116 
SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
JAPAN AND OKESON PEAS -VINEYARDS, ETC. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — Did you plant any of 
those Japan Peas ? If you have not, take my advice and 
leave them alone ! A friend made me a present of a half 
pint last spring, and I planted them very carefully; they 
grew very luxuiantly, bore a fine crop of hairy pods, each 
containing two peas, which, by the way, are very difficult 
to shell out. I was induced to try a dish of them. When 
they came on the table each pea was like a buck-shot. I 
have since tried them by boiling from breakfast until din- 
ner, with very little better success; in flavor they are no 
better than our common cow pea. As fodder they will 
not compare with that valuable plant ; for the stems are 
like young hickories, and the pods like sheet iron with 
wool over it. The pea is not unlike the ordinary marrow- 
fat pea; the pods grow closely and thickly along the 
main stem. 
With the Oregon Pea I am well pleased ; with equal 
advantages it will produce double the weight of fodder 
that our cow pea will ; and the fodder is more easily cured 
without the loss of leaves, and is greadily eaten by cows, 
horses or mules. I planted ten acres in corn, in the same 
way and at the same time that peas are planted, and was 
delighted with the results. The pods are small, but grow 
at the ends of branches in clusters, and are easily gather- 
ed ; the pea is very small, much like Okra seed, and one 
person in a day can gather enough to plant five acres. As 
a vegetable for the table they may rank with cow peas, but 
as fodder for animals I think highly of them. 
While speaking of fodder, I would inquire whether 
Professor Bachman is not mistaken in calling our Crow- 
foot and Crab Grass foreigners'? I have never seen either 
of them in Europe, nor do I see them mentioned among 
European grasses, and, if I mistake not, Botanists have 
usually considered them as natives. 
Our Vineyards are progressing finely, and many more 
acres are being planted out, with the luscious Warren, 
Isabella and Catawba — those appear to be the three fair 
rivals at the South, each, no doubt, possessing fine quali- 
ties; it remains to be seen which will finally assume the 
first rank. If we can but keep humbug out of the way, 
our cause is won. A. C. 
Woodward, S. C., 1856. 
CULTIVATION OF FISHES. 
In a paper from the Patent Office, published in the 
National Intelligencer , it is suggested that the fishes of 
many varieties not now known to them might be intro- 
duced into the waters of this country by means of transfer- 
ring the spawn from one locality to another. The Mullet 
of the Garonne would be valuable in the Potomac, and 
also the Sardine. The trout and salmon of the Rhine and 
its waters would answer further north ; turbot and sole 
for the Jersey waters, and trout, carp and salmon, for 
north of the Delaware. The carp, it is known, was in- 
troduced into the waters of the Hudson. The golden carp 
was introduced into a pond near the same river. The 
breaking ofa dam caused these fish to be swept into the 
Hudson, where they now exist in tolerable abundance. 
To a similar accident we are indebted to its presence in 
the Schuylkill. Mr. Pratt used to have them in a pond on 
Lemon Hill, whence they were washed into the river, and 
are now caught by the boys in abundance. The smelt, 
now abundant in Jamaica Pond, near Boston, did not 
originally exist there, but was carefully transported either 
from Europe or from some section of this country. 
Salmon and shad were formerly found in the Merrimac, 
and the latter in Lake Winnepisceogee and its tributaries ; 
but since the establishment of manufactories at Lowell, 
and the consequent darning of the river, these fishes have 
disappeared from all the upper waters; while, on the other 
hand, the opening of communication between Lake Erie 
and the Hudson has introduced to that lake and its acces- 
sories, eels and perhaps other fish not previously found 
there. The same result has also been experienced in Lake 
Ontario since its connection with Lake Erie by means of 
the Welland Canal. The officers of the Navy on foreign 
service could have assigned them the ^uty of collecting 
varieties of fish not known in the waters of the United 
States. 
Mr. Peel of Saugerties, New York, hasshad, carp, tench, 
gold fish, &c , in the ponds on his estate, and so well are 
they protected from molestation of every kind that upon 
the appearance of persons at the margin of the waters they 
approach to receive tood from their hands. This gentle- 
man, it is said, has a sturgeon, seven feet long, and when 
he wants a sail on his pond, he harnesses this sturgeon, 
attaching a line and cork float to the traces. The sturgeon 
will swim with the utmost speed around the pond several 
times, keeping near the shore Then he will suddenly 
stop, rise to the surface of the water and turn upon its 
back, thus indicating its exhausted condition. — Philadel- 
phia Ledger. 
AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES-CONSTITUTION, ETC- 
Editors Southern Cultivator — Many of the citizens 
of this Parish, feeling much interest in promoting the 
cause of Agriculture, have organized a Society under the 
title of the “Agricultural Society of St. Landry.” As there 
is no one in our present organization who has any ex- 
perience on the subject, I have thought that the business 
ofpermanent organization might be very much advanced 
by the experience of others. I have, then, to request, if 
there is in your possession any printed Constitution and 
By-Laws of an Agricultural Society, that you will be good 
enough to forward me a copy, and oblige 
Your obedient servant, M. C. 
Opelousas, Parish of St. Landry, La. 1856, 
We publish a very good form of Constitution in present 
number, in compliance with the above and many similar 
requests. — Eds. 
COLD WEATHER IN MISSISSIPPI. 
Our friend. Dr. Philips, writes us from Edwards, Miss., 
under date of January 23d : 
I have no record of such a length of cold, very cold 
weather before, though keeping mem. for 28 years. There 
has been now four and a half weeks of as cold weather as I 
ever saw before. South, even for 10 or 15 days. In Feb., 
1835, the thermometer was at zero, not under 12° this 
time, but freezing for 30 out of 33 days. I think more 
stock will die than ever before. It may kill yellow fever 
for some 20 years. Thus we may escape this pestilence, 
for it was gaining yearly. But for this weather, I looked 
to see It on all our plantations hereabouts. 
It is peculiarly severe on my interests. lamtryingio 
levee so as to plant, without danger, some of my best laid, 
and to clear enough for a full crop. 
Yours truly, M. W, Philps. 
- -Q. 
Help one Another. — Sir Walter Scott wrote:— “The 
race of mankind would perish did they cease to nd each 
other. From the time that the mother binds tP child’s 
head, till the moment that some kind assistant ^^ipes the 
death damp fiom the brow of the dying, we caonot exist 
without mutual help. All, therefore, that nee* aid, have a 
right to ask it o their fellow mortals ; and no->rie, who has 
it in his power to grant, can refuse without ir^-un'ing guilt.’’ 
