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THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



To Prevent a Horse from Breaking his 

 Bridle. 



A subscriber from Mississippi, writes in a P. 

 S., as follows. The information is worth, to 

 any man having a bridle-breaking horse, the 

 price of the Farmer and Planter at least one 

 year. — Editor F. & P. 



p. — Have you a horse that breaks his bri- 

 dle ? Go to the store, buy a large fiddlestring, 

 tie one end of it to his bit, pass the other up 

 under the head-stall and tie to the other side of 

 the bit. Tie the string from half to three- 

 quarters of an inch shorter than the head- 

 stall, take loose the martingales and hitch him 

 with the reins (strong ones) and let him pull. 

 Thus you see all the strain will be upon the 

 cat-gut, and that cutting down on his naked 

 head soon brings him to terms. I have never 

 yet seen one make the third attempt under this 

 treatment, and rarely a second. Try it. — Far- 

 mer and Planter. 



Farmers, Note This. 



In a cloudy morning, it is a matter of im- 

 portance to the farmer to know whether it will 

 be sunshiny or showery in the afternoon. If 

 the ants have cleared their holes nicely, and 

 piled the dirt up high, it seldom fails to bring 

 a clear day to the farmer. Spider-webs will be 

 very numerous about the tops of the grass and 

 grain some cloudy mornings ; and fifty years' 

 observation has shown the writer of this that 

 these little weather-guessers seldom fail in 

 their predictions of a fair day. — English paper. 



Using Up the Pig. 



What crocodiles were in Egypt, what cows 

 are in Bengal, or storks in Holland, pigs are in 

 Ohio, with this trifling difference — their sacred- 

 ness of character lasts but as long as their 

 mortal coil ; and this is abreviated without cere- 

 moixy, and from the most worldly motive. In 

 life the pig is free, is honored ; he ranges the 

 streets, he reposes in thoroughfares, he walks 

 between your horse's legs or your own, he is 

 everywhere respected, but let the thread of his 

 existence be severed, and, shade of Moham- 

 med ! what a change ! We think of nothing 

 but making the most of him. A million of his 

 kind perish annually at Cincinnati, to augment 

 the vast prosperity of the city. 



About thirty years ago, when it contained 

 only one tenth of its existing population, a few 

 bold speculators began the trade. Selecting 

 the hams and sides of the animal, they made 

 pickled pork ; of the rest they took small ac- 

 count. Soon, however, the idea occurred to one 

 more cute than his fellows, that the head and 

 the feet — nay, even the spine and the verte- 

 brae — might be turned to account. Trotters 

 and cheeks had their partisans, and these parts 

 looked up in the market. About this time the 

 makers of sausages caught the inspiration ; 



they found those luxuries saleable, and so 

 many pigs were to be slaughtered, that the 

 butchers were willing to do it for nothing, that 

 is to say, for the perquisite of the entrails or 

 offals alone. 



The next step was due to the genius of 

 France. A Frenchman established a brush 

 manufactory, and erected a market for the 

 bristles, but his ingenuity was outdone by 

 one of his countrymen, who soon after arrived. 

 This man was determined, it seems, to share 

 the spoil ; and thinking nothing else left, col- 

 lected the fine hair, or wool, washed, boiled, 

 and curled it, and stuffed mattresses with it. 

 But he was mistaken in thinking nothing else 

 left. As but little was done with the lard, they 

 invented machines and squeezed oil out of it; 

 the refuse they threw away. Mistaken men, 

 again ! This refuse was the substance for 

 stearine, and made a fortune to the discoverer 

 of that secret. 



Lastly came one who could press chemistry 

 into the service of mammon. He saw the 

 blood of countless swine flowing through the 

 valley of Deer Creek, west of the city ; it was 

 all that was left of them, but it went to his 

 heart to see it thrown away. He pondered 

 long ; and then collecting the stream into reser- 

 voirs, made prussiate Ctf potash from the blood! 

 The "pig was used up." — Ohio Valley Farmer. 



For the Southern Planter. 



Tobacco Plant Beds. 



To the Editor of the Southern Planter : 



The season has* too far advanced for the 

 readers of your paper to reap any benefit 

 from the following suggestions in relation 

 to plant beds this year, but I hope that the 

 ideas advanced, proceeding altogether 

 from the writer's experience in the rais- 

 ing of plants, may not fail to exert its in- 

 fluence and benefit to those who may try 

 the experiment the coming season, and 

 continually. The scarcity of wood in 

 this portion of Piedmont Virginia, and the 

 much greater scarcity of plant land, ren- 

 ders it extremely important, that some 

 method be devised— some practice de- 

 veloped, by which tobacco plants may be 

 more easily and more certainly raised, 

 and the exorbitant consumption of wood 

 diminished at the same time. 



Upon almost all estates, large or small, 

 there are some good localities and suita- 

 ble soils for the growing of plants. Wet, 

 post-oak land, (indicating a close, com- 

 pact soil, it matters not whether rich or 

 poor,) I prefer for plants. Let so much 

 of that character of soil, with a good 



