40 
SOUTHERN CULTrVATOR. 
PEABODY CORN — A WORD FOR IT. 
Editors Sodthebn Cultivator — Noticing letters in 
** our papercondemning Peabody and his Corn ” I pur 
diased seed intending to muster my forces, to his aid, if 
possible. 
1 selected a piece of poor, sandy land, capable of pro- 
ducing, in a. good season, 8 bushels Corn to the acre, 
•mithoui manure — laid it off four and a half feet each way, 
dropping about 1 quart stable and cowpen manure mixed, 
in each hill, planting the Corn by the side of manure and 
and covering with a hoe. 
When about 18 inches high, thinned out to one (some- 
times two) stalks in a hill ; the season has been rather 
more than an average ; yield per acre, 29 bushels. 
The Corn suckered very little, and the hills with two 
stalks, produced double ihosQ with one; some stalks had 
five and six ears, but generally two or three. There is 
less cob and shuck to this Corn, than our common varie- 
ties. 
Although this experiment falls far below my expecta- 
tons, I do not give up — but shall “ try him again ” 
I purchased the seed from Messrs Isaac G. Williams 
Co., Agricultural Warehouse, Galveston ; so have no 
doubt of its purity. 
1 hear that S. Wallace, Esq., of Wallaceville, has a 
field of this Corn, which promises all that Mr. Peabody 
elaims for it. 
Planters of the South who have fully tested this Corn, 
let us have your opinion. 
A Texan 
Smith's Point, Texas, 1858. 
P. S. — I should mention that being troubled with 
“ Cutworms” and “Black “ the stand” was very 
poor — not more than 2 3ds the number of stalks remained ; 
had the “ stand” been good, the yield would have been 
near fifty bushels 
CONCRETE BCIEDINGS. 
Wb have heretofore given our own experience in build- 
ing bouses of Concrete material, clay mortar, &c., and 
the mansion and out-houses at “ Ffuitland" will pro- 
bably long continue standing evidences of the value and 
durability of this style of building. Wherever rock, grav- 
el, sand and lime are plenty and easily obtained, Con- 
crete houses will be found nearly as cheap as wood, and 
Superior, in many respects, to all others. The Maine 
Farmer of a recent date, has the following article, and as 
the process described by the Homestead differs somewhat 
from our own, (as set forth in the No of Southern Cid- 
UvatoT for August 1857,) we copy entire: 
A great majority of the country buildings in New En- 
gland are constructed of wood. These may be consid- 
ered, in the beginning, the most economical — and in the 
end the most expensive; or, in other words, the first cost, 
in Maire, at least, is cheaper than if built of some more 
durable material — as of stone or brick; but their durabil- 
ity is so much less, and the repairs required when they 
begin to decay are so many and often, that they are, af- 
ter all, most expensive. Within a few years, we have 
heard of concrete houses, gravel wall houses, and the 
like. These, when built upon a foundation that is not 
liable to be thrown up by the frost, and the cement pro- 
perly made and faithJully applied, are undoubtedly excel 
Itnt. Their first cost is comparatively light, and their du- 
rability great. 
There are many places among us, where such build- 
ings might be consiiucied easier and cheaper than they 
could be in any other siiuations We have heretofore 
given our readers such directions as we have found, and 
which promised to give them insight info the best proces- 
ses of preparing the cement, and of applying it. 
The Homestead, of last week contains some very good 
ideas in regard to gravel wall buildings, and the editor 
informs us that he has recenily exaniined a large and con- 
venient barn, built on this principle, by Mr. C F. Pond, 
in Connecticut. He expresses his belief that gravel walls 
are, for those who want the most economical building 
material possible, and who would build for a century 
hence as well as the present, the very best thing. 
The mortar he describes as being of mixed lime and 
hydraulic cement, which sets at once. The size of the 
sand, or gravel, varies from quite fine up to the size of 
stones as large as one may handle conveniently with the 
hands. The larger stones, he says, are not mixed with 
the mortar, but put in after the mortar is laid. 
He then describes the process of building as follows: — 
A form is made of boards of the width of the wall 
and exactly where the wall is wanted. Then the mortaf 
thoroughly mixed, and containing no stones larger than 
an egg is spread in layers, and cobble stones, with larger 
angular ones for binders, laid in and bedded in it, so as 
to, as far as consistent with the strength of the wall, econ- 
omise mortar. Thus may the wall be made in layers, or 
blocks, as large as convenience may dictate, say eight or 
ten feet long by eighteen inches high. Ttie barn in ques- 
tion was built with walls 20 inches thick to the height of 
about ten feet from the ground, and above that thinner. 
The upper part is made ot blocks of concrete about three 
feet long by a foot square, as large as two men could con- 
veniently handle — these were made in moulds, while the 
other part of the wall was in process of making, and as 
soon as it was hard enough to receive them, they were laid 
up, thus materially expediting the erection. 
The whole barn is in size 50 by 30 feet, with a cellar, 
about 9 feet in the clear beneath. The whole was erect- 
ed in ‘’I days. The ;walls are as firm andha'd as stone, 
and will continue to grow harder as long as they stand. 
The outside has been washed with a thin mixture of hy- 
draulic lime and a little Prussian blue, which gives it a 
uniform greyish tint which is very agreeable. 
A frost proof barn cellar is a treasure to a farmer, the 
worth of which cannot be estimated. The cellar beneath 
this barn is divided by a tight partition, and a portion, 
setting off about one-third ot the whole for a root cellar. 
Here are piled a noble store of roots secure ftom injury 
by the severest weather of our climate, easily got at, and 
in a convenient, light apartment. The whole cellar, by 
the way, is well lighted, and has at one side a door wid« 
enough to admit a cart and oxen. The door lifts perpen- 
dicularly, and is thus entirely out of the way, 
CONCRETK CISTERNS. 
Near the barn, and just above it on the sippe of the hill,~ 
Mr. Pond has a concrete cistern, built in one day, and ca- 
pable of holding 65 to 70 hogsheads of water. 
The process of building was this : A laborer dug the 
hole in hard gravel in a forenoon. It was dug accurately 
round and smooth ; then a mason plastered the bottom 
and sides with a thick coat of the concrete made with no 
large stones, the largest being only coarse gravel 7'he 
concrete was made of hydraulic lime so that it set quick- 
ly. A quantity was thrown into the pit and smoothed 
over with a shovel ; then, as it set somewhat, a flot form 
ofboatds was placed upon Hand sides laid. As i. was 
required for immediate use, it was not domed over,— but 
plank laid t>ver it and covered several feet deep W'lih earth 
to secure it against frost. The best way is to m«ke a 
rough dome of thin boards that will easily bend to uirm 
the arch of the dome, and then to rover it with a ihm 
layer— three or lour iruhes ihick — oi concieie. When 
this is hardened sufficiently, put on another, and thicker, 
coating, w'ork u!g up the dome leguiarly and symmetri- 
