210 
SOUTHEEN CULTIVATOR. 
So much for breed ; but after we have the breed we 
must do all we can to improve it by care and good feed- 
ing. In this I have the benefit of two grasses of which 
we have all had great horror — Nut and Bermuda. In my 
pasture, where they rule with undisputed sway, my 
hogs revel from the time they leave tlie fields until they 
run upon those fields again. Pumpkins, cowpea.s, ground 
nuts, ground artichokes, and, i iiave heard, Madeira vines 
are ail good edibles for hogs; they will all fatten and give 
sweet meat, but some corn is essential, particul irly before 
killing, to harden the fat. My own plan is to separate the 
killing hogs from the rest of the stock about September — 
not to allow them so wide a range, as quiet is essential to 
the laying on of fat. Give them plenty of water and have 
food convenient, so that they can eat whenever disposed, 
and salt as they require. My own opinion is that every 
good planter will endeavor to raise his own meat, on the 
score of good policy as well as economy. If we buy our 
meat we are apt to imagine a little piece saved off of each 
allowance will help the cause, and we skimp here and 
trim there till we pride ourselves on making an allowance 
in every ten ; the consequence is there is an empty corner 
in each of the ten bread-baskets which that little skimp and 
trim would have left comfortably filled. If you make your 
own meat your heart swells with a noble philanthropy. 
It is not then a question of “how many dollars I have to 
pay out but “I have made this meat and my negroes 
shall enjoy their rightful share of it — I must make a good 
crop next year — I have got the meat to make it on — 
— for a well fed negro can well afford to be a well worked 
one.” It saves, too in doctor’s bills, for a negro who has 
plenty to eat has very little use for physic. The masters 
personal attention at least once a week, with the constant 
care of the stock minder and the bond from the overseer ; 
that attentionsto them shall form a part also of his duties, 
will soon cause ourv little piggies to become respectable 
swine and our gaunt and half starved smoke houses to 
groan under their repletion. 
With the hope, Mr. Chairman^ that those who succeed 
in this debate will be able to give you, more fully, a bet- 
ter organized plan than I have done, I now respectfully 
conclude. 
FKESH FEUIT IN HERMETICALLY SEALER CANS. 
Public attention was very general called to this subject 
last year by Arthur, Burnham & Co., of Philadelphia, 
manufacturers of “Arthur’s Patent Self Sealing Cans and 
Jars,” and large numbers of families all over the country 
were induced to try experiments, not only with Arthur’s 
Cans, but with a variety of other cans offered to their 
notice. Arthur’s Can, which is the simplest in construc- 
tion and the easiest to use, is moreover the only one that 
we have ever seen, with a single exception, that is con- 
structed on a right scientific principles. In the exception 
referred to, the Can itself is in all respects less desirable, 
and few would have any hesitation in choosing between 
them. Arthur’s Can is entirely open at the top, with a 
channel around the mouth, filled with cement. It is sealed 
by heating the lid and pressing it into this cement, which 
is done in a moment. The cement is in the channel when 
the Can is sold. The Cans sustain no injury in opening, 
and may be used year after year. They are made of tin ; 
and also of fire-proof earthen ware. 
We have thus particularly referred to this Can, that our 
readers may know how to distinguish it from all others. 
It is, without doubt, the best yet offered to the public ; and 
in an article of this kind only the best should be taken. 
We have used them ourselves, and know their quality. 
So have scores of our friends. Mr. Godey, of the Lady's 
Book, good authority, as every one knows, thus speaks on 
the subject : 
“There were a variety of Self-Sealing Cans offered to the 
public last year, and there will, in all probability, be a 
greater number during the coming season. Not one that 
we have seen bears any comparison, in our estimation, 
with Arthur's ; and our advice to all is try no other Caa 
or Jar next year. This one will certainly keep fruit pre- 
cisely in the condition in which it is sealed up, is simple 
in construction, and easy of use, and cannot, we believe, 
be equalled, far less excelled, by any vessel got up for the 
purpose of keeping fruit in a fresh condition by hermetical 
sealing.” 
Fruits put up in hermetically sealed vessels are, as all 
who have used them know, in every respect superior to 
those put up in the old-fashioned way. The process is, 
moreover, easier and cheaper. No housekeeper who has 
once tried the new method, will ever go back to the old. 
We have presented this matter a little prominently, be- 
cause it is one in which almost every body has an inter- 
est. In calling attention to so admirable an invention, we 
but serve the common good . — Philadelphia Merchant. 
These excellent Cans may be obtained from D. 
B. Plumb & Co., of this city, and Horace Morse, ot 
Savannah. They deserve all that is above said of them. 
— Eds. So. Cult. 
STAR AND ADAMANTINE CANDLES. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — Several of your cor- 
respondents have desired information in reference to the 
manufacture of star and adamantine candles, from lard and 
tallow. No process has as yet been announced (with my 
knowledge) which is economical and at the same'; time of 
easy application for the farmer or house- keeper. A shoi't 
account of the process actually employed in the manufac- 
ture on a large scale may not be uninteresting to your 
readers, some of whom may be able to simplify it so as 
to produce a tolerably satisfactory result. 
Tallow, suet, lard and other fats consist, for the most 
part of three proximate principles— stearic, raagaric and 
oleic acids — united with glycerine as a base. The com- 
pounds thus formed are termed stearine, margarine and 
oleine. Stearine is white, inodorous and tasteless ; at or- 
dinary temperature it is firm and brittle; melts at 142'^. 
Margarine closely resembles stearine, and is with much 
difficulty entirely separated from it. It differs from stear- 
ine in being somewhat softer and melts at 115'^. Oleine 
differs widely from these in being liquid at common tem- 
peratures, and, indeed when pure, becoming solid only at 
40° below zero. The consistence of a fat depends upon 
the relative proportion of oleine. Beef fat contains 25 per 
cent., mutton suet 26, hog’s lard 62, goose fat 68, duck fat 
72, olive oil 72. If the fat be designed for burning in 
lamps, the larger the per centage ofoliene the better; if in 
candles, on the other hand, the less the better. The ob- 
ject to be aimed at, then, in the conversion of a fat into 
candles, is the removal of the oleine sofaras is practicable. 
This is done most readily by pressure. The fat is melted 
and when nearly cold again is expressed by a very gra- 
dually augmenting force, which is increased to a strong 
power. Much of the oleine with portions of unsolidified 
stearine and margarine flow out from the mass, and the 
residue is fit for candles ; or if it be desired to render them 
still harder, the stearine is re-melted and pressed again. 
This process yields a firm, hard candle of excellent quality. 
The pressure may easily be obtained by wedges, or the 
cotton screw or press might be used for this purpose where 
considerable quantities are operated upon, by adopting a 
suitable pressing-box. 
It has been ascertained by experiment if the glycerine 
be removed from the stearine, the quality of the candles is 
