SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
247' 
All the lowlands were overflowed, and in many places 
badly damaged, apart from the injury done to the present 
crop, which was up in many places. The soil of some 
of the fiiitsL lands lus taken a departure tor ilie ocean. 
to his nephews, by moving to and settling upon them. It 
is these wild lands of the west, with a rich virgin soil up- 
on them, and which can be liad almost for nothing, which 
makes your population wear out their lands and then 
Those who have any soil left will certainly have to plant 
over a considerable portion of their overflown lands. One 
week ago, most of us were near done planting, but many 
are now farther from being done than then. 
I have just prepared a level for horizontal plowing, but 
I have been inclined to give some tall. Can it be possi- 
ble for any land, in any condition, to absorb the quantity 
of rain which fell here during our little jiood ? I am sorry 
I did not take pains to ascertain the actual depth of water 
which fell during the five days. 
If land plowed perfectly horizontal, as recommended by 
Col. Cannon, (April No. Southern Cultivator,) can be 
made to retain all the water that falls upon it, it certainly 
would be preferable to giving fall to the rows. If land is 
plowed horizontally, will not the beds have to be kept 
always considerably elevated 1 If so, this would be in- 
convenient sometimes. 
I sent my dollar some time ago, but the Cultivator has 
not reached me yet, and it is only through the kindness 
if a neighbor I have been enabled to peruse the interest- 
ing contents of April number. I know a number of plan- j 
lers who knoic atl and despise hook farming. j 
Success to the Southern Cultivator. May it, or the I 
like of it, soon find its way to every fireside, and then v/e 
will no longer see the people of Lauderdale, Kemper, and ! 
elsewhere, horizontalizing their lands by the eye, thus | 
often leaving each end of the rows higher than the middle ; 
— the ruinous result of which all can see at a glance. j 
Jas B. Ramsey, i 
Lander dale Springs, Lauderdale Co., Miss., 1856. j 
pRACTICx^L AND SCIEimTIC, VS. “BOOK TKRYam.” | 
Editors Southern Cultivator — I have but recently 
become a subscriber to your paper, but I am much pleas- 
ed with it. I find it interesting and useful. There has 
been and is .still much prejudice existing against what is 
commonly called “ book farming.’’ Now, this prejudice 
irisbeen well founded Men without experience were in 
the habit of filling the countr)'’ with their notions of farm- 
ing, founded entirely upon theory, which when reduced 
to practice were found worthless. But it is quite a differ- 
ent thing for practical farmers to fill the columns of an 
agricultural journal with the different plans of their sue- 
cess, and the results of their various experiments. Such 
a plan I see you are pursuing, and thereby rendering 
your paper very useful and valuable. This is a new 
country, rapidly filling up, and we stand particularly in j 
need of a general diffusion of such journals as yours at I 
ihis time, to prevent, if possible, our population from j 
rapidly wearing ou: the lands, as they did in the countries ! 
’rorn whence they came. In an old and w''orn country, j 
when the lands once rich, have been exhausted by a bad 
system of cultivation, necessity /arc(?u the population to 
resort to the very best principles of agriculture to make j 
anything. How much better would it be if we would ! 
practice the best principles from the beginning, and never [ 
wear our lauds I I believe, however, that one of the ' 
principal reasons why men wear out their lands so hur- 
riedly is the principle of self-interest, or what they con- 
ceive to be such; and, if such is the case, all the agricul- 
tural journals in the world will be of no avail until the 
principle has exhausted itself 
Why is it that the planters in all the old States of the 
South will so rapidly hurry their lands to destruction, 
eagerly gathering in a few rich harvests '? It is not be- 
cause they are not perfectly aware of the fact, but because 
“ Uncle Sam ” owns plenty of land in the west, rich and 
productive, which he is offering to sell, nay, almost give 
abandon them. 
The princi})le which “Uncle Sam” has adopted of 
selling the very be.st cotton lands in the world at fixed 
minimum prices, without any regard at all to their real 
value, and giving extended pre-emption privileges to ac- 
tual settlers upon the same lands, is making rich new 
States but poor old ones ; and these new States will them- 
selves, in time, be stripped of resources, population, and 
v/orse than all, soil, to build up some new State farther 
west. . 
But why complain, or seek to change a principle that 
has been governing mankind from the days of Noah? 
From that day, the tide of emigration has been west — the 
principle which is moving the tide being interest. The 
population of the world has ever been in quest of new 
lands and rich ones, where rich harvests can be gathered 
at small cost, and which are rapidly exhausted of their 
fertility, and then abandoned. It was this principle 
which overrun Europe and Asia, exhausted the soils, and 
forced the population to discover a new Continent, which 
it is rapidly subjecting to the same system. It is the 
cheap and fertile lands of the American Continent which 
is depopulating Europe, and swelling our population at 
such rapid rates ; and it is the cheap and fertile lands of 
the west which is standing like an incubns over Georgia 
and the Carolinas, Alabama and the Mississippi. The 
tide is irresistible ; it is worse than useless to attempt to 
stay it. When “ Uncle Sam ” and the different States 
owning cotton lands have disposed of their little, and in- 
dividuals have become the owners who expect to live up- 
on and cultivate them ; when the last acre in the west 
v.fliich will produce cotton has been reached and brought 
into cultivation, and there is no more west to go to — then, 
and not till then, will a general spirit of agricultural im- 
provement prevail. A new era Vv'ill commence in the 
history of the South which will render it one of the most 
splendid countries on the face of the globe. 
But I have already drawn out my letter to too great a 
length. At some future time I will notice this and some 
other topics at greater length. 
Yours, respectfully, H. R. Lott. 
Carrol Parish, La., 1856. 
To Make Excellent Soap for Common Use, you must 
have good ashes, and put them in hoppers or barrels, on 
a thick layer of straw, adding a half bushel of lime to a 
common-sized hopper; wet the ashes daily for several 
days, to let them rot; then run it through, and it will be 
strong ; put in your kettles, and boil it, and fill up for 
two or three days, or till you can skim up thick tjotash, 
that looks like dirty salt ; then take out one-fourth of the 
lie and potash and set it aside. Now get your grease, and 
put in the coarsest skins of bacon, bones, &c., you have, 
and the lie will soon eat them up. If clear grease rises 
on the top, ladel it off till it eats up all the bones, &c., 
then if there be any bones left, take a large fork and pick 
them out, and throw them in the other kettle of potash ; 
then add the pure grease you dipped off, to make the soap 
so mild that it will not quite take the skin off your tongue; 
try and see if it lathers well ; then stir it an hour, and 
make the other kettleful in the same way, and it will be 
hard, so you can take it out when cool. If you wish to 
refine some, put in a pailful of brine in a clean kettle, and 
dissolve ten pounds or so in it. stirring it till it boils; then 
let it cool in the kettle, and cut out and dry. 
