ISO 
SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR 
plantation every year isa task which is not performed with- 
out labor and expense, and it is a business that does not pay, 
if the benefits of the manure are to be realized but one 
year. The soils may be improved by guard draining and 
laorizontalizing, in the first place, and then a judicious 
system of rotation and rest ; but it can never be improved 
by rest, rotation and manuring without hill-side ditching 
(or guard draining) and horizontalizing. It will be under- 
stood that my remarks are intended to apply to a hilly 
place. 
When once understood, it is a pleasing task to guard- 
drain and horizontalize a place. And the labor is not so 
l-reat as is generally supposed, unless there are a great 
many gullies to cross, and then the labor is in building 
lines below the ditch and across the gully, to keep water 
from leaking over. I have located and constructed some- 
thing over 11 miles of hill-side ditch on this place this 
year, and crossed how many gullies'? And the place 
tieeds at least 11 miles more, 
I have made several experiments in the application of 
manure to corn and cotton, and arrived at the mode. I 
found, by actual experiment, that the way to apply cotton 
seed to corn was to put the cotton seed on the very top of the 
'earth, around the corn. Reason seemed to be against it, 
but I was bound to believe that which I • saw'. I was in 
doubt, however. I could not see into it until you solved 
■the problem — it is mulching in this hot climate that does 
^he good. I am obliged to you for the information. 
Yours, &c., G. D. Harmon. 
Utica, Miss. ^ April, 1856. 
BED, MULATTO AND SANDY LAND-COCKLEBURRS 
KILL HOGS. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — Having lately become 
a subscriber (and now a “scribbler”) to your valuable pa- 
per, with which I am well pleased, both for the many 
good recipes it contains and the matters of general interest 
to the farmer is treated upon in your columns. 
And, although not accustomed to wield the “grey goose 
quill” for the press, am suddenly seized (not with a 
mania for writing) with a desire for “further light” upon 
farming. And having an inclination to contribute my 
mite in the way of giving a hint or two to brother farmers, 
3.nd a good recipe placed again before the world I am in- 
duced to write you a few disconnected lines. 
Now, we have Red Mulatto and Sandy Lands, all in 
tills neighborhood, the two former of which are smartly 
'impregnated with Iron the depth of the Red Land Soil 
’'varies from 6 inches to 3 feet in depth, and, therefore, no 
danger of plowing too deeply. The mulatto land varies 
in depth of soil from 4 inches to, say, 2 feet, after which, 
in digging in the ground, you can discover the soil gradu- 
ally change in color as it approaches the clay, becoming a 
«ort of orange color. My mulatto lands average in depth 
<3f soil, say 6 inches, and then there is still say 6 or 8 inc. 
of this orange colored subsoil (if I may so call it) before 
1 reach the clay. I had intended last winter to break up 
she ground thoroughly for 10 or 12 inches deep, thereby 
mixing the two soils together, but my friends persuaded 
me out of the notion, telling me that I would effectually 
ruin my land if I did, and thus I have put it off for the 
present, and, beinga young man, wish to be placed “right 
and then go ahead.” Will it do to mix the soils by plow- 
ing to the clay % 
A word to farmers about the use of salt, and the recipe 
feor scalds and burns, and I am done for the present. 
I believe salt is a preventive to Staggers cor deathpro- 
’feced in hogs from eating young cockleburrs and other 
,^isonous weeds. Well, I salt my hogs as often as I do 
my horses or cattle, say twice a week or oftener, and, liv- 
ing adjacent to old fields abounding in cockleburrs, have 
;yet lost a hog from its effects, while my neighbors 
last year complained bitterly of heavy losses from this 
cause ; and but yesterday one of them told me he had 
found 7 lying dead in one bed. Adopt the salting system, 
"brother farmers, for even admitting that I am wrong in 
the above conjecture, you will get ample remuneration in 
the growth and improvemet of them to pay you back 
“usurious” interest for all money expended in this way. 
You must administer it as you do to your horses, sheep, 
&c., notin liquid, for it will kill. If you have brine left 
in your pork or beef barrels, dig a hole in your hog yard, 
put in the brine and then throw the earth back and fill up 
the hole again. The hogs will then eat the dirt, and in 
this way you can turn even your brine to good account. 
If you are scalded or burned apply a thick coat of tar, 
which will effectually prevent the air from striking the 
wound, and thus obtain instantaneous relief. More anon, 
perhaps. Redlander. 
Austin, Texas, March 31, 1856. 
“BUFFALO GNATS ”—H0W CAN WE DESTROY 
THEM1 
Editors Southern Cultivator As the “Buffalo 
Gnats” have been unusually bad here this spring, and as 
several of our horses and mules have been killed by them 
we would be extremely glad if you, or some of your many 
subscribers or contributors could furnish us with a remedy 
for the relief of the animal after it has inhaled the gnat. 
We have preventives, it is true ; but, as the gnats gen- 
erally make their appearance very suddenly, our stock is 
frequently killed by them before we are aware of their 
presence. Yours truly, Nepos. 
Fillmore, La., March, 1856. 
Moles — A Gravelled Horse. — Editors Southern Culti- 
vator — I drop you a few lines, wishing you to give me some 
information, viz: Is there any protection against the 
ravages of Moles '? — our garden is greatly infested with 
them, and I desire, if possible, to prevent further dam- 
ages. 
Also, what is the best remedy for a gravelled horse '1 
Any information through the columns of your valuable 
paper will be thankfully received by a 
Subscriber. 
• Fellwood's Store, N. C., 1856. 
THE “COW BALL”-LETTER FROM A TEXAS 
SUBSCRIBER. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — Herewith, I lake the 
liberty of sending you, perhaps, a curiosity to most of 
your enterprising and vigilant stock growers and phosi- 
ologists. It is commonly called the “Cow Ball,” and pro- 
duced by one cow licking and swallowing the hair of it- 
self or mate, and from the indigestibility of the hair and 
constant vermicular motion of the bowels it gradually forms 
into a “ball” such as you now see. 
I find no mention of this strange substance in any books 
in my possession ; but less than a quarter of a century 
past, (and perhaps at the present time in some parts of 
our Union) it was traditionally called a “witch ball,” of ill 
omen. 
These balls are generally taken from the maws of our 
finest and healthiest looking beeves, and considered alto- 
gether harmless by those who are familiar with them. 
A fuller account and history of the “Cow ball” from 
some one more conversant with physiological if notpatha- 
logical phenomena, may not prove uninteresting to the 
readers of the Southern Cultivator . 
If you please, you may turn it over to the I\IedicaI 
Museum of your city, if such a thing is worth a place 
among curiosities 
Will you please give us, through the medium of your 
