SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
207 
Many years ago, it was a prevalent opinion, almost 
a fixed fact, among the immigrants from Maryland, Vir- 
ginia and North Carolina, that “wheat crops could not be 
raised in Georgia— the country was too far south, too 
warm.” At this day, many people of Cass, Murray, 
Floyd and other counties in that section of the State do 
not believe that wheat can be raised in Southern and 
Southwestern Georgia; yet it is well known by all who 
have made a trial that no opinion can be more erroneous. 
The islands and shores of the Mediterranean, on the Afri- 
can as well as European side, warmer countries than any 
part of Georgia, have in all ages produced certain and 
abundant crops of wheat. 
On one other point, I take leave to admonish writers 
■for the Cultivator, and, for the present, close my gentle 
criticism. 
No one, I think, should offer to the public any sort of 
recipe for dying colors, curing diseases of horses, painting 
houses, or whatever else may be its subject or purport, on 
mere hear-say evidence. Experience is the only author- 
ity on which such a recipe can, in conscience, be recom- 
mended. Very many neighborhoods have their oracles — 
persons ignorant, impudent and old enough for extrava- 
gant pretension to profound knowledge,iand crafty enough 
to impose on the credulous. The sayings of such have 
passed down through succeeding generations without 
question or test, in some cases, it would seem with more 
currency because of their palpable absurdity. 
J. C. 
May, 185G. 
A NSW AND PKOLIFIC PEA. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — I saw a communica- 
tion from some one (I think in your paper) recommending 
a pea for farmers, which, he says, will produce five hun- 
dred for one, if properly cultivated. I can beat that and 
not half try. I, last year, planted, three peas brought by 
a friend from China, only one of which came up, and 
from this one pea I gathered over a half gallon, though a 
great many had been destroyed by the fowls that had ob- 
tained access to the garden where it was planted. I think 
I should not be far wrong to say that this pea produced 
jive thousand from the single stalk. I have this year, 
planted an acre or two from the one saved, and if they 
succeed as -well as last year I shall have enough to plant 
the country. 
The peas are small, say about twice the sixe of tlie 
Oregon pea. They possess great advantages over any 
other variety. In the first place, they can be more easily 
gathered, as the pods (each containing from ten to twelve 
peas) grow in clusters, so that from fifteen to twenty pods 
may be grasped with the hand at the same time as they 
grow. Then, again, the vine is eaten greadily by stock of 
any kind, as I tested in a small way last year. The vine 
when unsupported, spreads over a surface of six or eight 
feet in diameter, yet would climb if afforded facilities for 
it. The yield certainly surpasses anything of the pea kind 
that I have ever seen, and I would add that I thank no pea 
can favorably compare with it for Souttiern farmers’ use. 
I have not yet tried it on the table, but would judge from 
general appearance and delicate pearl color, that they 
would be equal to any. 
I have, this year, planted some on rich land with cotton 
seed manure, and some on thinner land wnth no manure, 
and in that way v/ill be enabled to see what character of ^ 
soil it is best adapted to. Yours respectfully, 
W. F. D. 
So-uth Bend, Arkansas ceimty, Ark , 1856. 
[Will our correspondent be good enough to mail us a 
few of these wonderful Peas, for experiment.— Eds.] 
TEXAS GEASS—HUMEUG EECIPES— WIND MILLS. 
Editors Southern Cultivator— Enclosed I send you 
a few sprigs of a grass which I have been noticing upon 
our prairies and on post-oak land for two or three years 
past. I do not know any name for it, nor have I met with 
any one who can tell me anything more ofit than I know 
myself, 1. c., it is a winter grass, grows luxuriantly in cul- 
tivated land, the brandies spreading out to considerable 
size, and comes from the roots and seed. It does not grow 
very well on uncultivated land, yet the first 1 ever saw 
Vi^as on the prairie. When on uncultivated land, it does 
not branch much and the leaves lie very close to the sur- 
face ; though even in this condition I find it a very valu- 
able grass for sheep, and I am of the opinion that if sown 
on good cultivated land it will prove valuable as winter 
pasture for all kinds of stock. My object in writing this 
is not to humbug any one, but to let you see the grass and 
to hear from you on the subject. I have left a consider- 
able number of bunches ofit in my orchard and when the 
seeds mature I intend giving it a fair trial. In the mean- 
time I will enclose you some of the seeds and let you and 
some of your friends test it in your climate. 
Speaking of humbugs, there is a recipe for making Soap 
in the February (1856) number of the Cultivator which 
humbuged my wife so badly that I fear it will be some 
time before she will again depart from her accustomed way 
of doing things to try anything new. I allude to the 
Potash, 
Rosin and 
Lard. 
She tried it fairly, and instead of 150 lbs. soap, got none 
until after boiling in the usual way, and but little then. 
Do you know anything of Dr. Frank G. John.son’.s 
Wind Mill ? if so, let us hear from you through the Culti- 
vator. Ours is a delightful county for wind mills, if a 
strong and constant breeze is all that is wanting. 
Respectfully your obedient servant, 
F. H, Dugan. 
Seguin, Texas, April, 1856. 
IVe forwarded the foregoing and the specimen of grass 
to Rev. Dr, EACHM.rN, of Charleston, who very kindly re- 
plied as follows : 
D. Redjiond, Esq. — Bear Sir : — The grass you sent 
for my examination is the Hairy leaved panicum i^pani- 
curn puhescens). It belongs to a genus containing no less 
than 120 species, 39 of which are described by Elliott as 
existing in South Carolina and Georgia. It is doubtful 
vrhether a single native^species exists in Great Britain, al- 
though the cocksfoot panicum (P. crus-galli) has some- 
times been claimed as a native. One species (P. Italicurri) 
is cultivated in the South of Europe. 
The hairy leaved panicum is perennial in its root and 
was very little checked in its growth during the unusually 
severe past winter. I have only seen it doing well on 
rich, grounds and in moist and somewhat shaded locali- 
ties, 1 have this, together with a dozen other species of 
winter grasses under cultivation and, have succeeded be- 
yond my e.xpectation in raising sufficient of each to en- 
able me to form some idea of their adaptation to our cli- 
mate and soils. In due time I hope to have it in my 
power communicate to you the results of my experiments. 
Truly yours, John Bachman. 
Charleston, Ibth April, 1856. 
13^ What a blessing are metaphysics to our genera- 
tion ! A poet or other who can make nothing clear, can 
stir up enough sediment to render the bottom of a basin as 
invisible as the deepest gulf in the Atlantic. The shallow- 
est pond, if turbid, has depth enough for a goose to hide 
its head in. 
