WORK FOT MAT, SOUTH, ETC. 
139 
plement and machine should have a place, when 
not in use ; and as soon as they are done with for 
the season, they should carefully be laid away and 
housed. This will not only save time and labor in 
hunting them up, but they will be in better condi- 
tion when required again for use. 
WORK FOR MAY, SOUTH. 
General Remarks. — This is considered the most 
important month in the whole year, when we take 
into account the cultivation of the young growing 
crops ; because much of the future labor will de- 
pend on the quality and quantity of the work done 
now. If it be well done, as it should be, the crops 
will not so soon become foul; and if much of it 
be done, the planter will be able to receive an ear- 
lier return. 
Working Cotton Fields. — Young cotton plants 
must be cleaned out as soon as practicable after 
the first leaves are developed with the sweep culti- 
vator and hand hoe. 
Weeding Com. — Keep >our corn fields in good 
order, and free from weeds. 
Cane Fields. — See that your cane- fields are kept 
clean, and as soon as the plants have grown about 
18 inches high, a small quantity of earth should 
be drawn towards them ; and in the course of the 
two succeeding dressings, a bed should be formed 
for them five or six inches in depth. 
Tobacco Plants. — The earth around these should 
frequently be stirred with the plow, cultivator, or 
hoe, and kept free from weeds. As soon as the 
plants are sufficiently large, they should be primed, 
topped, suckered, and wormed. 
Harvesting Winter Grain. — Most of the winter 
grain that was sown in October last, will require 
harvesting this month. That to be used for feed- 
ing stock should be cut just before it begins to turn 
yellow ; but that- left for Hour should be cut when 
the grains are in the milk. 
Silk Cocoons. — Silkworms will have wound their 
cocoons from the 1st to the 20th of this month. 
Those you wish to reel, may be left in the hot sun 
a day or two, or they may be exposed a few hours 
in an oven or kiln, heated sufficiently warm to 
cause bees' wax to melt. Those intended to pro- 
duce eggs for the next crop, must be selected and 
placed on sheets of moist paper, in a cool, dark 
room. From 100 to 120 pairs of millers will produce 
an ounce of eggs. Each female lays from 300 to 
500 eggs, averaging about 350. An ounce of eggs 
contains about 40.000. If well saved from good mil- 
lers, and safely kept, they will nearly all hatch and 
produce good worms. Our climate is admirably 
adapted to the production of the silk worm, as is 
shown by the fact, that while an average of 30 to 
60 per cent, of the worms are lost in Europe, from 
climate, food, and disease, scarcely five per cent, 
are lost in this country. 
Kitchen Garden. — Plant endive, shalots, lentils, 
peppers, and generally all that is recommended for 
April. " The old gardeners of the country," says 
Mr. Din n, " pretend that nothing will come to per- 
fection if sown in this month." But, from sixteen 
years' experience at New Orleans, he feels justifi- 
ed in stating that the plants require only to be set 
further apart, because they grow more vigorously 
on account of the increased flow of the sap. 
Fruit Garden, Shrubbery, ^c— Keep the earth 
loose and clean around your grape vin§s. Plant 
and water cuttings of Cape jasmines. 
EFFECTS OF CASTRATION ON ANIMALS. 
There are several circumstances and principles 
connected with the castration, or emasculation, of 
domestic animals, which, if duly considered, and 
judiciously carried out, doubtless, would have an 
important bearing on the economy and improve- 
ment of our dairies, the quality of our meats, and 
perhaps, in the staple of our wool ; and it is in re- 
ference to these questions that the following hints 
are offered, not as established facts, however, but 
for the purpose of eliciting attention and further 
inquiry on the subject : — 
It is well known that the bull, when emascu- 
lated at an early age, partakes of a very different 
form and character from that which he possesses 
when left uncastrated. He grows to a larger size ; 
his neck, head, and horns are of a different shape ; 
his hair is finer and less curly on the head; his 
meat, when cooked, is more tender and savory ; 
and his disposition becomes almost entirely chang- 
ed. Similar features may also be noticed in the 
castration of the horse, the ram, the boar, the cock, 
the dog, the cat, the squirrel, &c. From the obser- 
vations of a distinguished veterinary surgeon, of 
the British army, who practised ten years in India, 
it appears that the hair of the horse, when cut in 
cold weather, ever after is rough, and changes from 
a stiff, uniform calibre, to one that is irregular and 
fine. It also increases in number as well as in 
length. The hoofs of the horse, after castration, 
he says, become more solid and firm. He further 
affirms that, if a young stallion has a tendency to 
have a " bull neck," it may be checked by castra- 
tion ; and that geldings generally grow larger, with 
the same keeping, than studs, and are more gentle 
in their disposition. 
Similar facts are also observable, as far as our 
knowledge extends, in the " spaying" or castration, 
of females. For instance, the effects of castration 
upon the cow, for 15 or 20 years' experience in 
France, seems to be that it increases the product of 
her milk one third, at an age of six or eight years, 
after which there is generally a regular and con- 
stant supply until death ; that the milk is richer 
than that of the cow in her ordinary state, and 
conseque/tUy yields more butter, which is of a su- 
perior flavor, taste, and color : and that, when the 
milk fails, or one wishes to part with her, the cow 
has a greater disposition to fatten. Furthermore, 
as the cow will not procreate, all the accidents at- 
tending gestation, parturition, &c, are of course 
avoided ; and to those who keep cows for milk, 
only, and to w T hom the loss of several months, in 
being dry and in suckling their calves, is of no 
small moment, an operation of this kind upon these 
animals would greatly increase their value. 
The effects of castration upon the common dung- 
hill cock must be familiar to all who have observed 
the large capons often exposed for sale ; and we 
have reason to believe, that, if a similar operation 
were performed on other kinds of domestic poul- 
try, both male and female, a corresponding advan- 
tage would be gained. *B.* 
New York, April, 1849. 
