SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
251 
“ burning WOODS” — REPLY TO “J.” 
Editors Southern Cultivator — In the June number 
“J.” says he wants the subject discussed, and 1 do too, if 
there be a danger of the practice again becoming preva- 
lent, It was once almost a universal eustom among farm- 
ers, but they have wisely consigned it to the class obso- 
lete. But there is a class of people that hold to old time 
customs with a tenacity that naught but death can sever. 
As soon as reason became enthroned upon my judgment, 
if enthroned at all, I became opposed to the practice, and 
have had no reason since to change my views. 
When our virgin soil is allowed to hold the reins of 
natural freedom, we find it gifted with an inherent princi- 
ple, or provision, rather, by an Allwise Providence, that 
enables it to provide a covering to screen its surface from 
the sun and scatter broad-cast the elements of future fer- 
tility. The Great Creator knew how to enrich the soil 
and thereby adapt it to the wants of man ; hence, large 
sections of country, once bare of timber and minus grain- 
producing power, can now boast their gigantic oaks and 
towering pines, shrubbery thick and valuable soil. Let 
nature alone and she will meet her own wants and yours 
too in due time. You may scorch a ridge over annually 
and it will be a ridge and nothing more, while endless 
ages roll their rounds — a bleak, dreary, unsightly, pover- 
ty-stricken ridge — without timber, without soil — a worth- 
less spot on God’s footstool— but give nature “a showing,” 
and soon the ridg.e is covered with a dense undergrowth 
which rapidly assumes the form of trees ; a thick covering 
of leaves is annually deposited upon the soil; these rapid- 
ly decay, forming a rich mould and keeping the soil mel- 
low — the dreary ridge is now converted into a dense for- 
est, and the soil becoming richer each year, gladdening 
the heart of its owner and demonstrating the wisdom of 
Deity. ^ 
Let me appeal directly to the experience of farmers. 
Are not your timbered lands the best 1 Are not the tim- 
bered and shrubbery spots in every field the best I Verbum 
sat sapienii — but how can a forest rise in grandeur and 
majesty from the bosom of the plain, if the undergrowth 
be consumed by annual fires I Woodland is becoming 
scarce, and if we pursue “J’s” plan, where shall we get 
our timber and the necessary ingredients for making ma- 
nure in a few years 7 
But, says “ J.,” in substance, we must burn the woods 
or our cows will suffer. I say we had better do without 
beef and butter, than pay too dear for the whistle. In this 
we have grassy old fields inside and outside of the plan- 
tation, and enclosed cane pastures, that we find much bet- 
ter for milch cows than the natural woods, which are fast 
disappearing. So I cannot sympathize with “J.” upon 
this point. 
But, say he, the rough woods generate malaria that 
mounts on airy pinions, spreading diseases over all the 
land. Our farmers in this section who live in the woods 
are just as healthy as those who dwell upon the central 
hills of our broad plantations. So my sympathy would 
be lost on this point, also. Ditch, Ditch, Ditch. 
J*«ot satisfied with these arguments, “J.” raises a fire- 
storm, and imagines the lurid flames sweeping with the 
besom of destruction in one universal conflagration over 
rough woods, plantations and cities, while the people’s 
knees are smiting together like Belshazzar’s — a perfect 
Judgment-day in a nutshell ! But the great misfortune for 
his argument is, since the custom of burning woods annu- 
ally has nearly become obsolete, we hear of but few plan- 
tations being burned down by fire — the danger was in 
unchaining the tiger and turning him loose too often. 
But, says he, the ashes of burnt woods prove a valu- 
able fertizer— well is’at it simply nonsense to talk about 
ashes, when their source is destroyed by fire! If we 
keep the timber sparse, where are the ashes to come from 7 
You might as well talk about showers without clouds as 
ashes without forests. 
Kill the ticks f is another one of his arguments. We 
often hear the remark, that Americans are degenerating, 
and there seems to be just cause for the charge — in the 
days of ’76 our chivalric forefathers would march , with 
unquailing nerve, up to the foe’s rampart, that was belch- 
ing fire and roaring thunder, scale the walls thereof and 
leap upon a hedge of bayonets ! But their frail descen- 
dants take flight at a.tick! I have read of an ancient 
Philosopher that based the earth on a turtle’s back, but 
never before of a logician’s basing an argument upon the 
back of such an insignificant insect as a wood tick ! I 
will close with this advice to “J.” 
“Let verdant forests wave around, 
To fertilize and shade the ground.” 
Hannibal. 
Cypress Bluff, Jefferson Co., Ga., June, 1859. 
WEEVILS IN GRAIN — REMEDY. — CURING 
Bacon. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — I see, in the June 
number of the Cultivator, a Subscriber, from Huntsville, 
Fla., calls loudly for a remedy against weevils They 
are a pest that have annoyed the people of Texas no little, 
until we found a remedy, and that remedy I can safely 
pronounce (from experience) as effectual, in every sense 
of the word ; and for the benefit of all who are unacquaint- 
ed with it I will give it, though, perhaps, too late for the 
July number : 
Before the grain is cribbed, the floor of the barn or crib 
should be covered over with green leaves and stems of 
the China tree, and then as the grain is put in the crib to 
the depth of a foot there should be another thin layer of 
leaves and stems, and at the depth of another foot another 
layer of leaves and stems, and so on, until the grain is all 
cribbed. 
I am' sure this is a remedy which requires no labor in 
comparison to its value ; and the China tree is a growth to 
be found in almost any Southern State. I have tried this 
remedy for a number of years, and never without success. 
It matters not if the weevil gets in the grain before it 
is cribbed, as this mode of cribbing will drive them out. 
The weevils get in the most of the Texas corn before it is 
gathered. 
I will give you another instance of the value of the 
China tree. Bacon, while curing, smoked with the dry 
leaves, stems and berries of this valuable tree, will prevent 
skippers. This looks almost absurd as well as incredible, 
but, nevertheless, it is a matter of fact, authenticated by 
personal experience, and not mere rumor. 
All that is necessary is, while smoking your meat after 
it is hung up, occasionally throw on the fire a handful of 
either the leaves, stem or berries, or a few of each, and 
keep this up for the ordinary length of time of smoking 
meat. 
I will further remark, that this mode of smoking gives 
the meat no unpleasant taste. X . 
Flowerdale, Texas, June, 1859. 
Noble Thoughts. — I never found vanity in a noble na- 
ture nor humility in an unworthy mind. Of all trees I ob- 
serve that God hath chosen the vine— a low plant that 
creeps upon the holyful wall ; of all beasts, the soft and 
patient lamb ; of all fowls, the soft and guileless dove. 
When God appeared to Moses it was not in the lofty 
cedar, nor the spreading palm, but a bush, an humble, ab- 
ject bush. As if he would, by these selections, check the 
conceited arrogance of man. Nothing produceth love 
like humility ; nothing hate, like pride. 
