192 
^SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
The Garden. — No land pays a higher rate of interest 
than the humble and too often despised garden. The 
quantity of vegetables, which it can be made to produce, 
cilinost exceeds belief; and farmers may well open their 
eyes, when told that under good management two acres of 
a garden will be more profitable than '20 acres of farm, as 
it usually conducted. In the vicinity of cities and large 
towns, the raising of vegetables for market is conducted 
on a large scale, and is very lucrative and even the poor 
man can, by his own labor at odd times, secure an abun- 
dance of food for his family, which is as good as money 
saved, as well as earned. — HorticwLlnrist. 
AGRICULTURE IN CUBA. 
A CORRESPONDENT of the Southern Christian Advocate 
says : 
“I looked with more than ordinary interest on the broad 
green fields of sugar cane ; now and then interspersed 
with coffee groves. 
“The production of sugar is increasing rapidly, and the 
yield this year will be unusually large. Many coffee es- 
tates are being abandoned. It is thought the present 
crop will not supply the home consumption. 
“It is very difficult to realize that you are in mid- winter 
when you look upon the fields of corn in silk and tassel, 
and see the people dressed in their summer costume, and 
the earth clothed with green grass and tender flowers. 
The weather has been charming — no rain, no frost. I have 
found it delightful to sleep with the windows open under 
the lightest cover. 
“It is amusing to see the agricultural implements used 
on the farms — old plows with one handle, such as were 
used by the Pgyptians several centuries ago, drawn by 
two creeping oxen, and guided by dull, stupid negroes. 
But what they lack in art. Nature has supplied the deficien 
cy. With the rudest labor, the country produces an 
abundance of the richest productions, and ‘blosoms as the 
rose.’ 
“Guinness has a population of 8,000. It once had a 
good Hotel, but now they put you in a dirty Spanish Fon- 
da, with horses and dogs.” 
SHORT HORNS FOR THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. 
The ship Ceylon, which left this port on the 12th, took 
out, for Judge Lee, of Honolulu, a short-horned bull and 
heifer. The bull was purchased of Mr. Phineas Stedman. 
of Chicopee, Mass., and the heifer of Paoli Lathrop, Esq., 
of South Hadley, Falls, Mass. The bull — Red Jacket, 
American Short-horn Herd Book, No. 891 — was calved 
Oct. 9th, 1854. The heifer— Ruby, American Short-horn 
Herd Book, Vol. 11, p. 550 — was calved July 8th, 1853. 
She is in calf to Kirkleavington, English Short horn Herd 
Book, No. 11,640. They are good animals, and if they 
safely reach their destined home, will add another impor- 
tant item to the rapidly-improving agriculture of the Sand- 
wich Islands. The efforts of the intelligent citizens of 
that region for the introduction of valuable breeds of do- 
mestic animals, are deserving the highest praise. Judge 
Lee has previously introduced a pair of Devon cattle. 
Other gentlemen have at different times, procured from 
here South-Down and Merino sheep, and varmus kinds 
of choice poultry. We are glad to hear that, in the fine 
climate, and with the rich, nutritious herbage of the Is 
lands, this stock has thriven to a remarkable degree, bid- 
ding fair to even surpass the expectations of their enter- 
prising importers . — Boston Cultivator. 
Planting Sugar Cane and the manufacture of sugar are 
the principal farming operations of the gentleman above- 
named. Some years since we published a letter from him 
ia the Southern CaUivator. Getting laborers is the most 
serious obstacle in the way of successful planting in the 
Sandwich Islands. The natives will not work, and Coolies 
are the only substitutes. 
APRIL RAINS. 
Col. Durden’s near V:ck&blrg, > 
April 4, 1856. 5 
Mr. Editor — When a youth, I was at either Washing- 
ton or Natchez, in Adams, in company with several re- 
spectable planters of that county, when it was mentioned 
by one of them that old Tom Wilkins, of Pine Ridge, (just 
above Natchez) made it a rule never to plant cotton until 
after the 7th of April, assigning as a reason for the delay, 
that one of the heaviest rains of every season falls between 
the 3d and 7th of that month. The wealth, success and 
celebrity as a planter, of old Tom Wilkins, as he was 
called, the high standing of the gentleman making the 
statement, and the attending circumstances, made so deep 
and indelible an impression upon me that I have noticed 
these few days of the season very carefully ever since, 
and can give as result of my observation, that the present 
is the first season for more than forty, which has failed to 
sustain Mr. Wilkin’s statement. Last year, the rain fell, 
on the Big Sunflower river, on the night of the 3d, and in 
this county and in Madison on the 5th of the month. 
Every planter knows Mr. Wilkin’s reasons for delaying 
his planting till after the rain, which were, that a heavy 
rain falling on freshly plowed ground causes a crust to 
form, through which the young and feeble plant forces its 
way with so much difficulty as to render a good stand un- 
certain — to obviate which the planter has to resort to the 
harrow, which he always does witn extreme reluctance. 
Respectfully yours, H. W. Vick, 
[in Vichshv/^-g Whig. 
DISCIPLINE AMONG NEGROES. 
The time has arrived when strict rule has to be held 
over every plantation; for, from the many newspapers 
daily received by us we are led to conclude that the negro 
is becoming more and more disposed to deeds of cruelty. 
One of the principle causes which induce these outrages 
is traceable to a too lenient mode of government among the 
slave owners, producing a too free disposition among 
them to show their hardihood, and this in a great mea- 
sure is to be attributed to the fault of the owners in per- 
mitting them to congregate together on Sundays at differ- 
ent neighboring plantations. 
T\\Qtov:n negroes of this State are the b’hoys of - the 
South, sporting their fine Havanas and twirling their fancy 
canes on the side walks — who but they ! No Southern 
cities, save those of Alabama, allow them such luxuries as 
parading the principal thoroughfares of the city, and act- 
ing Beau Brummel to perfection. We would call the at- 
tention of the proper authorities to this matter, and trust 
that they may put a stop to this free license of such acts 
on the part of the would-be negro grandees of our city, 
especially to the free negro population . — Montgomery 
Mail. 
The Earth Growing Colder. — It is stated by Ger- 
man Astronomers that the sun is increasing his distance 
from the earth annually ; and, in the course of six thou- 
sand years from the present time it is supposed that the 
distance will be so great that only an eighth part of the 
warmth we now enjoy from the sun will be communicated 
to the earth ; and it will then be covered with eternal ice 
in the same manner as we see the plains of the North, 
where the elephant formerly lived, and have neither 
spring nor autumn. 
[“Awful!”] 
