158 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



for farming purposes. His deep chest, his round 

 body, his broad loin and full muscles, give un- 

 erring tokens of the power and endurance that 

 the ploughman loves to see. Let us for the 

 purposes of draught select such a model as this, 

 and become independent of the coarse, flabby, 

 thick legged, big hoofed horses of the West. — 

 There is no place of its size in the Union that 

 affords a better market for good horses than the 

 capital of Virginia. Our market has been over- 

 stocked with them this spring, and the price 

 has been very low ; but so scarce are really 

 good horses, that we have not seen what we 

 would call a cheap one this year. 



INCOMBUSTIBLE COATING FOR WOOD. 



I send you below, Messrs. Editors, a recipe 

 for making a composition which will render 

 woo l perfectly incombustible. It is very simply 

 prepared and quite easy of application, being 

 used t he same as a paint with an ordinary brush. 

 A good coat of it applied to the floor under the 

 stoves would be an excellent precaution. 



Take a quantity of water, proportionate to 

 the surface of the wood you may wish to cover, 

 and add to it as much potash as can be dissolved 

 therein. When the water will dissolve no more 

 potash, stir into the solution, first a quantity of 

 flour paste of the consist ency of common painter's 

 size ; second, a sufficiency of pure clay to render 

 it of the consistency of cream. 



When the clay is well mixed, apply the pre- 

 paration as before directed to the wood; it will 

 secure it from the action of both fire and rain. 

 In a most violent fire, wood thus saturated may 

 be carbonated but it will never blaze. 



If desirable, a most agreeable color can be 

 given to the preparation, by adding a small 

 quantity of red or yellow ochre. — Buffalo Com- 

 mercial Advertiser. 



ABORTION AMONG COWS. 



Earl Spencer says, that since he placed lumps 

 of rock salt in his pasture lands, none of his , 

 cows have suffered abortion. 



For the Southern Planter. 

 THE TUCKAHOE. 



Mr. Editor, — I have read with interest the 

 communications of Mr. Fontaine and Dr. Archer 

 on the Tuckahoe. In Rees' Cyclopaedia the 

 following account is given of it : 



" Tuckahoe, in botany the North American 

 Indian name of a very extraordinary production, 

 found in various parts of theUni'ed States which 

 appears to be a subterraneous fungus nearly al- 



lied to the genus tuber. The Tuckahoe is found 

 in irregular more or less globular or oblong lumps, 

 from an ounce to thirty pounds in weight, hav- 

 ing a brown corrugated bark. Its internal sub- 

 stance is uniform, solid, snow-white, farinaceous, 

 with little or no taste or smell, and has been 

 used by the natives as food. This production 

 is generally found attached to the roots of some 

 tree, especially of the genera pinus and quercus, 

 the fibres of which are interwoven with part of 

 its texture, but in process of time are obliterated. 

 The growth appears to be very slow. In decay 

 the inner substance assumes an acid flavor and 

 brown color." 



In the History of Louisiana by M. Le Page 

 Du Fratz, page 247, I find the following: "To 

 what I have said of trees, I shall only add from 

 my own knowledge an account of two singular 

 excrescences. The first is a kind of agaric, or 

 mushroom, which grows from the root of the 

 walnut tree, especially when it is felled. The 

 natives, who are very careful in the choice of 

 their food, gather it with great attention, boil it 

 in water and eat it with their gruel. I had the 

 curiosity to taste of it and found it very delicate, 

 but rather insipid, which might be easily cor- 

 rected with a little seasoning." It is possible 

 that this is the anomalous Tuckahoe. If so, 

 the Tuckahoe, according to this traveller, is not 

 the truffle, for on page 252 he adds, "I cannot 

 affirm from my own knowledge that the soil in 

 this province produces either white mushrooms 

 or truffles." 



The following extracts are taken from note 

 32 to an introductory discourse delivered by De 

 Witt Clinton, before the Literary and Philosophi- 

 cal Society of New York in 1814: "The bulb 

 of arrowhead or sagittaria sagittifolia, boiled or 

 roasted in hot ashes was eat. by our Indians. It 

 tasted nearly like potatoes. It is commonly an 

 inch and a half long and one inch and a half 

 broad in the middle, is sometimes as large as a 

 man's fist, and grows in low, muddy and very 

 wet ground. It composes a considerable part 

 of the food of the Chinese, and is cultivated by 

 them. It ought to be carefully guarded against 

 swine, who eagerly devour it. In a valley to 

 the west of the Rocky Mountains which ex- 

 tends seventy miles, it is found in great abun- 

 dance and is a principal article of trade between 

 the inhabitants of that valley and those of the 

 sea coast. 



" Our Indians also made use of the root of a 

 vegetable which they called tawhotawkin or 

 tuckah, and which Kalm says, is the arum vir- 

 ginicum. or wake-robin. When fresh it has a 

 pungent taste, but when roasted it is like pota- 

 toes. It flourishes in moist grounds and swamps 

 and often grows to the thickness of a man's 

 thigh, but is nearly extirpated by the hogs. . . . 



" The Tuckahoe (or tawkee, as Kalm sup- 

 poses,) was probably a native of this State [New 



