I860.] THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 691 



" The best and cheapest kind of food I 

 have found, when it comes time to put on 

 the fat, is parched corn. I generally manage 

 to buy a barrel or two of southern honey, if 

 it is cheap enough, as it is sometimes. 

 When it is not over four cents a pound, and 

 pork is six, it pays first rate, and sometimes 

 you can get it for two; it costs me about 

 three cents on an average, or it won't do to 

 risk it. About a half a pound of honey a 

 day is enough ; it must not cloy their stom- 

 achs, but little of it with their, corn meal, 

 will make the critter gain more extra than 

 the weight of the feed. 



"When parching is done in a proper way 

 and upon a large scale, it is a cheap way of 

 cooking corn, and is the most economical 

 way of preparing it, as many experiments 

 testify. The more slowly the corn is parched, 

 the better. It is not necessary to have it 

 " pop." Perhaps the word roasted would 

 be better ; but in this case it is to be under- 

 stood that the corn is not to be blackened, 

 burnt, or even browned but slightly. The 

 application of moderate h>eat for some time 

 has the effect to change a part of the starch 

 into a sweetish substance called dextrine, 

 which is more easily digested into fat than 

 starch • that is, part of the making of fat is 

 accomplished by the agency of heat." 



The above may all be correct; at any 

 rate I think I will try it, for large quantities 

 of parched or browned corn can be had here 

 much cheaper, " pound for pound/' than 

 unparched. There is an enterprising young 

 man here engaged in making popped com 

 into corn balls — manufacturing about 400 

 barrels each winter. Much of the corn 

 does not pop; this is sifted out, which he 

 sells for one and a half cents per pound, 

 while good yellow corn here now is worth 

 two cents a pound. In popping 100 pounds 

 of corn there is probably ten or more pounds 

 of water driven off. The unpopped is easily 

 ground, and molasses, is cheaper thanJioney, 

 and probably just as good for fattening the 

 critters. For some weeks past I have been 

 feeding my hens on popped corn meal; they 

 are plump, glossy, and lay well. The corn 

 used for popping is mostly a small, oily, 

 flinty variety, and probably contains a larger 

 percentage of oil than our common field 

 varieties. If so, then it contains greater 

 fattening qualities. 



Levi Bartlett. 



Warner ) A r . IT. 



For the Southern Planter. 



On Snoring". 



Mr. Editor: 



Sir — It may be asked, "why publish an 

 article on snoring, in an agricultural paper?" 

 I answer, "because everything rural be- 

 longs, in a certain sense, to your depart- 

 ment." We certainly have snorers in the 

 country, aye, and some very sturdy ones, 

 who, even while asleep, make no little noise 

 in the world, greatly to the annoyance of 

 many, who would gladly be asleep them- 

 selves. Now these people, whether they 

 like it or not, will be apt to learn from some 

 of your numerous readers — I most cordially 

 wish, for their own sakes, as well as yours, 

 that they were, by thousands, more numer- 

 ous — that they are attracting attention, or » 

 they may read the same with their own eyes. 



"Hear, land o'cakes, and brither 'Scots, 

 Frae Maidenldrk lo Johnny Groat's; 

 If there's a hole in a' your coats, 



I rede you tent it : 

 A chield's amang you, taking notes, 



And, faith, he'll prent it." 



Some may think that such remarks might 

 suit the secular page of a religious news- 

 paper. Very possibly, as well as some pieces 

 which I find on such pages. But I have 

 fears that a large portion of the few who 

 take such papers, beside the clergy, never 

 read them. Verily, I feel much reluctance 

 to believe that the clergymen are guilty of 

 snoring. I had almost said of the vice of 

 snoringj But I cannot, with certainty, pro- 

 nounce it a vice. I have never heard it 

 so pronounced from the pulpit. Yet I have 

 never heard a clergyman snore, as much as 

 I have associated with, and venerated them. 

 A friend of mine, sumewhat given to wag- 

 gery, has told the following anecdote, which, 

 although I have seen it in print, — I believe, 

 in "The Virginia Literary Magazine," 'a 

 work like your own, having, by thousands, 

 fewer readers than it deserves, — I will here 

 repeat it, believing it possible that not a 

 single real snorer has yet read it. Let me 

 premise, though, that gentlemen inclined to 

 waggery are so keenly in pursuit of the fun 

 and the moral, that they think little enough 

 of the verity of facts. At least, for the 

 latter, I stand not sponsor. But to our tale. 

 A party of six or eight preachers, wending 

 their way to a church judicatory, were be- 

 nighted at a country tavern, already so 

 crowded with guests that they all had to be 



