SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
241 
inclined to think, do not think of the future consequences 
ofthis o-rass. If they did they would never attempt the 
growth of another sprig. I am respectfully, 
F, Hodgfs. 
Okolouo, Miss., JuTie, 1856. 
[Does not our correspondent intend to describe the bit- 
ter Coco, or ^xd Gmss?— E ds.] 
MAKING CISTEKNS— PEOPER CEMENT. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — Seeing in one of your 
numbers an individual writing on “Cistern Building,"’ I j 
lake the liberty of saying that the rule given is the old rule, \ 
but oflater dates a new rule is observed which far surpasses ' 
theo^o!, and in addition is more economical as well as 
more simple. I say this because I have a negro man who 
can build a cistern as good as any one. 
Rule. — To two parts of well washed sand add one of 
hydraulic cement. The advantage of this over the other is 
it requires less cement and is less liable to crack, and 
when wellmixed with the sand any one who can use the 
trowel can have a cistern. 
In the lime lands of the United States you will always 
find ladies unhealthy, but with the simple remedy — cis- 
tern water — all may have good and pure water almost 
“without money and without price.” Put on three or 
four coats, mixed as above and I will warrant a good cis- 
tern. Each coat should be from a quarter to a half inch 
thick to give it strength. And each coat should dry well 
before the next is put on ; in open and dry w’eather 24 to 
28 hours is all that is required ; in damp weather a long- 
er time is required J. L. G. 
Arkanso.s Co., Ark., 1856. 
MANURE, AND ITS PROPER APPLICATION. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — On the subject of 
manuring, we are often learning, but it seems to me I am 
very slowly arriving at the knowledge of the truth. So 
far as my knowledge and observation extends, the benefits 
of manuring, as usually applied in this country, will fall 
far short of making that show on either field or garden 
crops, which it did last year — during the entire spring 
season of 1855. Our rains were light, we had no exces- 
ive wet, and manure retained its fertitizing properties and 
the effect was visible on the growing crops, especially on 
gardens. This spring season, our rains have been frequent, 
and many of them very heavy and the fertilizing properties 
of manure seem to have disappeared from the surface, 
I suppose carried by the heavy rains into the clay or sub- 
soil, and at the present time, manuring seems to be lost la- 
bor except in gardens and w'here it has been applied as 
-op dressing on the growing plants. 
Land heavily manured (principally for gardens) and 
deeply plowed, with turning plows, throwing up portions 
of the clay or subsoil, to the surface, is not succeeding 
well — the garden crops on such lands are not promising 
at this time. Land plowed deeply by using a turning 
plow the usual depth and a small subsoil plow following 
n the furrow, is abetter method of deep plowing than can 
De done witii one plow. For planting in the spring season, 
after ;t is done, and the manuring on land thus plowed, 
has not appeared to the same degree as on land plowed 
on the other method. 
1 do not believe that our common manure from stable 
and cow lots is injured, only to a small extent, by ex- 
posure to the sun and air, in comparison to ihe loss which 
it sustains by exposure to heavy rains. And I believe if 
it was equally practicable and convenient, the same 
amount of manure applied at three different times would 
produce much greater benefit, viz : one-half before the 
first plowing ; one-fourth (by hand, having it finely pul- 
verized) immediately after the crop was worked over the 
first time as a top dressing, and one fourth, five or six 
weeks afterwards. The manure could all be taken out 
on the field at first, before the plowing was done — that in- 
tended for the two last applications should be made into 
conical heaps, and if smoothed, a little with a spade, will 
injure very little from rains. 
I have often collected manure from wide shallow ditches 
or basins, made on the lower side of my stable and cow- 
lots from the sediment that collects from rains, after the 
water had evaporated, and heaping it up in conical piles 
kept it through the sum’mer and sometimes winter, un- 
covei’ed from rain or sun until the next spring, and when 
applying, the manure pulverizes so much easier and bet- 
ter than that from stables that the benefits are equally as 
great, and on gardens preferable. 
I would like to know whether the experiment has ever 
been made by chemical analysis to ascertain the amount 
of fertilizing property in a given quantity of fresh ma- 
nure recently from the animal, and then the same kind of 
manure of equal weight in the fresh state, analized when 
it had dried; without exposure to the rain, and the differ- 
ence as ascertained, I think it would be a valuable infor- 
mation to farmers. If I could know how much our com- 
mon manure loses by exposure to heavy rains, and the best 
remedy after it is taken out on the land to preserve its 
fertility until the crop commenced growing, it would cer- 
tainly be a great gain. 
The great difficulty is to know how to get the manure 
on the land before the first plowing in the spring, and not 
sustain great loss from heavy rains — the labor of carrying 
the manure in bushels, and applying by hand is too tedi- 
ous and fatiguing for field crops. 
This letter is at your disposal. It is written so badly, I 
fear you cannot read it. 
With much esteem, yours, 
J. M. Parks. 
Shiloh, West Tenn., 1856. 
SWEET POTATOES-PEACH AND FIG TREES. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — I think it important 
that every one should have some knowledge of the sub- 
! ject on which he intends to write. 
j I have before me an article in the June number of your 
I paper, page 174, over the signature of “Napper,” of 
! Columbus, Miss., which seems to be slightly marred by 
a deficiency in that particular. Writers generally under- 
take to correct some error, impart some information or 
make some improvement in the prevailing system of af- 
fairs. “Napper” seems to have no such object in view. It 
is difficult to gather from his article what his motive was, 
or what point, if any, he intended to elaborate. He 
writes like a good-natured gentleman — he does not seem 
to know or care whether potatoes are planted in high or 
low ridges or no ridges at all, or whether the people make 
large or small ones, or no potatoes at all. His criticism on 
my failure to give the quality of the land on which I ex- 
perimented, would induce the belief that he never read my 
article. I described it as rich bottom land, which I thought 
sufficient for all pi'actical purposes. 
“Napper” says : “We all know (not all either) that what 
would suit a piece of loam, would, in all probability re- 
quire different tactics on arable land. Now, the loam 
would admit of free access of air and give readily to the 
pressure of the bulb, while the arable land will do neither, 
to any great extent, and this, again, will be owing to the 
season; for during rainy weather or after hard showers 
we find our arable soil needs plowing or stirring to give 
porosity and prevent baking, also to render it a non-con- 
ductor to prevent its becoming too dry, &c., &c. 
When I came to the above distinction between arable 
and loam land, I involuntary dropped the paper, picked 
