76 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



retail the information that all, even the most 

 practical, are ready to communicate verbally. In 

 our own case, we know that no part of our 

 work has given more satisfaction to our readers, 

 than the notes we have been enabled to make 

 on such excursions. With the opening of spring 

 we hope to renew our visits, for they are as 

 agreeable to us as they are profitable to our 

 readers. 



RAISING EARLY CUCUMBERS?. 



H. G. Dickerson, of Lyons, Wayne county, 

 New York, one of the most successful cultiva- 

 tors of garden vegetables, adopts the following 

 mode of raising early cucumbers. He makes 

 his hot-bed at the usual time, and when the soil 

 is placed upon the stack of manure, pieces of 

 turf are placed just below the surface, on which 

 the seed are planted. If the grass of this turf 

 is alive, it is to be put upside downwards. On 

 the arrival of warm weather, and when the soil 

 in the open air becomes fit for cultivation, these 

 pieces of turf are removed entire, with the young 

 plants upon them, and placed in highly manured 

 ground where they are finally to grow. In this 

 way the roots are taken up without the least 

 mutilation, consequently no check is given to 

 their growth. Afterwards, whenever there is 

 any probability of a night frost, each hill is co- 

 vered with a bell glass. These glasses have a 

 small opening at top, which prevents the sun 

 scorching the plants in case they are not re- 

 moved in time ; they are obtained at the glass- 

 works in the neighborhood, for four cents a 

 piece ; but where they cannot be had, boxes 

 with panes inserted, will answer nearly as well. 



By this means, cucumbers fit for the table, 

 were raised the past season, by the first of sixth 

 month, (June.) — Cultivator. 



We are requested by a correspondent to pub- 

 lish the following recipes, for the value of which 

 he vouches under his proper name : 



CURRANT WINE. 



Let the currants be fully ripe and free from 

 all leaves, weeds, insects, decaj^ed or defective 

 fruit ; break and press out the juice, and to every 

 gallon of the juice add two gallons of water, 

 and to every gallon of the mixture add three 

 and a quarter pounds of brown sugar, one gill 

 of brandy, and one-quarter of an ounce alum 

 pulverized, mix well, and put into a cask. This 

 wine is fit for use in a short time, and when 

 mellowed by age, is equal to the best sherry. 



TO CLARIFY HONEY. 



After dripping or squeezing the honey from 

 the comb, put it into a small-mouthed vessel, 



such as a carboy, or jug, filling it full, in twenty- 

 four hours the small particles of comb, &c, will 

 rise to the top, which must be taken off and the 

 vessel again filled, and so on, until the process 

 is finished. 



From the American Agriculturist. 



BAKED BEANS. 



Shall I give your readers a hint or two for a 

 very homely, but even to epicures sometimes, a 

 very palatable dish if properly prepared ? Care- 

 fully select and soak your beans the night before 

 you wish them for the table ; wash them tho- 

 roughly the next morning, and put them over 

 the fire to simmer immediately after breakfast. 

 When they have come to a boil, drain them 

 carefully through a cullender, then add fresh hot 

 water from the tea-kettle, with a suitable piece 

 of salt pork, and let them boil slowly till quite 

 soft. Place the beans, with the liquor in which 

 they were boiled, in a deep baking dish with the 

 pork in the centre. The latter must first be 

 neatly cut through the rind in cross strips a third 

 of an inch in diameter. Bake them two hours 

 in a moderate oven, or if you prefer the orthodox 

 Connecticut mode, bake in a brick oven with 

 your bread, &c. They may remain in all nighl 

 with advantage. Prosa. 



For the Southern Planter. 



CHICKENS AND DUCKS. 



Mr. Editor, — I number myself among those of 

 your correspondents, who love "fried chickenP 

 We have been very successful in raising chickens 

 at some of our former places of residence, but 

 have had little or no success with them at our 

 present abode. Hence my attention has been 

 called to the cause of the disease among them, 

 which so often proves fatal, and which has been 

 the great difficulty with us. I will suggest 

 what I conceive is one general cause of failure, 

 and which may be easily remedied. It is the 

 almost universal custom among domestic ladies 

 (who control such matters) to endeavor to excel 

 in turning out the greatest number early in the 

 spring ; to effect which, they keep double as 

 many hens in the same house and yard as they 

 should do ; being well fed they lay and set early, 

 and though she may boast of turning out much 

 the largest number early, it is very seldom the 

 same lady can brag of sending many to market, 

 or of bringing them to the table. I would further 

 suggest that the number of hens be reduced half, 

 or have another house and separate them, and 

 that all the first eggs be used or carried to mar- 

 ket except by those persons whose location is 

 on a warm southern exposure, or near some 

 woods exposed to mornings sun. Such persons 

 may, with care and attention, succeed well with 

 early chickens, but rarely otherwise. In com- 



