SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
3G1 
GRASS FOR ROW, WET RAAD. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — Having seen in your 
valuable journal several articles on the culture of upland 
grass, 1 have looked with some anxiety to see an article 
on the cultivation or propagation of swam);' grass. What 
kind of grass is best for wet, swamp land, and the time 
and manner of sowing or planting it, and where the seed 
can be obtained, &c.l are things of some importance to 
me at this time, as I am clearing a large body of swamp 
land above my Mill Shoal, which cannot be drained in 
consequence of the shoal rock forming a kind of dam 
Any information, through your columns or otherwise, 
will be thankfully received by a friend and subscriber. 
Very re.spectfully, 
M. W. Finger. 
Hail Co , Ga , 1859 
Herds Grass will grow in very wet land, almost in run- 
ning water, Tn a few years it will convert a bog into 
ground sufficiently firm to be grazed by cattle or horses 
Where the ground is damp, but not wet, it k best to mix 
Timothy and White Clover with the Herds Grass, Sow 
a peck of Timothy and Herds Grass each, and half a peck 
of White Clover to the acre. The seeds can be obtained 
from the Seedsmen in Augusta. It is now a very good 
time to sow these seeds, though it will answer very wel! 
to sow in February. If you wish the land for pasture, u 
is not necessary to clear it— grub it well and thin out the 
useless timber. Ifyouwishil for mowi. g, the .timber 
must be killed Your ground will probably be rough ; it 
will be best, therefore, to sow before a rain and * ot at 
tempt to cover the seed. 
DOMESTIC WINE. 
Though too late to be available, the present season, we 
hope the following will be use.ful to our readers hereafter. 
It is from a gentleman who has been very successful as 
a Grape Grower and vintner; 
Editors Southern Cultivator — Enclosed, you will 
find a receipt for making domestic wine. Here, as in 
France, Spain or elsewhere, wine can be be made with- 
out sugar; but for this purpose cellars are indispensable, 
with a temperature as low as 60° FahreTiheit, or less. In 
making domestic wine, I use sugar, which is, in some 
degree, converted into alcohol. This gives strength to the 
must, and prevents its running into the acetous state. 
The light w’ines of France, Italy and Germany, will not 
bear removal from the cellars, except for immedin'e luc. 
These wines will net bear transportation, and 'many of 
them are so tart and unpalatable to the American taste, 
as to require an addition of a dose of sugar before di ink- 
ing. 
Receipt for Making Domestic Wine . — Pick the ripe ber- 
ries from the bunches and mash them with the hands, or, 
if you have a press, pick out all the dry and faulty ber- 
ries ; then mash the berries on the bunches with a pestle 
(moderately) in a trough. Then throw the bunches in 
the press and squeeze out the juice, which is called must. 
In the first case, when you mash the berries with the 
hands, put the whole contents, skins, pulp, seeds, &c , 
&c , into a jar cr keg, open at the top, having a spiggot 
about an inch from the bottom or lower chine. In the 
second case, when you squeeze the juice with a press, 
put the clear juice into a keg, barrel or vat, the upper 
head being open and kept covered with a cloth to keep 
out insects. la both cases, after the must has remained 
twenty four hours in the stand, then draw it out, and add 
to it two pounds of clarified or crushed sugar to the gal- 
lon of Scuppernong or Muscadine, and one pound and a 
half to the gallon of Warren, Devereux, Catawba and 
other grapes of sweeter quality ; and if you wish to put 
Cognac brandy in, add one quart of it to ten gallons of 
the must. Then put the must into jugs, demijohns, kegs 
or barrels, filling them to within two and a half to three 
inches of the bung ; let it ferment three days, and then 
fill the vessels with must, kept in bottles for that purpose, 
to within an inch or (wo of the bung — on the fourth da^r 
fill up to the bung. The scum will then rise to the top, 
which you can 'ake off daily with the handle of a spoon. 
Then continue to fill up the vessels with old wine for 
abcut three weeks, when the fermentation will cease. 
Then bung up tight; but, should the fermentation recur 
and force out the bungs or corks, replace them and bung 
up very tight, and let it stand till spring or fall, when !t 
may be drawn into bottle. 
All vessels and things used in making wine, shoul* be 
perfectly clean. Keep the wine in a clean, cool place. 
D R 
Pleasant Valley, Ga., Oct , 1859. 
RYONS’ POWDER k-DEATII TO INSECTS V 
Avery intelligent lady, of Vicksburg, Miss , whom we 
have long known as a zealous and successful horticultur- 
ist, sends us the f din wing testimony to the value of 
“Lyons’ Magnetic Powder.'’ V/e think the plant from 
which this powder is made is growing, in some quantity., 
in the Propagating Garden at Washington, and we hope 
the Dep.trtment will hsseminaie it as fast as possible: 
For the benefit of seedsmen and orchardists I would say, 
[ have found “ Lyons’ Magnetic powder” tffec ual in 
driving insects from seed and away from all places they 
infest, and have no doubt a few flasksful thrown in the 
crevices of fruit trees, would drive the pests from their 
fortresses. 1 opened rny seed box, not long .lince, to„get 
out some seeds and found my English peas literally 
covered with the pea bug. f got a small flask of the 
powder and threw it amongst them and set the box on 
the floor by me. I soon heard the greatest commo'.ion in the 
paper bags and saw them decamping shoe in haste, and 
very soon not one was to be seen. In the same manner, 
beans, &c., &c., have been freed from them. 
I have suffered so much inconvenience from these and 
other insects, that I determined to communicate this to 
the Cultivator. 
“Some Pumpkins.” — "We have it from undoubted au- 
thority, and the certificate vS now in ©ur hands that Mr. 
Samuel D. Nelson, raised, this year on Mr. Meshaclr 
Boaz’s plantation on Swamp Creek, in Whitfield county, 
2 1-2 miles above the town of Tilton, a pdmpkin 9 feet in 
circumference, that weighed 239 pounds; another 192 
pounds, besides several wf*ighing from 140 to 160 pounds. 
These pumpkins are of the Golden variety; the seeds 
from which these pumpkins were raised, were obtained 
from the Cleveland (Tenn.) Fair. Our Savannah, Augus- 
ta and Charleston contemporaries have bragged much the 
past season about melons, squashes, &c., and now a task 
is laid for them in the way of pumpkins. Let them reach 
it if they can. — Calhoun {Gordon County') Platform. 
A Monster Apple. — Our neighbor, John Bulen Siler, 
has presented us with the largest apple we have ever 
seen. It is the variety known as the Equinetely in the 
books, but known better by the local names of “Carter,” 
“Williams,” &c. This specimen weighs 1 pound and I3 
ounces, and measures 15 1-2 inches in circumference. 
Beat that, who cdLt\ 'I— Franklin {N. C.) Observer, 
