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SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
STARTING SEEDS EAREY. 
Rev. Daniel Emerson, Summit Co., O., writes that he 
has been successful in giving garden seeds an early start 
in the following manner : Having selected the quantity 
needed, each sort is tied by itselfin a cloth, the name being 
plainly written on a slip of paper, and inclosed with the 
seed. The packages are then buried about two inches 
<3eep in the ground^ for a week or two. When ready to 
plant, the kinds needed for planting are taken from the 
bags used. They will be found to have swelled, perhaps 
sprouted, and ready to grow. If the ground should be 
quite dry, it is best to water the drills after dropping the 
seed, and then cover with dry earth. Mr. E. says that by 
this plan he has never failed to raise plants from every 
seed planted, though when put out they were often sprout- 
ed. If each seed is placed where it is wanted to grow, it 
will save the labor of thinning, though many prefer to 
thin their rows, leaving the most prominent plants to 
grow . — American Agriculturist. 
Gophers. — In some portions of the South, and more par- 
ticularly in California, there is a pest known as gopher, 
an animal somewhat like a ground squirrel, and very sly 
and difficult to catch. They live in holes dug in the earth 
and where they are abundant they are very destructive, 
consuming the seed as well as the product when the seed 
escapes their ravages. Chemistry has been invoked to 
show how they may be destroyed in their holes, and the 
following is the process given by the California Farmer : 
“Prepare strips of pine wood, about the size of the 
finger and six inches long, then take rosin and melt the 
same; dip the point of the stick in the melted rosin, 
about two and a half inches, and let the rosin be rolled 
around the point of the stick — perhaps two coats of rosin ; 
then take powdered sulnhurf flour of sulphur) and roll the 
dipped end in the sulphur tilll it is well coated ; then 
again dip it in the melted rosin, and again in the sulphur, 
and give a last coat of rosin, making four coats of rosin 
and two of sulphur, to the thickness on the stick, of one- 
halfto three-quarters of an inch, prepare as many sticks 
as there are gopher holes, and take them to the place ; 
insert the stick a little distance in the hole and light it; 
then cover the hole with a clod of earth, not to f ut out the 
light, and leave the remedy to work a cure. The match 
will burn freely, although the hole is closed, and will 
speedily generate -sulphuric acid gas, which is and must 
be certain death to all that breathes below the surface, 
within reach of its power, and it will perforate every 
nook and corner of earth where there is a pore, working 
downward as well as upward; thus, at once relieving our 
industrious farmers of one of the severest trials they have 
had to encounter.” 
The same process (says the New York Tribune,') may 
be used to destroy other noxious varmints where gophers 
are unknown. 
Large Sale of Cotton. — During the present week, 
Col. Joseph Bond disposed of (in this city) his entire crop 
of cotton of 1858, amounting to over 2200 bales. The 
purchase was made by Col. T. R. Bloom ot Macon, and 
the net proceeds amounted to over one hundred thousand 
dollars. This is the largest sale that we have heard of 
being made in Georgia, and the largest crop of one sea- 
son made by any planter in the State. This crop was 
raised in South-Western Georgia, and grown on the fol- 
lowing plantations; “ Fowltown,” “ Wilkins,” “ Mud 
Creek,” •' Ducker Place,” “ Hi'^kory Level” and “ White 
Hall.” These places embrace some of the finest lands 
in the State. Should Col Bond live a lew years, with his 
present income, and exercise prudeiue and ec./noray he 
w[\], perhaps, be a rich man . — Albany PatroU. 
MANUFACTURES IN THE SOUTH. 
The New Orleans Picayune is much pleased at th« 
steady advance of the South in manufactures. It says 
the most profitable cotton factory in the South is in East 
Mississippi, and that many of the cotton planters hav® 
introduced the new machine to spin cotton on the planta- 
tions. In Warren county there is a movement to estab- 
lish a factory in that rich region. The Picayune con- 
cludes : 
This is a movement in the right direction. The South 
can manufacture cheaper than any other part of the world. 
With the raw material growing in sight of the factory ; 
with slave labor, under all circumstances and at all times, 
absolutely reliable ; with provisions of every descrip- 
tion and of the best quality, and cheaper than in any 
other quarter,, furnished without transportation, the 
manufactured fabrics can be produced so as to compete 
successfully with the world. The North and Europe her- 
self, will find that the South has advantages for manufac- 
turing purposes that even pauper white labor will not 
counterbalance. Success to the movement to manufac- 
ture in the South ! It is destined to form one of the most 
powerful elements in our advancement in wealth and 
power. 
This sounds very encouraging’ says the New Orleans 
Delia, but how, neighbor, if negroes continue to advance 
as they have for the last three or four years 1 They com- 
mand sixteen hundred dollars, and if a few thousands are 
drawn off into manufactories, this figure will be still furth- 
er increased. 
VVIEE CLOVER KILL CATTLE ? — MEASUR- 
ine Corn in Bulk. 
Editors Southern Cultivator— I do not often write 
for the scrutiny of public gaze ; but I feel constrained to 
reply to your correspondent, “W. A ,” whose article ap- 
pears in the June (1858) number of the Cultivator. 
Raised in Ohio, I have been familiar with the growth 
of Clover, and I believe it is known to farmers there, 
generally, that Clover, white or red, when in blossom and 
especially whilst wet with dew, is very likely to kill cat- 
tle. “W. A.” asks “What is there in it ?” Now, since 
my step-mother was a Yankee, I’ll answer by asking: 
“What is there in it” that makes it a superior pasture ? 
But “why did it kill one and not another T’ Because one 
eat a greater proportion of bloom than another. Why 
did it kill the milch cows first? Partly for the same rea- 
son ; and partly because the solid food you gave them, left 
less room for the expanding clover bloom. I have seen 
like results from a like cause in Ohio. The symptoms of 
illness, and post mortem appearance, narrated by “W.A.” 
contain an account of the observation of many a morti- 
fied stock grower. 
That rule for measuring corn in bulk, which appeared 
in your April (1858) number, is most egregiously in er- 
ror. A bushel of shelled corn occupies more than a cubic 
foot, while the rule makes a bushel of ears only equal to 
4-10 foot. The correct rule is to divide the cubic foot by 
4 1-2, because 4 1-2 cubic feet make a barrel, i. e., a flour 
barrel full of ears, which will generally shell out about a 
bushel. Instance, 4 1-2 feet make a bushel— hence 4 1-2 
4 1 - 2 = 1 . 
But as per April number 4 1-2-y-l 1-2=2. 0 1-1. You 
see at once that it would not begin to do. J. T. K. 
Yorkto w n , 7 \\vo s. 
