SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
183 
IS THE FIELD PEA A FEBTILIZEB1 
Editors Southbrn Cultivator — There is a discusion 
now going on in the Cotton Planter, between the editors 
of that journal, and a distinguished agriculturist, of this 
State, relative to whether or not land can be permanently 
improved by growing and turning under pea vines, or 
the “Clover of the South,” as Mr. Ruffin has it. 
The Editor of the Cotton Planter maintaining that 
Mr. Ruffin has given to the pea, as a fertilizer, an im- 
portance that it does not deserve, and that land cannot be 
much improved by the pea alone. He says that there 
never has been a more deceptive or absurd doctrine pro- 
mulgated in agricultural philosophy, and pledges the 
Cotton Planter to make good the assertion. 
On the ocher, or pea side of the question, it is 
urged that the Pea is certainly the “clover of the South.” 
The writer maintains that the dense shade afforded by the 
pea vine, is, of itself, a vast benefit to land, and then to 
turn under will be doubly so. 
The discussion aluded to is of much importance to the 
planters of the South. It is a question which should be 
settled ; it certainly ought to have been before now, by 
experiment, and one of the writers referred to maintains 
that the question has long since been settled in favor of the 
pea as a fertilizer. What do your correspondents say on 
the subject 1 Let us hear from the practical. 
Yours, as ever, G. D. Harmon. 
Utica, Miss., March, 1856. 
Freeing Negroes. — Some years ago, a wealthy citizen 
of this county, named Carter, emancipated about eighty 
slaves, and colonized them in Bedford county Pennsylva- 
hia. In addition to the expenses attending their trans- 
portation, each negro was furnished with the sum of S250 
wherewith to begin life in a free State. On Monday last, 
a gentleman from Pennsylvania arrived in this place, in 
search of further aid for ther support, stating that nine- 
tenths of them were already on the parish, while the resi- 
due were fast verging to pauperism. This is a sad com- ; 
mentary on the misguided efforts of many Southerners, 
v/ho have from time to time essayed to elevate the Afri- 
can, through means of emancipation and colonization in 
the Northern States. — Warrenion (F<2.) Flag. 
DRIED IRISH POTATOES. 
A professor in the Russian Agricultural Institute, Boll- 
man by name, has published a very interesting pamphlet 
on the potato rot, and he announces to the world that 
mere drying, if conducted at a sufficiently high tempera- 
ture and continued long enough, is a complete antidote to 
the disease. In the spring of 1850, the professor says he 
placed a lot in a very hot room, and at the end of three 
weeks they were dry enough to plant. The potatoes 
came up well and produced as good a crop as that of the 
neighboring farmers, with this difference only, that they 
had no disease, and the crop was, therefore, upon the 
whole, more abundant. 
Professor Bollman says that he regarded this as a mere 
accident ; he, however, again dried his seed potatoes in 
1851, and again the crop was abundant and free from dis- 
ease, while everywhere in the surrounding land they were 
much affected. This was too remarkable a circumstance 
not to excite attention, and in 1852 athird trial took place. 
All Bollmari's stock of potatoes being exhausted, he was 
obliged to purchase his seed, which bore unmistakable 
marks of having formed apart of a crop that bad been 
diseased ; some in fact were quite rotten. 
After keeping them for about a month in a hot room, 
as before, he cut the largest potatoes into quarters, and 
the smaller into halves, and left them to dry for another 
week. Accidentally the drying was carried so far that ap- 
prehensions were entertained of a very bad crop, if any. 
Contrary to expectation, however, the sets pushed prompt- 
ly, and grew so fast that excellent young potatoes were 
dug three weeks earlier than usual. Eventually nine 
times the quantity planted were produced and although 
the neighboring field were attacked, no trace of the dis* 
ease could be found on either the herbage or the potatoes 
themselves. 
The temperature required to produce the desired results 
is not very clearly made out. Mr. Bollman’s room in 
which his first potatoes were dried was heated to about 72 
degrees, and much higher. By way of experiment, he 
placed others in the chamber of the stove at 136 degrees 
and more. He also ascertained that the vitality of the 
potato is not affected even if the rind is charred. 
Potatoes Planted in Wood Ashes. — Messrs. Editors 
— About the middle of April, plant them in rows about 
two feet apart, and about two feet apart in each row — 
plant the sets whole, putting about two handsful of wood 
ashes with each set. Hoe them deep and well. The 
best and largest yield I have seen this season were grown 
in this way — soil generally light and sandy. Mr. W. 
Shaw’s averaged about 28 to each set, some of the pota- 
toes weighed over 16 ounces. P. Sidebotham, 
[in Country Gentleman. 
— ■ • ^ 
The Kitchen. — We will give to intellect, to immortal- 
ity, to religion, and to all virtues, the honor that belongs 
to them. And still it may be boldly affirmed that econo- 
my, taste, skill and neatness in the kitchen, have a great 
deal to do in making life happy and prosperous. 
Nor is it indispensably necessary that a house should 
be filled with luxuries. All the qualifications for good 
house-keeping can be displayed as well on a small scale 
as on a large one. 
A small house can be more easily kept clean than a 
palace. Economy is most needed in the absence of abun- 
dance. 
Skillful cooking is as readily discovered in a nicely 
baked potato, or a respectable johny-cake, as in a nut- 
brown sirloin or a brace of canvass-backs. 
A dirty kitchen and bad cooking have driven many a 
one from home to seek for comfort and happiness some- 
where else. 
Domestic economy is a science — a theory of life, which 
all sensible women ought to study and practice. None of 
our excellent girls are fit to be married until they are 
thoroughly educated in the deep and profound mysteries 
of the kitchen. — Tennessee Farmer. 
Order ! — Never leave things lying about — a shawl 
here, a pair of slippers there, and a bonnet somwhere else 
— trusting to a servant to set things to rights. No matter 
how many servants you have, it is a miserable habit, and 
if its source is not in the intellectual and moral character, 
it will inevitable terminate there. If you have used the 
dipper, towel, tumbler, &c., put them back in their places 
and you will know where to find them when you want 
them again. Or if you set an example of carelessness, 
do not blame your servants for following it. Children 
should be taught to put things back in their places as soon 
as they are old enough to use them ; and if each member 
of the family were to observe ihis simple rule, the'house 
would never get much out of order, and a large amount 
vexation and useless labor would be avoided. 
To Measure an Acre of Ground. — To lay out an 
acre square, 209 feet on each side is the nearest foot that 
will make an acre, being less than an inch each way over 
the exact distance. 43,560 superficial feet, or 208 95-100 
feet on each side constitutes an acre of ground. 
