and also that a vine, which for the last 

 two years had so fallen off that he had intended to 

 replace it by another, had acquired fresh force and 

 vigor, and gave every sign of producing a large 

 crop of grapes. He afterwards used the same 

 substance to the posts and trellis work which sup- 

 ported the tiers in the open air, and met with the 

 same results. All the caterpillars and other 

 insects completely disappeared. It is said that 

 similar experiments have been made in some of 

 the vineyards in the Gironde, with similar results. 

 We commend these facts to American horticul- 

 turists as equally applicable to other growths than 

 that of the vine. 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RAIN. 



To understand the philosophy of this beautiful 

 and often sublime phenomenon, so often witnessed 

 since the creation of the world, and so essential . 

 to the very existence of plants and animals, a few 

 facts derived from observation and a long train 

 of experiments, must be remembered: 



1. Were the atmosphere everywhere, at all times 

 of a uniform temperature, we should never have 

 rain, or hail, or snow. The water absorbed by 

 it in evaporation from the sea and the earth's 

 surface, would descend in an imperceptible vapor, 

 or cease to be absorbed by the air when it was 

 once fully saturated. 



2. The absorbing power of the atmosphere, and 

 consequently its capacity to retain humidity, is 

 proportionally greater in warm than cold air. 



3. The air near the surface of the earth is 

 warmer than it is in the region of the clouds. 

 The higher we ascend from the earth the colder do 

 we find the atmosphere. Hence the perpetual 

 snow on very high mountains in the hottest 

 climate. 



Now, when, from continued evaporation, the air 

 is highly saturated with vapor, though it be invisi- 

 ble and' the sky cloudless, it its temperature is 

 suddenly reduced by cold currents descending 

 from above, or rushing from a higher to a lower 

 latitude, or by the motion of saturated air to 

 a cooler latitude, its capacity to retain moisture is 

 diminished, clouds are formed, and the result is 

 rain. Air condenses as it cools, and, like a sponge 

 filled with water and compressed, pours out the 

 water which its diminished capacity cannot hold. 

 How singular, yet how simple, the philosophy of 

 rain ! What but Omniscience could have devised 

 such an admirable arrangement for watering the 

 earth. — N: Y. Observer. 



Chloroform for Domestic Animals. — The last 

 report of the Commissioner of Patents contains 

 a very interesting article from the pen of Dr. 

 Jackson, of Boston, Mass., (who first discovered, 

 thirteen years since the paralisation of the nerves 

 of sensation by inhaling ether,) on the use of 

 ether with chloroform for domestic animals, 

 for facilitating surgical operations, either for the 

 cure of diseases, or for rendering them more ser- 

 viceable to man. Among these operations he 

 mentions the removal of tumors, the application of 

 actual cautery, castration, &c, and also states 

 that very refractory horses had been made to sub- 

 mit to shoeing, and soon learn to submit after- 

 wards without a repetition of the ether. 



The ether and chloroform mixture is adminis- 

 tered with great facility, by attaching to the nose 

 of the animal, a muzzle or basket, (fastened to the 

 head-stall,) in the bottom of which has been 

 placed a very coarse, open-textured sponge, which 

 has been soaked in water and squeezed dry. One 

 part of chloroform and four of ether are mixed in 

 a bottle, and then poured upon the sponge from 

 time to time as needed, renewing it as it evap- 

 orates. The animal breathes it freely, and " soon 

 falls down gently into a deep sleep of insensibility 

 and unconsciousness," and becomes entirely pas- 

 sive to any operation that may be performed. 



Dr. Jackson regards the use of pure chloroform 

 as dangerous, and recommends its mixture with 

 ether for animals, as better than ether alone, on 



