SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
175 
quaintance with soils as nature has formed them will 
satisfy most men that land is better for being a little un- 
even, for all agricultural purposes, than it would be if per- 
fectly level. 
Deprive our farms of all inequality of surface, of all 
natural drainage, and our first labor would be to throw 
them into ridges and intervales again. True, every culti- 
vator would not have this work to perform. I)ut those that 
did not would be an exception to the general rule. Level 
plains, declining valleys, and the water- slieds of hills 
and mountains have much to do in modifying the fertility 
of all cultivated land. At another time, we may discuss 
this subject at greater length ; at present we are content 
with the additional remark, that the washing of the soil, 
as so earnestly and truly stated by Col. Cannon and his 
friend, “Southron,” is the great evil of Southern agricul- 
ture. A remedy, at once effective and easy in its applica- 
tion, is the most urgent want of our plantation economy. 
Having discussed this theme in our recent course of lec- 
tures in the Georgia University, some notes of the same 
may be worth the space they will occupy in the Cultiva- 
tor. In the mean time, we hope to learn the plan of 
leveling practiced in Tennessee, and referred to in the ad- 
dress above noticed. L. 
PERSIRniONS AKD OTHER FRUITS FOR HOGS. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — I see in one of ymur 
last year's numbers a piece recommending farmers to raise 
the persimmon tree for to feed hogs. I have been raising 
them for several years, and last year I tried setting some 
out, but have failed entirely. I am a great hand for fruit 
and stock of all kinds, sorts and discriptions, and a South- 
ern man throughout, and wishing to make and raise every 
everything at home, I wish to ask you a few c{uestions, 
which I would like to have answered in the Cultivator, 
though I do not consider myself capable of writing for the 
paper; 1 just wish you, as editors, to ask them and let 
some one respond, and I v/ill be much obliged to ymu and 
the person that answers them. 
In the first place, I wish to know if there is any remedy 
to keep sheep and goats from eating fimit trees if let in 
the orchard I If so, how and when applied on the tree. 
2d. The time and manner to set out the persimmon tree 
to make it grow 1 
3d. Hovv to make a white- wash out of lime to apply to 
outbuildings to stand the weather I 
4th. Where can I get a Shingle Machine on a small 
and cheap plan, just to suit a farm, to run by my gin gear*? 
.5th. The price (if there is any such a thing now) of a 
Carding Machine to gin and card cotton I I want it 
small and simple, like the Shingle Machine, just for my 
own use, as I raise my own wool and make my own 
negro clothes, I wish to make it with as little labor as 
possible. I have seen just the kind of machine I need in 
South Carolina 20 years ago, made by a neighbor of my 
father’s, but I do not know where one can be had and at 
what price. By complying, you will oblige me very 
much. Yours respectfully, 
J. S. Miller. 
Remarks.— T o the first question, a friend appends this 
note on the proof-sheet : 
“Cut the throats 
Of your sheep and goats 
— a very laconic, brief and summary process, and, we 
should say, quite an effectual one. If the sheep are South 
Dow7is or Mermocs, and the goats Cashmeres, of course, 
a milder system of treatment might be adopted — such, for 
instance, as building a high fence around the fruit trees, 
&c. 2d. The Persimmon may be set out in November or 
December. It is best raised from seed in good, mellow 
ground, the plants to be frequently transplanted while 
young. 3d. You will find an excellent recipe for white 
and other colored washes for out-buildings, in present 
number. 4th and 5th. We do not know of any just such 
Shingle and Carding Machines as our correspondent 
seems to desire. — Eds. 
ABORiraiENT OF HOME. 
Home has a meaning and intention beyond the simple 
uecessities of life. It is made, or ought to be, for some- 
I thing more than a place to eat and drink and sleep. It is 
for cultivation, pleasure, rational enjoyment, and improve- 
ment. Cultivated man generally exhibits some taste 
-about his home. It is generally the index to his degree 
of cultivation. The savage leaves his home unadorned. 
The barbarian deems it unworthy of him to study for 
rational adornments of his home; or even for ordinary 
comfort. 
Just as civilization advances, taste exhibits itself in the 
homes of the people. A cultivated mind craves a beau- 
tiful home. And Avhat makes a beautiful home 1 It is 
not wealth, for we have just been told of a man worth 
j S250,000 who never had a chair in his house, or rather 
hovel. He and his, sat on rude stools. It is not profes- 
sional honors, nor learning, nor talent that makes home 
beautiful; for we have seen all these in homes disgusting 
to every idea of taste or order or neatness. It is what is 
around and within our home that makes it beautiful — the 
evidence of taste, refinement and culture that encircles it. 
A home must have some things about it or it cannot be 
tasteful, it cannot be beautiful, cannot be in the highest 
degree pleasant. The first of these is ordjcr. There must 
be order in the arrangement of the buildings. They must 
be situated in proper relation to the points of compass. 
A house that faces no way in particular — neither north, 
south, east or west — is sadly out of order, unless the road 
or street, or hills or valley, or stream, or some other pro- 
minent natui'a! object, be so important as to be its regu- 
lator. When a house is orderly established with respect 
to the points of compass or the scenery about it — the next 
thing is have the land immediately around it so graded as 
to carry olf all water and look pleasantly to the eye. 
Then the fences about the house should square with the 
house and other buildings. They should be neat, trim — 
the best of their kind — made both with respect to conveni- 
ence and good taste. Fences may be cheap and in good 
taste, or expensive and out of taste. The yards, gardens, 
&c., about a home, when neatly fenced, add greatly to its 
appearance. Fine fences beautify a farm, and especially 
a home. When kept in good repair, painted or white- 
washed, free from a hedgeway of weeds, briars, thistles, 
brushwood, &c.. they remind every passer-by of thrift, 
taste and h.appiness within. The next point of importance 
is walks to the road, garden, yards and out buildings. 
They are easily made, and when neatly made and w'ell ar- 
ranged, add greatly to the beauty of home. A puddle of 
water, a mud-hole, or any such pestiferous obstruction in 
a frequented path or walk about a farmer’s home is a 
great annoyance, and reflects seriously on his good taste 
and good sense. The walks made, trees and shrubbery 
are wanted. Trees along the road, trees about the yards, 
and shrubbery about the house, are so natural, so grateful 
to the eye, so musical to the ear, so delicious to the taste, 
that a home w'ithout them scarcely deserves the name. 
We w’ould not have it all trees *bout a home. That w'ou'.d 
